The UTEP Miners arrive in Lincoln with a young coach and plenty of optimism to kick off their 2024 season.

UTEP first-year coach Scotty Walden was named the 27th coach in program history in early December after leading Austin Peay State to a 9-3 mark in the FCS last season. Walden also improved the Governor’s fortunes to a 6-0 United Athletic Conference mark. The 34-year-old coach is looking to carry that momentum into his new tenure in El Paso.

This week, Walden spoke to the media and discussed the upcoming game in Lincoln against Nebraska. The Miners enter the game as underdogs, with betting lines showing the Huskers as four-touchdown favorites.

“We have a big test against a Power Four opponent. (We) have a lot of respect for Matt Rhule and his program,” Walden said. “They’re extremely physical on offense and run the ball downhill. Defensively, I’d be shocked if we played a better defense than we played (in) game one.”

Walden continued to praise the Blackshirts during his opening remarks, saying Nash Hutmacher and Ty Robinson will be “the best defenders” UTEP faces this season.

“It’s by far the most diverse defense I’ve played against in my career on tape. Tony White, the defensive coordinator, is a great football coach. He’s definitely going to be a head football coach soon.”

– Scotty Walden on Nebraska’s defense

The first-year head coach also named his former signal-caller as his Week One starter, with quarterback Sklyer Locklear earning the start after a long battle with returning starter Cade McConnell. Locklear, just a sophomore, played in two games for Austin Peay last season, completing three of four passes for 59 yards and a touchdown against Lindenwood in his most notable appearance of 2023. Walden named the starter on Thursday.

“I wanted to go over the game plan with Nebraska and see how they handle it. See how they handle the first week of games together,” Walden said Tuesday. “I can do everything in my power to judge them, but until I put them in front of 100,000 people … it’s going to be a great test against Nebraska. They’re going to test us.”

Walden later added that the team has been working on extra noise during practices to prepare for the expected crowds at Memorial Stadium. He called the Sea of ​​Red an “electric atmosphere.” Walden’s Austin Peay team enjoyed success last season when it visited Tennessee, losing 30-13 to the Volunteers in front of 101,915 people.

“We had success, communication-wise, against Tennessee using our hand signals,” Walden said. “Now that we have the in-helmet communication, I really think that’s going to help us tremendously in being able to communicate with our players.

The UTEP coach also answered questions about Nebraska’s rookie starter Dylan Raiola and how the visiting team will attempt to unsettle the true freshman.

“I don’t think we’re going to make too much of it. He may be a freshman, but he’s one of the most talented freshmen I’ve ever seen. This guy throws an elite deep ball,” Walden said. “Everything I’ve read about him, seen about him, everything I’ve studied about him, he looks like a student of the game.”

The UTEP coach continued to praise the rest of the Husker offense, saying he expects transfer receivers — Jahmal Banks and Isaiah Neyor — to be deep pass receivers. Walden added that Jaylen Lloyd’s speed, in particular, is “absolutely dynamic.”

The Miners also fully accept the role of ‘underdog’ in their first game of the season.

“We love it. I’m a Division III player. (I’ve) been the underdog my whole life. This is not a new mentality for us. You’ll never see me prepare to lose a game,” Walden said. “The amount of preparation we do for Nebraska is the same amount we do for Southern Utah.”

Walden added that the game will be “who we are,” and the goal is to not let the Big Red dictate the flow and direction of the game. However, he noted that it’s an uphill battle because of Nebraska’s “elite” culture under Rhule.

“We’re playing against an elite opponent. When you look at the kickoff unit and the field goal block unit, you can define the culture of a program. The culture of this program is elite.”

– Scotty Walden on Nebraska

Nebraska and UTEP are scheduled to kick off Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CDT from Lincoln. Listen to the coach’s full comments from his press conference below.

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