UTEP

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UTEP fans choose kickoff time for San Jose State gameour readKenny Odom produces at a notably LOWER rate when his team is an underdog than when favored -- he fades when the pressure is on, and his per-target value drops too.our read

Mountain West · Scotty Walden, year 3 (6-20) · Sun Bowl · 51,500 · 24,580 avg in 2026

The nationunrankedAP / Coaches
The model#136 CFB ZeitgeistSP+ #132 (-24.3) · FPI #129
The marketMichigan by 35at Michigan · our model 6% UTEP · a number, not a pick

LastW 51–10 vs Texas Southern · Sat Sep 12 · EJ Colson 239 pass yds, 4 TD, 49 rush yds

Nextat Michigan · Sat Sep 19 · 3:30 pm ET · Michigan Stadium · Michigan by 35 · first meeting on record · Game preview

Updated Tue Sep 15 · through week 2

Zeitgeist statureRegional Program V#181 all-time– holding
The era · 2014 through 2025

The CFP Era

12 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.

Era record 41-100 12 seasons
Best season 7-5 2021
TRAJECTORY · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program Quality AP Rank (inverted) CFP Appearance
'14'16'18'20'22'24NOW
CHAPTERS · 12 seasons · tap to open the archive
'14 7-6 '15 5-7 '16 4-8 '17 0-12 '18 1-11 '19 1-11 '20 — '21 7-5 '22 5-7 '23 3-9 '24 3-9 '25 2-10

UTEP's 2014–2025 record is 41-100. The era is still being written; the CFP line is the one the program is arguing for.

Era win %
.290
Ranked seasons (AP)
0/12
Best AP finish
—

Program outlook

UTEP is the most geographically isolated program in major-college football — a mining-heritage university on the far western corner of Texas, 600 miles from the nearest power program — and it went 2-10 in 2025 before moving into the Mountain West.

Read the full essay — 3 more paragraphs

El Paso is not a recruiting hub by the sport's conventional map, and UTEP's history reflects that plainly. The program's greatest sports moment came in 1966, when Texas Western — the school's former name — started five Black players and won the NCAA basketball championship, a civil-rights landmark that matters far beyond the scorebook. Football has never matched it. Mike Price's mid-2000s bowl teams — back-to-back bowl seasons, an 8-win year — are the high-water mark for the Miners on the gridiron, and they're twenty-plus years old.

Scotty Walden is entering his third season after a 2-10 (1-7 Conference USA) campaign in 2025, which is a brutal number for any coach but a particular kind of pressure at a program moving into a harder league. 2026 is UTEP's first year in the Mountain West — a genuine step up from Conference USA — and it arrives before the roster has been rebuilt enough to treat the upgrade as an opportunity rather than exposure. The borderland recruiting theory — that El Paso and the Juárez corridor are an untapped talent market the bigger programs ignore — is the long-term bet Walden is making.

The 2026 question is whether Walden survives long enough to test that theory. A program entering a tougher conference off a 2-10 season, under a third-year coach who hasn't yet reached a bowl, needs something to change. Sun Bowl Stadium is carved into the Franklin Mountains hillside. El Paso shows up for it. The question is whether the team on the field gives them a reason to.

On the field

UTEP's football identity is borderland grind — a program built to compete on effort and scheme in a market where size and budget are not the advantages. Walden runs a spread offense designed to maximize the limited talent available, with a physical running game that fits the roster profile. The Miners win when the ball-control plan shortens the game and the defense generates chaos; they lose when the talent gap overwhelms the scheme. Moving into the Mountain West tests whether the identity travels.

program outlook · as of 2026-06-14

All-time record · UTEP

UTEP has won 36% of its games since 1930 — 47% at home, 24% on the road.

354-610-18 all-time · 94 seasons · 1930–2026

Home 235-256-9
Away 113-344-9
Neutral 6-10
47% 1930s
54% 1940s
56% 1950s
43% 1960s
21% 1970s
27% 1980s
25% 1990s
40% 2000s
28% 2010s
34% 2020s

Coaching Era · UTEP

Scotty Walden

Scotty Walden in year 3 of the rebuild. The methodology is taking shape.

Era Scotty Walden · 2024–presentPrev: Dana Dimel (2018–2023)OC: Lanear Sampson / co-Joe PappalardoPrev OC: Mark Cala / co-Ryan Stanchek (2025)DC: co-Kelvin Sigler / Kyle BeyerPrev DC: co-Kelvin Sigler / Bobby Daly (2025)
The full CFP-era story →The full coaching lineage →
3 years · era

Program memory

What this program never forgets

Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.

The 1966 Texas Western championship

The first all-Black starting five wins the NCAA basketball title — a civil-rights landmark and UTEP's defining moment

2005

Mike Price's bowl run

Back-to-back bowl seasons restore football pride to El Paso

Moment of the season — so far · UTEP · 2026

Lost 0-51 at Oklahoma

Week 1 of 2026. A reckoning loss — the data point the next season must answer.

Decisive Marginvs Top-10 (#10)

NFL Draft Pipeline

2024–2024

UTEP has sent 2 players to the NFL Draft since 2024 — none in the first round.

Thin. Roster development still maturing.

2 picks · 0 in round 1
#118 Tyrice Knight Linebacker · 2024 · Seattle · #35/577 final season
#220 Elijah Klein Offensive Guard · 2024 · Tampa Bay
#97 all-time · 2 first-round picksthe talent factory →

More in this tab

Ladder finishHow far up the ladder this season got.

Season standing · 2026 · 1-1

UTEP is 1-1 and unranked in the season's first weeks.

Even or better through the season's first weeks. The resume is still forming.

Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
Coaching historyEvery hire and departure on record, not just the current era.

Coaching history

  • Hired Scotty Walden2024
  • Dana Dimel departs20-49, 6 seasons
  • Hired Dana Dimel2018
  • Sean Kugler departs18-36, 5 seasons
  • Mike Price departs0-7, 1 season
  • Hired Mike Price2017
  • Hired Sean Kugler2013
  • Mike Price departs48-61, 9 seasons
Coordinator lineageOffense and defense under each coordinator.

Unit lineage

UTEP’s offense and defense, by coordinator

FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.

Offense2014–2026
2014201620182020202220242026
2014–2015 · Patrick Higgins2016–2017 · Brent Pease2018–2020 · Mike Canales2021–2022 · Dave Warner2023 · Scotty Ohara2024 · co-Ryan Stanchek / Jake Brown2025 · Mark Cala / co-Ryan Stanchek2026 · Lanear Sampson / co-Joe Pappalardo
Defense2014–2026
2014201620182020202220242026
2014–2015 · Scott Stoker2016–2017 · Tom Mason2018–2020 · Mike Cox2021–2023 · Bradley Dale Peveto2024 · co-Kelvin Sigler / J. J. Clark2025 · co-Kelvin Sigler / Bobby Daly2026 · co-Kelvin Sigler / Kyle Beyer
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customsThe gameday customs unique to this program.

Rituals

Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.

Sun Bowl Stadium / Sun Bowl Hosting

since 1936

more

Sun Bowl Stadium (built 1963, expanded multiple times to 51,000 capacity) hosts the annual Sun Bowl game — one of CFB's oldest postseason bowls (since 1936). UTEP plays home games here + the Sun Bowl game brings two national teams to El Paso every December. The dual-use venue + the Franklin Mountains backdrop + the desert setting create a unique CFB venue identity.

Mike Price Era (2004-2012)

since 2004

more

Mike Price's 2004-2012 tenure — after his Alabama firing pre-Tide-coaching-debut — produced the program's modern peak. 2005 8-4 + Houston Bowl appearance + multiple bowl years. Price's pass-offense identity + the recruiting reach into Texas + the El Paso community connection define the era.

Picks Up Hand Sign

since 2000s

more

'Picks Up' — UTEP fans' hand-sign gesture (two fingers held aloft like a mining pickaxe) — is the Miners' identity marker. The mining-heritage symbol + El Paso mining-town historical roots + the gesture's distinct shape make UTEP fan identity uniquely Texas-borderland.

Cultural identityWhat college football loses if this program didn't exist.
BowlsEvery bowl this program's played, and how it did.

Bowl / Postseason Ledger

Recent postseason (2014-2021): 0-2

Most recent: 2021 — loss 31-24 (away). Last 5 postseason: 0-2.

20212014
Reddit blowupsThe plays that blew up on r/CFB.

r/cfb moments

208
[Postgame Thread] Rice Defeats UTEP 37-30
Nov 2022 · r/cfb
125
[Postgame Thread] UTEP Defeats Stephen F. Austin 24-14
Sep 2020 · r/cfb
119
[Postgame Thread] UTEP Defeats Abilene Christian 17-13
Sep 2020 · r/cfb
105
[Postgame Thread] UTEP Defeats ULM 31-6
Sep 2020 · r/cfb

All-time top community posts · ranked by upvotes

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