UTEP head coach Scotty Walden sends big message ahead of matchup with Tennessee Vols
The Tennessee Vols will play their final regular season home game of the year on Saturday when they host the UTEP Miners in Neyland Stadium. Tennessee hasn't played UTEP since 2018, which was a few years before Josh Heupel took over as the Vols' head coach, but the Volunteers will be somewhat familiar with the […]
The Tennessee Vols will play their final regular season home game of the year on Saturday when they host the UTEP Miners in Neyland Stadium.
Tennessee hasn't played UTEP since 2018, which was a few years before Josh Heupel took over as the Vols' head coach, but the Volunteers will be somewhat familiar with the Miners thanks to a game from last season.
Scotty Walden is in his first season as the head coach at UTEP after spending the previous four seasons at Austin Peay.
Walden and Austin Peay gave the Vols a heck of a game last season in Neyland. Tennessee won the game 30-13, failing to ever truly pull away from the Governors.
"I think we frustrated them in a lot of ways," said Walden after giving the Vols hell for 60 minutes last season. "We want to be that FCS team that no Power 5 school wants to play. I know my AD doesn't want to hear that, he probably likes those checks. We want teams to think twice before they schedule the Governors because they won't get a team that is going to lay down. They are going to get a team that's going to fight. It's going to be uncommon, it's going to be cutting-edge. We did a lot of things to disrupt their tempo and disrupt their rhythm. Again, I'm just so proud of the kids. They bought into the game plan. I'll tell you one thing, I thought we did a great job as a coaching staff communicating the game plan because it was uncommon."
Walden met with reporters earlier this week to preview UTEP's game against Tennessee and he essentially confirmed that the Miners will have the same mindset on Saturday that Austin Peay had last season against the Vols.
"Never in this program will we have a mindset of laying down for anybody," said Walden. "We're going to have to play a near-perfect game, we're going to have to play with perfect effort and execution. Boy, what an opportunity. It's an amazing opportunity to go into a hostile environment and see where we are."
Walden made similar comments before UTEP's game against Nebraska earlier this season.
"You're never going to see me prepare to lose a game ever," said Walden before UTEP's game against Nebraska. "We're not going to play to lose a game. We expect to win every game we play. And we're going to prepare to win every game."
"On the outside looking in, people look at this like 'oh it's a money game, just get out healthy', I actually despise comments like that with all of my heart and soul…we're going to expect to win," added Walden.
Tennessee is the far more talented team, and if the Vols are hitting on all cylinders this game won't be close at all. But UTEP is going to do its best to frustrate the hell out of the Vols. Tennessee needs to play clean football and execute early in the game if they're going to deliver a statement win against the Miners on Saturday.
Tennessee Vols players confirm suspicion about the officiating in UT’s loss to Georgia Bulldogs
It was a rough night for the officials
