​There are various ways the 2026 UTEP football schedule doesn’t have much in the way of precedent or parallels, and here is one that’s comes to the forefront this week: A week after UTEP went to Oklahoma as 41 1/2-point underdogs (and lost 51-0), the Miners return home to face Texas Southern as a 27 1/2-point favorite.A week after being the team with nothing to lose, UTEP goes into a game it pretty much has to win if it’s going to make anything of this season. And it will be the first time for Miner fans to see the team this year and the first time anyone has seen UTEP in black uniforms with black helmets.More: Analysis: What does blowout loss to OU mean for UTEP football?Home opener has special meaning for coach Scotty Walden”You try not to put added pressure on the players because they already have enough, the same thing with the coaches,” coach Scotty Walden said at his weekly news conference to kick off game week against Texas Southern. “But it does mean a lot to us to start. The seasons I’ve been a part of that take off and have a positive vibe, they start with a great home opener. That’s a part of creating that momentum.More: OU football overwhelm UTEP immediately, run away in season opener”It’s so important for our football team to create momentum as we head into conference play. Every week we’re getting closer to Mountain West play so it’s imperative to start to give our fans something to be excited about, give our students something to be excited about, so we can build on the momentum going to conference play.”As for the difference in mentality as a four-touchdown home favorite compared to a six-touchdown road underdog, Walden said that’s not any kind of a consideration.”It goes back to playing to a standard,” Walden said. “Last week we didn’t play well enough. I don’t care who we’re playing, if we don’t practice with our hair on fire and make the proper corrections, it’s going to be a tough night. We better get our tail ready and buckle up. The mentality is the same, to be 1-0 this week.”UTEP coach Scotty Walden: Kicking game is emphasisMany of those proper corrections are going to come in the kicking game, which was dreadful against Oklahoma and has to dramatically improve against Texas Southern.”As a coach, you get what you emphasize,” Walden said. “We’re gonna emphasize the dog out of (special teams) until those guys are tired of us saying it. We’ve shown it on tape, slowing it down, made guys take notes, you diagram it, and then you go walk through it. We start every day with the special teams walk through, every single day.”While Walden stopped short of saying kicker Carlos Arreola, who missed three field goals against Oklahoma, still had the starting job, noting that every position is a competition every week, he gave him a vote of confidence “I just told him, man, Carlos, we believe in you,” Walden said. “We wrap our arms around him, ‘Hey, we all have bad days at the office. At the end of the day, that kid’s a competitor. Nobody