Four years ago in Norman, Oklahoma led UTEP 21-0 after the first quarter. That is the disappearance UTEP must prevent Friday night. Three possessions go wrong, the Sooners seize control and the useful parts of the opener become difficult to see.
UTEP visits Oklahoma on Friday, Sept. 4, at 6 p.m. MT (7 p.m. CT) on SEC Network+. The Fan Watch model gives the Miners a 2.2% chance to win, so an upset is something to enjoy imagining, not a fair requirement for feeling encouraged.
Watch Colson’s clean plays
The more revealing question is whether EJ Colson can keep UTEP functional one possession at a time. Colson completed 70.9 percent of his passes with 16 touchdowns and four interceptions across 10 starts last season. That profile speaks directly to the Miners’ largest offensive problem. UTEP threw 20 interceptions in 2025.
His first UTEP start could hardly offer a harsher ball-security test. Oklahoma led the nation last season with 9.4 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks per game. The useful signs, then, are modest and specific. They are Colson getting the ball out before pressure becomes panic, avoiding the giveaway that compounds a negative play and keeping enough drives alive that Oklahoma cannot settle into an uninterrupted rush.
UTEP’s defense can help make that possible. The Miners recorded 28 sacks and 86 tackles for loss in 2025. A few early backfield disruptions would give the offense breathing room and show that UTEP can bring an established strength into a much harder matchup.
The methodology supplies the probabilities; Friday’s possession-by-possession test belongs to Colson and the Miners in Norman. Hope freely for the shocker, then judge credible progress by whether Colson protects the ball and UTEP makes Oklahoma earn control of the game.