The UTEP football team has one of the youngest head coaches in college football.

Scotty Walden is 34 years old and in his first season leading the Miners after a successful four-year stint at Austin Peay State (26-14 record).

UTEP enters Saturday’s game at Colorado State (3 p.m. MT on truTV) with an 0-3 record, but two of those losses were on the road at Nebraska and Liberty.

Here’s what Walden said about the Week 4 game against Colorado State in his weekly news conference:

Scotty Walden on CSU quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi

“They’ve got a lot of firepower. They’ve got a quarterback who’s as good as any. He can thread the needle. He can push it downtown. He’s very accurate.”

Scotty Walden on running back Justin Marshall and receiver Tory Horton

“I think their running back (Marshall) is a really talented player. We all know about Horton. I know he was banged up last week. We’re going to prepare that he’s going to play. I think he’s one of the best receivers in the country. Extremely great route-runner.”

More: Colorado State football player Tory Horton likely to miss UTEP game; Nuer Gatkuoth still out

Scotty Walden on Colorado State’s defense

“Their safeties remind me of a version of No. 2 (Isaac Gifford) from Nebraska. Very physical, very smart and they run really well. Their linebacker play is extremely physical. The thing that stands out to me is they’re really long.”

Scotty Walden on the atmosphere expected at Canvas Stadium

“I think the Northern Colorado game probably had 30,000 people there, somewhere around there. They had 40,000 last week. It’s going to be a great environment. It’s going to be a challenge. I think they’re a really good football team, really well coached.”

Note: The Northern Colorado game had 36,573 in attendance, and the Rocky Mountain Showdown game last week drew in 40,099.

More: Colorado State football hits record home attendance mark in game against rival Colorado

Scotty Walden on conference realignment

“It’s super interesting, right? To be honest with you, my head is buried in the sand right now about how to get a first down or how to keep touchdowns off the board on defense. I think it’s very interesting, though. I think it creates this landscape of never-ending change within college football. You never know who from our conference is going to get plucked by a Power 5. You just don’t know. It’s a wild land that we live in, a wild world we live in. Certainly a lot of change is on the horizon for a lot of G5 schools and just in general. As far as how that affects UTEP, not really sure what that holds for the future.”

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on X and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: What UTEP football coach Scotty Walden said about Colorado State