New Mexico Football Report

With the Lobos sitting out a week before their season finale against Boise St., the Aggies get the spotlight this week.  NMSU's game with Louisiana Tech didn't go how Aggie nation had hoped. The game was played under a steady drizzle, that seemed to bog down the spirit and energy of both NMSU players and coaches.  The Aggies shortsighted scheduling errors finally caught up to them in a big way. The Aggies are the victims of a Catch-22, they can't finance their program without playing against schools that will physically abuse them. Yet, playing those schools kills any chance they have of competing against WAC schools 

For DeWayne Walker, the 44-0 pounding at the hands of newly crowned WAC champion, Louisiana Tech was puzzling. "I know Georgia's Georgia, BYU is a good football team, to come here and to lose like this, it is pretty frustrating," Walker said. Get real Coach!, when you're down to your third string Qb. and your defense hasn't held an opponent under 40 points since Oct. 15th. (a 31-24 win over the U. of Idaho.) what do you really expect?  I wouldn't blame Coach Walker if he's already looking to next year. "We got one left (next Saturday vs. Utah State) and we've got to find a way to finish up on a good note."  Note:*The dearth of game photos forced me to insert random football images

The new look BYU Cougars were not popular with the gals in Provo

The 2012 season will bring a new look WAC  and a chance for NMSU to compete against their conference brethren on a more level field.  For NMSU fans who haven't been following the twists and turns of college football's piranha like feeding frenzy here's a rundown. The WAC currently consists of  eight schools: Fresno St., U. of Hawai'i, U. of Idaho, U. of Nevada, NMSU, San Jose St., Louisiana Tech & Utah St.  Three current WAC schools will depart for the Mountain West Conf. starting in 2012. Fresno St., Hawai'i & Nevada will be replaced by UT-Arlington, UT-San Antonio & Texas St. Univ.- San Marcos. 

The three Texas schools compete in the FCS but are in the process of upgrading their programs to the FBS level. They will compete in all sports for both men and women.  The Univ. of Denver & Seattle Univ. will also join the WAC as basketball only schools. Conference football champ, Louisiana Tech will be the school to beat in the future. Sonny Dykes* has The Bulldogs on the right track, if they don't bolt to Conference USA, they should dominate the new WAC.  San Jose St., Utah St., NMSU & Idaho will head up the middle of the pack. All three Texas schools are wild cards, their success is contingent on how fast they get up to speed on the recruiting trail. (*Sonny Dykes was considered a candidate for the UNM head coaching job before Paul Krebs hired Mike Locksley)

In 2012 UNM and NMSU renewed their annual rivalry in throwback uniforms 

The Mountain West which includes UNM, Colorado St., Air Force, Boise St., Wyoming, San Diego St., UNLV & TCU, has become the target of Big East raiding parties. Boise St. and Air Force have held prelimary talks with that conference concerning membership. Boise St. is ready to go (Boise = The Big East, really?) but desires San Diego St. as a partner rather than Air Force. TCU had joined the Big East, but reneged and jumped to The Big 12 (the only goddamn thing that makes any sense in all this) If it all comes to pass, the MWC would have San Diego St., UNM, UNLV, Colorado St., Wyoming, Nevada, Fresno St. & Hawai'i (football only) as members.

There are far too many intangibles for Boise St. and Air Force to be hasty about moving to the Big East. Outside of  a football program that usually finishes at 7-5, Air Force would bring nothing to the Big East. Bosie St. football is just one coaching change away from returning to their Big Sky days.  Boise St.'s success on the football field has hinged on one man, Chris Petersen. It's a fucking miracle that he's still there, but it's time for big name schools to come calling. If some bug-eyed A.D. throws crazy Urban Meyer money at him, he will take the money and run. In the past decade we've seen some of college football's premier programs struggle mightily: Michigan, Notre Dame, Miami, Florida St. and that's with their advantage of big time television money and BCS tie-ins.  

By 2010, the Reserve Hs. uniforms were a bit outdated

I seem to have digressed from the NMSU Aggies' game report. La. Tech won 44-0, so you can assume that there wasn't much to say about the Aggies' effort. They stank up the stadium, and in Louisiana that's hard to do, because the entire state has an ever present stench of decay hanging in the air. Starting NMSU Qb. Matt Christian could not go at game time, so Travaughn Colwell was called upon to start. As you would expect a third stringer to do, Travaughn struggled the entire game. Simple things like taking the snap and hand-offs became troublesome, dooming the Aggies' every effort. The one bright spot on an otherwise deary day was Kenny Turner who carried the rock 29 times for 149 yds. One more game remains for NMSU against Mountain West reject Utah St., who is coming off a surprising win over Nevada. 

Plug 'em while they're warm!