For those of you not familiar with college football and its classification system, Left Nut Sports, your authority on college football will give you a give rundown.
A university is a college with a stadium seating over 40,000. ~Leonard L. Levinson
In college football Division One (D1) is the top tier, this level is dominated by the BCS schools (Bowl Championship Series) which basically amounts to those schools that spend the most money, have the largest stadiums and the most attendance. D1 is divided into two groups, the FBS or Football Bowl Series has no playoff system other than the post season bowl games and is dependant on the BCS computer rating system, the Associated Press and Coaches polls to determine a champion. (starting in 2014, a four team playoff will be implemented) All BCS schools are considered D1 FBS, but not all D1 FBS schools are in the BCS.
NCAA D1, FCS, (Football Championship Series) is the second tier, made up of schools with smaller athletic budgets and lower average attendance. The FCS determines its national champion through a playoff system. There are currently no D1 FCS schools in New Mexico, though the Aggies seemed destined to play at that level. New Mexico's three small colleges play at the Div. II level. This is the third tier, Div. II schools must field a minimum of 10 sports, split between men & women. What these three tiers do have in common, is that member schools offer athletic scholarships to their athletes.
At the FBS level attendance means everything, The UNM-NMSU game drew almost 26,000 fans. By BCS standards that's weak, UNM will average around 12,000 per games over the course of a season, while the Aggies will be lucky to break 10,000 per game. NMSU is on double secret probation with the NCAA because they've failed to stay above the minimum average of attendance which is something like 11,000 per game. Because of this at the end of the season the Aggies usually have a game where they have to draw 16,000-20,000 fans to avoid being dropped down to the FCS level. In a nutshell, Division 1 is the most intense and Division 3 the least.
The fourth tier, known as NCAA Div. III is for non-scholarship schools. At this level all athletes are essentially walk-ons, there are no athletic scholarships offered. They play football for the love of the game and little else. The NAIA, is another college association, it has been around longer than the NCAA, but long ago lost ground and was relegated to a lower status. All three of New Mexico's small colleges were once members of the NAIA, in fact the entire Rocky Mountain Conference was once part of the NAIA before switching to the NCAA. The NAIA is the last refuge for players who run afoul of NCAA rules, the football played is comparable to that of NCAA Div.II.
Last weekend, ENMU upheld the honor of New Mexico football as the only college squad in the state to pick up a win. Both of the state's D1 FBS teams (UNM & NMSU) lost, as did WNMU & NMHU. Turnabout is fair play and this week, The Hounds riding on the crest of back to back wins (Sul Ross St. and Incarnate Word) were humbled in Texas by The Tarleton St. Univ. Texans 35-23. Thus, the Hounds joined the NMSU Aggies in the loser's bracket for the state of New Mexico. The loss overshadowed an superlative effort from ENMU's Sr. Qb. Wesley Wood.
After a scoreless first quarter, the LSC rivals traded scores throughout much of the game, with a fervor. The Hounds followed four Texan touchdowns, with scores of their own, the most spectacular, an 80 yd. td pass from Wes Wood to Dillon Metzger (Rio Rancho Hs. Rio Rancho, NM) A pair of big plays by the Texans and the Hounds found themselves down 21-10 at halftime. In the third quarter, Eastern tried to mount a comeback, Wesley Wood scored on a 21 yd. td. run to pull the hound dawgs within 4 points at 21-17.
But, before you could say "There's too much dang ice in my soda pop" Tarleton St. scored again to stretch the lead to eleven points. ENMU mounted another drive, culminated by a Wesley Wood to De'Coreyon Thomas td. pass. Trailing by five with less than eight minutes left to play, Eastern needed their defense to come up with a big stop. But, dadgumit! there was no stopping the Texans, Roderick Smith broke off a 69 yd. run for pay dirt that extended Tarleton State's lead to 12 points and nailed down the victory.
While neither team resorted to playing matador defense, the offense dominated the field of play. Wesley Wood threw for 242 yds. and 2 td's and ran for 44 yds. and a touchdown in a losing effort for Eastern. Dillon Metzger had two catches for 131 yds., or 65.5 yds. per reception. The Texans finished with a season-high 564 yards of offense (324 rushing yards and 240 yards passing) ENMU finished with 386 yards of total offense on the night (247 yds passing) this despite the Greyhounds running a predominately wishbone style offense.
Tarleton St. Rb. Roderick Smith had 204 rushing, while Evan Robertson added 115 rushing yards. Texans' Qb. Aaron Doyle threw for 240 yards as he completed 19 of his 34 passes with a pair of touchdowns. There was one defensive standout, ENMU's Seth Bailey (Texico hs.) made a game high 15 tackles including nine solo tackles. The key to the game was the 30 first downs and 2 of 3 fourth down attempts, converted by Tarleton St. The name of the game was "big plays" on this night, the Texans just had more of them.
The Eastern New Mexico University football team will return to action, next Saturday, for the Home Coming Game against Angelo State. Established as a junior college in 1926, San Angelo College as it was then known, became a full fledged university in 1967. For unknown reasons the San was dropped in 1969. Angelo St. Univ. has been a member of the Lone Star Conf. since 1968.
Success on the football field has been fleeting for the Rams, they've never won an LSC title, other than the two South Division titles they shared with ENMU in 1999 & 2000. Nonetheless, The Angelo St. Rams play at 17,500 seat San Angelo Stadium and have been ranked in the Top 20 in DII attendance 15 times in the last 20 years. The ENMU Greyhounds find themselves at 2-2 overall, 1-1 in Lone Star play with only conference games left on their schedule.
WNMU Mustangs 42 Fort Lewis College Skyhawks 34
After frustrating losses to the Univ. of San Diego and nationally ranked CSU-Pueblo, what the Mustang needed was an easy game against the RMAC whipping boys from Ft. Lewis College... right? With the Skyhawk offense bogged down in ineptitude, WMNU came out firing on all cylinders. Mustang Qb. Mitch Glasmann almost seemed to toy with Ft. Lewis, after drawing them offsides on consecutive downs, he connected with Marquis Sumpter for a 41 yd. td. pass.
Ft. Lewis would keep their punter busy with a succession of three and outs while Glassman punished their hapless secondary. Glassman fired a pass over the middle to Donald Byrd who took it to the hole, 58 yds. to give Western a 14-0 first quarter lead. The Glasmann to Byrd connection worked so well that on their next possession they went right back to it. "Fool me once shame on our corners, fool me twice shame on our defensive coordinator"
Glasmann found Byrd for another touchdown, this one for 42 yds. and the rout was on, 21-0. WNMU's next touchdown of the first half came gift wrapped from the Skyhawks. Forced to punt (yet again) the snap sailed high over the punter's head into the end zone, where Randy Perez of the Mustangs recovered it for a touchdown. With six minute still left in the half, Ft. Lewis had the choice of giving up or getting mad, they chose to get mad and get even.
The Skyhawks' comeback started in an innocuous manner, utilizing a sloppy eight play, 75 yd. drive to score just before the break. You can't blame the Mustangs for going into the locker rooms feeling that this one was in the bag. Upon, resuming the second half, the Skyghawks took up where they had left off, taking just three plays to score again, cutting Western's lead in half. The shamefully small crowd (680 souls) at Altamirano Field was getting antsy.
The Mustangs re-established their dominance with a gritty drive that ended with Abraham Macias (El Paso, Tx., Socorro hs.) scoring from seven yards out. Up by 21 pts., 35-14 this one was over, but before the the Western faithful could break into a chorus of "Na, Na, Na,Na, Na, Na, Na,Na hey, hey ... goodbye, Ft. Lewis scored again to cut Western's lead to two td's. Geezus! Ft. Lewis was proving tougher to kill than those pesky rodents in Wack-a-mole.
With the score 35-21 in WNMU's favor going into the fourth quarter, the Mustang offense vapor locked, Ft. Lewis used a Tim Jenkins Qb. keeper to score once more and just like that we had us a seven point ballgame, 35-28. Big men rise up for big occasions and Mitch Glasmann is a big man (6'4") just as another Western drive was fizzling out, Glasmann scrambled for what seemed like an eternity before hooking up with Ronnell Pompey for a 42 yd. touchdown.
Trailing 42-28, The Skyhawks took less than two minutes to run eight plays, drive 77 yds. and score another touchdown, the point after failed. Those Mustang fans who had been making their way to the exits to avoid the rush, simply sat down in the nearest empty seats, realizing that this one wasn't over yet. WMNU got the ball back and their attempt to run out the clock ended with 2:00 still left on the clock.
Ft. Lewis Qb. Tim Jenkins then willed the Skyhawks down the field getting to the Mustangs 27 yd. line before Western's defense finally put the brakes on. By forcing three incompletions including one on fourth down, the defense gave WNMU the ball and the victory. An iffy effort from WNMU's defense unit, but at least they vindicated themselves with that last stop. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't easy, but it was a conference win and that's all that counts.
WNMU outgained FLC, 562-453, in total offense, this included a 159-48 edge rushing. Ft. Lewis outpassed Western, holding a 405-403 advantage. Abraham Macias led the rushing attack, with 87 yards on 23 carries and one touchdown. Mitch Glasmann threw for 403 yards, for 25-of-39 passing and four touchdowns. Donald Byrd led the receivers with 151 yards on six receptions and two touchdowns.
All RMAC wide receiver, Marquis Sumpter had four catches for 86 yards and one touchdown. He did however, leave the game on a stretcher following a scary hit. Sumpter was transported to Gila Regional Medical Center. After the game Head Coach Adam Clark reported that Marquis had movement in his fingers and toes. Sumpter was held for observation, his status was unknown, but it appears likely that he'll be out for the Colorado School of Mines game.
It doesn't get much easier next week as the Mustangs travel to Golden, Co. to play Colorado School of Mines. The Orediggers were ranked #18 going into their game at NMHU, which they lost 42-37. Mines (3-1, 1-1 RMAC) racked up 632 yards of total offense in a losing effort, both teams combined for an outrageous 1,202 yards in total offense. Mines Qb. Matt Brown connected on 52 of 80 pass attempts for 601 yds. and 4 td's.
NMHU Cowboys 42 Colorado School of Mines Orediggers 37
As George Patton once said "Sometimes, a good offense is your best defense" The points piled up like spent artillery shells at Perkins Stadium, yet in a game where defense was merely an afterthought, it was a crucial stop by the Cowboys' defense that decided the game. NMHU and Colorado Mines combined for 1,202 yards of total offense. Mines was ranked #18 in the AFCA poll, but fell to the Cowboys for the second year in a row, 42-37.
This game featured an outrageous and awesome display of pass attack fireworks, not just from Brown but also from the much overlooked Emmanuel Lewis of Highlands. I think it's safe to assume that Mr. Lewis has supplanted Taylor Genuser as the NMHU starting Qb. Two starts and three games for Lewis and he has racked up well over a 1,000 yards passing (363.7 yds. per game) and over 200 yards rushing and 8 td passes.
How silly must Eric Young, Highlands' head coach feel right about now, having picked Genuser as his starting quarterback? Not to disparage Taylor, he was a good starter, but he's an even better back-up. The RMAC is a quarterback's league, almost every team has a damn good signal caller (even lowly Ft. Lewis can count on Tim Jenkins) But, even in this league loaded with Qb. talent, Emmanuel Lewis & Matt Brown stand out.
I won't even attempt to give you a score by score breakdown on this game, my fingers would cramp up from writing an essay sized account of the action. I will give you some numbers, Mines Qb. Matt Brown completed 52 of 80 pass attempts for 601 yards and 4 td's. His 52 completions broke the conference record of 45. Brown also set the record for pass attempts at 80 breaking the old record of 74. Matt Brown's 601 passing yards set a new school record, though not a conference mark.
In fact Brown pretty much rewrote the Colorado School of Mines record book in this game. Jerrod Doucet, Brown's go to receiver tied the school record for receptions with 15 (for 172 yards) while Cody Renken added 12 catches for 145 yds. and David Pawelek contributed 12 catches for 120 yds. and that's in a losing cause! Under current Qb. coach Chad Friehauf (himself a former Mines Qb.) The Orediggers have been known for their fearsome pass attack.
The Cowboys also put up some big numbers, Qb. Emmanuel Lewis finished the day with 25 completions out of 45 attempts for 434 yds and 4 td's. Vincent Venegas was the top rusher for the Pokes, 8 carries for 84 yds. and one ground churning td. The Venegas touchdown came on a 76 yard scamper just as the fans were getting settled into their seats.Colorado Mines despite the gaudy numbers put up by Matt Brown & his receiving corps didn't rely on the big play.
Their scores were the culmination of long multi-play drives. Highlands on the other hand unleashed the dragon and it payed off for them. Beside Venega's big run, Lewis connected with Trent Hicks for a 44 yd. td, De'Joshua Johnson for a 43 yds. td. and Kevon Williams for a 36 yd. td. Highlands was up 28-14 at the half, 35-17 after three quarters before Colorado Mines came storming back in the fourth with three scores, their last came with 3:06 on the clock.
After their last score at 3:06, Mines forced NMHU to punt, setting up one last attempt for a game winning touchdown. However, Matt Brown's pass attempt to Doucet fell incomplete at midfield on a 4th-and-8 with 31 seconds remaining. Ironic that a game that seemingly saw no end to the scoring, a game that saw both Qb's complete a total of 77 passes and connect on 8 passing touchdowns, was decided by an incompleted pass and some good pass coverage.
For their efforts in leading Highlands to victory over a ranked opponent, Cowboy Qb. Emmanuel Lewis and CB DiAmaal Holmes were named the offensive and defensive players of the week in the RMAC. (Lewis especially had some stiff competition and not just from Matt Brown, Mitch Glasmann of WNMU and Tim Jenkins of Ft. Lewis also had big games behind center) NMHU will travel to Grand Junction, Colo. to take on the Mavericks of Colorado Mesa University this coming Saturday.
Colorado Mesa Univ, formerly known as Mesa St. Univ., (the Mavericks) were an RMAC power throughout the 1980s. Between 1982 & 1990, Mesa St. won 7 league titles, including four in a row. Mesa added two more titles in 2000 & 2003, inexplicably the Mavericks followed that 2003 title with a winless (0-11) season and have had just two winning seasons since then. CMU finished the 2011 season at 3-7, 3-6 in the RMAC, they are under the direction of 1st. yr. head coach Russ Martin.
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