New Mexico Football Report

Barring some kind of miracle or sudden resurgence, it appears that we are witnessing the final days of Div. 1 FBS football in Las Cruces. NMSU head coach, DeWayne Walker is still saying the right things, but it's apparent that losing is weighing on him.  Nobody would blame him if  he  left Aggieland in his rear view mirror.  Walker's record at NMSU of 10-34 over 3.5 seasons, won't  win him a vote of confidence, not even from NMSU AD McKinley Boston.

Since arriving at New Mexico State Walker's teams have finished 3-10 (2009) 2-10 (2010) 4-9 (2011) in Coach Walker's defense it's hard to win when your recruiting base consists of your sister's kids, ex-cons & gangland refugees.  It's never been easy to recruit at NMSU and now without a conference to call home, it'll only get harder. The WAC is done,  not just as a football conference, but quite possibly in all sports after  2012.

This leaves the NMSU athletic department in a quandary  to continue as an independent in football while finding a new league for your other sports is feasible. Dropping down to Div. 1 FCS is a highly undesirable  option.  The question is, for how long can NMSU maintain its D1 FBS football program as an independent if there's no interest  from fans and recruits? The other indies (Notre Dame, BYU) all have built in advantages that NMSU lacks.

The Sun Belt Conf. (which the Aggies were once a part of) is in no hurry to let them back in.  The Big  Sky Conf. could be an option (that's the route taken by the Univ. of Idaho) The Big Sky  plays FCS football and Div. 1 basketball. It wouldn't be  a perfect fit for NMSU, but geographically it would make more sense than the Sun Belt. That whole FCS thing is a sticking point, The Big Sky and its member schools are not inclined to move up to the FBS ranks anytime soon.  

What is needed at NMSU right now is bold leadership, someone willing to take bold steps towards upgrading the football program. Such as UNM just did by hiring Bob Davie and as they had done in basketball by bringing in Steve Alford.  McKinley Boston doesn't strike me  as  being bold, in fact Boston has been asleep at the wheel ever since a tidal wave of self serving greed and "every man for himself" panic swept through the college game.

McKinley Boston seems to have missed all the clues and signs leading up to the demise of the WAC. Had he seen them, the Aggies would still be in The Sun Belt secure in having a stable league to call home. The Aggies stood still while the world changed around them, and  now  they literally find themselves in a league of one.  And that failure falls squarely at the feet of McKinley Boston and outgoing NMSU President  Barbara Couture. 

Couture mysteriously took a leave of absence recently. And now we learn that she will be on administrative leave  until an interim president is chosen later this month. The Las Cruces Sun-News described Couture's resignation as a "mutual contract separation" Problems under her leadership, including enrollment drops and the loss of its football conference affiliation were cited as likely reasons for her sudden ouster. 

   

NMSU plans to pay Couture's nearly $454,000 severance package with savings accumulated from as many as 15 vacant administrative positions. Couture's payout is drawing criticism from state lawmakers who say legislation is needed to stop so-called "golden parachutes" for highly paid employees who resign or are fired from state jobs. Rep. Mary Helen Garcia of Las Cruces now wants to investigate why the university's Board of Regents agreed to the payout earlier this week.

With Couture gone, McKinley Boston and DeWayne Walker will probably get a reprieve. NMSU can ill afford to buyout coaching contracts in the best of times. Now, it appears that Couture's payout will leave the university broke as a joke.  At a time when so many schools across the country are working to build up their football programs, the Aggies stand apart because they're headed in the opposite direction. 

NMSU Aggies  18      Univ. of Idaho Vandals  26

The atmosphere at sterile Kibbe Dome was akin to a sober Mormon wake. The only thing missing was "The Body of an American" piped in over the p.a. system. The sparse crowd cheered as if they were forced to do so and the Aggies played with all the enthusiasm of a corpse.  Let's just call this game the Irrelevance Bowl of 2012, two teams with a combined record of 1-9, both going nowhere.  

The Vandals, who had yet to taste the sweet wine of success this season, rode the hot arm of Qb. Dominque Blackman and the mighty kicking foot of Trey Farquhar to victory. U. of Idaho surged past the Aggies in the first half and held them off late in the fourth quarter for a 26-18 win that wasn't as close as the score might indicate.   For the Vandals it was their 14th win in 19 tries against New Mexico State.

The Aggies played like they had been bled out. After NMSU jumped out to a 3-0 lead, Idaho put the Aggies in a choke hold by  scoring  17 straight points. The Aggie offensive line as has been the case all season, was culpable for most of their woes on offense.  Andrew Manley cannot complete a pass if he's laying on his back and a flurry of false start penalties had NMSU going backwards more often than forwards. 

Manley's stats were reasonably good, 28-45 passing for 309 yds., 1 td. and two ints.  But, for most of the game Andrew was simply scrambling to avoid Idaho's not-so fearsome pass rush.  "You gotta look at the style of quarterback he is - a drop-back quarterback," Walker said. "He needs his supporting cast so he can do what he does best: throw the football." Keeping Andrew healthy and in one piece wouldn't be a bad idea either.

The Aggie running game, which till now has been little more than a rumor, showed some life against Idaho. Germi Morrison rushed for 66 yds., the most by an Aggie running back all season. Back-up Qb. Travaughn Colwell (who was tossed into the fire last season as a true freshman) took some snaps out of the wildcat formation, which resulted in 4 carries for 22 yds. Austin Franklin had nine catches for 115 yards, his fifth 100 yd. game this season. 

However, Franklin for the second week in a row botched a return (in this case a punt) that led directly to a momentum shifting score.  "That was dumb on my part," Walker said of having Franklin return punts against the Vandals. "I told (special teams coach Keith Murphy), 'one more screw up, (Franklin's) out.' And he screwed us. It cost us seven points." Hypothetically speaking, take away those seven points and the Aggies tie the game with their final score.

Then, if we continue to follow that line of reasoning, if Dominque Blackman doesn't throw an interception on the game's first snap, the Aggies don't get that early field goal, cancelling out Franklin's bonehead move.  I never took DeWayne Walker to be a finger pointer, but damn that's some harsh blow back directed at Franklin. Walker not only throws his best receiver under the bus, but he backs up and runs over him again. 

"And look at me, I'm in tatters, yeah... I've been battered, what does it matter, Uh-huh"  All phases of the Aggie game plan need work, and they now have a bye week to get their shit together before a hellish road game against Utah State in Logan, Ut.  DeWayne better get his ducks in a row, or this is one game that's going to get ugly in a hurry.  The Utags are 4-2 with wins over SUU, Utah, CSU & UNLV, a 2 point loss at Wisconsin and a 3 point loss at BYU.

Utah St. will travel to San Jose, Ca. for a game with fellow future MWC school San Jose St. this coming Saturday. Here's some fun facts about the Utags for you, they rank eighth in the nation in scoring defense.  The Utag defense ranks first in the WAC and eighth in the nation allowing just 12.8 points per game. They also rank first in the WAC and 16th  in the nation in pass efficiency defense (103.9 yds. per game) and second in the WAC in total defense.

Through six games, Utah State has out-scored its opponents 54-0 in the first quarter and has allowed just two first-half touchdowns as it holds an 88-22 scoring advantage in the first half this season. Give me a D, E, F, E, N, S, E!.... you know what that spells and I suspect that the NMSU offense won't do shit against Utah St.  "Fare thee well gone away, There's nothing left to say 'cept to say adieu"  

UNM Lobos  35    Texas St. Univ. Bobcats  14

We live for speculation and what ifs in New Mexico.  It didn't take more than a day after UNM's win over Texas St. for the bowl talk to begin.  Shame on you Albuquerque Journal, at 3-3 the Lobos have already matched their win total for the entire Mike Locksley era, but let's stow away any bowl talk for now. As Bob Davie said "Let’s not get carried away. We beat Southern, New Mexico State and Texas State"  

Not to piss in the drinking water, but those are three bad teams. It would  be something if Coach Davie, in his first year could transform UNM from being arguably the worst team in Div. 1 FBS to bowl contenders.  Good Gawd! and if my aunt wore army boots she could stomp frogs all day. Here's a cautionary tale, in 2011 NMSU was 3-3 after six games, Aggie fans worked themselves into a bowl bid frenzy and the Aggies promptly tanked, finishing at 1-6.

 UNM took the opening kickoff, ran 10 plays, picked up 75 yds., the last 37 yds. coming from Kasey Carrier for the touchdown. On the ensuing kickoff, Lobo LB, Dallas Bollema forced a fumble by Texas St. kick returner, Andy Erickson. Fr. wide receiver Marquis Bundy recovered for UNM and returned the fumble to the Bobcat one yard line. Kasey Carrier took it in from there on the next play.  Just five minutes into the game, UNM was up 14-0.

Down but not out, Texas St., coached by former Lobo head coach Dennis Franchione, abandoned their usual option offense in order to target UNM's weak pass coverage. It  was a sound strategy,  The Bobcats got on the scoreboard when Shaun Rutherford hooked up with Chase Harper for a 40 yd. td. pass, that cut the Lobo lead in half at 14-7. Jhurell Pressley then capped off an impressive Lobo drive with a one yd. td. run, to pad UNM's lead, 21-7

Exploiting the Lobo secondary, Shaun Rutherford found Andy Erickson for a 35 yd. td. pass, to pull the Bobcats to within one touchdown of the Lobos, 21-14. These new look Lobos are no nervous nellies. New Mexico had an answer for the Bobcats,  a nine play, 68 yd. drive during which not a single pass was thrown. Kasey Carrier, well on his way to the biggest game of his career,  hit pay dirt from 19yds. out to extend UNM's lead to 28-14.  

On the first play from scrimmage of the second half, Sr. CB, Destry Berry intercepted a Shaun Rutherford pass to set up Kasey Carrier's 43 yd. td. run, the last scoring play of the game. The Lobos shut out Texas State in the second half, although outside Carrier's touchdown, UNM was also shut down in the second half. Berry had another interception on the game's final play. Coach Fran's first trip to New Mexico since 1997, ended on a sour note, for him. 

Now for those all important numbers.... Bobcat Qb. Shaun Rutherford finished 16-21 passing, 1 int., 2 td passes, and he was sacked 5 times. Texas St. backup Qb. Tyler Arndt was picked off by Lobo defenders, Dallas Bollema and Destry Berry. Andy Erickson had eight catches for 100 yds, though he coughed up a fumble that led to a Lobo score. No running game to speak of from the Bobcats (Texas St. only managed 32 yds. rushing) The Lobos first two touchdowns came just 12 seconds apart and that set the tone for the entire game. 

For the Lobos, Kasey Carrier  had a career day with four touchdowns and 191 yards rushing. Jhurell Pressley added 78 yds. and 1 td. Cole Gautsche picked up 79 yds. on 7 carries.  The Lobos finished with a season best 361 yds. rushing. UNM set a school record for fewest completions and passing yds. in a game, 9 yds. passing on one completion. Not that the Bobcat safeties & corners weren't busy, what with Carrier & Pressley all over the secondary.

The fact that B.R. Holbrook is at best an average passer and Cole Gautsche don't pass, dictates that UNM will run the ball whenever possible. Next up for the Lobos is their first trip to Hawai'i since 1998. Hawai'i a football only member of the MWC and is off to a rough start under 1st. year head coach Norm Chow.  The Warriors are 1-4 overall, 0-2 in the MWC. UNM will be seeking its first win outside of New Mexico since 2007. 

Any team that travels to Hawai'i for a game, is allowed an extra game on their schedule (thus 13 games for UNM in 2012) The trip to Hawai'i is also the reason the Lobos don't have a bye week this season. Last season, NMSU was 3-3 and entertaining thoughts of a bowl bid. A trip to the islands and a dispiriting loss to Hawai'i brought them crashing back to reality. This is by all means, a winnable game for UNM and it's been a long time since I've been able to say that.