New Mexico Football Report

There is no rest or escape from this goddang re-alignment issue. The Big Ten (which has now expanded to 14 schools) plucked Rutgers from the Big East and Maryland from the ACC, thus reopening that big 'ol can of worms. Big East commissioner Mike Aresco has already come out and said that The Big East is eyeballing the Mountain West yet again. (even as the ACC prepares to raid the Big East) UNLV and Air Force have been named as possible targets for the Big East. Air Force had been approached before and said no, but in view of Dave Christensen's profane outburst, they may not want to keep such company anymore.

The Big East is scraping the bottom of the barrel if they're seriously considering adding UNLV for football. I'm well aware that it's all about demographics and television money, but seriously we're talking about the Las Vegas/Henderson, Nv. market here. It has to be UNLV's hotel and hospitality school that they're after, it sure as hell isn't the football program. The other school mentioned by Aresco was BYU. The comish is bluffing on this one. The Cougars, previously ignored overtures from the Big East with haughty disdain. That hasn't changed, they're holding out for something bigger and better. The basketball first Big East doesn't fit the bill.

The magic number is now at 14, The PAC 12 and Big 12 must match that, surely BYU will land at one or the other. Can't say I really blame BYU for ditching the Mountain West, getting drubbed by TCU was one thing but playing second (or third) fiddle to Boise St. was too much for the staid Cougars. After all Boise St. is little more than a football program built around a school with the academic imprint of a junior college. BYU on the other hand is the Bob Jones Univ. of the Western states. There's no limit to the shortsighted greed, Mike Aresco and his Big East shell game needs to go away, although as long as suckers keep biting he'll keep reeling 'em in.

Let's get to speculating on what the future holds for the Mountain West. 1. Though, the idea all three service schools playing in the same league has its appeal, I think Air Force stays put   2. discount all rumors about Boise St., BYU or San Diego St. returning to the MWC, they're not. 3. the Univ. of Idaho, NMSU or UTEP are the only options left to replenish the MWC ranks, are we ready for that?   When the Aggies joined the WAC, UTEP couldn't get out fast enough. If you measure where you stand in the grand scheme of things by the company you keep.... then there goes the neighborhood. I suggest you hold your nose and jump in, the water is fine.

UNM Lobos  20                Colorado St. Univ. Rams     24

With a Mountain West road game against Colorado St. Univ, UNM closed out the 2012 football season with a now familiar heart breaking conference loss. Close enough to taste it, near enough to envision the wild post game celebration."Fighting ever, yielding never, Hail! Hail! Hail!" The CSU Rams however, refused to follow the script. The Lobos battled back from a 17-7 deficit to take the lead  20-17 with under five minutes left to play, only to watch as CSU stormed back on the ensuing possession scoring on a wheel route to retake the lead at 24-20. "My kingdom for a defensive stop" 

Given one last opportunity, UNM behind B.R. Holbrook drove the ball to CSU's 25 yd. line, but a last second Holbrook-to-Carlos Wiggins pass into the end zone was batted down as time expired. Ironically the season ended as UNM's often ignored and malnourished passing game failed to materialize with the final game on the line. Credit CSU's defense for coming up big, but you can't expect that after an entire season of leatherhead style football, (during which you treated the forward pass as some newfangled gimmick, best avoided at all cost) for your passing game to suddenly come alive and win you a ballgame. 

B.R. Holbrook gave it the old college try, but on the final drive he just simply couldn't sync up with his receivers. Considering that B.R. hadn't played since Oct. 27th. when he suffered a shoulder separation (his right, throwing shoulder) You would expect him to be as rusty as the under carriage of  a Ford Probe (without the TruCoat sealant) after a long Minnesota winter. With that in mind, his passing production, (2-21 passing for 205 yards, 194 yds. in the second half) is commendable. While B.R.'s play wasn't awe inspiring, it was an inspiration... and it got the Lobos to within 25 yards of a win. The fifth  year Senior (one of just eight) leaves UNM on a six game losing streak.

The 2012 season is now one for the record books. The game recap and stats take on little significance in light of the outcome. The Lobo's thirteen week journey through college football's battlefields has ended on a somber note. "Hope, deceitful as it is, serves at least to lead us to the end of the season by an agreeable route" At one point in the season we fell upon a bountiful harvest of hope. As the injuries mounted, our reserve of hope dwindled until on the final game, down to three seconds... our hope ran out.  "In reality, hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs man's torments" and some of us are gluttons for punishment.... just you wait till next season! 

With students out of school all week for the Thanksgiving holiday, 32,500-seat Hughes Stadium was a sea of empty seats.  Losing football breeds apathy, whether it be in Ft. Collins, Co., Albuquerque, N.M. or Las Cruces. The win over the Lobos  spared the Rams (4-8, 3-5 Mountain West Conference) from finishing 3-9 for the fourth consecutive year and the fifth time in six years.  3-9 is nothing to holler about unless you've gone 1-11 for three consecutive years. Attendance woes have plagued college football during the course of the season. UNM's attendance sagged as the season went on, (The MWC hasn't released attendance figures for all schools yet)

Hope springs eternal?, that's usually not the case for UNM football. The Lobos ended the season losing their last six games (I'm telling you all that premature bowl talk jinxed 'em) A few solid defensive stops and UNM finishes at 8-5 or 7-6. There are however, too many variables to ponder over and dissect,  the bottom line is that 4-9, while disappointing is still a far cry from 1-11. In Coach Davie we have a man who is committed to turning things around... the right way. We saw the fruits of that labor this year and we'll see even more next season. 2012 will go down in the history books as a losing season, when it could as just as well be viewed as a turning point. 

NMSU Aggies  14               BYU Cougars   50

NMSU by virtue of having taken two bye weeks, is drawing out the misery even further, with a road game against WAC rival, Texas St. Univ., still pending after Saturday's 50-14 thrashing at the hands of BYU. Why are the mighty Cougars making a late season trip to Las Cruces?  Well... it goes back to BYU's rather hasty exit from the Mountain West. With games already scheduled against conference foes such as UNM, suddenly off the board, the Cougars had to scramble to fill the open slots. One dreadful football team from New Mexico is as good as another, and BYU quickly penned a home and home series with NMSU to fill the void left by UNM. 

Both schools will compete as independents in 2013, just don't expect them to play each other ever again. If BYU expects to be taken seriously, they must somehow upgrade their  November schedule. One thing is certain, we're not likely to see BYU play in Las Cruces ever again. (smart, smart, smart) The "Yewts" and their fans are already heaping ridicule down on the "Zoobs" for their weak independent schedule and playing schools like NMSU on the road, just makes matters worse. (dumb, dumb, dumb)  The empirical evidence is in, and real indie BCS contenders (like the Univ. of  Notre Dame) don't play football in Las Cruces, N.M. after Thanksgiving....... Ha!

NMSU actually had the lead in this game. Following a scoreless first quarter, Andrew Manley connected with Perris Scoggins on an 8 yard td. pass that gave the Aggies a 7-0 lead. Any moment of triumph for a mosquito only serves to antagonize the beast. The Cougars woke-up and proceeded to rise up and pour it on NMSU. Having toyed lazily with the Aggies, BYU settled for a 20-7 lead at halftime. In the second half, BYU Qb. James Lark (starting Qb. Riley Nelson suffered a rib injury during a loss at San Jose St.) shocked and awed NMSU's porous defense, by connecting with his wide receivers almost at will. 

Lark found Cody Hoffman wide open for five touchdown passes. He would finish with six total (three in each half) he completed 34 of 50 passes for 384 yards. Hoffman coming off an injury, had 12 catches for 182 yards to go with those touchdowns. NMSU's Andrew Manley continued to spin his wheels, finishing 13-24 passing for 158 yards and two tds. The Aggies running game has been a liability all season, but it's Andrew Manley's propensity for throwing interceptions that's really hurt their offensive efforts.  If the NCAA keeps such a stat, Manley would also lead the nation in deflected passes. Somehow the 6' 3" Manley can't get the ball over the defensive line.

It's been a bad year for quarterbacks, Riley Nelson had missed two games earlier in the season with what was termed "a significant back injury" he finished the San Jose St. game with a rib that bulged out with every breath he took. Utah's former starting Qb. Jordan Wynn was forced into retirement following successive season ending shoulder injuries. (he's since been hired as Qb. coach at Hawaii by Norm Chow... nice rebound) We all know about B.R. Holbrooks various physical ailments at UNM. Andrew Manley who's 2011 campaign was cut short by injury has managed to stay relatively healthy throughout the 2012 season. 

A development that was good for Andrew, but with DeWayne Walker hesitant to make any radical changes in the offense, it was bad for backup Qb. Travaughn Colwell, who received little playing time with which to develop his talents (he's more of an option Qb. than a pocket passer) I've said this before... a pro style pocket passer (Manley) can't get it done at NMSU. Coach Walker, who is probably playing out the string never got wise (bubble eyes) to option football. There's a reason that UNM, Nevada, Air Force etc., picked up on the Triple Option (and its variants) It's an offense that works when you don't enough size and depth on the line or in the backfield. 

Make no mistake about it, Coach Walker is on the hot seat. How do I know this? because "Coaches Hot Seat" a website that is the ultimate authority on coaches in trouble... says so. Coach Walker is firmly planted in Hot Seat #7, just behind Skip Holtz of South Florida and just ahead of Bobby Hauck at UNLV. Other coaches listed include Randy Edsall at Maryland, the 'ol plantation master hisself.. Ellis Johnson of Southern Miss, Old Granny Tuberville at Texas Tech and morally challenged fire starter, Lane Kiffin of USC. I do agree with their prognosis, DeWayne Walker is history, he's had one foot out the door since the Utah State game. 

Hiring the next NMSU football coach requires bold action and sadly boldness is not something normally associated with New Mexico State Univ. or Las Cruces. With the Aggies adrift without a football conference (they'll still compete in the WAC, in all other sports) whomever they hire will be in charge of upgrading the football program, making it more presentable in case some shit list athletic league comes-a-courting.  The way things are going, that could be the Mountain West, Conference USA  or the Sun Belt. This calls for a bold move akin to UNM hiring Bob Davie. NMSU needs a big name guy who's sincere about building from the ground floor up.

That means they'll have to loosen the purse strings, good football coaches don't come cheap. The Aggies are penny pinchers, DeWayne Walker was an A.C. when he was hired, Hal Mumme was a successful FSC coach, Tony Samuels was also an A.C.  If that's the route they're going to take then here's my suggestions, drop down to Div. II and hire  Don Carthel at West Texas A&M... the man is a proven winner, and the Texas recruiting ties couldn't hurt. or maybe  Eric Young, NMHU... he has a recruiting pipeline to California and his players are tough, never say die overachievers  Young's offense balances passing and running with an emphasis on big plays.