New Mexico Football Report

NMSU Aggies  28                     Texas St. Univ. Bobcats  66

In the midst of all the hoopla surrounding the conference championship games, NMSU closed out the 2012 season on the road against Texas St. Univ. in San Marcos, Tx.  A season that had started out with so much promise, a convincing 49-19 win over Sacramento State, ended with a resounding thud.  Although, for one glorious quarter it looked like the Aggies would go out winners. Unfortunately, it was the first quarter and Texas St. Univ. outscored NMSU 52-7 the rest of the way, to win 66-28.

A passing touchdown by Andrew Manley, and a pair of rushing touchdowns (Manley and Germi Morrison) put the Aggies up 21-14 at the end of the first quarter.  The Bobcats then tallied five unanswered touchdowns in the second quarter to make a mockery of what had been a game of tit for tat.  Andrew Manley threw for another passing touchdown just before halftime, but by then the floodgates had opened and the Aggies were wallowing in the muck of their own despair.

Nine Texas State players scored touchdowns on Saturday, including two fumble returns and a punt return, as the Bobcats rolled to a 66-28 victory over New Mexico State. The Bobcats (4-8, 2-4 Western Athletic) scored 49 first-half points on seven touchdowns. The Aggies (1-11, 0-6) were held scoreless in the second half after scoring 28 first-half points. Bobcat linebacker Joplo Bartu had a career game against the Aggies, recording 17 tackles, eight of which were for loss, and four sacks.

 “We fed their confidence early when they scored,” Bobcat head coach Dennis Franchione said. “We broke their backs with the turnovers that turned into touchdowns and the punt return for a touchdown.” Texas State's defense ripped out two Aggie fumbles that were returned for touchdowns. Texas State coach Dennis Franchione has a history against the Aggies. As head coach at UNM, Franchione led the Lobos to six wins in seven years. (six in a row, after losing to NMSU in his first season with the Lobos)

"It's been a long year," said NMSU head coach DeWayne Walker, he certainly didn't have to convince anyone of that. The 2012 season will go into the history books as one of the least competitive seasons in the long history of NMSU football.  Everything about Aggie football in 2012 was so rotten that the only way to turn things around would be to scrap everything, strip the program down it's skeletal frame and start all over again. Just like one on those cheesy discount furniture stores, everything must go!

It's time for a rebirth, a fresh start... a different approach. Three teams  playing for the first time at the FBS level had better seasons than NMSU (South Alabama, Texas St.  &  UTSA) and one matched NMSU's season record (U. Mass at 1-11) A malignancy took root at NMSU after Tony Samuel's final season (5-6, which in retrospect was quite an accomplishment) Athletic Director,  McKinley Boston, a former NFL player.... a football man, has failed the football program in a manner that can only be classified as negligent.

 In 2009, (Walker's first season) the Aggies won three of their first six games (Prairieview St., UNM, Utah St.) and then tanked their last seven to finish 3-10.  In 2010, the Aggies started out with four straight losses and finished with four straight losses, with wins over UNM & San Jose St. In 2011, NMSU was 3-3 after six games (Minnesota, UNM, Idaho) but would win just once more (Fresno St.) DeWayne Walker's record at NMSU is 10-40 over four seasons, just 4-25 in the now defunct WAC. 

Walker was 3-1 (I say that in the past tense, he's still the head coach) against UNM, but is 0-4 vs. UTEP. Compare NMSU's progress (or lack of) under Walker's predecessor Hal Mumme (who had been the head coach of the Univ. of Kentucky prior to arriving at NMSU) Mumme was 11-38 over four years, 4-28 in conference games.  The Aggies  were 0-12 in 2005, 4-8 in 2006, 4-9 in 2007 and 3-9 in 2008.  In his eight years at NMSU, Tony Samuels won 34 games which was 13 more than Walker and Mumme combined.

"I got a lot of thinking to do," Walker said, after getting blown out by Texas St, 66-28.  One would have to think that Walker's future as NMSU's head coach is very much in doubt. Walker continued, "A lot of stuff to think about. The coaches get on the road to recruit Tuesday. You don't want to go out like this."  NMSU also doesn't want to go on like this. The time has come to end the DeWayne Walker era at NMSU and McKinley Boston should follow him out the door.  NMSU's football program is drifting towards the edge, who will save it?

Historically NMSU  football is bad for athletic conferences. The Aggies have been involved in three leagues that either dropped football or disbanded.  Starting with the defunct Border Conference, NMSU played Hardin-Simmons in that league's last ever football game. That was followed by a ten year run as a football independent. In 2000 the Aggies also did the honors for the Big West, taking on North Texas in the final football game for that now basketball only league. Fast forward to 2012 and NMSU is closing the book on the Western Athletic Conference in football against Texas St. Univ. 

It’s the final game in the 50-year history of the WAC (a run that included BYU's National Championship in 1984) Just like they did in 1962 the Aggies will continue to play as an independent. Though, that may not be the case for too long.  With the Big East raiding Conference USA for schools and Conference USA raiding the Sun Belt for schools, that means that spots are opening up.  There's rumors floating around that NMSU & Idaho could be headed to C-USA before too long. 

When the Big West dropped football in 2000, New Mexico State found a home in the Sun Belt. The Sun Belt, now under the direction of former WAC commissioner Karl Benson spurned the Aggies earlier this year. Something tells me, they'll be  a little more receptive as more Sun Belt schools jump to C-USA.  Adding to the Aggies' football woes is their low attendance numbers.  15,000 per-game, over the course of one season,  is a FBS benchmark. NMSU is one of 10 FBS teams that have fallen below that mark.