When NMSU opens as a -16.5 favorite over UTEP.
We better sweep them in BB and beat UNM too..
We better sweep them in BB and beat UNM too..
You know we are rock bottom
- Thread starter axingfools1
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I have hope because at the end of the day they're still just NMSU.
Has NMSU really "improved" though? They have one win by 2 points over a lousy UNM team that itself has one win over FCS Abilene Christian who in turn is only 1-2.
It's still early but comparing the two schedules head to head they are performing better than we are.
For one they have a win we don't. They played at Arizona St and lost by 6. We hosted Arizona and lost by 50. ASU was the better team last season. We hosted a conference mate that won three games last year and lost by 17. They hosted a conference mate that won 10 games last year and lost by three.
They've been competitive in all their games we haven't shown any signs of life.
I watched them play ASU, who is by no means a world beater, but to answer your question, YES, they've really improved.
I watched NMSU last night on ESPN3. It would not surprise me if we play well, it also would not surprise me if they covered 16.5 easily. Here are just some random observations:
- They are not very big on defense, especially up front. That should mean something and be a good match-up for us, but with our disapointing O-line and running game, I won't count on it.
- They blitz A LOT!
- They have botched at least one extra point in all 3 games this season.
- Their O-line pass protects very well.
- They spread the field and throw it.
- They have a very good and tall WR that they will sometimes just throw it up to. He scored a TD and 2 point play last night, he also had that highlight TD catch at ASU.
- They love to throw the 10-15 inside dig route. Our secondary must defend the inside hash mark area and take that away.
- They have a converted QB playing WR who they like to throw to on 3rd downs.
- Rogers still makes some great throws and he still makes some terrible throws. He hit some very tight windows, he can throw a perfect fade, but then he turned around and hit some Troy DB's in the hands on multiple occasions.
- Rose was not used as much as I would have expected. Maybe because they fell behind early.
- Troy had a big 240 pound back that gave NMSU some trouble, always getting YAC. If used properly, then Dove could possibly do some similar things.
- They are not very big on defense, especially up front. That should mean something and be a good match-up for us, but with our disapointing O-line and running game, I won't count on it.
- They blitz A LOT!
- They have botched at least one extra point in all 3 games this season.
- Their O-line pass protects very well.
- They spread the field and throw it.
- They have a very good and tall WR that they will sometimes just throw it up to. He scored a TD and 2 point play last night, he also had that highlight TD catch at ASU.
- They love to throw the 10-15 inside dig route. Our secondary must defend the inside hash mark area and take that away.
- They have a converted QB playing WR who they like to throw to on 3rd downs.
- Rogers still makes some great throws and he still makes some terrible throws. He hit some very tight windows, he can throw a perfect fade, but then he turned around and hit some Troy DB's in the hands on multiple occasions.
- Rose was not used as much as I would have expected. Maybe because they fell behind early.
- Troy had a big 240 pound back that gave NMSU some trouble, always getting YAC. If used properly, then Dove could possibly do some similar things.
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See, I keep hearing about how NMSU "stayed close" to Arizona State. Arizona State are now 1-2 themselves with that being their only win so far
In all fairness, ASU lost to TTU and a San Diego State team that just beat Stanford. UTEP lost to a 1-2 Rice team that's has only beaten UTEP and got crushed by Stanford and Houston. UTEP was a 1 point favorite in that homegame and it wasn't close.
Other have said "it's a rivalry game" and they're right. I think 18 points is very generous and is probably the biggest spread in NMSU's favor ever. That said, if there's a year for NMSU to beat UTEP, it's this year. I don't get how several people here can blast how bad UTEP is, and then be surprised that the odds makers give them no respect. When you're one of the worst teams on the field on both sides of the ball, you're not going to get respect.
I'm going by the eye test. In my limited exposure to each, NMSU has looked much better than UTEP. No need to go any further with the speculation, though. We'll find out next week. Hope I'm wrong and you're right.
I assume nmsu has a smaller budget than us. They're in Las Cruces, we are in ELP. I assume it's harder to recruit to LC than ELP.
So any way you want to skin this, NMSU has improved. Given our natural advantages over them, they are on the right path for what they are. They should be D2 not D1.
Point here is, it's ridiculous and a total embarrassment we are an underdog to nmsu. The equivalent would be UT being a 16 pt underdog to utep.
So any way you want to skin this, NMSU has improved. Given our natural advantages over them, they are on the right path for what they are. They should be D2 not D1.
Point here is, it's ridiculous and a total embarrassment we are an underdog to nmsu. The equivalent would be UT being a 16 pt underdog to utep.
Not quite. The gap in budget between UT and UTEP is a lot larger than the gap in budget between NMSU and UTEP. By several orders. Prior to the win streak UTEP is currently on in the I-10 series, the football history between NMSU and UTEP is pretty close. In others sports across the board, NMSU often has the edge against UTEP, especially as of late in basketball, where NMSU also holds the historic advantage too. I also can't really see how El Paso is a better place to recruit to than Las Cruces when they're both so close together, and if you went to either school, know how much intermingling goes on between both student bodies. The reality is both locations are probably hard to recruit to when everywhere from outside the region has no clue where they are located.
NMSU is easily the worst college football program in top division history, but their other programs are solid, and they are by no means a division 2 school. If anything, NMSU will consider a drop down to FCS classification if they can't sustain independent status in FBS football, but they're too big and strong athletically from top to bottom to be a division 2 program.
If sports has taught us anything, money helps, but you still have to play the game. It's why the Yankees don't win every season, and why even the best funded college programs struggle (look at UT). If NMSU does in fact lose to UTEP, I would be proud that it's a one that occurs rarely. As it stands, NMSU has only beaten UTEP 3 times this century.
I disagree with your assessment. I believe ELP has much more to offer than LC. Not a knock on LC, just calling it as it is. And while yes kids from LC come to ELP it's not the same. I also never said ELP was easy to recruit to.
UTEP is in CUSA, Nmsu is where? And by d2 I didn't mean d2, I meant FCS. I said D1 and D2. D1 is no more it's FBS. NMSU should realistically be playing in FCS, lower level from D1 (FBS).
If UT is struggling taking the #4 team to OT then what are we? UT struggles relative to what they are, a power, but they do not struggle in general.
Fact is UTEP should never be a 16+ point underdog to NMSU. Too many factors favor Texas-El Paso over State. It's a total embarrassment that a school with less resources and less name recognition is going to kick our ass.
Texas has had 3 straight losing seasons. For a program with that budget and resources that is used to championship caliber football, that is struggling. They currently aren't a power. Not sure if you've been following the landscape for the last few years.
The point is everyone has ups and downs, and resources don't always dictate what happens on the field. If that were the case, just look up athletic department budgets and declare your national champion.
I also agree that El Paso has more to offer than Las Cruces, but when you're 18 years old, it's not that much different. NMSU definitely has a more "college" feel to it than UTEP does, where basically no one lives on or near campus like at NMSU. Las Cruces is definitely a more aesthetically pleasing place to live. I'm someone that loves El Paso, but I'm not enough of a homer to realize that to most people that don't live here, El Paso's name usually generates negative emotions from people that is usually based on stereotype and stupidity. The same can be said of the entire state of New Mexico.
In the end, the reason NMSU is favored is because UTEP might be playing a 3rd string QB. Is allowing 540 yards per game. Has given up over 150 points. And even when the 113th ranked Arizona defense rolled to town, UTEP could only muster 16 points. Its all based on on the field performance and not money and resources. UTEP has been favored in pretty much every game for a decade. That where you can attribute all your money and resources. Still doesn't mean UTEP isn't going to take a loss every once and a while.
But FCS is D1. Lower than D1 is D2, and FCS is not D2.
FCS teams do defeat FBS teams every year, even occasionally P5 teams.
(Following your logic, I could easily claim that P5 schools are D1 and the rest are lower than D1. After all, P5 teams get special privileges over the other FBS teams; their conference champions get automatic bids in the top six bowl games. The NCAA now allows Power 5 conferences to write their own rules on stipends and other things, further separating the haves from the have-nots <-Link. The Power 5 schools are D1; CUSA is lower.)
Yep
I think there are about 340 Div 1 basketball programs, most of which are FCS, DII or DIII in football.
EDIT : Maybe I'm wrong. FCS for sure but perhaps not D 2 and 3. I knew Monmouth plays Div 1 basketball and thought they were still D 3 football but they moved to FCS.
There are 129 FBS football schools. There are 124 FCS fb programs. Combined that's 253 Div 1 programs. There are 347 D 1 basketball programs. Roughly 95 programs that either don't field a fb team or have to be D 2 or 3. I guess I'm not sure which it is.
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To FCS, yes. The Missouri Valley Conference is considered a strong Division I basketball conference and most of those schools play FCS football in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. You've got basketball powers like Butler (Big East in basketball) that play FCS ball (Pioneer Football League).
And for FBS schools like UTEP, a victory over an FCS team counts towards bowl eligibility; a victory over a Division II team does not. So I cringe when I see people calling for UTEP to "stop playing Division II teams." UTEP hasn't played a Division II team in decades. UTEP has played plenty of games against Division I FCS teams, which count towards bowl eligibility, and of course UTEP lost to Cal Poly and almost lost a few others.
Every now and then an FCS team will even beat FBS teams that go to bowl games! My Northwestern Wildcats (Big Ten) lost to FCS Illinois State last season but still went on to beat Pitt in the Pinstripe Bowl. In 2001 TCU lost to FCS Northwestern State (NOT Northwestern) and went to a bowl game. 2003 Navy lost to FCS Delaware and went to a bowl game. And of course, in 2007 Michigan lost to then-FCS Appalachian State and went on to play in the Citrus Bowl.
I didn't say ELP was pleasing to the eye but an 18 year old kid is going to have a hell of a lot more to do in ELP than LC. So I disagree that to an 18 year old it isn't all much different.
My point in all of this is that UTEP has much more to work with than NMSU. It's a shame the Aggies are 16 pt favorites. Kudos to them but really embarrassing for us. Now are they fav bc of them or bc of what Kugler has done with our program?
I
To date no university has ever dropped its program from FBS to FCS. Idaho will be the first next year.
Reminds me of how annoying it is when we get the "UTEP should drop football" statements. These are people with no idea what Title IX is and have no clue that ending football would destroy the entire women's athletics program. Also when I hear "UTEP should start a soccer team' when we've had a club soccer team for years.
They are favored because we have the 2nd worst offense in college football in addition to one of the worst defenses in college football. Then on top of that, our starting QB probably isn't going to play. NMSU has a decent offense that can score points and a bad defense and they will be playing at home. They are good at 1 thing, we are good at zero. They will put up some points against our defense, the question is how many can our pathetic offense put up against NMSU. I know its embarrassing but it is really hard to disagree with NMSU being favored.
I'm not disagreeing with it. We should be 20 point dogs. I'm not disagreeing with Vegas, I'm disagreeing with Kugler, Stull, and Natalicio.
I'm hoping nmsu slaughters us so that Kugler can be fired first thing off the bus when it returns to ELP. Then we bring in Price to coach the team the rest of the year.
This season has been a disaster. Undoubtedly we will have a new coaching staff in December. A mid year firing will not help this team. The interim coach would be Tom Mason. He's been an interim coach twice and has a record of 2-20. No in season move can save this season. In fact it may make it worse. The players know if Kuglers is gone a lot of them especially the local guys are gone too. If Kugler goes a lot of the players will check out. I wish I could be more positive but there is no way to salvage this season with and in season coaching change.
UTEP could try hosting a live boxing match before each football game as a promotion. El Paso loves their boxing.
This is starting to feel like the 2002 game. We better come to play or this will get real ugly. This really hasn't been a rivalry. They've dominated us in basketball, we've dominated them in football. It would do wonders for nmsu's attendance and program to beat UTEP and UNM in the same year.
It doesn't take much to do any kind of wonder for Los Crotches or NMSU.
I really wish UTEP football would retire football jerseys just like basketball. I know we don't have the greatest tradition but it would at least mean something to fans and recruits. And the players.
