NEW MEXICO -5 new mexico state
Para bailar La Bamba
Para bailar La Bamba
Se necessita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia
Para mi, para ti, ay arriba, ay arriba
Ay, arriba arriba
Por ti sere, por ti sere, por ti sere
Los Lobos recorded this song which I have extreme trouble translating, but it has something to do with a dance. Your Mountain West New Mexico Lobos have been dancing with the New Mexico State Aggies for over 100 years and have been playing each other every year since World War II. What’s important about all of that is that the home team has won this game nearly 70% of the time over the last 20 years. New Mexico is home this year and they are indeed the better team. In fact, New Mexico State is ranked in the bottom 5 of FBS playing in the dungeon with the likes of UMASS, Akron, UTEP and Soylent Green. The poor Aggies have been smoted by the average score of 50 – 9 so far this season. Washington State found them to be an easier opponent than FCS Northern Colorado and San Diego State, which doesn’t even have an offense, was able to score 31 points on the Aggies.
While New Mexico suffered a similar fate when they went up to Notre Dame to get crucified by Touchdown Jesus, they do have one win this season under their belt – beating Sam Houston State 39-31. This victory, while against an FCS team, was against a team ranked #143 on the Sagarin scaled, compared to the New Mexico State ranking of #163. In essence, New Mexico proved that they could cover this spread against a better team than New Mexico State. On the contrary, New Mexico State hasn’t proven that they can cover the toilet when they flush it. The other revealing fact about this result is that New Mexico was able to put up 39 points against a Sam Houston team that only gave up 13.5 points in its other 2 games. So it looks like new Mexico State’s porous defense is going to yield at least 45 points to New Mexico. That means they will need to score 40 points to cover against New Mexico, when their best output this year has been 10 points. They can chuck the ball, but have only found the end zone three times this year.
Last year New Mexico won this rivalry game on the road by 17 points. New Mexico State looks to be much worse this year than last year. The Lobos starting QB, Brandt Hughes, has a shoulder injury and is questionable for the game. No matter…the Lobos like to run the ball and the Aggies can’t stop the run. The other options at QB for the Lobos are senior Sheriron Jones and redshirt sophomore Tevaka Tuioti. Jones played in relief of Hughes in the first game and was effective. Tuioti was the New Mexico starter last year so this is not a panic situation at all, but certainly may be a reason why the betting line is so attractive. The Lobos head coach, Bob Davie, did not make the trip to Notre Dame after a health scare but he’s back on twitter interviewing….that should energize the team. Having said that, New Mexico would win this game with Davey and Goliath as their coaches. Laying the 5 for the Lobos.