Aggies Must Win Early to Break 52-year Bowl Drought

By: Zack Ponce

Imagine Aggie Memorial Stadium packed with fans to cheer the New Mexico State Aggies to victory over archrival UTEP 27-15, leading NMSU to a perfect 11-0 record.

Sounds like a fantasy? 

Yes, at least to a 22-year-old like me.

But this did happen – in 1960.

52 years ago New Mexico State posted its only perfect season, defeating Utah State in the 1960 Sun Bowl by a 20-13 margin.

The Aggies have never again appeared in a bowl game.

“It’s tough to talk about,” redshirt-senior defensive tackle Donte Savage said about the bowl drought.  “Before I came here a lot of people told me that New Mexico State had a tough past, but one of these days we’re gonna have to change the tradition around here.”

The Aggies enter the 2012 campaign in an unfamiliar situation – they are, or should be, favored to win five games on their schedule.  These include matchups against Sacramento State (Aug. 30), at Texas-El Paso (Sept. 15), New Mexico (Sept. 22), Texas-San Antonio (Sept. 29), and at Texas State (Dec. 1).

If you include games at Ohio (Sept. 8), at Idaho (Oct. 6), and home against San Jose State (Nov. 10) as “winnable,” then New Mexico State has a chance to win the six games required for bowl eligibility.

“We know about it, we know what our goal is,” starting redshirt-sophomore quarterback Andrew Manley replied.

All teams want to start the year strong, but New Mexico State needs to win early.  Six of the eight aforementioned “winnable” games occur in the first-half of the schedule.

However NMSU is not a lock to win all of their first six games. 

Two matchups in particular stand out as potential losses – at Ohio and at UTEP.

Last year in Las Cruces the Aggies played Ohio tough for a half before surrendering 21 second-half points en route to a 44-24 defeat.  This year NMSU must travel to Athens, Ohio. 

The 2011 Aggies, who you could argue were the better team, found a way to lose 16-10 at home against UTEP thanks in part to four NMSU fumbles. 

New Mexico State should be favored to beat UTEP this year, but the Aggies have struggled to win in El Paso.  NMSU has only won three times in the last 20 years at the Sun Bowl, with the most recent victory being a narrow 34-33 win in 2008 (Hal Mumme’s final season).

The optimist would like to think the Aggies will finish this season, their final campaign in the Western Athletic Conference, with an 8-4 record.  The realist, 5-7 at best.

When asked what would qualify as a successful year, Savage replied, “winning more than four games.”

I agree. 

The sad truth is that New Mexico State has finished with an above-.500 record only eight times since 1960.  NMSU is not Florida, Texas, or even Arizona State.

For a program that last finished with a record above .500 in 2002, Aggie fans must temper expectations.

Head coach Dwayne Walker has shown steady improvement since his arrival from UCLA in 2009.  It’s been apparent in the team’s on-field effort, and hopefully it will manifest itself in the team’s final record of 2012.

“Everybody bought into coach Walker’s plan at this university, so all we have to do is go out there and do what we need to do,” Savage said.