New Mexico at New Mexico State: College Football's Battle of Defeateds

Quick, name a player currently playing for the New Mexico or New Mexico State football teams.

If you weren’t able to do it without a quick Google search of either team’s roster, relax, you’re probably not in the minority.

New Mexico’s two FBS programs are a combined 0-9 this season and neither squad seems to be on the horizon of mind-blowing success in the second half of the 2010 season.

The Lobos of New Mexico have been outscored by an average of 40 points in their first five games while New Mexico State has been a little more respectable, only being outscored by an average of 35 points in their four contests so far.

To be fair, New Mexico has had the misfortune of battling three strong BCS squads in Oregon, Utah, and Texas Tech while New Mexico State has only had to battle one, the Kansas Jayhawks, although the Aggies did have to face off against No. 4 rated Boise State this past weekend, a game which they lost, 59-0.

So, yes, suffice to say, things haven’t been too pretty for either school thus far.

That’s not to say that this unsuccessful start to the season wasn’t expected. Both of these teams finished in the basement of their respective conferences last season.

Under first year head coach Mike Locksley, a former offensive coordinator at Illinois, New Mexico finished 1-11 in 2009 after letting up more than 400 yards per game on defense. New Mexico State, on the other hand, finished with a 3-10 record under new head coach DeWayne Walker, a former defensive coordinator at UCLA.

Neither Locksley nor Walker has had much luck trying to turn things around in their second years.

It doesn’t mean that the schools should be ready to quit on either coach yet. Locksley and Walker, who are two of the the 13 African-American head coaches currently coaching at the FBS level, are both known to be strong recruiters. But recruiting top talent from a state that sent exactly zero players to BCS schools this past year can be tough.

Both will need results soon if they hope to keep their jobs and this game could be used as a boost for whichever team comes out on top.

The Lobos have dominated this matchup, winning six straight games up until last year’s 20-17 last-second defeat.

This year, the two team’s offensive and defensive units rank as one of the five worst in the nation and it doesn’t look like there’s much reason to pay attention to this game other then to watch the futility unfold.

So far, the only noteworthy calling card for these teams is that they both got the opportunity to get trounced by top five teams.

The only sure thing is that after this weekend, we will have a new king of college football in the state of New Mexico. Although that hardly seems like something to be proud of these days.