(05-17-2020 01:41 PM)UTEPDallas Wrote:  I’m one of the few UTEP fans that has nothing against NMSU. Maybe because I wasn’t born or raised in El Paso so I didn’t grow up rooting against them. Yes, it’s a rivalry and I might even call Las Cruces “Lost Causes” (although LC is a nice small city IMO) but I wish nothing but the best for them. I even rooted for them in the Cactus Bowl vs Utah State.

The problem for NMSU is they don’t really offer anything the MWC and C-USA want or need. The proximity to UTEP and UNM is a curse and a blessing. A curse for the reasons mentioned above. A blessing because independence can work for the Aggies because UTEP and UNM play them every year in football and for a home and home in basketball so the WAC can at least be tolerable. Other than Idaho, no other school has suffered the consequences of the destruction of WAC football or the lack of a second Western non power league more than NMSU.

They offer UTEP an Olympic sports travel partner which coming out of the Covid shutdown will be huge. You can basically put up traveling teams in one hotel, even if it’s in El Paso to save major costs. The athletic admins now will be forced to consider these issues now.