(09-19-2021 07:24 AM)OscarWildeCat Wrote:  

(09-18-2021 08:57 AM)YesCubanB Wrote:  

(09-18-2021 01:15 AM)All4One Wrote:  

(09-17-2021 08:32 PM)Todor Wrote:  

(09-17-2021 04:01 PM)OhioBoilermaker Wrote:  Did you read the question? It was if NMSU would join CUSA, not if CUSA would invite NMSU.

For now, personally, I don't see CUSA doing anything for NMSU. Lots of travel for no paydays in football, not any level of basketball worth flying that far East for, I suppose some recruiting advantage in football, at least on paper, but overall, I'd view CUSA as a step down for the institution/athletics as a whole. We belong West, not East. I get the having football in a conference thing, but I like Indy better than CUSA. Everyone keeps saying its about to get harder to schedule as an Indy, but it keeps working. And when I point that out, they say no, now its REALLY about to get harder, amd then really, really harder lol. No thanks CUSA.

Should New Mexico State follow Idaho's example and move to FCS but join the WAC in football rather than stay Division 1-A and struggle to fill the schedule with close-by western teams?

NMSU didn't play in 2020, but in 2019 as a 1-A Independent New Mexico State played at Liberty, at Ole Miss, at Georgia Southern, at Alabama, and at Central Michigan. The only road game NMSU had to a state out west was at Washington State (over 22 hours by car from Los Cruces and further than Nashville, Tennessee).


But filling a conference slate with Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton, Dixie, and Southern Utah to name a few would probably be better for NMSU to cut travel costs. Also, there's a shot at a football national title that wouldn't exist in 1-A.

To my extreme surprise from what I expected when we first went Indy, NMSU has not really had a problem putting together decent schedules. This year alone we play SDSU, Hawaii, SJSU, Nevada, Utah State plus our annual games with UTEP and UNM. I’d say that’s pretty good for getting some games in western states. And I’d take that schedule any day over playing a slate full of FCS teams. We’re not FBS because we are expecting to some day have a national title. But that’s also the same position for anyone in MWC, CUSA or the Sun Belt.

The one thing that really hurt us in being independent was the covid year where everyone played conference only schedules. That did hurt. Considering the way we looked in the spring to how we looked the past two weeks, that year hiatus and losing so many players by being one of the only schools not playing really set our development as a team and program back. That year not only did we not play, because of state pandemic rules we also were allowed to practice. But since those two awful spring games our team has shown improvement and been, dare I say, competitive in the last two games against MWC teams. But we still have a looooong way to go.

The COVID year clearly affected NMSU’s basketball program. It’s easy to accept that this was an anomaly and your basketball future looks as bright as ever. I admire your optimism and your loyalty to the football program, but to an outsider the COVID year looked like most every year. It’s hard to see a brighter future when you look at the historic record- four bowl games since the 1890’s and only two winning seasons thus far this century.