- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,200,925
- Reaction score
- 59
We have great news in the Borderland.
New Mexico State and UTEP officially announced an in-season home-and-home men's basketball series for the 2026-27 season on Friday, July 10. The Aggies and Miners will play each other twice in seven days, first on Nov. 12 in El Paso and then on Nov. 19 in Las Cruces.
NM State athletic director Joe Fields first announced the arrangement on the June 4 episode of "Cup of Joe" and said there would also be a home-and-home series in women's basketball.
This is fantastic. It's my view that teams should play their rivals in college sports, no matter what. I'm an Oklahoma alumnus, and I would love to see the Sooners play Oklahoma State in football again. There's been a lot of pettiness stemming from OU's SEC entry that's prevented stronger talks for a Bedlam return.
UTEP left Conference USA for the Mountain West Conference, but I don't get the sense that there's any bitterness within NM State's administration about it. That made negotiations easier. It's good to see that both Fields and UTEP AD Jim Senter were very willing to make this happen.
Not only is it the right decision in principle, but it's the right move logically. It's a guaranteed moneymaker for the Aggies when the Miners come to Las Cruces, and it's the same in reverse. Both schools need the money that'll be made from these games. That alone made this decision easy, and it's likely the reason why neither Fields nor Senter could pass this up.
It's also the right move for the fans. Battle of I-10 games are the most attended each year for both the Aggies and Miners. The NM State-UTEP game in El Paso last season packed the Don Haskins Center more than any other Miners home game. The Pan American Center only saw a bigger crowd when the Aggies played New Mexico. The atmospheres in both arenas are full of passion and energy for the Battle of I-10.
It's the kind of environment that coaches and players dream of being a part of. Who wouldn't want to do everything they could to keep something like that around?
There are many other benefits on top of these. Both NM State and UTEP get a quality non-conference game without having to play at a neutral site or enter a multi-team event. Both teams get to save money on travel by busing across the Borderland instead of having to jet off to another part of the country against a random team. Both teams get to say they preserved tradition and the rivalry by scheduling each other.
Oh, and both NM State and UTEP now avoid the "haha, you're scared of us!" narrative that gets applied when one side of a rivalry doesn't seem eager to schedule the other.
The only downside I can think of is remembering a Jason Hooten quote from last season about an in-season home-and-home. It was about UNM, but it can apply to playing UTEP twice.
"I think from a coach's standpoint, it's pretty draining," he said after the Aggies defeated the Lobos in Las Cruces last season. "If you had to turn around and play each other again next Saturday, that'd be a tough game to play."
Hooten did preface this quote by saying he'd be on board with playing UNM twice a season if Fields believes it's the right decision. I'm sure he feels the same way about Fields deciding to play UTEP twice, and I think he supports Fields' decision-making here.
Fields and Senter's goal should now be to schedule an Aggies-Miners football game as soon as possible. That will be harder to do since there are fewer non-conference slots for football, but there's a strong appetite on both sides to make it happen, just like there was for basketball. I predict it will happen soon.
You've got to start somewhere, though, and this is a great place to start. Rejoice, NM State and UTEP fans; the Battle of I-10 is here to stay, and it's here to stay often.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Coppola's Column — Playing Battle of I-10 twice a year was a no-brainer
Continue reading...
New Mexico State and UTEP officially announced an in-season home-and-home men's basketball series for the 2026-27 season on Friday, July 10. The Aggies and Miners will play each other twice in seven days, first on Nov. 12 in El Paso and then on Nov. 19 in Las Cruces.
NM State athletic director Joe Fields first announced the arrangement on the June 4 episode of "Cup of Joe" and said there would also be a home-and-home series in women's basketball.
This is fantastic. It's my view that teams should play their rivals in college sports, no matter what. I'm an Oklahoma alumnus, and I would love to see the Sooners play Oklahoma State in football again. There's been a lot of pettiness stemming from OU's SEC entry that's prevented stronger talks for a Bedlam return.
UTEP left Conference USA for the Mountain West Conference, but I don't get the sense that there's any bitterness within NM State's administration about it. That made negotiations easier. It's good to see that both Fields and UTEP AD Jim Senter were very willing to make this happen.
Not only is it the right decision in principle, but it's the right move logically. It's a guaranteed moneymaker for the Aggies when the Miners come to Las Cruces, and it's the same in reverse. Both schools need the money that'll be made from these games. That alone made this decision easy, and it's likely the reason why neither Fields nor Senter could pass this up.
It's also the right move for the fans. Battle of I-10 games are the most attended each year for both the Aggies and Miners. The NM State-UTEP game in El Paso last season packed the Don Haskins Center more than any other Miners home game. The Pan American Center only saw a bigger crowd when the Aggies played New Mexico. The atmospheres in both arenas are full of passion and energy for the Battle of I-10.
It's the kind of environment that coaches and players dream of being a part of. Who wouldn't want to do everything they could to keep something like that around?
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
There are many other benefits on top of these. Both NM State and UTEP get a quality non-conference game without having to play at a neutral site or enter a multi-team event. Both teams get to save money on travel by busing across the Borderland instead of having to jet off to another part of the country against a random team. Both teams get to say they preserved tradition and the rivalry by scheduling each other.
Oh, and both NM State and UTEP now avoid the "haha, you're scared of us!" narrative that gets applied when one side of a rivalry doesn't seem eager to schedule the other.
You must be registered for see images
The only downside I can think of is remembering a Jason Hooten quote from last season about an in-season home-and-home. It was about UNM, but it can apply to playing UTEP twice.
"I think from a coach's standpoint, it's pretty draining," he said after the Aggies defeated the Lobos in Las Cruces last season. "If you had to turn around and play each other again next Saturday, that'd be a tough game to play."
Hooten did preface this quote by saying he'd be on board with playing UNM twice a season if Fields believes it's the right decision. I'm sure he feels the same way about Fields deciding to play UTEP twice, and I think he supports Fields' decision-making here.
Fields and Senter's goal should now be to schedule an Aggies-Miners football game as soon as possible. That will be harder to do since there are fewer non-conference slots for football, but there's a strong appetite on both sides to make it happen, just like there was for basketball. I predict it will happen soon.
You've got to start somewhere, though, and this is a great place to start. Rejoice, NM State and UTEP fans; the Battle of I-10 is here to stay, and it's here to stay often.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Coppola's Column — Playing Battle of I-10 twice a year was a no-brainer
Continue reading...
