Wright: Miners, it's up to you (mostly)
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The Lobos and the Miners are back together, more of necessity than by popular demand. Regardless of the whys and wherefores, this is a good thing.
How good? That is the question.
Albuquerque’s Fred Hultberg, longtime Lobo booster and devoted fan, is delighted to see the University of Texas at El Paso back on UNM’s athletic schedules as a conference rival.
“I, personally think it’s great,” Hultberg said in a phone interview. “The only problem is, I just wish UTEP wasn’t as bad as they’ve been.”
Exactly, and every Lobo fan should feel that way.
Of course, the Cherry and Silver faithful want to see the Lobos win every game they play, in every sport and against every opponent. But beating up on a hapless conference rival year after year is bad for strength-of-schedule calculations that can affect postseason possibilities. Nor do predictable outcomes put fannies in the eats.
Should that weak conference opponent spring an upset, as the Air Force men’s basketball team did at the Pit as recently as 2024, it’s a calamity.
There’s this, as well: the UNM-UTEP rivalry has a rich history in college athletics’ two so-called revenue-producing sports. Saturday’s Lobos-Miners football game at University Stadium will be the 81st renewal. In men’s basketball, they’ve met 144 times.
But now, as the two become conference rivals for the first time since 1998, can the Miners compete?
Saturday, UNM (3-1) will take the field against UTEP (1-3) as a three-touchdown favorite. And while the Lobos were going 9-4 with a bowl bid last season under first-year coach Jason Eck, the Miners were going 2-10 under second-year coach Scotty Walden.
Last season, UNM men’s basketball under first-year coach Eric Olen went 26-11 overall, 13-7 in Mountain West play and reached the semifinals of the NIT. UTEP went 11-20, 7-13 in Conference USA play under fifth-year coach Joe Golding.
Success in college athletics has always been elusive and fleet along the I-25/I-10 corridor, and there’s no guarantee the Lobos will continue to win. But, for now, for the good of the rivalry, it’s the Miners who need to raise the bar.
Is that a possibility? Andy Morgan believes it is.
Morgan, a former sports reporter/weekend anchor at Albuquerque’s KOB-TV, is now the weeknight news anchor at El Paso’s KTSM-TV. He remains deeply involved in sports, having done play-by-play of UTEP home games on espn+ and now on MW+, the Mountain West’s new subscription streaming service.
He’s also Fred Hultberg’s nephew.
Morgan said UTEP’s move from CUSA to the Mountain West is a more than welcome development for El Pasoans — even with the Mountain West clearly weakened by the departure to the Pac-12 of Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State.
Those defections, or course, created the void UTEP and other MW newcomers are filling.
“For the longest time, it’s all anybody wanted,” Morgan said, “… just because Conference USA was horrible. You’re playing schools that nobody cares about.”
Speaking to the immediate future, Morgan isn’t predicting a UTEP upset on Saturday, but he doesn’t paint an utterly dire portrait of the Miners’ prospects the rest of the year.
This year’s schedule was front-loaded with almost certain losses — Oklahoma and Michigan, sandwiched around a victory over FCS opponent Texas Southern. Then came a loss to a better-than expected Oregon State, and now New Mexico.
It gets easier, with upcoming home games against against Nevada and San Jose State. Then it’s on the road vs. newly minted FBS bully North Dakota State, finishing with Hawaii, Wyoming, Air Force and Northern Illinois.
Morgan likes the Miners’ talent at the skill positions but said the offensive line must find a way to improve.
“It seemed like against Oregon State,” he said, “EJ (Colson), the quarterback, was kind of running for his life.”
Defensively, UTEP ranks 93rd in total yards allowed with an average yield of 373.5 yards — not good, but better than those of future opponents NIU (105th) and Hawaii (112th)
Of senior linebacker and former Lobo Jayden Wilson, Morgan said, “He’s a star here.”
Morgan said he doesn’t believe Walden (6-22) is in immediate danger because the UTEP administration would rather put money into NIL than pay a head coach’s buyout.
But, he said, going forward, the program simply must find away to recruit more and better players to El Paso and the Mountain Time Zone.
“They struggle to get Texas talent here,” he said. “The guys playing high school football in Texas that maybe aren’t good enough to play at Texas or Texas Tech … most of them are definitely not coming this far west.
“A lot of those guys end up going to North Texas.”
As for the UNM-UTEP men’s basketball rivalry, which gave fans of both teams so many thrills in the past, Morgan said Golding’s program has benefited from a massive NIL donation.
“I think UTEP has a chance to be good,” he said, “and UNM is always good.”
Could that someday be said for football as well?
Fans in El Paso, and in Albuquerque, can hope. And dream.
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