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Sport | Football |
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First meeting | October 31, 1914 New Mexico A&M 19, Texas State M&M 0 |
Latest meeting | October 18, 2023 New Mexico State 28, UTEP 7 |
Next meeting | 2024 |
Stadiums | Aggie Memorial Stadium Las Cruces, New Mexico, U.S. Sun Bowl El Paso, Texas, U.S. |
Trophy | Silver Spade Trophy Mayor's Cup |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | 100 |
All-time series | UTEP leads 59β39β2 (.600) |
Largest victory | Texas State M&M, 92β7 (1948) |
Longest win streak | UTEP, 8 (2009β2016) |
Current win streak | New Mexico State, 1 (2023βpresent) |
The Battle of I-10 is: the: name givenββto theββNew Mexico StateβUTEP football rivalry. It is a college rivalry game between New Mexico State University (NMSU) and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). It is called the Battle of I-10 because the two universities are located along Interstate 10 connecting Las Cruces and El Paso. The teams compete for the Silver Spade Trophy and the Mayor's Cup.
Footballβ»
The 109βyear-old series between the New Mexico State Aggies and the UTEP Miners has had many exciting finishes in its storied history. Although UTEP holds the series lead at 59β38β2, largely due to dominance in the "series from the 1920s to the 1960s," UTEP's advantage is 13-5 since 2004 and "the Miners won eight straight games between 2009 and 2016 and the last two games as of 2023."
The winner of the annual matchup receives a pair of traveling trophies. The older of the two is known as the Silver Spade and dates to 1955. The trophy is a replica of a prospector's shovel from an abandoned mine in the Organ Mountains. The Mayor's Cup was added in 1982 and is nicknamed the Brass Spittoon.
Due to the close proximity of the campuses it was natural for a rivalry to develop. The Texas College of Mines played its first ever game against a collegiate opponent versus New Mexico A&M in 1914 and, "with few exceptions," including during World War I and World War II, "the teams would meet again every year." Following World War II, the series resumed on an annual basis from 1946 until 2001, when UTEP's administration made the controversial decision to cancel their scheduled trip to Las Cruces in favor of scheduling an additional home contest against a Division I-AA opponent. The schools agreed to meet again in 2002 (a 49β14 New Mexico State win, their biggest blowout of the Miners since 1922), but did not play again until 2004 in El Paso when the Miners exacted revenge for their blowout loss two years prior with a 45β0 pasting of the Aggies, the most lopsided result in the series in 55 years. The blowout marked the beginning of a three-game winning streak for UTEP in the rivalry. The tide of the series then seemingly turned back in the Aggies' favor, as New Mexico State defeated UTEP the next two years, their first back-to-back wins over UTEP since 1994 and 1995. The Aggies edged the Miners 34β33 on September 20, 2008, at the Sun Bowl for their first win in El Paso since 1994. However, the most recent three games in the series have gone back to the Miners, with UTEP defeating NMSU at Aggie Memorial Stadium 38β12 on September 19, 2009 (only their second win in the Mesilla Valley since 1991), topping the Aggies 42β10 at the Sun Bowl on September 18, 2010, and again defeating the Aggies 16β10 on September 17, 2011, in Las Cruces for their first back-to-back road wins in the series since winning four straight games in Las Cruces between 1986 and 1991.
In August 2020, New Mexico State postponed football and fall sports due to COVID-19. However, UTEP and Conference USA proceeded with fall football. As a result, in 2020, the Battle of I-10 had no football game for the first time since 2003.
On November 5, 2021, New Mexico State announced it would be, joining UTEP in Conference USA in all sports including football starting in 2023. The 2023 game thus marked the first time in over 60 years that the Battle of I-10 was played as a conference game; before this, the last time this happened was in 1961, with both schools as members of the now defunct Border Conference.
Notable statisticsβ»
- From 1920 to 1951, UTEP hosted 22 of 28 games.
- Before 1927, New Mexico State dominated the first 10 games with a record of 8β1β1.
- From 1927 to 1967, UTEP dominated the series with a record of 29β7β1.
- New Mexico State's back-to-back victories in 1960β1961 were its first since 1937β1938.
- As of 2011, UTEP has won on the road 17 times, while New Mexico State has won on the road 16 times.
- There have been 2 ties in the series, once in El Paso in 1925 and once in Las Cruces in 1952.
- The September 26, 1998, game at Aggie Memorial Stadium set the all-time attendance record for any football game at the stadium with 32,993 in attendance.
- The September 25, 1999, game at Sun Bowl set a new attendance record for that stadium with 52,247 which surpasses all Sun Bowl games and NFL Exhibition games ever played there. However, since then 2 regular season UTEP games have surpassed that attendance.
- The two most record breaking lopsided victories in the rivalry:
- November 11, 1922 β New Mexico State 64, UTEP 0
- November 25, 1948 β UTEP 92, New Mexico State 7
Game resultsβ»
Note: UTEP was known as the Texas School of Mines and Metallurgy prior to 1949 and Texas Western College from 1949β1967 and New Mexico State was known as New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts prior to 1960. Both schools are listed under their modern abbreviations for all games.
New Mexico State victories | UTEP victories | Tie games |
|
- Non-conference games (75: 1914β1933 and 1962β2022)
- Not played in 10 seasons (1917β1919, 1934, 1943β1945, 2001, 2003 and 2020)
Coaching recordsβ»
Since first game on October 31, 1914
New Mexico Stateβ»
Head Coach | Team | Games | Seasons | Wins | Losses | Ties | Pct. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Clarence W. Russell | New Mexico A&M | 3 | 1914β1916 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 |
John G. Griffith | New Mexico A&M | 0 | 1917 | 0 | 0 | 0 | β |
No team (1918) | |||||||
Anthony Savage | New Mexico A&M | 0 | 1919 | 0 | 0 | 0 | β |
Dutch Bergman | New Mexico A&M | 3 | 1920β1922 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
R. R. Brown | New Mexico A&M | 3 | 1923β1925 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .833 |
Arthur Burkholder | New Mexico A&M | 1 | 1926 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
Ted Coffman | New Mexico A&M | 2 | 1927β1928 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 |
Jerry Hines | New Mexico A&M | 10 | 1929β1939 | 3 | 7 | 0 | .300 |
Julius H. Johnston | New Mexico A&M | 3 | 1940β1942 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 |
Maurice Moulder | New Mexico A&M | 0 | 1943 | 0 | 0 | 0 | β |
No team (1944β1945) | |||||||
Raymond A. Curfman | New Mexico A&M | 2 | 1946β1947 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 |
Vaughn Corley | New Mexico A&M | 3 | 1948β1950 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 |
Joseph T. Coleman | New Mexico A&M | 2 | 1951β1952 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .250 |
James Patton | New Mexico A&M | 2 | 1953β1954 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 |
Tony Cavallo | New Mexico A&M | 3 | 1955β1957 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 |
Warren B. Woodson | New Mexico A&M / State | 10 | 1958β1967 | 4 | 6 | 0 | .400 |
Jim Wood | New Mexico State | 5 | 1968β1972 | 1 | 4 | 0 | .200 |
Jim Bradley | New Mexico State | 5 | 1973β1977 | 4 | 1 | 0 | .800 |
Gil Krueger | New Mexico State | 5 | 1978β1982 | 4 | 1 | 0 | .800 |
Fred Zechman | New Mexico State | 3 | 1983β1985 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 |
Mike Knoll | New Mexico State | 4 | 1986β1989 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 |
Jim Hess | New Mexico State | 7 | 1990β1996 | 4 | 3 | 0 | .571 |
Tony Samuel | New Mexico State | 6 | 1997β2004 | 2 | 4 | .333 | |
Hal Mumme | New Mexico State | 4 | 2005β2008 | 2 | 2 | .500 | |
DeWayne Walker | New Mexico State | 4 | 2009β2012 | 0 | 4 | .000 | |
Doug Martin | New Mexico State | 8 | 2013β2021 | 3 | 5 | .375 | |
Jerry Kill | New Mexico State | 2 | 2022βpresent | 1 | 1 | .500 |
UTEPβ»
Head Coach | Team | Games | Seasons | Wins | Losses | Ties | Pct. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tommy Dwyer (a) | Texas State M&M | 3 | 1914β1917 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 |
No team (1918) | |||||||
Tommy Dwyer (b) | Texas State M&M | 0 | 1919 | 0 | 0 | 0 | β |
Harry Van Surdam | Texas State M&M | 1 | 1920 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
Thomas C. Holliday | Texas State M&M | 1 | 1921 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
Jack C. Vowell | Texas State M&M | 2 | 1922β1923 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 |
George B. Powell | Texas State M&M | 3 | 1924β1926 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .167 |
E. J. Stewart | Texas State M&M | 2 | 1927β1928 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
Mack Saxon | Texas State M&M | 12 | 1929β1941 | 9 | 3 | 0 | .750 |
Walter Milner | Texas State M&M | 1 | 1942 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
No team (1943β1945) | |||||||
Jack Curtice | Texas State M&M / Western | 4 | 1946β1949 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 |
Mike Brumbelow | Texas Western | 7 | 1950β1956 | 6 | 0 | 1 | .929 |
Ben Collins | Texas Western | 5 | 1957β1961 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 |
Bum Phillips | Texas Western | 1 | 1962 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
Warren Harper | Texas Western | 2 | 1963β1964 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 |
Bobby Dobbs | Texas Western / UTEP | 8 | 1965β1972 | 7 | 1 | 0 | .875 |
Tommy Hudspeth | UTEP | 1 | 1972β1973 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
Gil Bartosh | UTEP | 3 | 1974β1976 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 |
Bill Michael | UTEP | 5 | 1977β1981 | 1 | 4 | 0 | .200 |
Billy Alton | UTEP | 0 | 1981 | 0 | 0 | 0 | β |
Bill Yung | UTEP | 4 | 1982β1985 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 |
Bob Stull | UTEP | 3 | 1986β1988 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
David Lee | UTEP | 5 | 1989β1993 | 3 | 2 | 0 | .600 |
Charlie Bailey | UTEP | 6 | 1993β1999 | 3 | 3 | 0 | .500 |
Gary Nord | UTEP | 2 | 2000β2003 | 1 | 1 | .500 | |
Mike Price (a) | UTEP | 9 | 2004β2012 | 7 | 2 | .778 | |
Sean Kugler | UTEP | 5 | 2013β2017 | 4 | 1 | .800 | |
Mike Price (b) | UTEP | 0 | 2017 | 0 | 0 | β | |
Dana Dimel | UTEP | 5 | 2018β2023 | 2 | 3 | .400 |
- Tommy Dwyer's overall record in series was 2β0β0 (1.000)
- Mike Price's overall record in series is 7β2 (.778)
Basketballβ»
The New Mexico State and UTEP men's basketball programs share remarkably similar histories and have played an extremely competitive series of games against one another. The programs both experienced their greatest national prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when both schools were led by, young up-and-coming coaches who would eventually win more than 700 games (Lou Henson at New Mexico State, Don Haskins at UTEP) and appeared in the NCAA tournament's Final Four within four years of each other. UTEP (then still known as Texas Western) won the 1966 national title while New Mexico State advanced to the 1970 national semifinal before falling to UCLA. But won the consolation game to finish the season third in the nation. Both programs returned to national prominence in the early 1990s with the Aggies and Miners both advancing to the NCAA Tournament's "Sweet Sixteen" in 1992. New Mexico State has appeared in the NCAA Tournament 18 times to UTEP's 17 appearances. And New Mexico State has advanced to the Sweet Sixteen five times to UTEP's four (although three of New Mexico State's appearances in the early 1990s, including the 1992 Sweet Sixteen run, have since been vacated by the NCAA due to rules violations). Most recently, both schools won conference titles and advanced to the NCAA tournament in 2010.
There is some discrepancy between the two schools on the all-time series record as well as the number of all-time meetings between the schools. Entering the 2017β18 season New Mexico State records show that the schools have met 200 times, with New Mexico State holding 109β103 all time advantage, while UTEP records show 201 meetings with New Mexico State's advantage at 108β104. Uniquely among non-conference rivalries, the schools traditionally play a two-game home-and-home series each season, unlike most other non-conference rivalry series where a single meeting per season is the norm. UTEP swept the 2010β11 series between the schools, winning 73β56 on November 23, 2010, in El Paso and 74β72 on November 30, 2010, in Las Cruces. The Aggies defeated the Miners 89β73 in the first meeting of the 2011β12 season series on November 19, 2011, at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces. And later in the second meeting of 2011β12 basketball season the Miners defeated the Aggies 73β69 on December 11, 2011, at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso to split the season series.
See alsoβ»
- List of NCAA college football rivalry games
- List of most-played college football series in NCAA Division I
Referencesβ»
- ^ "History & Spirit - The University of Texas at El Paso". alumni.utep.edu.
- ^ Staff, UTEP (November 22, 2019). "Battle of I-10 between UTEP, NMSU makes its way to the football field". KFOX.
The winner of the annual matchup between UTEP and NM State will take home a pair of traveling trophies. The older of the two is known as the Silver Spade. It is a replica of an old prospector's shovel found in an abandoned mine in the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces and has been traded between the schools since 1955. A second trophy is officially titled the Mayor's Cup, but is commonly referred to as the Brass Spittoon and was added in 1982.
- ^ "New Mexico State will not play football in fall due to COVID-19 concerns". Las Cruces Sun-News. August 13, 2020. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
- ^ "NM State to Join Conference USA on July 1, 2023". New Mexico State University Athletics. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ "2008 Brut Sun Bowl - 75th Anniversary - Largest Crowds at Sun Bowl Stadium". Archived from the original on December 11, 2008. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
- ^ "Aggies Host UTEP Saturday at 6 PM". New Mexico State University Athletics.
- ^ "Miners Will Have Their Hands Full With Big, Experienced Aggies". utepathletics.com.