New Mexico football

Coming into the 2022 season, the UTEP defense was hyped up as one of the best groups in the Conference USA.

Despite the Miners locking in a 20-13 win against NM State, UTEP is ranked 13th this week among the bottom FBS programs.

In a tale of two halves, UTEP (3-1) rallied back in the second half from a 13-3 deficit and upended New Mexico 20-13 to wrap up non-conference play on Saturday at the Sun Bowl.

The expectations have brought us up to this point when UTEP hosts New Mexico (2-1) on Saturday at the Sun Bowl to wrap up non-conference play. Now, the Miners are at a fork in the road for their young season.

It's been a while since the University of New Mexico has capitalized on recruiting El Paso football talent but in 2020, the Lobos secured commitments from arguably the city's top offensive and defensive prospects.

Earlier this week, the Mountain West released the league model for the upcoming season, featuring an eight conference schedule plus two non-conference opponents and a start date set for Sept. 26. This complicates things for the college football season in the area.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham sent a letter to the leadership of the University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University to "postpone collegiate athletics in this moment of escalating danger," specifically fall contact sports such as football and soccer.