A poster on the last entry asked if the Aggies are suffering from a lack of respect. According to the poster, the Aggies are 2 1/2 point underdogs to the Spartans.
Point blank, I don't think that's being disrespectful. Just look at the facts: San Jose State has been a perennial bowl team under coach Dick Tomey. The Aggies have not been in recent years. The Spartans have been a competitive WAC team the last handful of seasons. NMSU, in recent seasons, has not. Some will say, what about this year? Yes, they won at Nevada. But, outside of knowledgeable WAC fans and the dieheart Aggie faithful, the team still holds the same stereotypes it has in the past. For all we know, that could have been a fluke. I'm not saying it was, all I'm saying is that if the team trips up this weekend and bottoms out again and has another subpar year when it's all said and done, all these optimistic Aggie fans will be sour again. Don't believe me? Just check my blog periodically and you'll know what I mean.
How do you break down the barrier? It seems pretty simple to me. You gotta beat SJSU on Saturday. You don't have to beat them by 100. You just gotta win the game. This really has the potential to be a huge game for the Aggies. I don't even want to look ahead in the schedule, too much can happen on a week-to-week basis in football. Although it's hard not to. All I'll say is that if the Aggies can beat the Spartans, it sets up for an exciting second half of the season, including a home game against Boise State and a road affair at Fresno State. This is what college football is all about!
But yeah, I think the way you get respect is by winning. One road win against Nevada isn't going to change everything. A win at home this weekend will help a little more to the cause though. So will a win at Idaho. It all starts on the field.
7 comments:
It's tough to get respect after one good win.
You need to win consistently in order to achieve some level of respect.
Right now, NMSU is becoming a spoiler but, a good win, once in a while, isn't going to cut the mustard.
Back to back wins against the top 1/2 of the WAC will give us this much needed respect.
See you Saturday for our first 2-0 start in WAC play!
Vic
Earlier this week the line was SJSU -2 (may have been opening line, I don't know), and now its -2.5. While more money is coming in on SJSU's side, this suggests the odds makers pretty much nailed it right out of the gate.
I feel there are a couple things at play here. SJSU played Nebraska much tougher than we did, and SJSU won at Hawaii - not an easy thing to do historically. This suggests they play competitively on the road. Secondly, they have a very respectable defense, something their HC is known for. Couple those things with the Ags one-dimensional O and horrible D, and it's easy to see why SJSU is favored. In fact, they would be favored by more except for their anemic offensive stats (ranked 90th total, 99th rush, and 92nd scoring). I honestly don't think NMSU is being disrespected here. As Teddy says, a few more wins will sway the odds makers NMSU's way in future match ups.
Wish I lived in LC; I'd be getting excited about tailgating and going to the game. Go Ags!
-Aggie Glare
NMSU has such a long history of "bad" football. One road win at Nevada is not going to change the attitudes of the so called "experts" of football. I watch all the college football shows on ESPN and Fox and I NEVER hear them talking about our QB; Chase Holbrook. He is doing an outstanding job, has been, and is up for awards. But, when I hear them talking about top QB's and even the top QB's in the WAC he is never talked about. Why is that? Is it because they are waiting to see if we can put a string of W's together to prove Chase is a winner and our program is for real? What do you think?
Saturday is our day. Go Aggies!
I agree when Teddy said that outside of some Aggie die hard fans the same image of the team remains. They lose every game and stink horribly. I mean just look at our student body attitude. Its hard to get the entire student section to be full and that is with free entry. We have a winning record and a win here would set up a bowl run and yet our students still think our team is no good. Winning is the only way to change peoples mind in this city.
GS
Anon 8:29
The WAC in general is underexposed. There are a lot of great players in the league and the Aggies have a handful of them. You don't hear the "experts" talk a lot about Ian Johnson either. He's been a top-tier running back for the past three years and has led his team to bowl games and huge victories. Sure, he gets talked about more than Chase or Chris Williams, but Boise is the top team in the conference and has been the class of mid-majors for years. They have a great freshman QB. Don't hear a lot about him though either.
What I'm saying is that you have to win to get recognized. And then, even so, you might feel shortchanged. I promise, if NMSU does beat San Jose, can knock off Idaho and then comes home for Boise, you'll be hearing more "experts" coming out of the woodwork then. That's the hope at least. But we just gotta wait and see.
RESPECT is earned, not given.
Win this weekend and you will get that much needed respect!
The WAC gets very little respect. As of 6:30 PM on Friday 10-17-08, the online USA Today College Football Conference reports section still has "look ahead" information on the 10-11-08 weekend games. The Moutain West page has been updated for this weekend's games, as have been all of the major conference pages...just not the WAC.
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