LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KTSM) — It’s Battle of I-10 week, and Saturday’s matchup between UTEP and New Mexico State carries more weight than usual — because it may be the last time the rivals meet on the football field for quite a while.

As KTSM reported in July, the long-running rivalry will go on pause after this season. UTEP’s upcoming move to the Mountain West removes the game from next year’s schedule, and with both programs’ non-conference slates filled out years in advance, there’s no clear timetable for when the series might resume.

Despite the teams’ combined 5-16 record this season; the significance of this year’s showdown is undeniable.

“We’ve got a great opportunity playing a rival game. The game has been played for a long time. It’s got a great history and tradition. I’ve played in it, been involved as a player, and as a coach now so I understand how important it is to the region, the area and to the universities,” NM State football head coach Tony Sanchez said. “We’re excited to get back out there. Both teams are in a similar situation. We’re both fighting to win a rivalry game but also fighting to get a good taste back in your mouth after a tough season.”

“It’s personal, man. Especially how we lost last year. Nobody’s happy about that,” NM State redshirt sophomore safety Naeten Mitchell said. “I’ve been here for three years, so I know how, personal it gets for the fans as well. I know the community gets into it as much as we do. I’m excited to see how many fans are going to be in there. And, yeah, it’s going to be a great game and we’re ready for them.”

New Mexico State comes into the matchup at 3-7 after a 42-9 loss to nationally ranked Tennessee in Knoxville. The defeat effectively ended the Aggies’ hopes of earning a bowl berth with two games remaining.

Still, NMSU isn’t throwing in the towel.

The team is focused on finishing the regular season strong — and that starts with trying to knock off rival UTEP at the Sun Bowl on Saturday.

“First and foremost, you are playing for another W and obviously you’re playing for a rivalry win,” Sanchez said on Monday. “There are some things in the offseason we’ll look back on, and we’ll talk about but today’s not the time. You know this is not right now. We have to focus in on the on the task at hand.”

NMSU VS. CUSA’S 2ND BEST PASS DEFENSE

New Mexico State expects to have starting quarterback Logan Fife back after he got banged up in last week’s game.

“Logan is good. He was in last night limping around, He got beat up a little bit bu he’s doing good,” Sanchez said on Monday. We assume [Logan Fife will start] unless something happens or something deviates. Adam did good too. He showed that he’s got a live arm and can do some good things, so I think they’re going to have to prepare for both.”

The Aggies are going to need Fife, as they’re up against the second-best pass defense in Conference USA. The Miners are giving up 207.5 passing yards per game.

“We’ve been pretty consistent throwing the football. We threw the ball well against a Tennessee team this last week. We’ve thrown the ball well throughout the course of the season. We have a chance to post 3,000 yards by the end of the year. We do a good job of throwing around the yard. We have a really talented, you know, receiving and tight end core. So again, I think the biggest thing is going to be us, you know, making some headway in the run game.” Sanchez said.

NM State is 5th in CUSA in passing offense with 241.9 passing yards per game.

LEARNING FROM LAST YEAR’S DEFEAT

NMSU looks to get its lick back on UTEP. The Aggies were on the losing end of a game where UTEP rallied back from down 17 to take a 42-35 win over NMSU at Aggie Memorial Stadium in the 2024 season finale.

The Aggies are looking back at last year’s game as motivation to play a cleaner game and come out with a win.

“Last year, we outgained them 543 to 298. We had 33 first downs; they had 14. We had the ball for 40 minutes; they had the ball for 20 minutes. We really dominated both sides of the ball,” Sanchez said on Monday. “Unfortunately, we had the fumble scoop and score and punt return for a touchdown. That flipped the game. When you go back and look statistically in that game, it’s crazy to think we lost that game.”

“We talked about it yesterday one time. We won’t speak about last year’s game again. But there’s a bad taste in our mouth from it and has been the entire offseason, because we know, you know, again, you know, it is what it is — it’s history. But we know that if you play like that, you should win that football game. But turnovers coming into effect, like you said, a couple of plays, a bounce here and there. We have to control the controllables. We’ve turned the ball over quite a bit lately. We’ve got to do a better job offensively of not turning the ball over.” Sanchez said.

NM State and UTEP will go head-to-head on Saturday, Nov. 22 at the Sun Bowl. Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m. MT.