New Mexico Bowl: Who'll draw the winning hand as the Aztecs face the Mean Green?

The subject at hand was the New Mexico Bowl, not the Las Vegas Bowl. Even so, the San Diego State Aztecs and the North Texas Mean Green each will seek to draw the winning hand Saturday at University Stadium.

Who’ll hit 21, and who’ll go bust?

It has been proudly noted, both by the Isleta New Mexico Bowl and the participating teams, that SDSU (9-3) and North Texas (11-2) have a combined 20 victories this season entering Saturday’s game. No other bowl game, outside the College Football Playoff, can boast more wins than this matchup.

Only one of these teams can make it 21.

Oddsmakers see North Texas, favoring the Mean Green’s prolific offense over the Aztecs’ rock-ribbed defense, as a slight favorite.

Locked and loaded

The availability for Saturday of Mean Green quarterback Drew Mestemaker, the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision’s leader in passing yards (4,129) and yards per attempt (9.93), has been the subject of speculation since North Texas’ regular season ended with a 34-21 loss to Tulane.

Would he play in the New Mexico Bowl, risking injury, or opt out with an eye on the NCAA transfer portal and a potentially huge NIL payoff?

News to him, he said during a news conference Friday at Isleta Resort & Casino. He’d planned to play all along.

“For me specifically,” he said, “I’m not one to quit on my team and try to leave before we finish something. … I know we’re a better football team than how we went out against Tulane, so my thing is I wanted to come back and finish this thing the right way and get our 12th win of the season.” 

As for his future beyond Saturday, Mestemaker said,, “We’ve got a bowl game to play and we’ll figure that out afterward.”

Streaks

North Texas has lost seven straight bowl games, the last coming in the 2014 Heart of Dallas Bowl. 

Mestemaker, listed this season as a redshirt freshman, nonetheless played in last year’s First Responder Bowl — completing 26 of 41 passes for 393 yards and two touchdowns in a 30–28 loss to Texas State.

Whether or not the New Mexico Bowl turns out to be his final game for the Mean Green, he’s highly motivated to snap that seven-game bowl losing streak.

“Obviously, bowl games, the value’s kind of going down a little bit from the outside perspective,” Mestemaker said, a clear reference to the effect the transfer portal has had on postseason rosters. “But we play football to win. We’re all competitors. Obviously we don’t want to add to that streak, and we want to make a name for this team and go out the right way.”

Another streak each team is eager to snap: a one-game losing “streak” entering Saturday’s game. 

Eight days before North Texas’ loss to Tulane, San Diego State lost to New Mexico, 23-17 in two overtimes, on the same field where they’ll face the Mean Green on Saturday.

The loss to the Lobos cost the Aztecs an outright Mountain West Conference regular-season title in SDSU’s final football season in the MW, and computer gymnastics kept them (and the Lobos) out of the league title game. 

Getting that sour taste  out of his and his teammates’ mouths on Saturday, said sophomore linebacker Owen Chambliss, provides a bit of extra motivation.

“Yeah,” said Chambliss, the Aztecs’ leading tackler with 106 total stops. “ … We’ve had some conversations about that.”

The Aztecs’ one-game losing streak in Albuquerque is matched by North Texas’. The Mean Green’s last appearance at University Stadium was a 52-13 spanking at the hands of Utah State, a team then quarterbacked by current Green Bay Packers QB Jordan Love, in the 2018 New Mexico Bowl. 

North Texas’ only other appearance at University Stadium was an 18-8 victory over New Mexico in 1983. 

Happy to be here

It is perhaps obligatory for coaches of bowl teams to compliment their hosts. Yet, year after year, coaches seem to go out of their way to say nice things about the New Mexico Bowl.

“We really want to extend our appreciation to the New Mexico Bowl,” said North Texas interim head coach Drew Svoboda, who stepped into the void created when coach Eric Morris was hired at Oklahoma State. “… They’ve done a really good job with their hospitality, making our football team and the Mean Green family feel welcome in the city of Albuquerque.”

San Diego State coach Sean Lewis said at a news conference last week that he was eager to sample green chile, something he hadn’t done when the Aztecs played UNM last month.

“As advertised,” he said with a smile. Of New Mexico Bowl director Jeff Siembieda and the bowl game’s board, Lewis said, “I appreciate (them) for putting on such a first-class event. They took care of us the right way.”