My substantive prognostications having been offered for your amusement (though likely not your edification), I now turn to the final college football contest of the weekend warranting mention, though, in reality, I allude to it only because it is so singularly lacking in significance. I am referring, of course, to the national game of disinterest, that one college football contest each week so inconsequential, uninteresting, and downright awful that I decline to forecast a winner, in order to spare myself the indignity of actually having to check the score afterward.
This week’s national game of disinterest is . . .
Ordinarily, I’m a big fan of early-season in-state showdowns, believing as I do that the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have no business occupying the final spot on the Georgia Bulldogs’ regular-season schedule. (The Auburn Tigers, not the Engineers, are the Classic City Canines’ traditional year-end rival.) In this case, though, I’m willing to make an exception.
Why? Well, for one thing, both teams are atrocious. The Aggies are 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the WAC, which actually makes them the sturdier squad, as the Lobos are 0-4 overall, 0-1 in the Mountain West, and 0-1 against Division I-AA opponents. The most intriguing storyline surrounding this game has to do with whether New Mexico fired its head coach soon enough. How lame is this rivalry? They began exchanging the Maloof Trophy in 1993, but retired the victory bauble in 2000, presumably due to unexpectedly high indifference.
In theory, I suppose it should matter to me whether New Mexico State claims a third straight victory over New Mexico for the first time in my lifetime---NMSU took four in a row over UNM from 1965 to 1968, the latter being the year I was born---because the Aggies affect the Bulldogs’ strength of schedule, but I’m pretty sure playing this team is going to be a liability for the Red and Black, no matter what.
Therefore, I intend to ignore this outing utterly, as it does not matter to me in the least which of these teams wins, which of these teams loses, and whether there is any appreciable distinction to be made between this pair of squads from the Land of Enchantment who are anything but enchanting.
Go ‘Dawgs!