Life in Albuquerque
The Pregame:
As Utah State prepared to take on UTEP for in the New Mexico Bowl, the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, offered plenty of festivities for the team and fans alike.
It was my first experience with a bowl game and I had no idea what to expect coming into this one. As such, it seems appropriate I let people know what goes on there.
A bowl game offers a completely different aspect than a home or away game. Both teams traveled to get here and are staying in neighboring hotels. This gives them a chance to get to know each other before going at it on the field.
On Thursday the Aggies and the Miners arrived in New Mexico, practiced and then select coaches and players visited a local hospital to visit children. The two teams had a dinner together and competed in some game-show style games before heading to the hotel for the evening.
Friday got started with more practices for each team and then a press conference featuring the head coaches and two players for each university. Both Matt Wells for Utah State and Sean Kugler of UTEP repeatedly mentioned how physical they thought the game would be.
After the press conference, I watched as Utah State senior linebacker Zach Vigil shook hands and enjoyed laughs with UTEP senior quarterback Jameill Showers.
As I watched them talk I can only imagine what was going through Vigil’s mind. He was fraternizing with the man he will attempt to take down as hard as possible Saturday. On the flip side Showers was likely sizing up the player that would be chasing him down, wondering if he would be able to get away without injury.
Both teams shared a lunch and listened to a guest speaker, three time super bowl champion Mark Schlereth, who motivated them and praised them for reaching the game.
Later on the cheer squads from both teams and the bands participated in a battle of the bands and pep rally.
The bands performed, drum lines went head to head, saxophones had a playoff, the cheerleaders competed and coaches and players joined in and started cheers to get the crowds pumped up for their respective teams.
There was even a mascot dance-off which dominated by USU’s own Big Blue. He pulled off a backflip and walked on his hands as the teams battled for respect from the fans in attendance.
One of the best parts of the bowl experience is seeing players and how they act off the field.
Not much beats hearing Utah State quarterback Chuckie Keeton’s thoughts on the rally as he walked back to the team bus. “We’re going to leave before the saxophones?” Keeton said. “You guys we can’t leave before the saxophones play, I love the saxophones!”
Another highlight for me was seeing Vigil in a blue Santa hat with pig tails answering pregame questions.
The Game:
As the pre-game hype is now over both the Aggies and the Miners have the evening to prepare for what really matters, the game.
In my eyes it comes down to the run defense of Utah State versus the run-heavy offense of UTEP. Last time USU faced a top rushing offense, its defense failed and allowed Boise State’s Jay Ajayi to run for a career high 229 yards and five touchdowns en route to a 50-19 BSU win.
The No. 26 ranked rushing defense in the nation will look to get back into form and stop sophomore Aaron Jones who has over 1,200 yards on the ground and 11 touchdowns.
Look for a heavy dose of Utah State linebacker blitzes going up against a strong offensive line for UTEP. If UTEP gets to the second level they will rip off large chunks of yardage and score just like Boise State did.
The other huge part of the game will be special teams. Utah State has a phenomenal playmaker in junior JoJo Natson. He has two punt returns for touchdowns on the year and consistently gives the Aggies good field position averaging more than 12 yards per return.
UTEP is also skilled in the return game. Autrey Golden leads the nation in kick returns on the season with six. One more gives him the NCAA record. In a physical battle special teams could easily be what wins it.
The Prediction:
I think an angry defense from Utah State shuts down the running attack from UTEP. The Miners will fight hard on special teams but fall to the elite Aggie defense. Final score USU 31, UTEP 20.
— Kalen Taylor is a sophomore double-majoring in Journalism and Spanish. He’s all about football, basketball, tennis, hockey and anything to do with sports… except for baseball, that’s just not his thing. Watch for him living the dream on ESPN one day. Contact him at kalen.s.taylor@gmail.com or on Twitter @kalen_taylor.