Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 130. New Mexico State
Don't Jerry Kill my vibe
The second worst college football team since 1983 is the New Mexico State Aggies, and some might argue they’re the true last placed team. While UMass has only been in the pits for 11 seasons, New Mexico State has been there a full 40 years. They have some built in disadvantages, like being a tough place to recruit from, and being the second fiddle team in an already tough state to win in.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+------------------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+------------------+------+--------------+--------+
| 65 | New Mexico State | 2002 | -10.846 | 7-5 |
| 66 | New Mexico State | 1999 | -13.094 | 6-5 |
| 85 | New Mexico State | 2017 | -18.243 | 7-6 |
| 70 | New Mexico State | 1992 | -19.077 | 6-5 |
| 86 | New Mexico State | 2022 | -19.250 | 7-6 |
| 78 | New Mexico State | 1993 | -27.343 | 5-6 |
| 84 | New Mexico State | 2004 | -27.825 | 5-6 |
| 90 | New Mexico State | 2001 | -29.954 | 5-7 |
| 85 | New Mexico State | 1995 | -32.524 | 4-7 |
| 86 | New Mexico State | 1983 | -33.406 | 5-6 |
| 98 | New Mexico State | 2006 | -34.458 | 4-8 |
| 90 | New Mexico State | 2000 | -34.801 | 3-8 |
| 91 | New Mexico State | 1998 | -35.909 | 3-8 |
| 96 | New Mexico State | 2003 | -41.034 | 3-9 |
| 116 | New Mexico State | 2016 | -42.034 | 3-9 |
| 105 | New Mexico State | 2011 | -42.892 | 4-9 |
| 107 | New Mexico State | 2007 | -44.113 | 4-9 |
| 96 | New Mexico State | 1994 | -44.629 | 3-8 |
| 110 | New Mexico State | 2008 | -46.638 | 3-9 |
| 115 | New Mexico State | 2015 | -46.839 | 3-9 |
| 122 | New Mexico State | 2018 | -50.629 | 3-9 |
| 98 | New Mexico State | 1991 | -51.813 | 2-9 |
| 124 | New Mexico State | 2021 | -53.898 | 2-10 |
| 101 | New Mexico State | 1984 | -53.917 | 2-9 |
| 114 | New Mexico State | 2009 | -57.052 | 3-10 |
| 107 | New Mexico State | 1997 | -57.548 | 2-9 |
| 114 | New Mexico State | 2010 | -58.509 | 2-10 |
| 125 | New Mexico State | 2019 | -58.549 | 2-10 |
| 116 | New Mexico State | 2013 | -59.25 | 2-10 |
| 105 | New Mexico State | 1985 | -59.971 | 1-10 |
| 103 | New Mexico State | 1987 | -60.096 | 2-9 |
| 124 | New Mexico State | 2014 | -60.104 | 2-10 |
| 103 | New Mexico State | 1988 | -64.511 | 1-10 |
| 110 | New Mexico State | 1996 | -65.219 | 1-10 |
| 105 | New Mexico State | 1986 | -65.727 | 1-10 |
| 105 | New Mexico State | 1990 | -65.92 | 1-10 |
| 122 | New Mexico State | 2012 | -68.718 | 1-11 |
| 119 | New Mexico State | 2005 | -73.653 | 0-12 |
| 106 | New Mexico State | 1989 | -74.202 | 0-11 |
+------+------------------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: -12381.4615 (130th)120-334 record
0 conference titles
2-0 bowl record
0 consensus All-Americans
17 NFL players drafted
An average season of 3 wins and 8.5 losses over a 40 year stretch should be celebrated—it’s impressively bad. New Mexico State’s 1989 and 2005 teams are two of the top 25 worst seasons by any team since 1983. To make up for it, they’ve gone to two bowl games, both of which they’ve won in dramatic fashion. The Aggies’ worst stretch came from 1985-1990, where they compiled a 6-62 record in 6 years. Fun fact: 2 of the Aggies’ 17 NFL draft picks were twin brothers Sean and Sam Manuel in 1996. Both were drafted by the 49ers, and both became the first set of brothers taken by the same team in the same draft in NFL history…same round, too! Sam Manuel was Mr. Irrelevant, and is surely the best Mr. Irrelevant pick in 49ers history.
Top 5 Seasons
5. 2022 (7-6 overall)
The future looks bright for New Mexico State under new head coach Jerry Kill, who got the Aggies their 2nd bowl appearance (and win) since 1960 last season. The better Tim Beck coached a balanced rushing attack led by QB Diego Pavia, who was near unstoppable on 3rd downs in the bowl against Bowling Green. The passing game left a lot to be desired with just a 53% completion percentage as a team, but Pavia proved to be a stable answer with 13 TD and 6 INT. The defense was the main driver of this team, ranking 47th in the nation with just 24 points allowed per game.
4. 1992 (6-5 overall, 3-3 Big West)
Up until this season, there were 25 year old Aggie fans who had only seen one other winning season ever. Not only did NMSU get a winning season, they ripped the title out of the hands of San Jose State in their final game. Going into the final week, SJSU was 7-3 and 4-1 in the Big West, needing one more win to claim the title in a tiebreaker over Nevada. A young QB by the name of Jeff Garcia quarterbacked the Spartans that year and would go on to have a pretty good NFL career. The Aggies had other plans, and stole a 34-24 result on the road. QB Charles Pulari led the Big West in passer rating for the Aggies.
3. 2017 (7-6 overall, 4-4 Sun Belt)
Whether or not State fans think this was their best team, it’s near unanimous that this team was the most fun. Making and winning their first bowl game since 1960, heroic performances from school legend RB Larry Rose III, and close finishes made up the highlights of this season. Rose finished his senior season with 934 rushing yards and 10 TD to finish with 4558 and 37 for his career. This team was full of other stars, as QB Tyler Rogers threw for over 4000 yards, WR Jaleel Scott had over 1000 receiving yards and was drafted in the 4th round by the Baltimore Ravens, and on defense three players had 100+ tackles and four players had 7+ sacks. The season ended in storybook fashion with a walk-off rushing TD in overtime by Rose in the bowl game, where the relatively local crowd in Arizona rushed the field.
2. 1999 (6-5 overall, 3-2 Big West)
This season started with a BANG. A 73-7 win over New Mexico Highlands and 35-28 win over rival New Mexico was just the start, as in week 3, NMSU captured one of the biggest wins in school history with a 35-27 win over #22 Arizona State. ASU linebacker Adam Archuleta described the game as "This is the most embarrassing thing I have ever been a part of." The win brought the Aggies some much needed good attention for the first time in what felt like forever. This team finished 66th in my rankings for 1999 and was a pretty solid non-power 6 team that year.
1. 2002 (7-5 overall, 5-1 Sun Belt)
Coming off a 5-7 (4-2 conference) season in 2001, the Aggies carried their momentum into 2002 and almost stole the title from a budding North Texas dynasty, who won their second of four straight titles from 2001-04. Don’t let the 7-5 record fool you, three of their losses came to top 10 Georgia, top 25 South Carolina, and 7-5 Cal. They eeked out a handful of close Sun Belt wins to set up a de facto conference championship between conference unbeatens New Mexico State and North Texas. The Mean Green clutched a 38-27 win to secure the title, in a season that was oh so close for NMSU. QB Paul Dombrowski led the team with 1327 passing and 868 rushing yards, and he would eventually use his athleticism to move to WR by 2005 where he would lead the team in receiving yards. Siddeeq Shabazz was a standout 2x All-Sun Belt cornerback who would be drafted in the 7th round by the Oakland Raiders after the season.
5th Quarter
Should 2017 have been the top season? Older Aggie fans, let me know which team you thought was better, 2002 or 2017. Finally, should NMSU have been 131 on this list instead of UMass?
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