The Battle of I-10

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The battle of I-10 is a college rivalry between The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and New Mexico State University (NMSU). It's called the battle of I-10 because the two universities are located along Interstate 10 connecting both El Paso and Las Cruces.

[edit] Football

The "Battle of I-10" between the UTEP Miners and the NMSU Aggies has had many exciting finishes in its storied history, but UTEP has the historical upper hand in bragging rights and holds the overall series lead at 49-34-2.

The winner of the annual matchup receives a pair of traveling trophies. The older of the two is known as the Silver Spade. It is a replica of an old prospector's shovel found in an abandoned mine in the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces and has been traded between the schools since 1955. A second trophy, officially titled the Mayor's Cup but commonly nicknamed the Brass Spittoon, was added in 1982.

Due to the close proximity of the campuses it was natural for a rivalry to develop. The Texas College of Mines played its first ever game against a collegiate opponent versus New Mexico A&M in 1914 and, with few exceptions, the teams would meet again every year until World War II. Following the war the series resumed on an annual basis until 2001, when UTEP's administration made the controversial decision to cancel their scheduled trip to Las Cruces in favor of scheduling an additional home contest against a Division I-AA opponent. The schools agreed to meet again in 2002 (a 49-14 NMSU win, their last in the series until 2007), but did not play again until 2004 in El Paso when the Miners exacted revenge for their blowout loss two years prior with a 45-0 pasting of the Aggies, the most lopsided result in the series in 55 years. The blowout marked the beginning of a three game winning streak for UTEP in the rivalry. Although recent history had favored the Miners, the Silver Spade and Brass Spittoon are currently again in possession of the Aggies by virtue of their 29-24 victory over UTEP on September 15, 2007. Home field advantage has proven key in recent years, as nine of the past ten contests have been won by the home team. The most recent victory by a visiting team in the series came in 2005 when UTEP defeated NMSU at Aggie Memorial Stadium, the first away victory in the series since NMSU's win in the Sun Bowl in 1994.