The 109–year-old series between the New Mexico State Aggies and the UTEP Miners has had many exciting finishes in its storied history. Although UTEP holds the series lead at 59–38–2, largely due to dominance in the series from the 1920s to the 1960s, UTEP's advantage is 13-5 since 2004 and the Miners won eight straight games between 2009 and 2016 and the last two games as of 2023.
The winner of the annual matchup receives a pair of traveling trophies. The older of the two is known as the Silver Spade and dates to 1955. The trophy is a replica of a prospector's shovel from an abandoned mine in the Organ Mountains. The Mayor's Cup was added in 1982 and is nicknamed the Brass Spittoon.[2]
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, including during World War I and World War II, the teams would meet again every year. Following World War II, the series resumed on an annual basis from 1946 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 New Mexico State win, their biggest blowout of the Miners since 1922), 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. The tide of the series then seemingly turned back in the Aggies' favor, as New Mexico State defeated UTEP the next two years, their first back-to-back wins over UTEP since 1994 and 1995. The Aggies edged the Miners 34–33 on September 20, 2008, at the Sun Bowl for their first win in El Paso since 1994. However, the most recent three games in the series have gone back to the Miners, with UTEP defeating NMSU at Aggie Memorial Stadium 38–12 on September 19, 2009 (only their second win in the Mesilla Valley since 1991), topping the Aggies 42–10 at the Sun Bowl on September 18, 2010, and again defeating the Aggies 16–10 on September 17, 2011, in Las Cruces for their first back-to-back road wins in the series since winning four straight games in Las Cruces between 1986 and 1991.
In August 2020, New Mexico State postponed football and fall sports due to COVID-19.[3] However, UTEP and Conference USA proceeded with fall football. As a result, in 2020, the Battle of I-10 had no football game for the first time since 2003.
On November 5, 2021, New Mexico State announced it would be joining UTEP in Conference USA in all sports including football starting in 2023. The 2023 game thus marked the first time in over 60 years that the Battle of I-10 was played as a conference game; before this, the last time this happened was in 1961, with both schools as members of the now defunct Border Conference.[4]
Notable statistics
From 1920 to 1951, UTEP hosted 22 of 28 games.
Before 1927, New Mexico State dominated the first 10 games with a record of 8–1–1.
From 1927 to 1967, UTEP dominated the series with a record of 29–7–1.
New Mexico State's back-to-back victories in 1960–1961 were its first since 1937–1938.
As of 2011, UTEP has won on the road 17 times, while New Mexico State has won on the road 16 times.
There have been 2 ties in the series, once in El Paso in 1925 and once in Las Cruces in 1952.
The September 26, 1998, game at Aggie Memorial Stadium set the all-time attendance record for any football game at the stadium with 32,993 in attendance.
The September 25, 1999, game at Sun Bowl set a new attendance record for that stadium with 52,247 which surpasses all Sun Bowl games and NFL Exhibition games ever played there. However, since then 2 regular season UTEP games have surpassed that attendance.[5]
The two most record breaking lopsided victories in the rivalry:
November 11, 1922 – New Mexico State 64, UTEP 0
November 25, 1948 – UTEP 92, New Mexico State 7
Game results
Note: UTEP was known as the Texas School of Mines and Metallurgy prior to 1949 and Texas Western College from 1949–1967 and New Mexico State was known as New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts prior to 1960. Both schools are listed under their modern abbreviations for all games.
New Mexico State victories
UTEP victories
Tie games
No.
Date
Location
Winner
Score
1
October 31, 1914
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico A&M
19–0
2
October 30, 1915
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico A&M
34–0
3
November 25, 1916
Las Cruces, NM
Texas State M&M
6–3
4
November 11, 1920
El Paso, TX
New Mexico A&M
12–7
5
November 11, 1921
El Paso, TX
New Mexico A&M
13–0
6
November 11, 1922
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico A&M
64–0
7
November 11, 1923
El Paso, TX
New Mexico A&M
23–2
8
November 8, 1924
El Paso, TX
New Mexico A&M
19–0
9
November 7, 1925
El Paso, TX
Tie
6–6
10
November 6, 1926
El Paso, TX
New Mexico A&M
10–8
11
November 12, 1927
El Paso, TX
Texas State M&M
19–7
12
November 10, 1928
El Paso, TX
Texas State M&M
6–0
13
November 9, 1929
El Paso, TX
Texas State M&M
8–0
14
November 15, 1930
Las Cruces, NM
Texas State M&M
25–0
15
November 21, 1931
El Paso, TX
Texas State M&M
20–0
16
October 29, 1932
Las Cruces, NM
Texas State M&M
31–6
17
November 4, 1933
El Paso, TX
Texas State M&M
9–0
18
November 28, 1935
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico A&M
7–0
19
November 26, 1936
El Paso, TX
Texas State M&M
27–7
20
September 24, 1937
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico A&M
14–0
21
November 24, 1938
El Paso, TX
New Mexico A&M
13–9
22
November 30, 1939
Las Cruces, NM
Texas State M&M
34–0
23
November 30, 1940
El Paso, TX
Texas State M&M
40–26
24
November 22, 1941
El Paso, TX
Texas State M&M
24–13
25
November 26, 1942
El Paso, TX
Texas State M&M
61–6
26
November 28, 1946
El Paso, TX
New Mexico A&M
14–7
27
November 22, 1947
El Paso, TX
Texas State M&M
26–0
28
November 25, 1948
El Paso, TX
Texas State M&M
92–7
29
November 25, 1949
El Paso, TX
Texas Western
69–7
30
September 23, 1950
El Paso, TX
Texas Western
40–0
31
September 29, 1951
El Paso, TX
Texas Western
41–7
32
October 18, 1952
Las Cruces, NM
Tie
20–20
33
October 17, 1953
El Paso, TX
Texas Western
39–0
34
October 30, 1954
Las Cruces, NM
Texas Western
12–7
35
October 29, 1955
El Paso, TX
Texas Western
41–6
36
October 27, 1956
Las Cruces, NM
Texas Western
51–7
37
October 26, 1957
El Paso, TX
Texas Western
42–12
38
October 25, 1958
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico A&M
17–16
39
October 24, 1959
El Paso, TX
Texas Western
20–15
40
November 26, 1960
Las Cruces, NM
#15 New Mexico State
27–15
41
October 28, 1961
El Paso, TX
New Mexico State
42–6
42
November 10, 1962
Las Cruces, NM
Texas Western
21–0
43
October 5, 1963
El Paso, TX
Texas Western
14–13
44
November 21, 1964
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico State
13–7
45
October 2, 1965
El Paso, TX
Texas Western
21–6
46
November 19, 1966
El Paso, TX
Texas Western
28–14
47
November 4, 1967
El Paso, TX
UTEP
46–24
48
October 19, 1968
El Paso, TX
UTEP
30–14
49
November 8, 1969
El Paso, TX
New Mexico State
41–38
50
October 3, 1970
El Paso, TX
UTEP
21–14
51
October 16, 1971
Las Cruces, NM
UTEP
14–7
No.
Date
Location
Winner
Score
52
September 30, 1972
El Paso, TX
UTEP
21–20
53
October 6, 1973
El Paso, TX
New Mexico State
27–23
54
October 12, 1974
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico State
14–13
55
September 13, 1975
El Paso, TX
New Mexico State
31–24
56
September 11, 1976
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico State
13–10
57
October 1, 1977
El Paso, TX
UTEP
23–21
58
September 16, 1978
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico State
35–32
59
September 15, 1979
El Paso, TX
New Mexico State
14–13
60
September 13, 1980
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico State
6–3
61
September 5, 1981
El Paso, TX
New Mexico State
14–7
62
September 4, 1982
Las Cruces, NM
UTEP
20–17
63
September 3, 1983
El Paso, TX
UTEP
20–9
64
October 6, 1984
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico State
27–16
65
September 21, 1985
El Paso, TX
New Mexico State
22–20
66
September 13, 1986
Las Cruces, NM
UTEP
47–33
67
September 5, 1987
El Paso, TX
UTEP
31–0
68
October 29, 1988
Las Cruces, NM
UTEP
42–9
69
September 16, 1989
Las Cruces, NM
UTEP
29–27
70
September 8, 1990
El Paso, TX
UTEP
27–24
71
September 14, 1991
Las Cruces, NM
UTEP
22–21
72
September 19, 1992
El Paso, TX
New Mexico State
30–24
73
September 18, 1993
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico State
31–14
74
September 17, 1994
El Paso, TX
New Mexico State
23–22
75
September 2, 1995
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico State
45–17
76
September 14, 1996
El Paso, TX
UTEP
14–7
77
September 27, 1997
El Paso, TX
UTEP
24–16
78
September 26, 1998
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico State
33–24
79
September 25, 1999
El Paso, TX
UTEP
54–23
80
September 30, 2000
El Paso, TX
UTEP
41–31
81
October 5, 2002
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico State
49–14
82
October 2, 2004
El Paso, TX
UTEP
45–0
83
September 3, 2005
Las Cruces, NM
UTEP
34–17
84
September 30, 2006
El Paso, TX
UTEP
44–38
85
September 15, 2007
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico State
29–24
86
September 20, 2008
El Paso, TX
New Mexico State
34–33
87
September 19, 2009
Las Cruces, NM
UTEP
38–12
88
September 18, 2010
El Paso, TX
UTEP
42–10
89
September 17, 2011
Las Cruces, NM
UTEP
16–10
90
September 15, 2012
El Paso, TX
UTEP
41–28
91
September 14, 2013
Las Cruces, NM
UTEP
42–21
92
September 13, 2014
El Paso, TX
UTEP
42–24
93
September 19, 2015
Las Cruces, NM
UTEP
50–47
94
September 3, 2016
El Paso, TX
UTEP
38–22
95
September 23, 2017
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico State
41–14
96
September 22, 2018
El Paso, TX
New Mexico State
27–20
97
November 23, 2019
Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico State
44–35
98
August 28, 2021
Las Cruces, NM
UTEP
30–3
99
September 10, 2022
El Paso, TX
UTEP
20–13
100
October 18, 2023
El Paso, TX
New Mexico State
28–7
Series: UTEP leads 59–39–2
Non-conference games (75: 1914–1933 and 1962–2022)
Not played in 10 seasons (1917–1919, 1934, 1943–1945, 2001, 2003 and 2020)
Tommy Dwyer's overall record in series was 2–0–0 (1.000)
Mike Price's overall record in series is 7–2 (.778)
Basketball
The New Mexico State and UTEP men's basketball programs share remarkably similar histories and have played an extremely competitive series of games against one another. The programs both experienced their greatest national prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when both schools were led by young up-and-coming coaches who would eventually win more than 700 games (Lou Henson at New Mexico State, Don Haskins at UTEP) and appeared in the NCAA tournament's Final Four within four years of each other. UTEP (then still known as Texas Western) won the 1966 national title while New Mexico State advanced to the 1970 national semifinal before falling to UCLA, but won the consolation game to finish the season third in the nation. Both programs returned to national prominence in the early 1990s with the Aggies and Miners both advancing to the NCAA Tournament's "Sweet Sixteen" in 1992. New Mexico State has appeared in the NCAA Tournament 18 times to UTEP's 17 appearances, and New Mexico State has advanced to the Sweet Sixteen five times to UTEP's four (although three of New Mexico State's appearances in the early 1990s, including the 1992 Sweet Sixteen run, have since been vacated by the NCAA due to rules violations). Most recently, both schools won conference titles and advanced to the NCAA tournament in 2010.
There is some discrepancy between the two schools on the all-time series record as well as the number of all-time meetings between the schools. Entering the 2017–18 season New Mexico State records show that the schools have met 200 times, with New Mexico State holding a 109–103 all time advantage,[6] while UTEP records show 201 meetings with New Mexico State's advantage at 108–104.[7] Uniquely among non-conference rivalries, the schools traditionally play a two-game home-and-home series each season, unlike most other non-conference rivalry series where a single meeting per season is the norm. UTEP swept the 2010–11 series between the schools, winning 73–56 on November 23, 2010, in El Paso and 74–72 on November 30, 2010, in Las Cruces. The Aggies defeated the Miners 89–73 in the first meeting of the 2011–12 season series on November 19, 2011, at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces. And later in the second meeting of 2011–12 basketball season the Miners defeated the Aggies 73–69 on December 11, 2011, at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso to split the season series.
^Staff, UTEP (November 22, 2019). "Battle of I-10 between UTEP, NMSU makes its way to the football field". KFOX. The winner of the annual matchup between UTEP and NM State will take home 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 is officially titled the Mayor's Cup, but is commonly referred to as the Brass Spittoon and was added in 1982.
