Hey there, Aggies fans! Happy Friday, and happy first-game-of-the-season Eve.
Tomorrow, the New Mexico State Aggies will walk into Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida, to play the Florida State Seminoles, and AGGREGATOR will be the only local media outlet there covering the game.
We’ve got Troy Roberts on the ground in Tallahassee covering the game for us, and I could not be more excited about what we’re going to bring you. Is this going to be easy for the Aggies? Absolutely not. But what can I say? This is practically part of New Mexico State football culture at this point: the ever-present money game.
New Mexico State will collect $1.4 million for playing Florida State in Week Zero.
And I had to laugh watching the local news this week because everybody kept talking about Week Zero like we were witnessing some incredible historical phenomenon. Did you know this is New Mexico State’s fifth Week Zero game?
Okay?
The NCAA has already approved Week Zero as the unofficial beginning of the college football season starting next year, so pretty soon everybody gets Week Zero. The season gets longer, college football consumes even more of the calendar, and eventually I assume we’ll just stop pretending there’s an offseason.
Anyway, one of the more popular parts of AGGREGATOR’s football coverage last season was something that never really had a name: my Friday prediction column.
I bring you the stats. I bring you the information. I research the players. I look at the depth charts. I pay attention to what the coaches are saying. Absolutely.
But there are already a million traditional game previews out there. There are podcasts breaking down every matchup imaginable, some of them seemingly longer than the actual football game. Everybody wants to tell you about offensive line play, defensive schemes, personnel packages and what the Aggies need to do on third-and-seven.
And some of it is incredibly boring.
People like hearing themselves talk. Do I like reading myself when I write? Absolutely. I think anybody who creates something has at least a tiny egomaniac living inside of them.
But AGGREGATOR was founded on something much simpler:
I want to have fun covering the Aggies, and I want Aggies fans to have fun loving their team.
That’s what the Friday column became last season. Football was the starting point, and then somehow we ended up talking about rock bands, television shows, Saturday Night Live sketches, professional wrestling and my family’s restaurant. I even wrote an entire themed column about Tuesday because, well, the Aggies were playing football on a Tuesday.
It is written in the spirit of ESPN’s Bottom 10 by Ryan McGee
It became my excuse to write about football while wandering into whatever ridiculous corner of my brain seemed appropriate that week.
And now it finally has a name.
JAMES BACA’S CRIMSON CRAZY
It just feels right.
Crimson is quintessential New Mexico State, and I’m probably a little crazy when I write these things because I love having fun, I love making people laugh and I refuse to believe college football coverage has to feel like somebody reading the instruction manual for a washing machine.
So that’s what James Baca’s Crimson Crazy is going to be.
And for the inaugural edition, I picked one heck of a topic — one that happens to fit Florida State University rather nicely.
We’ll get there.
First, one important reminder.
AGGREGATOR is a reader-supported publication, and your support of independent journalism covering New Mexico State athletics is incredibly important.
AGGREGATOR exists in the first place because there was a lack of consistent coverage of the Aggies. And while plenty of large media and communications companies believe they have the answer for what Las Cruces media should look like, I have my own idea:
Write for the people who actually read you.
Write for Aggies fans. Talk about the things Aggies fans actually care about. Give them information they can use, stories they want to read and, every once in a while, something that makes them laugh.
That’s what I’m trying to build here.
For the time being, new subscribers can get 20% off an annual paid subscription to AGGREGATOR using promo code BYENICK, celebrating the departure of Nick Coppola from the Las Cruces Sun-News. We will miss him, and AGGREGATOR will work hard to carry on the journalism torch!
That brings your first year down to $40 — about $3.33 a month.
For that, I promise I’ll work my ass off to give you the best New Mexico State journalism I possibly can while making sure we have some fun along the way. You’ll become a more knowledgeable Aggies fan. You’ll know what’s happening with your team when game day arrives. And, more importantly, you’re helping support the independent coverage that keeps people talking about New Mexico State athletics.
So please subscribe today.
And now, if you’re only here because you want my prediction for New Mexico State vs. Florida State, I understand. My comedy writing is not for everyone. I’ll give you a big, obvious place to scroll down to near the end so you can skip all of my nonsense.
Look for the giant FSU Spear to get to my prediction
But if you came here to have some fun?
Stick around.
I made this one worth your while.
Go Aggies!
BURT: THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE MUSTACHE (Kind of like Pistol Pete)
Whenever I found out several months ago that New Mexico State would be traveling to Tallahassee to play Florida State, there was really only one person I could talk about for my Friday football column.
I’ve been thinking about this one for months.
And no, it’s not Lee Corso, the longtime College GameDay personality and former Florida State football player.
It’s actually his old roommate.
Burt Reynolds.
Yes, celebrated actor, performer, and owner of perhaps the most famous mustache of the 20th century Burt Reynolds was Corso’s roommate at Florida State University in the 1950s, back when Doak Campbell Stadium was still spanking new.
Reynolds passed away eight years ago, and I actually remember his death pretty vividly because he was one of the first major celebrity deaths I recall after I left banking. He died on September 6, 2018, at the age of 82.
Because I’m in my 40s, I didn’t grow up with Burt Reynolds as this larger-than-life presence on the silver screen and television the way a lot of you did. Many of you know the movies. You remember the Trans Am. You remember Smokey and the Bandit. You remember Deliverance. You remember the mustache, the laugh and that unmistakable Burt Reynolds swagger.
Me?
My favorite Burt Reynolds movie is an HBO movie from the mid-1990s called The Cherokee Kid. He played “Otter Bob.”
It starred comedian Sinbad as a Black cowboy in the Old West, and it is an absolutely silly movie. But I could watch that movie a thousand times. In fact, I probably haven’t seen it in 20 years, and I still think about that movie.
Burt Reynolds was already in the twilight of his career by then, but that was how I knew him.
Of course, as you get older, you start learning more about these people who existed around the edges of your childhood. So naturally, knowing New Mexico State was going to Florida State, I did a deep dive into Burt Reynolds. And of course I watched most of his great work over the years. Smokey and the Bandit reminds me of watching it at my grandparents house.
And Burt had one heck of a life.
Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. was born February 11, 1936, in Lansing, Michigan — right in Big Ten territory, with Michigan State, of course, sitting in nearby East Lansing. His family moved around, including stops in Georgia and Missouri, before eventually settling in Florida.
And before Burt Reynolds was a movie star, he was one hell of a football player.
Reynolds earned All-State honors as a fullback in 1953 and received an offer to play for the University of Miami and then-head coach Andy Gustafson. Instead, Reynolds ultimately chose Florida State University and head coach Tom Nugent.
That decision eventually put him on a football field about 40 miles from Las Cruces 70 some odd years ago.
In 1954, Florida State went 8-4 and earned a trip to El Paso to play in the Sun Bowl. On New Year’s Day 1955, the Seminoles played the Texas Western Miners at Kidd Field in front of about 14,000 people.
Texas Western absolutely walloped them.
Texas Western 47, Florida State 20.
But Burt Reynolds was there.
Reynolds carried the football seven times for 35 yards. And his buddy — and roommate — Lee Corso had himself quite a day, including a 25-yard kickoff return and a 48-yard run.
Long before one became one of the most recognizable actors in America and the other became the guy putting giant mascot heads on his head every Saturday morning on ESPN, Burt Reynolds and Lee Corso were college roommates playing football together at Florida State.
And they played in El Paso.
Reynolds later said that one of his most prized possessions was the commemorative watch he received for playing in that Sun Bowl. He treasured it for years before losing it after a horrific car accident that nearly killed him.
And while their lives eventually went in wildly different directions — Corso toward coaching and eventually television, Reynolds toward Hollywood and superstardom — the two old Florida State roommates remained lifelong friends.
They stayed friends right up until Reynolds died in 2018.
Before Burt Reynolds became Burt Reynolds, there were two young guys sharing a room at Florida State University and playing football together inside a still-new Doak Campbell Stadium.
Lee Corso was quoted as saying about Burt in Men’s Journal, In college, Reynolds "was so good-looking, I used him as bait. He'd walk across campus and bring back two girls, one beautiful and one ugly; I got the ugly girl. His ugly girlfriends were better than anyone I could get on my own.”
Now imagine in 2026 America, this country would cancel poor 90-year old Lee Corso for saying that. But it is a funny story only because Burt after an injury ended his college career, went to Hollywood.
Burt Reynolds eventually made his way from the football field to television, appearing in Riverboat and Gunsmoke, along with episodes of Flipper, Perry Mason and Love, American Style.
But Burt was destined for the silver screen.
There was Navajo Joe, followed by his role in the widely acclaimed Deliverance. And no, you will not be getting any Deliverance jokes in this column. There was The Longest Yard, a movie so generationally loved that decades later they remade it with Adam Sandler in the starring role.
Then, of course, came Bo “Bandit” Darville in Smokey and the Bandit and J.J. McClure in The Cannonball Run.
His later years included Striptease. You will not be getting any references to that beyond this sentence, either. Then came his Oscar-nominated turn in Boogie Nights. Same rule applies to that one.
And eventually, Burt even made a cameo appearance in the Adam Sandler remake of The Longest Yard.
The rest of his later television and film career included plenty of movies you probably never saw and roles that largely helped pay the bills after Reynolds emerged from a very public bankruptcy in the 1990s.
But don’t feel bad for Burt Reynolds.
Burt lived.
And Burt loved.
Good Lord, did Burt love.
He dated Sally Field, his Smokey and the Bandit co-star, for several years. She was so beautiful back then. Reynolds has stated that was the love of his life.
He married Loni Anderson of WKRP in Cincinnati fame. And before that, he had a long relationship with singer and television personality Dinah Shore, who was about 20 years his senior.
What a life this man lived.
And then there were all the sports connections. He played football at Florida State. He played in the Sun Bowl. He became a part-owner of the USFL’s Tampa Bay Bandits — a team whose nickname was inspired by his Smokey and the Bandit persona — and at one point even became involved in NASCAR team ownership.
The guy did just about everything.
So when Burt Reynolds died at 82, I think it’s fair to say he probably squeezed more living into those 82 years than the average person could manage in 882.
He was just a cool guy. He even boasted about his toupee and owned the conversation about it!
Now, doing my Burt Reynolds deep dive for this column also made me realize something else:
Burt could apparently be quite a jerk.
There were feuds, including his famous disdain for Marlon Brando. There were stories about Burt being difficult. There were commitments he walked away from and decisions throughout his career that probably made agents, producers and studio executives want to pull their hair out.
But in a strange way, some of that hot-headedness is also what breeds a legend.
I’m certainly not suggesting anyone should walk away from their responsibilities because Burt Reynolds did it. But Burt seemed to understand relatively early that he had created something bigger than simply being an actor.
He had created Burt Reynolds.
The celebrity became so enormous that, for a long time, he could dictate his own terms. Sometimes that worked brilliantly. Sometimes it blew up spectacularly. Eventually, some of those decisions caught up with him.
But for better or worse, Burt lived life on his terms.
And, quite frankly, isn’t that a version of the American dream?
To reach a point where you can look around and say: This is my life. I’m doing it my way.
Burt Reynolds did that.
So, in the spirit of the legendary Burt Reynolds, I have come up with a few keys for the New Mexico State Aggies as they attempt to do something tomorrow that would certainly require a little Bandit-level audacity:
Pull off an upset against the Florida State Seminoles.
Yes, there will be some ridiculous Burt Reynolds-inspired images. Yes, there will be some comedy.
But underneath all of that, I promise there are some legitimate points about what New Mexico State needs to do on the football field.
So fire up the Trans Am, grow yourself a mustache.
We’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there.
Let’s talk football.
CANNONBALL RUN
ESTABLISH THE RUN — AND UNLEASH CAPTAIN CHAOS
Now, this one is quite simple.
Establishing the run is paramount.
There are a couple of reasons for that. First, Florida State has a high-powered offense. Even if that offense ends up being mediocre by Power Four standards, we’re still talking about a level of talent that, on paper, is considerably better than what New Mexico State is going to see during most of its schedule.
The Aggies cannot turn this into a track meet.
That means New Mexico State is going to have to rely heavily on the triumvirate of James Jones, T.J. Washington Jr. and Dijon Stanley to carry a significant portion of the offensive load.
Am I saying that Trey Hedden throwing bombs to T.K. King isn’t a tasty proposition? Absolutely not. Give me some Hedden-to-King. Give me A.J. Williams. Give me Myles Libman. I want to see what this passing game can do.
But against Florida State, running the football accomplishes something even more important:
It keeps Florida State’s offense standing on the sideline.
Time of possession is going to matter.
Granted, New Mexico State may win the time-of-possession battle anyway simply because of how quickly Florida State is capable of moving the football. But there’s a major difference between possessing the ball because the other team scored in 90 seconds and possessing the ball because you’re putting together eight-, nine- and 10-play drives that end with points.
That’s where the Aggies’ running backs come in.
James Jones averaged nearly 10 yards per carry at Delaware State last season. T.J. Washington arrives from Iowa. And Dijon Stanley returns after showing flashes of what his speed can bring to this offense.
I’m not asking these guys to average nine or 10 yards a carry against Florida State.
Give me four or five.
Move the chains. Turn second-and-10 into second-and-5. Get a couple of first downs. Make Florida State’s defensive front work. Keep the clock moving. Most importantly, make the Seminoles respect the possibility that New Mexico State can line up and pound the football.
Because once Florida State has to respect the run, Trey Hedden’s job becomes easier.
And when Hedden’s job becomes easier, suddenly T.K. King, A.J. Williams, Myles Libman and the rest of those receivers have a little more room to operate.
Run to establish the pass. Keep Florida State’s offense off the field. Shorten the game.
That’s the formula.
And while we’re here, I need to address the accompanying image
I do not appreciate the fact that artificial intelligence apparently decided I make a nearly perfect Dom DeLuise, who played Victor Prinzim — better known as Captain Chaos — in The Cannonball Run movies.
It is frightening.
It is unsettling.
And I would like to forget I ever saw it.
Unfortunately, much like Captain Chaos himself, once that image enters your life, there is apparently no getting rid of it.
DAAAAA-DUN!
THE LONGEST YARD
Next up, of course, is The Longest Yard.
Burt Reynolds played Paul “Wrecking” Crewe, a former professional quarterback who finds himself sentenced to 18 months in Citrus State Prison after stealing a car, leading police on a chase and attacking two police officers. From there, the movie centers around Crewe recruiting a group of prisoners to play a football game against the guards.
The movie was remade in 2005 with Adam Sandler playing Crewe, and Burt Reynolds returned for that version as well.
We’re not going to spend much time on the taboo subjects here — crime, prison or the fact that Paul Crewe had been kicked out of professional football for point shaving.
Instead, we’re focusing on three words:
The. Longest. Yard.
Because sometimes that longest yard is the one standing between you and a first down.
I mentioned already that running the football is going to be key against Florida State. But even more important is what comes from running the football successfully:
Getting first downs.
Think back to when New Mexico State went into Auburn a few years ago and pulled off one of the biggest wins in program history. It wasn’t necessarily that the Aggies were doing something spectacular offensively on every possession. They moved the chains. They established the tempo. They kept drives alive.
One of the things I loved about the Jerry Kill era with Tim Beck running the offense was that there always seemed to be a rhythm to everything. Get five yards. Get another four. Convert the third down. Move the chains. Start over. Oh, and waste a lot of time doing so!
Compare that with the money games New Mexico State has played the last two seasons against Texas A&M and Tennessee.
Those games felt disjointed.
Three-and-outs. Dumb penalties. Drives that went nowhere. Penalties that extended drives for the opponent. Eventually, everything became a frustrating mess.
I remember being bored to death watching the Texas A&M game. Tennessee was different because I knew New Mexico State was facing an enormous uphill battle, but what frustrated me was that the Aggies’ defense actually played decently for a good chunk of that game. The offense just never gave the defense much of a chance.
Eventually, Tennessee rolled them.
New Mexico State cannot allow that to happen tomorrow.
Get first downs.
The Aggies are going to be a little light at tight end with their prized transfer Thomas out. Long-time Aggie Jerry Lydiatt getting the start.
He hasn’t caught many passes during his college career, but if he can catch a couple tomorrow? Perfect. Give me a little tight end screen. Give me a short completion on third-and-four. Let the running backs move the sticks. It doesn’t have to be pretty.
Just keep moving.
And inside a loud Doak Campbell Stadium, with tens of thousands of people doing the war chant, the Aggies cannot beat themselves before the football is even snapped.
No false starts because somebody couldn’t hear the cadence. No linemen getting flustered and committing holding penalties. No stupid mistake on third-and-two that suddenly makes it third-and-12.
Find a rhythm and stay in it.
The same principle applies defensively, and that’s the side of the football where New Mexico State enters this season with considerably more experience.
No defensive pass interference penalties giving Florida State free first downs. No personal fouls.
Know where Duce Robinson is at all times. Double-team him if that’s what it takes, but don’t become so obsessed with Robinson that somebody else is running uncovered down the field.
Power Conference teams know how to do this. They know how to find weaknesses in Group of Six opponents, exploit them and turn what was a competitive game in the first quarter into a blowout by halftime.
New Mexico State has to interrupt that rhythm.
A typical college football game only gives you so many possessions. 10-12 usually.
If the Aggies can force Florida State to punt four or five times instead of allowing touchdown after touchdown, suddenly you’ve taken a considerable number of potential points off the board.
Then, if New Mexico State can produce anything offensively, maybe you’ve got yourself a competitive football game.
That’s where The Longest Yard comes into play.
Sometimes the longest yard is literally one yard.
It’s stretching the football forward and getting the first down instead of coming up six inches short. It’s your running back falling forward on third-and-two. It’s your offensive line getting enough push to move the chains.
And when Florida State has third-and-one?
Make that one yard feel like 100.
Your run stuffers need to stuff the run. Your linebackers need to hit somebody. Don’t let Florida State casually hand the football off, fall forward and reset the downs.
Make them earn the longest yard.
That’s the way Paul “Wrecking” Crewe would want it.
And, by the way, I would also like it noted for the record that I look like one tough son of a gun standing behind Burt Reynolds in the accompanying photo.
Captain Chaos James frightened me.
The Longest Yard James looks like he’s about to make you regret going over the middle.
SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT
I didn’t really have a great football analogy for Smokey and the Bandit, so just for the sake of argument, we’re making Trey Hedden the Bandit.
The Aggies are 30-plus-point underdogs. Hedden is walking into Doak Campbell Stadium for his first start as New Mexico State’s quarterback in an environment where almost nobody outside Las Cruces expects him to have a chance.
So give me a little Bandit mentality.
Don’t be reckless, but don’t be scared, either.
Coach Tony Sanchez has mentioned in local media interviews this week that Hedden has been in a big-time environment before. When he was at Furman, he played Clemson at Death Valley in South Carolina. Other players on this New Mexico State roster have been in those environments, too.
They know it’s going to be loud.
Jordan, one of the people on Aggies Twitter, even recorded video from New Mexico State’s practice this week where the Aggies were piping in Florida State’s war chant to acclimate the team to what they’re going to hear Saturday.
I love it.
You obviously can’t recreate 70,000 people in Tallahassee with some speakers at practice, but you can at least make the sound familiar. When Hedden walks to the line of scrimmage and hears that chant for real, it won’t be the first time he’s heard it while trying to operate the offense.
Then it’s time to play football.
If T.K. King gets behind somebody, take the shot.
If the Aggies establish the running game, use play action.
If the pocket breaks down and Hedden suddenly has green grass in front of him, take it. He’s not known as a running quarterback, but this is one of those games where you may have to give everything you’ve got to create a little momentum.
I’m not asking Trey Hedden to throw for 400 yards.
I’m asking him to make Florida State pay when the opportunities are there.
And then we have another Bandit.
Florida State quarterback Ashton Daniels.
Except this time, New Mexico State gets to play Smokey.
Catch the Bandit.
The Aggies can play excellent coverage. They can collapse the pocket. They can seemingly do everything right. But if Daniels escapes on third-and-eight, scrambles for 15 yards and moves the chains, everything changes.
Instead of New Mexico State’s defense celebrating as the punt team comes onto the field, Florida State has a fresh set of downs. The crowd gets loud again. The Seminoles regain their rhythm. A couple of plays later, maybe they’re standing in the end zone.
Those are the plays New Mexico State cannot afford.
And that’s going to put even more pressure on an Aggies secondary that enters this game shorthanded. Bernock Iya is gone for the season, and Tayden Barnes appears unlikely to be available. The guys behind them on the depth chart are going to have to play their tails off.
The defensive front has to maintain contain. The linebackers have to know where Daniels is. And when somebody gets a hand on him, finish the tackle.
Don’t let the Bandit escape.
So there you go. I found my Smokey and the Bandit analogy after all.
There are two Bandits in Tallahassee.
New Mexico State needs its Bandit to get loose.
And Florida State’s Bandit needs to get caught.
And one more thing:
Don’t you think Burt Reynolds makes a perfect Pistol Pete?
Seriously, look at the accompanying image. AI barely had to change the man.
Give Burt Reynolds a cowboy hat and suddenly I’m wondering if Pistol Pete has secretly been driving a black Trans Am all these years.
EVENING SHADE
This one doesn’t have a ridiculous AI picture attached to it.
Instead, we’re going back to Burt Reynolds’ return to television in the late 1980s and early 1990s with Evening Shade.
Reynolds played Wood Newton, a former NFL player who retires to the small town of Evening Shade, Arkansas, where he becomes the coach of a high school football team. That was probably one of my first introductions to Burt Reynolds, along with the wonderfully cheesy Cop and a Half a few years later.
Anyway, I don’t have some elaborate football analogy for Evening Shade.
Just that the weather may be a factor…
New Mexico State and Florida State kick off at 7 p.m. Saturday in Tallahassee, and it’s going to be a rainy, hot and — most importantly — humid day.
When it’s not raining, temperatures will be in the 80s with humidity hovering around 85 percent for much of the day. Around kickoff, the forecast calls for approximately 82 degrees with 85 percent humidity.
Now, as someone from Las Cruces, let me explain something to our friends in Florida:
It’s a dry heat.
That’s the stereotypical New Mexico thing to say, but it’s true. High temperatures in Las Cruces don’t bother me that much. Give me 95 degrees with our dry desert air and I can deal with it.
Give me San Antonio or Houston when it’s 85 degrees and the humidity is somewhere around the surface of the sun?
Absolutely miserable.
I remember being in DFW a few years ago, and I swear I was sweating through my shirt before I even made it out of the hotel.
New Mexico State does have plenty of players from Southeast Texas and other parts of the South who know exactly what that sticky humidity feels like. But playing a football game in Florida in August is still an entirely different animal.
That’s why hydration and conditioning are going to matter.
If somebody had a bad camp and isn’t quite where he needs to be conditioning-wise, we’re going to find out very quickly.
Evening shade or not.
Because this thing is going to end somewhere around 10:30 Saturday night, and it’s still going to be warm. If it’s not raining, that heavy Florida humidity isn’t suddenly going to disappear because the sun went down.
And remember what we’ve already talked about throughout this column. New Mexico State wants to establish the run. The Aggies want to extend drives. They want Florida State’s offense standing on the sideline.
Well, Florida State can turn that around on you.
If the Aggies defense gets stuck on the field for a 10-play drive in that humidity, finally forces a third down and then Ashton Daniels escapes for a first down, now those defensive linemen and linebackers have to line up and do it all over again.
That’s when conditioning becomes part of the football game.
Stay hydrated. Get those electrolytes. Drink the pickle juice shots. Do whatever you’ve got to do to keep the cramps away.
Because I’ll be watching for it.
If New Mexico State gets into the second half and guys are still moving well, getting off the field and playing with energy, I’ll feel pretty good about the conditioning work they did during camp.
But if we start seeing Aggies dropping with cramps?
Then I’ll know we’ve got a problem.
Burt Reynolds may have found himself some Evening Shade in Arkansas.
The Aggies aren’t getting much of it in Tallahassee.
DON’T OVERCOMPENSATE — THE BURT REYNOLDS TOUPEE
And finally, let’s address the 800-pound elephant sitting on top of Burt Reynolds’ head in the room: the toupee.
As the years went on, Burt became famously open about wearing custom toupees, or what he sometimes called “hair replacement systems.” The only other person I can remember using the phrase “hair replacement system” was Sam Malone on Cheers, so apparently that was the preferred terminology among exceptionally handsome men of a certain era who didn’t want to admit they were wearing a rug.
Burt didn’t hide it, either. In fact, he joked about it. In an interview with GQ, Reynolds talked about why so many men look ridiculous wearing toupees, and his basic explanation was that they overcompensate. They put too much hair up there. As Burt put it, they “pile it high until the thing starts looking like some kind of weird flower.”
I really don’t have anything profound to add to that. Mostly, I just wanted an excuse to show you a picture of me wearing Burt Reynolds’ toupee. And, for the record, I would never wear one.
But Burt’s point about overcompensation actually applies perfectly to New Mexico State.
The Aggies don’t need to walk into Doak Campbell Stadium Saturday night and suddenly try to become something they’re not. Be New Mexico State. Do the things you’ve spent weeks, if not months, practicing. If you’re good at running the football, run it. If you’ve got an experienced defense, trust it. If Trey Hedden sees T.K. King open down the field, throw him the football. If it’s third-and-one, get the yard.
Don’t suddenly reinvent your offense because you’re playing Florida State. Don’t manufacture some completely different identity because the other team has more stars next to the names of its recruits. Do what you do well, because when you start trying too hard and abandon everything you’ve practiced every day for months, that’s when you’re in trouble. You start overcompensating, and suddenly you’ve got a giant flower sitting on top of your head.
There’s another lesson from Burt Reynolds here, too, and that’s simply to own it.
One of the reasons Burt could talk about his toupees and laugh about them was because once you openly acknowledge something, what exactly is somebody else going to do with it? Burt knew he was wearing a toupee. You knew Burt was wearing a toupee. Burt knew that you knew Burt was wearing a toupee. Okay. Now what?
There’s a strange confidence that comes with simply owning who you are instead of constantly trying to mask something, hide it or become defensive about it. Sometimes the effort you put into hiding what you perceive as a weakness becomes a bigger burden than the weakness itself.
New Mexico State should approach Saturday night with a little of that mentality. The Aggies enter this season with an over-under win total around four-and-a-half games at most sportsbooks. There isn’t much national expectation for a bowl appearance, and depending on where you look, they’re projected to finish somewhere between fifth and eighth in Conference USA. Now they’re walking into Florida State as more than a 30-point underdog.
Everybody already expects you to lose. Okay. Now what?
Go play football.
New Mexico State doesn’t have to win Saturday for this trip to be worthwhile. Realistically, the Aggies probably aren’t going to win this football game, but they damn sure better play like they belong there. Get through Florida State relatively unscathed and avoid significant injuries. Execute your offense. Learn something about your quarterback. Find out which running backs you can trust. See how your offensive line handles a Power Four defensive front and which of those younger defensive backs can play when the lights are on.
And if the game gets away from you in the third quarter, don’t mentally get on the airplane back to Las Cruces. Keep playing, keep figuring things out and keep identifying the things that are going to make you successful over the next three months.
Because after Florida State comes Mercyhurst, a lower-end FCS opponent. Then you’re getting on another airplane and heading to Hawai’i for a game that could be very meaningful to the direction of this season. By then, you’ll have two games under your belt and hopefully a much better idea of exactly what this New Mexico State football team can be.
So own the moment Saturday night. Everybody expects you to lose. Everybody expects Florida State to have the better athletes. Everybody expects the Seminoles to win comfortably.
Fine.
You don’t have to pretend otherwise. Walk into Doak Campbell Stadium, play New Mexico State football and be confident in what you’ve got. Don’t overcompensate. Don’t pile it high. Don’t wear the weird flower.
Burt Reynolds owned the toupee.
The Aggies need to own who they are.
And hey, maybe things will work out.
How to Watch the Game
It is on the CW Network at 5pm Las Cruces time. Channel 8 on DirecTV here. Check your local listing where it is on your system.
If you have the ESPN App, It will be on there. ESPN and CW have an agreement to air CW Sports programming on the app.
Who is calling the game? Former Chicago Cubs Play-By-Play man (he used to call the 4th-6th innings on TV when Harry Caray got old) Thom Brennaman, Marty’s son who as you know got himself fired during COVID with that uber-viral video.
(Contains offensive language)
Glad to see him back on the air. He is a pro’s pro save for that “Treat it like your mic is always on” incident that he paid for.
He will be joined by Jason Cabinda.
You know where to find Aggies football on the radio.
Betting (By DraftKings)
THE ODDS
According to DraftKings, Florida State opened as a 28.5-point favorite, but that number has continued climbing as kickoff approaches. The Seminoles are now favored by 31.5 points, with New Mexico State getting +31.5 at -108 and Florida State -31.5 at -112.
The over/under sits at 53.5 points, while the Aggies are a whopping +3000 on the moneyline and Florida State sits at an eye-watering -10000.
There is an interesting wrinkle behind that movement, too: 76% of the bets and a massive 97% of the money against the spread have been on Florida State -31.5, so bettors aren’t just expecting the Seminoles to win — they’re putting some serious money behind Florida State winning big. The oddsmakers weren’t exactly high on New Mexico State when this thing opened, and the betting public has apparently become even less optimistic about the Aggies as the week has gone along.
Head-to-Head (all-time)
FSU Leads 1-0 (36-0 win vs NMSU in October 1964)
James Baca’s Prediction
ENOUGH BURT REYNOLDS — LET’S MAKE A PREDICTION
Okay, enough Burt Reynolds talk. Let’s finally get to the reason some of you probably scrolled all the way down here in the first place.
It’s prediction time.
I have said ever since the schedule came out around March or April that we probably won’t know what this New Mexico State football team really is until Week 3, and maybe even later than that.
The Aggies open against Florida State, a legendary college football program with decades of history behind it, playing inside Doak Campbell Stadium. Then next Saturday, New Mexico State comes home to play Mercyhurst, a lower-end FCS program that was playing Division II football as recently as a few years ago and just got blown out by a middle-of-the-pack FCS team in its season opener.
Those are two opposite ends of the spectrum.
So we probably don’t begin learning New Mexico State’s true identity until Sept. 12 against Hawai’i. Even then, you’re talking about traveling thousands of miles across the Pacific, dealing with jet lag and playing at a time when your body back in New Mexico is wondering why in the hell you’re still playing football.
Maybe the first truly normal measuring stick doesn’t arrive until Sept. 26 against New Mexico.
But that’s getting ahead of ourselves.
Can the Aggies pull off a miracle Saturday night?
Sure. Why not?
Stranger things have happened, and Florida State fans don’t need anybody reminding them that their program has occasionally made life much more difficult against smaller schools than it needed to be. Jacksonville State walked into Doak Campbell Stadium on Sept. 11, 2021, and stunned Florida State 20-17. In 2019, Louisiana-Monroe took the Seminoles to overtime before Florida State escaped with a 45-44 win.
Yes, Florida State annihilated Kent State 66-10 last season. But people remember Jacksonville State. People remember Louisiana-Monroe. Doak Campbell Stadium does not make the Seminoles immune from having a bad night.
Mike Norvell’s tenure at Florida State has been a roller coaster, with that incredible 13-1 season standing in stark contrast to some of the difficult seasons surrounding it. Ashton Daniels is now taking over at quarterback after transferring from Auburn, and you know he’s going to be looking for Duce Robinson. If New Mexico State decides Robinson requires double coverage, Daniels is going to have other receivers available, and the Aggies better be prepared for that.
Florida State’s running game presents another problem. Whether it’s Ousmane, Kromah, Tre Wisner or somebody else getting carries, the Seminoles have enough weapons to establish the pace of this football game very quickly if New Mexico State lets them.
When the Aggies get the football, I want James Jones and T.J. Washington Jr. helping establish their own pace. The offensive line needs to give Trey Hedden enough time to find his receivers, and I really believe this has to be a village effort in the passing game. I don’t need one receiver catching 12 passes. Give me six or seven guys contributing. Catch the football. Don’t drop passes. Keep Hedden efficient. Move the chains.
Do that, and maybe New Mexico State hangs around for a while.
My concern comes from what I’ve watched in the Aggies’ last two money games against Texas A&M and Tennessee. I saw fundamental mistakes. I saw three-and-outs. I saw bad penalties. I saw drives end before they ever really started, and eventually I saw New Mexico State make a pretty quick exit from competitive football in both games.
I hate saying that because my heart wants the Aggies to prove me completely wrong.
This is now my fourth year covering New Mexico State football, and the more college football I’ve watched and studied during that time, the more difficult it has become to let my heart make these predictions.
My heart wants an upset.
My brain won’t let me pick one.
And if New Mexico State wins and all of you email me Saturday night telling me I’m the worst predictor of football games in America, you know what?
I’ll happily take it. My Aggies still won.
But I’m picking Florida State.
Interestingly enough, though, I’m taking New Mexico State to cover the 31.5-point spread.
MY PREDICTION
FLORIDA STATE 42, NEW MEXICO STATE 17
I think New Mexico State’s offense performs better than some people expect. I think the Aggies find the end zone a couple of times and show us some encouraging things that can carry into the rest of the season.
Unfortunately, I also think there are some turnovers in our future, and I think Duce Robinson makes some big plays. This could be one of those games that begins building his case for the Biletnikoff Award — appropriately enough, an award named for legendary Florida State receiver Fred Biletnikoff.
So, sorry to disappoint you, Aggies fans.
I’ve got us starting 0-1.
But that’s why they play the game.
And with that, the inaugural edition of James Baca’s Crimson Crazy is officially in the books. Thank you so much for reading. I genuinely hope you had as much fun reading this ridiculous Burt Reynolds journey as I did putting it together.
Tomorrow, the jokes stop and the football starts.
Troy Roberts will be on the ground in Tallahassee for AGGREGATOR. I’ll be watching every snap back home, and when it’s over, we’ll have plenty to talk about — whether I’m right, completely wrong or somewhere in between.
So I’ll leave you with Burt Reynolds as the Bandit in Smokey and the Bandit:
“For the good old American life: for the money, for the glory, and for the fun. Mostly for the money.”
Considering New Mexico State is getting $1.4 million to play Florida State?
I can’t think of a more appropriate way to end this thing.
Go Aggies.
James
All of CUSA will be pulling for the Aggies tonight. Enjoyed all the Burt Reynolds in the Crazy Crimson! When the long off-season returns, a movie recommendation: The Last Movie Star. Made not long before his death, a quasi-autobiographical look at aging and fading glory.