After a 3-0 start, Hampton faced a reality check against perennial CAA power, Delaware, losing 35-3. This week, the Pirates get some reprieve as they face 0-4 Maine at home. Hampton lacks significant history with a lot of the schools on their CAA schedule this season and Maine is not different as the Black Bears and Pirates have never faced off.

Yet, the Black Bears are no stranger to HBCUs. They are undefeated in seven meetings against HBCUs, all coming from the MEAC with victories over Morgan State and Howard. Howard was the most common victim with six defeats at the hands of the Black Bears. Out of those six meetings, only one was decided by less than 17 points, a 27-23 Maine victory in 1984. The average margin of victory was twenty points.

While both schools continue to keep their rivalry alive despite being in separate conferences, the stakes of a conference championship are gone. Yet, Pirates fans will have increased bragging rights if they defeat the Black Bears on the first try. Even though the Black Bears are struggling with an 0-4 record, any wins over their CAA counterparts are signs of progress after the Pirates struggled to a 4-9 mark in Big South play in their brief two-year stint in the conference.

The fact the Pirates can hold the Bisons’ historic struggles against Maine over their heads is a bonus to a win against the Black Bears. On top of this, the Bison have not beaten the Pirates since 2014.

On the surface, Saturday’s game between Maine and Hampton may look like a strange matchup that only conference realignment can concoct, but somehow it has the chance to give one fan base added bragging rights over another in one of Black College Football’s most iconic rivalries.

 football media guides/record books were indispensable to my research check them out in the listed hyperlinks.

Maine vs. Hampton Provides New Layer to The Battle of the Real HU

 to be selected ahead of all 5-7 bowl teams due to their inability to find an 11th-conference opponent after the tragic death of Camdan McWright forced the cancellation of their game against San Jose State. The New Mexico Bowl looks to be the likely destination for New Mexico State for obvious reasons, but there is one other bowl that would bring New Mexico State back to its Big West roots. 

In New Mexico State's final four seasons in the Big West from 1997-2000, the conference sent its champions to Boise's Humanitarian Bowl. In those four seasons, the Aggies never won the Big West championship but came close in 1999. 

That season, the Aggies finished 6-5 with a 3-2 record in the Big West. The Aggies beat the second-place Idaho Vandals but lost to eventual champion Boise State. Had they beaten Boise State, they would have won the Big West outright and the trip to the Humanitarian Bowl. The Aggies had a chance to go to the bowl when they were members of the WAC, but never really came close. 

A spot in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl would be a fun throwback to stranger times in New Mexico State's history when the goal Aggies fans set their sights on was Boise. Additionally, it would give them a chance to play a conference they rarely play in the MAC.

New Mexico State is 2-5 against schools currently in the MAC. However, three games and both wins came against Northern Illinois when the Huskies were members of the Big West with New Mexico State, so the Aggies have never beaten a school that was in the MAC at the time they played. The only bowl-eligible MAC team New Mexico State has played is Ohio. The schools played in 2011 and 2012 with Ohio winning both games.

While the New Mexico Bowl is the hands-down choice for Aggies fans, the chance to reminisce and beat a program the Aggies have never faced should make the Potato Bowl the backup plan for fans.

Potato Bowl Bid Would Bring NMSU Back to Its Big West Roots

 on December 3 is a rare sight for Pioneer Football League fans as it will only be the c

onference’s fourth game against an FBS program

. While it will be Valparaiso’s first December game ever, it is far from the conference’s first game in December. In the mid-2000s, the Pioneer Football League was a fixture on the first Saturday of December.

 Playoffs consisted of a 20-team field, and conferences such as the Big South, Pioneer Football League, and Northeast Conference did not have an automatic bid. As a result, the Pioneer Football League and the Northeast Conference took matters into their own hands and created their own bowl game, the Gridiron Classic, which would be played on the first Saturday of December. Both conferences’ champions would participate in the game in the event they did not make the FCS playoffs.

The game began in 2006 and had some outstanding matchups. Below are the matchups in the four-year history of the game:

2006: 10-1 San Diego 27 @ 10-1 Monmouth 7. Game held at Monmouth’s Kessler Field in front of 4,032 fans (% capacity)

2007: 8-3 Albany 21 @ 10-1 Dayton 42. Game held at Dayton’s Welcome Stadium in front of 2703 fans (% capacity)

2008: 9-3 Jacksonville 0 @ 9-3 Albany. Game held at Albany’s University Field in front of 2264 fans (% capacity)

2009: 9-2 Central Connecticut State @ 10-1 Butler. Game held at Butler’s Butler Bowl in front of 1577 fans (% capacity, *please note the Butler Bowl held 2500 before renovations in 2010).

The game also brought exposure to conferences being televised twice. In 2006, CSTV (now CBS Sports Network), aired the game; in 2008, the Y

only competed with the ACC Championship and a matchup between 10-1 Louisville and 4-7 UConn.

 The ACC Championship was a 9-6 game and Louisville beat UConn 48-17, so it's reasonable to believe that the Gridiron Classic got a fair amount of viewers.

All good things must come to an end as beginning in 2010, the N

EC gained an automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs

 and the Gridiron Classic went away. The PFL would not gain an automatic playoff bit 

While Valparaiso is not the PFL champion, in some ways it is a resurrection of the Gridiron Classic with the Beacons playing a marquee opponent. Additionally, the game will be televised regionally on Bally Sports Arizona as well as streamed on Flosports. A big win for the program. In the end, the Valparaiso-New Mexico State fan will have Pioneer Football League lifers reminiscing about stranger times for the conference.

Valparaiso's Game This Weekend a Homage to The Gridiron Classic

Today, New Mexico State learned the NCAA 

 to be selected in a bowl game ahead of 5-7 teams due to the inability to reschedule a game after tragic circumstances forced them to cancel their game against San Jose State. 

The likely destination would be the New Mexico Bowl as the Aggies have an agreement with ESPN-owned bowls. While a Mountain West opponent seems most likely, the Aggies’ diverse conference history could give it the option to meet an old conference foe

North Texas has accompanied New Mexico State across several conferences. From 1971-1974, the Aggies and Mean Green were members of the Missouri Valley Conference. The two schools reunited as conference mates in the Big West from 1996-2000, before that conference abandoned football, and New Mexico State and North Texas became founding members of the Sun Belt in 2001. The two schools resided in the Sun Belt together from 2001-2004. North Texas leads the all-time series 22-9-2.

A win for NMSU over a Conference USA Championship game participant would be a signature win for the program. Additionally, this is a series with history that has not occurred since 2004, so it has the perfect blend of familiarity and lack of recency. 

There is also a bit of bad blood in the series as North Texas’ 2002 win over the Aggies prevented them from winning the Sun Belt and ending their 42-year bowl drought with an appearance in the New Orleans Bowl. The loss was New Mexico State’s only loss in Sun Belt play in 2002.

North Texas also has not appeared in the New Mexico Bowl since 2018 and is a manageable trip for Mean Green fans. The Mean Green likely will not go bowling in one of the ESPN-owned bowls in Texas given they played in last year’s Frisco Football Classic, so a trip to New Mexico is more likely than it would appear. The game would also be a rematch of the 

In the end, New Mexico State’s bowl appearance could be a nice homage to the Aggies intriguing history across several conferences. A game against North Texas would provide the Aggies with a quality opponent and a rivalry game of sorts while also being one of the most intriguing games in the history of the New Mexico Bowl.

Maine vs. Hampton Provides New Layer to The Battle of the Real HU

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