The Wiz of Odds

Between the Hedges

Georgia receiver Tavarres King slams into the hedges at Samford Stadium during the Bulldogs' game against New Mexico State.

Later, Georgia tight end Aron White got stuck in the hedges after scoring a touchdown. Video after the jump.

New Mexico State

DeWayne Walker is front and center on New Mexico State's poster schedule. Walker has only five victories in his first two seasons in Las Cruces and it won't be easy building on that total in 2011. The Aggies have road games at Minnesota, Georgia and Brigham Young.

Click the poster for an enlarged view. Thanks to Bleed Crimson.

New Mexico State

DeWayne Walker's first season as Aggie coach was a long one, but that's not unusual in Las Cruces, where there has been only three winning seasons in the past 30 — one less than the number of posters the team produced for this season. New Mexico State actually started 3-3, then lost its last seven, with many of the defeats of the blowout variety. Making matters worse was the Aggies' anemic passing game, which averaged only 88.77 yards a game and had 18 passes intercepted. Walker hired former Minnesota, California and Northwestern offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar in the offseason in hopes of ending a bowl drought that dates to 1960, the longest skid in Division I-A.

As a run-up to the start of the season, the Wiz will display one poster each day until our supply is exhausted. Last year, the site displayed 69 posters.

Then we turn it over to readers, who will vote on the poster of the year. In the meantime, send your team's poster schedule to jayzuma (at) gmail.com.

Click the image for an enlarged view. Thanks to Bleed Crimson.

 

Game of the Weak

Mike Hlas is an award-winning columnist with the Cedar Rapids Gazette and force behind The Hlog. Each week, he will break down the worst matchup in college football. Considering the increasing number of uncompetitive and uninteresting games, Mike's task is harder than managing an Afghan election while knitting an afghan.

Halloween always brings its horrors, but this is going too far.

New Mexico State at Ohio State is all trick, no treat.

How in the name of Jack O'Lantern did this game get onto the Buckeyes' schedule this deep into the season?

For that matter, what's it doing on the schedule at all?

With two losses already before the arrival of November, Ohio State is happy to have a pumpkin to carve before it finishes the regular season at Penn State, at home against Iowa, and at Michigan.

New Mexico State brings a 3-5 record to OSU's Horseshoe, and is fresh off losses of 45-7 to Louisiana Tech and 34-3 to Fresno State. First-year Aggies coach DeWayne Walker has to be feeling bewitched.

If Buckeyes quarterback Terrelle Pryor and OSU coach Jim Tressel hear any booing today, it will probably just be kids warming up their scary voices before going door to door to pursue free sweets that will ruin their teeth and put them on the road to bad dietary habits for a lifetime. Their obesity will lead to increased health care costs for all of us and ...

Sorry, I briefly thought this was Blame the Weak, not Game of the Weak.

New Mexico State

DeWayne Walker, the former UCLA defensive coordinator, takes over as Aggie coach, replacing Hal Mumme. Walker has a lot of work to do. New Mexico State won only 11 games in four seasons under Mumme and was 3-9 last season.

This might be the last poster schedule you see from New Mexico State. Athletic director McKinley Boston announced a $1.5 million reduction in his department's budget this fiscal year.

Thanks to Sam at Bleed Crimson for tracking down the poster.

New Mexico State Is Pretty in Pink

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and New Mexico State went all out Saturday night in Las Cruces to raise money for breast cancer research.

Sam Wasson of Bleed Crimson sent photos of the halftime presentation of a $581,851 check for the Cowboys for Cancer Research fund as part of the Tough Enough To Wear Pink campaign.

Check out the guy holding the hot pink sombrero. Very nice!

A pink ribbon adorned one side of the Aggies' helmets and players wore pink gloves and socks.

Unfortunately for New Mexico State, the new color scheme didn't help against San Jose State. The Spartans rolled to a 31-14 victory.

Additional images are available at Bleed Crimson.