Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Viva Las Cruces!

Boston College Eagles football will take its first-ever road trip out to the Land of Enchantment this upcoming week to face the New Mexico State Aggies, an FBS independent left behind by the implosion of the WAC. To this point, the Eagles have never played a game in New Mexico or faced a team from said state, so this is all new territory. It will, however, be their second trip to the west this year.

The Eagles will encounter a familiar face in Doug Martin, last season’s offensive coordinator who is now the head coach of the Aggies. Unfortunately for him, the program he leads is in a catastrophic state.

The primer:

Boston College at New Mexico State: The Line

• Opening Favorite: Boston College -24.5

Boston College at New Mexico State: Us

• Head Coach Steve Addazio (1st; 4-4)

• Last game: defeated Virginia Tech, 34-27

• This season: 4-4 (2-3 ACC)

• Last road win: November 25, 2011 at Miami

• 2-1 in non-conference games in 2013

• 0-3 on the road this season

Boston College at New Mexico State: Them

• Head Coach Doug Martin (1st; 1-8)

• Last game: defeated by Louisiana-Lafayette, 49-35

• This season: 1-8

• Sole win: Abilene Christian, 34-29 (Oct. 26)

• 1-4 at home this season

• Outscored by BCS-conference opposition 159-41 in three games

Boston College at New Mexico State: The Game

• First-ever meeting between Eagles and Aggies

• Boston College’s first game in the state of New Mexico

• Saturday, November 9, 2013, 3:30pm ET

• “TV:” ESPN3

• Aggie Memorial Stadium, Las Cruces, NM

• Long-range Forecast: Mostly sunny, 70

Boston College at New Mexico State: Initial Evaluation

The Aggies are trying, nobody’s taking that away from them, but they are legitimately one of the worst teams in FBS football. Just wait until you see the stats this week.

Boston College was going to be a massive favorite in this game whether or not they beat Virginia Tech on Saturday, but the fact that they’re even just an average ACC team puts them far ahead of New Mexico State right now, regardless of where this game is played.

It is a road game, and Boston College has lost nine of those in a row, but they will not be afforded a more perfect opportunity to prevent it from reaching ten. A win here would put Boston College at 5-4, needing just one more win to get to a bowl game. The Eagles must not look at this as a pushover game, but as a win they need to earn to get where they want to go.