LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Talk about degrees of separation. You wonder what is going through the minds of University of Hawai'i football coach Greg McMackin and his adversary, New Mexico State head coach Hal Mumme, today as their game within a game commences.

Besides the urgency of winning this contest.

Both are linked to Mike Leach, the head coach of No. 2-ranked Texas Tech, and the frontrunner, at this point, for coach of the year honors. McMackin was his former defensive coordinator at Tech and Mumme was Leach's longtime mentor.

Leach is the flavor of this fall in college football, someone whose rapidly appreciating services will be in high demand at season's end by anybody with an opening (Tennessee, Washington, Kansas State ...) and a fat wallet.

Meanwhile, off the national radar, edged in between the Organ Mountains and the Rio Grande today, Mumme and McMackin are also between a rock and a hard place, trying to save seasons.

And, in Mumme's case, probably his job as well.

Before us is not only an illustration of the cris-crossed web of relationships of the profession, but of the intriguing subplots that grow out of them.

Leach learned his ABCs of the passing game at the elbow of Mumme, a well-traveled coach of mad scientist bent. Leach followed his teacher from Iowa Wesleyan, to Valdosta (Ga.) State and Kentucky before eventually stepping out on his own at Texas Tech.

What the Red Raiders run offensively — and have led the nation in passing with five of the past seven years — is a progeny of Mumme's "Air Raid" offense. The Aggies run theirs well enough to be 11th in the country in passing but not overwhelmingly enough to make up for the injuries and deficiencies that have dropped the Aggies to a 3-5 (1-3 WAC) record and the brink of bowl elimination.

Because, as a portion of the 45-foot long mural in NMSU's Hall of Legends reminds in 12-foot high symbolism, the Aggies haven't been to a bowl since 1960, the heat is on the man who is charged with ending the futility.

Meanwhile, McMackin makes up the flip side. McMackin, who got an up-close and personal look at the offense from three seasons at Texas Tech, when he was helping lay the foundation for a defense that has carried the Red Raiders to a 9-0 season, has his own predicament. The Warriors are 4-5 (3-3 WAC) and, because of the pratfall at Utah State last week, are running out of opportunities to get to the seven wins necessary to be bowl eligible.

So, Mumme knows the offense, McMackin knows its strengths and weaknesses and Mumme knows he knows.

What they both also understand is that they each need to be at the top of their games in a confrontation only one of them can win today.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.