Battle of the Billboards between NMSU and UTEP seen along North Mesa St.

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) – The I-10 rivalry between UTEP and NMSU moves to the 4000 block of North Mesa street with dueling billboards. The signs are now going viral on social media.

NMSU rented a billboard reading "You’d look better in Crimson" less than a mile down the road from UTEP in November.

UTEP clapped back with their own sign reading, “Pick your future, not a color,“ this highlighting the rivalry between the two schools. Something Justin Bannister, Associate VP for Marketing at NMSU, said they wanted to play off of.

Bannister tells ABC-7 15% of their student body is from El Paso, and NMSU has been advertising in the Sun City for years.

He said they wanted to be noticed and thought the placement would do just that. Still, he said they were impressed by UTEP’s response.

“I was impressed with what they had put together,” he said. “Our communities are so intertwined in so many different ways. But we also know that there is a rivalry there and I do think a good rivalry makes both schools better.”