The New Mexico State Aggies showed resolve in their 48-45 win over Fresno State on Saturday night.
The game seemed tailor made for an NMSU collapse — the team, which turned the ball over on downs, was trailing 45-41 with just under four minutes and thirty seconds to play in the fourth quarter.
Fans — and their weren't many to begin with in attendance — streamed for the exits, perhaps jaded by past experiences in the program's history.
But the defense showed up, forcing a three-and-out and getting the ball back.
The offense would score a touchdown — a Matt Christian fling to Taveon Rogers from 27-yards out put the Aggies up a field goal with just over a minute to play.
And then, once again, the defense held against a team with offensive weapons — and a good quarterback in Derek Carr — turning the Bulldogs over on downs.
A lesser Aggie team would have crumbled — this one responded.
And with that, the team took another step forward.
Yes, the Aggies are better this year — more competitive and just a more entertaining product to watch.
But it would have left somewhat of an empty feeling if NMSU had lost their final seven games of the season — after a 3-3 start to the 2011 campaign.
They needed a win — a home win — over an established Western Athletic Conference program like Fresno State late in the season.
A Fresno State team which had won all 17 of the meetings between the two programs going into Saturday night's affair.
The Aggies did it without two of their starters — standout safety Donyae Coleman and offensive guard Andrew Kersten were out because of injury. Coleman's replacement Justin Smith led the Agies with 13 tackles while true freshman Valerian Ume-Ezeoke started for Kersten and the offensive line continued it's good play.
In truth, Fresno State is down this year and the Aggies are up. NMSU matched up well with the Bulldogs — better than any other Aggie team in recent memory. They were the better team.
NMSU is now 4-6 overall, 2-3 in Western Athletic Conference play.
Dare I say it? They're still bowl eligible.
The final three games will be uphill battles.
But the season isn't over yet, either.
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5 comments:
A tremendous showing by the team!
Unlike BB, can anyone question the direction of the FB team?
Now, imagine what the team could do with a favorable schedule?!
You listening Boston?!!!
Jefe
WOw were we lucky or what ? Considering that the team has no talent and a very poor coaching staff the football gods must have been on our side.
Anon. 8:13 is an idiot!
Your obviously too stupid to see the teams improvement and resolve this year.
Football gods? Naah, just good hard work by the team & staff!
The team has lost 6 games but, has been in a dog fight in 5 of the 6 loses.
A couple of those losses (utep & SJSU) should have been wins!
Jefe is right.
There's no doubts on the direction of the team.
And yes, a favorable schedule would do wonders for this team.
I'm very excited for the future of the program. Hopefully we have a breakout year next season.
Go Aggies!
Jefe,
Im sorry but I have to completely disagree with you and cant take your banter anymore. The Aggies dont need a favorable schedule, we play in a conference where so far the combined records of everyone else is 29-38 or .432. Our non conference opponents have compiled records that total 31-30 for a .508 average. Altogether our opponents are 60-68 for a .468 average. Our current average is at .400. I think that means that we do have a favorable schedule this season. Had we beaten UTEP and SJSU we would already be bowl eligible. You cant ask for an easier schedule because honestly our history doesnt allow it. We are a money team to other schools, we cant get money teams for ourselves. There are not many schools out there who have a worse history than us or who year in and year play worse than we do. The money games make up the money that we cant make on our own. As much as it sucks to get our butts kicked all over the place by the like of UGA and OSU our athletic programs need that money because we dont make it off of our fans. I guess you can call teams that are consistently in the Bottom 10 of ESPN and see if they would be interested in playing us. But I bet they already have money games scheduled in as well. The point is that we need to support the Aggies regardless of their schedule. We cant schedule weaker opponents because most years we are the weakest opponent.
Jesus
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