New Mexico State lost a frustrating affair to I-10 rival UTEP, a 42-21 defeat on Saturday night at Aggie Memorial Stadium.
It was discouraging, simply from the standpoint that it was a winnable game on the 2013 schedule - an independent docket where there aren't a whole lot of such games to begin with for the Aggies.
But four turnovers were far too much to overcome - two of which came in the red zone, one on a trick play on first down from the UTEP 11. That, and unusual management of the quarterback position (where senior Andrew McDonald led two first-quarter touchdowns, was replaced by freshman King Davis III for the second and third quarters, only to come back in the fourth); and the lack of a running game - NMSU had just 19 rushing attempts for 99 yards on a Miners team that gave up nearly 400 on the ground last week to New Mexico. UTEP, in turn, ran the ball 56 times for 293 yards, wearing on the Aggie defense as the game moved into the second half and fourth quarter.
UTEP - a team in transition as well under first-year coach Sean Kugler - had a sound gameplan coming in. The Miners came out throwing, targeting certain areas of the Aggie secondary and having success with quarterback Jameill Showers and wide receivers Jordan Leslie and Ian Hamilton. Once such an approach loosened things up, UTEP turned to the ground game, and by the end of the night had advantages in key statistical categories: first downs (29 to 15), third-down conversions (10 of 17 compared to 1 of 7) and time of possession (41:53 to 18:07).
Here are some links following game:
For a recap of Saturday night's contest, click here
For a follow story with further commentary from head coach Doug Martin, click here
For photos from the contest, click here
For video interviews from Saturday's press conference, click here
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10 comments:
Tough day for us Aggie fans living/ working in El Paso. Thank you Aggies...that's 5 straight loses!
How the heck do you turn the ball over 4 times?!!! That was a 28 point swing!
This game was doomed since the opening kick off!!
I don't know why I continue to buy season tickets to watch moronic football.
I think I'll just go tailgate and then go home. Save myself the time, frustration and $$$.
Well, maybe I'll go to the Homecoming game...We should be able to beat Abilene Christian, I think???
Why is Darien "butterfingers" Johnson wearing Devon House's old #4 jersey??!!
House was a ball hawk. Johnson has no business wearing the #4 of an Aggie legend!!!
Coach Martin continues to say/ do the right things. He has preached the utep/ unm rivalries.
I believe him but, my Aggie experience goes back 25 years. In that time, i've seen our rivals take this rivalry more seriouslythan our players.
It really showed on Saturday who wanted it more...it was the other guys, not our team.
I hope he can weed out that mentality!
I feel bad for the Aggie Defense. They're playing hard on every play but, the guys lined up in front of them is not the enemy.
The enemy is the Aggie offense & Aggie special teams.
They just love to cough up the ball and put the defense in a no win situation.
A weak secondary coupled with a terrible offense...doesn't look to promising.
I have give a large portion of the blame to the OC. What in the world was he thinking with that trick play...momentum killer and it was not necessary at that time and where we were at on the field. Switching QBs mid-game, only to switch back again? It's clear that Coach Brandon is scrambling to find answers and is grasping for anything...regardless of how ill advised it might be.
The Aggies have a losing tradidtion...for several reasons. However, despite the reasons, when losing is the culture, your likely to lose.
This was the first game of the Season that I can honestly say we were out coached. Was there something wrong with the starting QB? I really hope (Not really) that he was hurt or something because taking him out lost the game. The 2nd string QB is not ready for D-1 Football yet. The Aggies should have won this game, I just think the gameplan was way off. UNM rushed for 400 yds and we rush for 99? And i dont believe it was because the running game wasnt working, but because our gameplan was to spread them out and throw? with a freshman qb? Come on man, you have 3 big tight ends, line em up and pound it down their throats. I was very dissapointed in the coaches and gameplan against UTEP. Good luck at the rosebowl, man o man.
The offense and special teams are to blame.
Defense played well but, can't win it by themselves.
Are we looking at another 1 win season? The play doesn't look promising.
Primer in how not to play ball...first play, turn it over. March down to the 5 yard line, turn it over. Intercept the ball, turn it over.
Can we just adopt Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas A&M? Use the money we save on academics or at least a huge party in Aggie Memorial.
i think martin is understanding the type of talent we have here. So thats why they run gimick plays to try to stay in games. Our athletes arent d1 material. Also pulling mcdonald was dumb. He has more experience than king. Yeah i know king is a runner but he didnt run. One win if were lucky.
I'm glad Coach is starting some players with less experience this weekend. Maybe it will send a message to the veteran players that dropping the ball is not acceptable.
On a separate note, am I missing something? Why did we take a knee at the end of the first half of the Miner game. We were behind and there was plenty of time on the clock to run a play or two. That speaks volumes about our "winning" attitude. We're not playing to win, we're playing to avoid losing by too much. We need to play hard EVERY SECOND of the game!
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