TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Despite a career-night from defensive end Donavan King and linebacker Chris Ojoh, the NM State Aggies fell to the No. 3 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide 59-3 Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium in front of 97,011 fans.
 
Ojoh finished with a career-best 13 tackles (nine solo) and three tackles-for-loss, while Donavan King also finished with three tackles-for-loss.
 
The afternoon got off to a good start for the Aggies (1-9) when after a defensive stop QB Jonah Johnson orchestrated a 10-play, 49-yard drive that culminated in a 50-yard Ethan Albertson field goal that gave NM State a 3-0 lead.
 
Albertson set a new career-high for the third consecutive week.
 
After the Crimson Tide (9-1) answered with a 50-yard connection from Heisman hopeful Bryce Young to Jameson Williams, the Aggie offense went three-and-out. Young finished the contest 21-of-23 for 270 yards and five touchdowns.
 
On the second play of the ensuing Alabama drive and with the Aggies down just 10-3, Ojoh tackled Traseshon Holden two yards behind the line of scrimmage. During the course of the tackle, Ojoh popped the ball free, and corner back DJ McCullough scooped the ball up and returned it to the Alabama 20.
 
After review, it was determined that Holden's left-hand was down, and the Crimson Tide retained possession. Five plays later, Young hit Cameron Latu for a 12-yard strike that gave the home team a 14-3 lead with 14 ticks to play.
 
In the second period, the Crimson Tide put the game away for good, using five second quarter touchdown drives to lead 49-3 at the break.
 
Coming out of the locker room, Ojoh sacked and stripped Young of the football at the Aggies 42. The fumble was recovered by Garrett Bishop, giving possession of the ball back to the Aggies.
 
On the ensuing drive, the Aggie offense stalled at the Alabama 44. The drive was one of three times the Aggies advanced into Crimson Tide territory.
 
In total, the Aggies had nine total tackles-for-loss and a pair of sacks. The second sack by Lezeric Bailey was his first-career sack.  

COACH SPEAK (HC DOUG MARTIN): 
"Alabama is an excellent football team. They're obviously really well coached and very talented. Our guys played as hard as they could, but we were certainly outmatched today. I was extremely proud of the effort our guys gave. Certainly, only having one turnover for the day was a positive. Offensively we really played hard, but we were just outmatched up front. As far as the attitude and effort that guys played with on both sides of the ball, that was really what we were looking for. They're playing as hard as they possibly can, and you really cannot ask for more than that. Especially when you're playing against a team as talented as Alabama. All year I couldn't ask for more from these guys. The big play has been our Achilles heel all year in the passing game. Alabama got some mismatches on us with wide receivers matched up on the wrong players. We probably had a couple of busts in the secondary also at times. But we were playing a lot of guys back there that are really young. A lot of freshmen are playing in the secondary and then Caleb Mills is playing in his first season at safety. Those guys have gotten better as the season has gone along. But that's still an issue for us."

 
UP NEXT:
The Aggies road tour of the SEC concludes at Kentucky. Kick-off from Kroger Field is set for Noon (ET)/10 a.m. (MT) on the SEC Network.