COLUMBIA, Mo. - Having to fight adverse weather conditions and a rowdy Southeastern conference crowd, the NM State football team is in for a fight on Saturday night in Columbia, Missouri. With temperatures expected to be below 20 degrees at kickoff, the Aggies will be an environment unknown to the Las Cruces faithful. Nonetheless, NM State has a chance to shock the nation on ESPNU with a 5:30 p.m. kickoff between two programs fighting for bowl eligibility.
Game Information
NM State (4-5) at Missouri (4-6, 2-5 SEC)
Date: November 19, 2022
Time: 5:30 p.m. MT / 6:30 p.m. CT
TV: ESPNU
- Drew Carter (PxP)
- Forrest Conoly (Analyst)
Radio: The Varsity Network App
- Adam Young (PxP)
- Javahn Ferguson (Analyst)
Pick Six
4 - NM State will be playing on national television for the fourth time this season in Columbia. The Aggies also battled Nevada (ESPN2), Minnesota (Big Ten Network), and Wisconsin (BTN) on national TV.
317 - New Mexico State University (1888) and the University of Missouri (1839) have a combined 317 years of academic history. Nonetheless, the two schools have never met on the football field until Saturday night.
25 - The NM State defense is allowing 25.6 points per game this season. No Aggie defense since 1999 (24.9 ppg) has allowed less than 25 points per game over the course of the season.
187 - Against Lamar, the Aggies ran for 187 yards in the win. With four wins this season, the Aggies have ran for over 100 yards in each of the victories. NM State also ran for a season-high 357 vs. Hawai'i, 106 vs. New Mexico, and 111 at UMass.
41 - NM State has seen a 41% growth in average home attendance over last year - The largest year-over-year home growth in FBS football.
3 - For the first time since 2017, NM State has won three straight contests on the gridiron. The Aggies have taken down New Mexico, UMass, and Lamar throughout the stretch. The three-game stretch marks just the third time since 2005 that NM State has won three straight.
News and Notes
THREE IN A ROW
As Lou Brown told his team in Major League II, "We win one tomorrow, that's called a 'winning streak' - It has happened before."
For the first time since 2017 , NM State has won three straight football games. The streak also marks just the third time since 2005 that the Aggies are on a roll.
ATTENDANCE BOOM
No school across FBS football has seen a larger attendance growth this season than NM State. The Aggies are averaging 16,701 fans per home game, up 41% from last season.
Also highlighting massive growth are No. 19 Tulane, (29.48%), Arizona (25.43%), No. 20 Syracuse (23.52%), and No. 7 TCU (20.02%).
IRONMEN
RUSHING ATTACK
The Aggies have not lost a game this season in which they have ran for more than 100 yards.
All four wins this season have seen the Aggies eclipse 100 yards of rushing as well.
- vs. Hawai'i 357 yds., 5 TD
- vs. Lamar 187 yds., 4 TD
- at UMass 111 yds., 0 TD
- vs. New Mexic0 104 yds., 1 TD
ZIA HELMETS
This season, NM State is 2-0 when wearing the Zia decal on the helmet. The Aggies took down New Mexico (21-9) and UMass (23-13) before switching back to the script State logo for this weekend.
NATIONAL ATTENTION
The Southeastern Conference announced last Monday that NM State's trip to battle Missouri will air on ESPNU. Kickoff from Columbia was announced for 6:30 p.m. CT/5:30 p.m. MT and will be NM State's fourth game on national television this season. The Aggies also battled Nevada (ESPN2), Minnesota (Big Ten Network), and Wisconsin (Big Ten Network) in front of a national audience.
OJOH'S MOJO
Senior linebacker
Chris Ojoh leads the NM State defense in tackles (78), solo tackles (49), tackles for a loss (9.0), and sacks (5.0) Ojoh ranks 13th nationally in solo tackles
The linebacker is 21 tackles away from matching his career high of 99, set during Eastern Washington's run to the 2018 FCS National Championship game. The five sacks match his career high (2021) as well.
LOCK-DOWN PUNT DEFENSE
This season, NM State has allowed the third-fewest punt return yards in college football. In fact, the Aggies are holding opponents to -0.60 punt return yards per game. NM State trails just Army (-3.00) and Rutgers (-2.50) in punt return defense.
AIR IT OUT
Against Lamar, the NM State quarterbacks set season-highs in passing yards (246), yards-per-pass (9.8), pass completions (18), touchdown passes (2), and points (51).
Diego Pavia led the charge with a career-high 13 completions for 146 yards and two touchdowns.
Gavin Frakes (3-4-0, 93 yds.) and
Weston Eget also contributed for the Aggies success through the air against the Cardinals.
NO FLY ZONE
Despite having an international airport, Las Cruces is officially a no-fly zone. The Aggie defense is allowing the fewest passing yards of any FBS Independent team with 175.1 yards per game. That total also ranks 11th nationally, sandwiched by Iowa at No. 10 and Iowa State at No. 12.
UNFAMILIAR FACES
Despite being well-known universities for 317 combined years, the Tigers and Aggies have never met on the gridiron.
BOWL ELIGIBILITY
With four wins this season, NM State is staring down potential bowl eligibility for the first time since 2017 (Arizona Bowl).
Three teams on NM State's original schedule - Minnesota, San José State, and Liberty - have each already hit the six-win threshold for bowl elibility.
RADIO BROADCAST
With the overlap between NM State men's basketball and football, Jack Nixon will handle Aggie Basketball duties this weekend. NM State TV voice Adam Young will make the trip to Missouri to do play-by-play, while Aggie legend Javahn Ferguson will handle color commentary duties.
PICK SIX
Andre Seldon's interception return for a touchdown against Lamar was the first for the Aggies since 2018. The last time NM State returned an interception for a touchdown was on November 24, 2018 when Javahn Ferguson took one back 37-yards against Liberty.
A WINNING TRADITION
Following the conclusion of the 2021 season, Director of Athletics Mario Moccia quickly made a coaching change, hiring
Jerry Kill to lead the Aggies football program. Kill enters the 2022 season as the eighth winningest active coach in FBS football.
Kill trails just Nick Saban (Alabama), Mack Brown (North Carolina), Brian Kelly (LSU), Willie Fritz (Tulane), Chris Crieghton (Eastern Michigan), and Terry Bowden (Louisiana - Monroe).
RUNNIN' AGS
The ground game was working in full force in the win over Hawai'i. NM State ran for 357 yards and five touchdowns in the victory. The game marked the first time since September 21, 2019 against New Mexico that the Aggies ran for four or more touchdowns in a game.
With 133 rushing yards,
Star Thomas became the first Aggie to finish with between 100-149 rushing yards since Christian Gibson ran for 103 yards at UTEP in 2018.
Jamoni Jones ran for his first two touchdowns of the season in the win and became the second NM State player this season to run for two or more touchdowns in a game, joining
Diego Pavia (2) at UTEP.
EL CAPITANS
Against Lamar, NM State was represented by Ojoh, Brohard, and Pavia.
GET UP, IT'S GAMEDAY
NM State's trip to Liberty may call for an extra cup of coffee in the morning. The Aggies will kick off at 10 a.m. MT / 12 p.m. ET against Liberty in Lynchburg, VA on ESPN+. The Aggies are 1-3 all-time against the future Conference USA foe, winning 49-41 in 2018.
REPRESENTING A COUNTRY
With the addition of
Nikhil Webb Walker, NM State now has the only player in FBS football with a hometown located in Jamaica. The linebacker recently joined the NM State roster as a walk-on.
DUELING QUARTERBACKS
Through the first nine games of the season, both
Gavin Frakes and
Diego Pavia have seen action in at least eight games under center. Frakes (5) has started one additional game over Pavia.
In NM State's most recent game against Lamar, Pavia made his first start since September 17 against Madison.
NOTABLES: LAST GAME (Lamar)
51-14 Aggies win. Offensive masterclasses are few and far between in Las Cruces over the past several years but the Aggie offense was cooking with gas against a struggling Lamar (1-9, 1-4 Southland).
Diego Pavia had his best game as an Aggie against the Cardinals. The Albuquerque native threw for 154 yards and two touchdowns before adding an additional 81 yards on the ground.
Altogether, the Aggies ran for 187 yards and four touchdowns, including a pair from
Jamoni Jones.
Tim Gans and
Makhilyn Young both added their first collegiate touchdowns via the rush in the win.
BEHIND ENEMY LINES (Missouri)
Missouri enters Saturday's matchup coming off of a loss to No. 5 Tennessee in Knoxville.
Much like NM State, the Tigers are fighting for bowl eligibility, needing to beat the Aggies and Arkansas to hit six wins. The Tigers four wins this season have come against Louisiana Tec (52-24), Abilene Christian (34-17), Vanderbilt (17-14), and No. 25 South Carolina (23-10).
Mizzou head coach Eliah Drinkwitz and defensive coordinator Blake Baker both received contract extensions through 2027 and 2025, respectively.
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