LYNCHBURG, Va. - With Jerry Kill at the helm, it's a new era of Aggie football. Kill and NM State entered Lynchburg with one thing on its mind: Win. The Aggies struck for seven touchdowns on the road as the team torched heavily favored Liberty, 49-14. NM State moves within one win of bowl eligibility following the monumental win.
 
NM State entered Saturday as a 24-point underdog, quickly proving Vegas to be foolish. The Aggies swung the underdog role into covering by 60 points in a rout of Liberty.
 
The first half was all Aggies, highlighted by three touchdown passes by Diego Pavia. Coming into Saturday's contest, the Aggies had not thrown for more than two touchdowns in a game this season before Pavia torched the Flames for three in the opening half.
 
Jonathan Brady opened the scoring with his first career touchdown, coming off a 34-yard pass by Pavia. By the end of the first quarter, Brady had career-highs in receiving yards and longest reception.
 
Pavia matched his career-high with 13 completions in the opening half, throwing for 182 yards. The Albuquerque native asp ran for 82 yards and a touchdown in the opening half.
 
Against a high-powered offense, the NM State defense showed no signs of backing down. Late in the second quarter, Chris Ojoh would tip a pass that led to Bryce Jackson's second interception of the season. On the following play, Pavia hit Star Thomas for a 39-yard touchdown - Thomas' second receiving touchdown of the season.
 
Just before halftime, the Aggies put together another scoring touchdown. This time, Pavia hit Kordell David for a 42-yard score and pushed the Aggies' lead to 21 before the break.
 
The Albuquerque kid continued his strong showing in the second half. Under center, Pavia added his first career 100+ yard rushing effort, including a pair of rushing touchdowns. Pavia became just the second Aggie with 100+ rushing yards in a game this season, joining Thomas versus Hawai'i.
 
Jamoni Jones gave Pavia a break from the scoring efforts in the third quarter when he took a rush 49 yards to the end zone to give the Aggies a commanding 35-point lead with 5:28 left in the quarter. Jones' score marked the lone Aggie end zone appearance that Pavia did not account for on Saturday.
 
Following a defensive stop on fourth down at the Aggies' 35-yard line, Pavia instrumented the Aggies' seventh scoring drive of the day. The mobile quarterback scrambled for his third rushing touchdown of the game to put NM State up 49-7.
 
The margin of victory would eventually finish at 35 after Liberty scored an all-but-meaningless touchdown with 15 seconds left in the contest.
 
News and Notes

• Diego Pavia finished the afternoon with career highs in rushing touchdowns (3), passing touchdowns (3), completions (16) and passing yards (214). All of those marks were season-bests for any Aggie this year as well.
• Pavia was also the first Aggie to account for five touchdowns since 2019.
• Jonathan Brady's touchdown catch in the first quarter was the first touchdown of his career.
• As a team, the Aggie offense finished with a season-high 246 yards while averaging a season-best mark of 10.2 yards per pass.
• The Aggie defense also brought its best as they posted a season-high five sacks, led by a career-high 2.5 from Lazarus Williams.
• The stingy defense limited Liberty to just 108 rushing yards – tied for the fewest this season by any Aggie opponent. NM State also held UTEP to the same total.
• Liberty also matched Lamar as the only two Aggie opponents to turn the ball over three times against the Aggies this season.
• With the win, NM State is now one win away from potential bowl eligibility.