Aggie footballers aim for second straight win over Lobos
Last week the Utah State football team avenged an overtime loss to Louisiana-Monroe from the year before. Saturday, New Mexico will try to do the same to the Aggies in Albuquerque.
The Lobos came from behind last year to tie the game and took the lead on an interception returned for a touchdown with only 25 seconds remaining. Not to be outdone, the Aggies scored on the final play of regulation on a Hail Mary pass from quarterback Jose Fuentes to Chris Stallworth.
In overtime, the teams traded touchdowns but New Mexico’s Kenny Bird missed the extra point and the Aggies won the game.
The Lobos (2-3, 0-1 in the Mountain West) will be looking for their second consecutive win against teams nicknamed the Aggies after beating the New Mexico State Aggies last week.
USU (1-3, 1-0 in the Sun Belt) will try to spoil New Mexico’s Homecoming game and start its first two-game winning streak since last November.
It will be the Lobos final non-conference game of the season.
Utah State and New Mexico have played two consecutive overtime games, and their last three meetings have been decided by a total of seven points.
Last week, New Mexico took advantage of New Mexico State turnovers to score 17 points in the third quarter and win 24-17.
USU won its first-ever Sun Belt Conference game, beating Louisiana-Monroe 28-10 behind running back David Fiefia’s career-high 142 yards rushing and solid defense. Nose guard Ronald Tupea was named conference defensive player of the week for his three sacks and a fumble recovery that lead to an easy touchdown.
Lobo redshirt freshman offensive guard Robert Turner said preparing for Utah State won’t be emotionally difficult because of last year’s nail biter.
“First of all, we come back this year and look at it as a revenge game,” Turner said. “It’s a game we should have won last year.”
Aggie center Aric Galliano said he looks forward to the rematch.
“They didn’t give us much respect last year after we beat them in overtime,” Galliano said. “It will be a fun game. I am excited to play.”
Lobo Head Coach Rocky Long said preparing defensively for the Aggies is difficult because of the multiple formations Utah State uses.
“They are the most complicated, formation-changing oriented football team I have ever tried to defend,” Long said. “They shift and motion every single snap. It looks like they line up wherever they want to and then they all shift to where they are supposed to be.”
Utah State Head Coach Mick Dennehy said the Lobos are a good football team that has great team speed.
“They are probably as fast a team as we are going to play,” Dennehy said. “They are probably as physical a team as we are going to play on both sides of the ball.
While the Aggies played a complete game on defense against Louisiana-Monroe, they will have to play to their full potential to beat New Mexico, Dennehy said.
“Their offensive line is big and brawling and physical and bigger than anybody we have played,” he said. “We are going to have to take another step forward and play about as well as we can play.”
Long said the Aggies have improved defensively.
“Last year they were very complicated on defense, but they have a new defensive coordinator and have settled down a lot on defense,” Long said. “They have played much better on defense than they did last year.”
New Mexico is led offensively by running backs DonTrell Moore and D.D. Cox, averaging 78 and 73 yards per game on the ground. Senior quarterback Casey Kelly is listed No. 1 on the depth chart and will start but freshman QB Kole McKamey saw playing time last week.
“There are no plans going into the game to play Kole,” Long said. “I won’t hesitate to put him in there if Casey [Kelly] is having a bad night, but we could struggle on offense and Casey not be having a bad night.”
Defensively the Lobos lead the Mountain West in rush defense and rank 17th in the nation, allowing an average of 85.2 yards per game.
New Mexico opened the season with a 72-8 walloping of Division-II Texas State, but had losses to Texas Tech, BYU and Washington State before snapping the streak last week against New Mexico State. The game in Albuquerque was played before 44,075 fans – the largest crowd to ever see a football game in the state’s history.
-royburton@cc.usu.edu