Tuesday, November 28, 2017

NM State Football Recap November 18, 2017

I took diligent notes during today’s football match up between the NM State Aggies versus University of Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns up until the fourth quarter.  That’s when my dad called and said he was going to the hospital.  If I’d thought to, I could have brought my little radio with me, but I was preoccupied.  So frankly, I don’t want to bother with the details now, especially given that it was a loss.  I’ll just go over some of the interesting bits that I heard.
        
There was a bit of controversy to start this game.  Earlier in the week, University Chancellor Garrey Carruthers questioned whether the football team would accept a bowl invitation if it involved lengthy travel and wasn’t sure they could meet ticket-selling obligations for it.  Athletic Director Mario Moccia had to do some immediate damage control during the football pre-game show.  They’d certainly go to any regional bowl game (like the Arizona Bowl or New Mexico Bowl).  Any invitation further away might require some fund-raising, since they’re on a tight budget, but they’d do it.  Of course, all this talk was premature. 

In the first half, the Aggie defense was nowhere to be found.  The Cajuns scored on every possession except one, a missed field goal.  They even pulled off a fake field goal to keep a drive going.  The Aggie offense in the first quarter was Jason Huntley scoring a touchdown on a kickoff return.  They did get going as the game wore on.  Quarterback Tyler Rogers picked up good yards running one drive.  Larry Rose III got a touchdown.  However, by halftime, it was 31-17 Cajuns.

During the game, Jack Nixon mentioned that the Aggie Women’s Basketball team lost to Lobos in Albuquerque.  This broke an Aggie sports’ winning streak against UNM this fall.  I was a bit annoyed there wasn’t any radio coverage of that game this afternoon.  According to paper, four of the Aggie starters had great games, but the team’s defense may not have been stiff enough.  This was also where I heard that the Aggie Volleyball team had lost in their tournament.  Jack, as always, was extremely complimentary of Coach Mike Jordan and his program.  During halftime, local theater owner and booster, Paul Allen, was a guest.  He talked about upcoming movies.  I got a chuckle when mentioned that his seats were comfortable enough that some people had taken “an expensive nap” in them.

Events started off well for the third quarter.  Rogers found Rose with a bomb that would later result in a touchdown.  The Cajuns put up another field goal, but Jason Huntley got in a couple of good runs and Rose scored another touchdown.  Unfortunately in this series, Rogers was shaken up on a play.  It was a shoulder injury that took him out for the rest of the game.  Nick Jeanty came in.  The Cajuns put up another field goal.  The Aggie defense gave up a fourth and six that kept that drive going.  On the next series, they did redeem themselves, by forcing the Cajuns to punt for the first time.

That first punt was shanked.  With a short field, the Aggie offense moved the ball inside the five, but had to settle for a field goal, but that did tie the score at 34-34.  From here, I was busy with real life.  Two Aggies on defense got ejected on next Cajun drive, which resulted in a touchdown.  The newspaper called it “questionable officiating.”  That seemed like a turning point.  I was somewhat glad I didn’t get to hear the rest, as Jeanty threw three interceptions, probably trying to force things.  The final was 47-34 Cajuns.

The Aggies need to win their last two games to be bowl-eligible.  They’re at home and playing two lousy teams.  Unfortunately, the Aggies are also a lousy team at this point and they may have lost Tyler Rogers.  I almost can’t bear to look at how this is going to finish out.   

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