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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