NM State Aggie Football and Men’s Basketball November, 25, 2017

During the Aggie Coaches Show, Men’s Basketball Coach, Chris Jans, made two honest pleas for Aggie fans to go to the football game on Saturday.  According to the radio call, there was a great crowd on hand for a late November game for Aggie Football versus the Idaho Vandals.  That is to say, it wasn’t a great crowd, but relatively speaking, there were more fans than usual for this time of year.  Later, running back Larry Rose III said he was impressed with the fan support.  Certainly, it couldn’t have been a more beautiful afternoon in Las Cruces and this was a meaningful game with the Aggies needing to win their last two games to be bowl eligible.        

With Tyler Rogers still injured, Nick Jeanty would be starting at quarterback.  He got his chance early.  An interception by Leon McQuaker on first Vandal drive, led to a Larry Rose III touchdown on a short field, 7-0 Aggies.  Idaho had more troubles.  They fumbled deep in their own territory which was recovered by Shamad Lomax.  Larry Rose added another touchdown for a 14-0 lead.  The Aggie offense got a long drive on their next possession, but that ended on a blocked field goal.  For the second quarter, the Vandals missed a field.  The Aggies then fumbled the ball on their end of the field, which was converted to an Idaho touchdown, 14-7. 

In the third quarter, the Aggies had another field goal attempt blocked.  Clearly the Aggies have some work to do on special teams.  The Vandals would convert on a field goal in the quarter, 14-10.  The Aggies would finally get a field goal in the fourth, 17-10.  The Vandals gave the Aggies a short field again on a bad punt, but Jeanty was intercepted in the endzone to end that drive.  Idaho had the ball inside of five minutes left.  They converted on one fourth down, but with three minutes left, the Aggie defense made a stop on another one.  The crowd was going nuts at this point.  The Vandals had a final drive.  The last play of the game was a Jaden Wright interception to seal the 17-10 Aggie victory. 

The Aggie defense definitely showed up for this game and closed it out.  They had 11 sacks.  The offense had problems as the game went along.  Jeanty’s arm wasn’t able to stretch the defense, so the Vandals were able to figure them out pretty quickly.  Those short fields they gave the Aggies really helped.  Okay, one game left at home and it’s a must win for the team to finally have a chance to go bowling.

It’s an Aggie triple-header here.  After this morning’s Women’s basketball game and this afternoon’s football, the Aggie Men’s basketball team would be playing the UTEP Miners tonight.  Jack Nixon, calling the football and the men’s basketball, is going to have to rest his voice after today.  The lower bowl was again full, like for the Lobo game (11-17-17).  Athletic Director Mario Moccia was very happy with that night’s attendance, especially with the students on break.  Many of them stayed in town to root on the team.  They may have been here again tonight.

It was a defensive fight to start with some poor shooting.  About halfway through the first half, the Aggies went on an 8-point run, but it was still tight.  One memorable play of the first half was Eli Chuhua making three attempts with two offensive boards, but it was Johnny McCants finishing it off with a jam.  Even apart from being a local kid, McCants is becoming a favorite.  He also had a great block this half.  Late, the Aggies went on a 10-point run.  It was 29-22 Aggies at the half.

To start the second, the Miners would tie it up and make it close.  The Aggies would go on a 9-point run with a pair of three’s.  McCants again had a two-hand jam to get the crowd worked up.  Late, the Miners started drawing a lot of fouls and going to the line, but the Aggies kept scoring.  The game went up tempo briefly and the Aggies took advantage of it to pad their lead.  The Miners were reduced to fouling in the final minute, but it was too late.  72-63 Aggies.  Stat of the game: UTEP had no offensive rebounds.  The teams face off next week in El Paso.  Jack brought up a silly issue in the pre-game; the programs disagree over their all-time records against one another, so who knows what it is.