NM State Aggies vs Nevada Wolfpack Football 8-27-22 Part 2

 

Continued from Part 1.

 

Halftime Recap

Let’s take a moment to look at the out-of-town scores.

 

NBC was finally running a NASCAR race tonight, as opposed to putting on cable where I can’t watch.  However, they were in a rain delay when I left for the game.  Ron had no Internet access at the stadium, so I didn’t find out until the next day that it had been rained out and moved to Sunday morning.  I missed it, but there was another rain delay before the end and I thought I could have watched, but it finished on cable.  It wasn’t meant to be.

 

Aggie pitching alum, Kyle Bradish, pitched the Orioles to victory on Friday over the Astros.  He went 8 innings and gave up 0 runs.  Aggie Soccer finished a three-game road trip on Saturday.  They went 0-1-1.  However, in their two losses, they only gave up 4 goals against very good teams.  Aggie Volleyball finished playing three matches in Tucson with three three-set sweeps.  They won two of those sweeps, but lost to host Arizona. 

 

At the same time as this game down the road, UTEP was also playing a Week 0 game against North Texas.  They also had a sellout program going and had 45,000 in attendance.  It’s kind of too bad both teams were playing the same day.  There might have been people who would have otherwise attended both.  They were on national (and local TV) on Stadium.  They also had weather issues, which included rain and an hour delay to the start of the game.  It was a 31-13 loss for the Miners.  (I downloaded their digital program.  It was a bit better.  There was a player interview.)

 

Third Quarter

Wave the Wonder Dog finally got to retrieve a tee after an Aggie kickoff.  Nevada got a first down on their first series, but holding call derailed them.  The Aggies got the ball back and there was another popup interception.  This would have been the fourth of the game and given the Wolfpack the ball on the Aggie 20.  The booth called for a review on the play and the catch was ruled a trap.  Whew!  But, it was still a 3-and-out.

 

Josh Carlson got off another good punt to put the Wolfpack on their 30.  Torren Union unloaded a huge hit on the receiver, who should fair caught that one.  Nate Cox came in as the new Nevada QB.   Shane Illingworth was no small fry, but at 6’9”, Cox was enormous on field and afterward when we saw him being interviewed on the concourse. 

 

Cox worked the ball downfield well at first.  The Aggies did have to take another timeout for untimely player subs.  Cox got one first down on a keeper.  Then another bad snap cost them 8 yards.  The defense came up big and stopped two pass plays with no gain.  Nevada also had a penalty, which was declined, and another penalty on the punt, which gave the Aggies 5 yards.  The Sundancers performed in the endzone after the change of possession.

 

Coach Kill also brought in a bigger quarterback in 6’4” Gavin Frakes.  There was some cheering for bringing in a sub after four interceptions (one waved off) and a fumble by the starter.  Frakes quickly ingratiated himself with the fans with a 67-yard bomb to Justice Powers, who probably also rushed for about 20 of that.  This totally charged up the crowd.  In the red zone, Frakes found Kordell David for the touchdown in the back corner.  (A lady walked by in front of me and totally obscured my view to it.)  17-9 Nevada.

Hey, where was the cannon fire?  For once, I was prepared for the post-scoring cannon shot that usually startles me, but nothing happened.  Ron told me that the ROTC students had abandoned their post at halftime.  Man, the Band and the Cheerleaders (and us) stayed to the end, but the soldiers deserted? 

 

That was some momentum, but Nevada came back with a long drive that depleted the rest of the quarter.  In Aggie territory, Wolfpack player, Jacob Nunez, got flattened on a play.  They brought out an air-cast and the cart for him.  The Cheerleaders took a kneeling position for him.  Nunez was helped up and out and got a round of applause from the crowd.

 

Fourth Quarter

Well, this is what we wanted for this late-starting game with a lengthy weather delay; an injury delay and then a long break for the quarter.  I was glad I’d taken a nap this afternoon.  Ron and probably most of the rest of the remaining crowd were stifling yawns at around 11:30pm.  Ron reminded me that I’d said, “We’d evaluate staying after the third quarter.”  “Yeah, so?” was my response.  “That’s what I thought,” he said.  Admittedly, if the score was closer to his blowout prediction, there would have been a discussion.

 

The first play of the fourth was a Wolfpack field goal to give them a 20-9 lead.  Given the length of the drive, that was another good hold by the Aggie defense.  Frakes came out firing bullets and moving the Aggies downfield, but there was an ineligible receiver penalty on the drive.  Frakes ran for one first down on a blown bootleg being chased by two defenders.  A Nevada holding penalty on a third down gave the Aggies another first down.  If not for the call, there would have been another interception on the play.  A dropped pass on a crossing pattern forced the Aggies to settle for a 46-yard field by Ethan Albertson.  20-12 Wolfpack.   

 

Coach Kill was not happy and chewed out the offense when they got back to the sidelines.  The crowd was bleeding out with 8 minutes left in the game.  Nevada got the ball and began executing another long drive with short gains.  The defense would have gotten a stop at one point, but a facemask penalty gave Nevada a new set of downs.  There was a play where it looked like the Aggies might have gotten an interception on a popup, but it was waved off.  There was no review, disgruntling the remaining fans. 

 

The Aggies had to take a timeout to stop the clock.  The Band played the Macarena.  The Cheerleaders danced to it.  As the medley of songs continued, the girls started doing a doe-see-doe.  The defense held Nevada to a 38-yard field goal.  23-12 Wolfpack.

 

That large group of fans in the northwest corner of the stadium had not left.  Who are they?  Even the Cheerleaders were yawning now.  The Aggies started their drive with 1:35 on the clock and a false start.  After that, they got rolling with a series of first down passes.  A pass interference call gave them another first down.  Inside the Nevada 10 and under a minute, Frakes had to spike the ball on second down.  On third down, he threw into double coverage into the back corner of the endzone for another interception.  It was the fifth Aggie turnover (not including two reversed calls).  Cox took a knee for the last play and the win, 23-12 Wolfpack final.

 

I saw Athletic Director Mario Moccia unhappy on the sidelines late in the fourth quarter.  I can see not see being happy with the score and the weather delay, but really, everything under his control went well.  He hired a coach who has made the team look competitive.  Him and his staff filled the stadium for the game. 

 

I hope Mario’s not pissed at the fans for not evacuating the stadium when there was no imminent threat and is contemplating closing concessions down for the next two games to punish everyone.  (Of course that did happen after the Pack the Pan-Am incident (2-15-22) earlier in the year.  It’s fortunate the Men’s Basketball team went on to win the WAC Championship and an NCAA Tournament game and everyone forgot all about that.)

 

A couple had sat down behind us late in the game.  The girl looked familiar, but I wasn’t sure and didn’t want to bother anybody.  After the game, when they got up and left, I saw her strong thighs.  Oh, crap!  That was Jordan Abalos, one of my favorite former volleyball players.  And that was her husband, former football player, Dalton Herrington.  I was wearing the commemorative shirt from the bowl win he was part of. 

 

The Volleyball Twitter had posted a story that Jordan was coaching a volleyball team now.  She’d also recovered from her terrible injuries and managed to play beach volleyball for Arizona.  I felt like such a dummy for not saying something when they were right behind us.  They went down to the field and talked to a coach there.  Jordan played with Wave when he came by them.  I hoped they might come back into the stands, but didn’t.  Oh, well. 

 

So that’s it for midnight football tonight.  The Band played everyone out.  Ron and I had a long walk back in dark.  The boots I was wearing gave me a pair of sore legs the next day.  Pistol Pete passed by on a motorized skateboard, as did some of the Cheerleaders.  There was supposed to be a call-in talk show on the radio after the game.  My radio gave out before it happened.  I don’t know how people would have called in so late, but there were probably a few.  (From listening to some radio reaction later, the people in El Paso were pissed about the Miners.  They showed up and the team didn’t.)

 

The good news is that I think the Aggie defense is legit.  They gave up no big passing plays and just a couple of long runs.  (Wolfpack RB’s Toa Taua had over 100 yards and Devante Lee had 2 touchdowns rushing.)  The defense allowed two long series, but they ended in field goals.  The five turnovers on offense was a problem.  (Isaiah Essissima got 2 interceptions for the Wolfpack.  I guess I’m only highlighting Nevada players for this game.) 

 

Perhaps the bigger one was the lack of a running game, as QB Diego Pavia was the leading rusher.  Coach Kill stuck with him a little too long, though.  Then there were the penalties, substitution issues, and the dropped passes (I’m including two of those interceptions as essentially drops).

 

Ron was grouchy afterward, grumbling all the way back, but admitted the Aggies played better than he thought they would.  The newspaper account was reasonably encouraged, as was I.  The team should be able to improve on some of these issues.  I suspect both quarterbacks will be in play for a while and that issue isn’t settled.  I’m sort of planning on going to at least one more football game at some point, but let’s do this a bit earlier in the evening.