Thursday, December 29, 2022

NM State Aggie Football Late Season Report 2022 Part 1

That's the "good play" hat they wear on the sidelines


Okay, that’s not the best title.  It’s late and I’m not feeling creative (though I am happy).  While I’m here to cover the Aggies’ bowl win (spoilers), I kind of have go over what happened leading up to that win. 




For this season, I’ve been to three games.  There was the disappointing and very late night opening game versus Nevada (8-27-22).  There was an impressive win over Hawaii (9-25-22).  Finally, there was the disastrous game against FIU (10-1-22)

 

I covered some of their other games (briefly).  9-10-22 the Aggies lost to UTEP, who would later in the season blow a 24-point lead to UTSA that would eliminate them from bowl eligibility.  (I actually listened to that game.)  10-15-22 the Aggies beat the Lobos.  I watched the Tennessee/Alabama game with my dad instead (no regrets).  This game was mentioned as the turning point in the Aggies’ season.  Strangely, it was also a turning point in the Men’s Basketball season, as a fight in the stands led to a revenge shooting in Albuquerque.  (Too sorted a tale to go into here.) 

 

11-12-22 the Aggies thrashed FCS school, Lamar, while I was at Volleyball11-19-22 the Aggies lost, as expected, to Missouri.  What was unexpected was that I was listening to the game, instead of Men’s Basketball, which was cancelled (see above).  So, the Aggies had had an up-and-down season to this point.  They had shown some encouraging signs, but not impressed.  Then came the game against Liberty


11-26-22 vs Liberty Flames

This was an early game on Saturday morning.  I was expecting a loss here, as Liberty had been in the Top 25 earlier in the season, including a road win at Arkansas.  I found out later that the Aggies were 24-point underdogs.  I joined the game after it had started and pleasantly found the Aggies leading, 21-7.  They’d gotten an interception that led to a score. 

 

From there, Liberty basically self-destructed.  They had two fumbles and a bunch of dumb penalties.  The Aggies kept cashing in.  Meanwhile, the Aggie defense played out of its mind.  When the dust settled, it was a 49-14 Aggie victory.  I’d never heard Jack Nixon and Cory Lucas so happy calling the game.  I was right there with them.  This was the happiest I’d been with Aggie Football since their 2017 bowl win

 

Quarterback Diego Pavia had 200 yards passing, 100 yards rushing, 3 passing touchdowns, and 3 rushing touchdowns.  He won several national awards for his performance.  Coach Kill had finally found his quarterback.


12-3-22 vs Valparaiso Crusaders . . . err . . . Beacons

Their name was changed for the typical bad reasons you can guess.  Jack Nixon used both throughout the game.  FCS Valpo had to request a waiver from the NCAA to play this game.  They were the best AD Mario Moccia could find at this late date to make up for the San Jose State game that was canceled for the death of one of their players.  SJS wouldn’t commit to a makeup game.  They were already bowl-eligible and didn’t need to play the game.

 

NMSU won their own NCAA waiver the same week.  Their record was 5-6 and they couldn’t find an FBS opponent to play them, so they were granted bowl-eligibility.  Apparently, 5-7 teams have gotten in when there weren’t enough teams for all the bowl games.  This game with Valpo wasn’t meaningful, since the Aggies had already played an FCS team and it wouldn’t help their record.  But, the university wanted to give the season ticket holders a game and the seniors a Senior Day.

 

I was planning on going to the game.  Unfortunately, Ron was out sick.  I was still going to go, but the wind and some sprinkles started just before I was going to leave.  I decided I’d listen on the radio, instead.  I felt bad about it.  There were 14,000 fans there in spite of the weather anyway.

 

This was Valpo’s first game against an FBS team.  They also didn’t have any scholarship athletes.  It all showed.  Diego Pavia had 200 yards passing after the first quarter.  He did pull up lame running downfield for a touchdown that was called back.  I was worried about him, but he was okay.  Pavia was only planning on playing a half anyway.  He finished with 4 touchdowns and 300 yards passing (and got more national recognition later).  It was 35-3 at the half.  Valpo had only scored off a long field goal facilitated by a couple of dumb personal fouls.

        

The final score was 65-3 Aggies.  Don’t feel too bad for Valpo.  They were paid to come here.  On their team Twitter, the team had nice time hiking in the mountains here and had a good meal at a nice local restaurant.  Moccia was already happy before the game.  “We’ve won five games this season.  Over the last five years, our team was 5-22.”  One of the Aggie players proposed to his girlfriend after the game to make it romantic as well. 

 

Next up, the Aggies go bowling.

 

Part 2

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