LAS CRUCES, NM –NM State will host Conference USA foe LA Tech on Tuesday night as it looks to end a five-game losing skid. This will be the only midweek home game for the Aggies this season and the second of three midweek games during the 2024 season.

The Aggies and Bulldogs first met in 1967 and have shared conference membership on three separate occasions during the program’s respective history – spending time together in the Big West, Western Athletic Conference and now CUSA.

CHOOSE SIX

57 – This will be the 14th time the Aggies have met the Bulldogs in a series dating back 57 years to the first meeting in 1967. The Aggies are currently 5-8 all-time against LA Tech.

53 – Last week, kicker Abraham Montaño split the uprights from 53 yards out to tie the third-longest field goal in program history.

14 – NM State’s George Eberle currently ranks 14th in the nation in yards per punt, averaging 45.6 yards per boot.

2 – With two interceptions this season, Josiah Cox ranks 19th in the nation in interceptions among FBS players. He is also one of only three CUSA players with two interceptions in one game.

6 – On Tuesday, NM State returns home where it has won six of its last eight games.

131 – In 2023, the Aggies finished the year ranked 14th at the FBS level in rushing yards per game. This season, the Aggies offensive line room brings to the table a total of 131 starts and will be the Aggies most experienced position group by a wide margin.

#WEEKDAYCUSA

The Aggies’ midweek series continues this week against LA Tech, as they host what will be their only midweek home game of the season.

This is the second consecutive season in which all October league games will be played on weekday evenings following a successful launch in 2023. CUSA’s broadcast partners will share October’s weekday football games on linear television via CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.

In 2024, the Aggies were a perfect 4-0 with wins over FIU, Sam Houston, UTEP and LA Tech. During this stretch of games, the Aggies outscored their opponents by an average of 13.8 points per game. Overall, October has been friendly for the Aggies as they entered this year’s October with a perfect 6-0 record over the last two seasons.

So far this season, the Aggies are 0-1 and have two more midweek opportunities this season.

CROSSING CONFERENCE PATHS

This will be only the second season that NM State and LA Tech have been Conference USA opponents, but this marks the third different competitive patch the two programs have shared.

The Aggies and Bulldogs first competed as conference opponents in 1995 as members of the Big West. Ten years later, the two programs would become part of the Western Athletic Conference and spend time competing as league foes from 2005 to 2012.

Finally, the two would cross paths again in 2022 as members of CUSA. Overall, the Aggies have a 3-7 record against the Bulldogs in their 10 games as members of the same conference.

COACHING MATCHUP

Both NM State Head Coach Tony Sanchez and LA Tech Head Coach Sonny Cumbie serve as leaders of their second FBS program.

Sanchez earned his first opportunity at UNLV, where he served as head coach for five seasons (2015-19). Meanwhile, Cumbie was named interim head coach at Texas Tech, taking over for Matt Wells during the second half of the 2021 season.

For Cumbie, this marks his third season at the helm of the Bulldog program, while Sanchez is his first at NM State.

Over his career, Sanchez has 21 wins, while Cumbie earned his 10th collegiate victory on Friday when the Bulldogs defeated Middle Tennessee.

MONTAÑO

Kicker Abraham Montaño has been one of the bright spots for the Aggies this season and after a perfect 2-for-2 performance at Jax State, he ranks 19th in the nation in field goal percentage – making 8 of 9 attempts this season . Against the Gamecocks, Montaño connected from 53 yards out – a kick that is tied for the third-longest field goal in program history.

This season, the Fresno State transfer’s only miss came from 57 yards out on an upwind kick that went the distance and would have tied the longest kick in program history.

LOUISIANAGGIES

NM State currently has four student-athletes who hail from LA Tech’s home state of Louisiana, including a trio of wide receivers in PJ Johnson III (Lake Charles), Latrell Neville (New Orleans) and Jordan Smith (Slidell). Additionally, Monte Watkins is from Laplace, La., but the explosive running back will miss Tuesday’s game due to a concussion.

PJ AND TJ

Although limited, this year’s passing game has been through the duo of slot receivers, PJ Johnson III and TJ Pride. After a career performance in Wednesday’s road game at Jax State that included three catches for 84 yards and a touchdown, junior PJ Johnson III leads the Aggies in receiving yards with 156 on nine catches this season.

Meanwhile, true freshman TJ Pride is the only other receiver to cross the century mark this season, as he has recorded a team-high 16 catches for 144 yards and has paced the Aggies in receptions in each of the last three games.

WINNING THE GROUND GAME

Head Coach Tony Sanchez preaches the importance of winning the rushing battle and unfortunately the Aggies have only tallied more rushing yards than their opponent in one game this season. This happened in the home opener against SEMO and is currently the Aggies’ only win this season.

On the contrary, the Aggies have been defeated on the field in each of their five losses.

The last time the Aggies won a game in which they lost the rushing battle was on Oct. 29, 2022, when they defeated UMass despite the Minutemen rushing for 162 yards — 51 more than the Aggies.

DEALING WITH LA TECH IN LAS CRUCES

Despite the Aggies having a 5-8 record against the Bulldogs, NM State enters Tuesday’s game with a winning record against LA Tech at Aggie Memorial Stadium. In seven games, the Crimson and White squared off four times, including winning each of the first three games in Las Cruces.

KEEP FOOT ON THE PEDAL

Despite the Aggies ranking 121st in the nation in scoring offense, NM State has scored first in three of six games this season. Unfortunately, the Aggies have not been able to maintain this success and have been outscored 52-23 in the first quarter of this season.

GOOD TO BE HOME

NM State returns to the friendly confines of Aggie Memorial Stadium on Tuesday, where it has a 10-5 record over the past three seasons, including posting five wins in six games last season.

Likewise, Conference USA teams have struggled to win on the road this season, posting a 5-22 road record through seven weeks while maintaining a 17-12 record in home games.

FIRST TIME STARTERS

Following the Aggies’ first 10-win season since 1960, NM State has entered its first year under Head Coach Tony Sanchez with several new faces in key roles. This year, NM State welcomed 36 transfers during the offseason – a figure that ranks fifth at the FBS level and six behind Saturday’s opponent, New Mexico. Besides the Lobos, only Charlotte (44), Colorado (44) and Utah State (38) brought in more offseason transfers than the Aggies.

Additionally, the Aggies return just eight of their 22 starters on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. And in total, NM State returns 28 of last season’s 67 letterwinners.

A total of 19 different Aggies have recorded their first collegiate starts this season, including 14 in the opener against SEMO. At 19, the Aggies currently rank third in total starters this season.

These new prospects are also reflected in the amount of recurring production coming into the year. After one of the highest percentages of returning production in the 2023 season (83% of total mined returned), only 23% (1,268/5,606) of the 2023 all-purpose total is from someone still playing Crimson and White wears in his clothes. 2024.

From a broken down perspective, the Aggies returned 0% (0/3,206) of their passing yards, 17.3% (471/2,715) of their receiving yards, 32.5% (755/2,325) of their rushing yards and 7, 4% (42/566) of their return yards.

SIMILAR PLACE

The Aggies have a 1-5 record heading into the meeting with the Bulldogs. Despite recording two of the most successful seasons in program history during the 2022 and 2023 campaigns, the Aggies are familiar with slow starts.

During a 2022 season that concluded with a win in the Quick Lane Bowl to finalize their record at 7-6, the Aggies entered week seven with a record of 1-5 – identical to their current state. A 21-9 Aggie victory over New Mexico ended a streak of three straight losses to the Lobos and ushered in a second half of the season in which the Aggies finished 6-1 for the program’s first bowl bid since the 2017 campaign.

A year later, the Aggies would travel to Albuquerque with a 1-2 record in hand. NM State would then improve to 2-2 with a 27-17 win at University Stadium. After dropping the next game to Hawaii, the Aggies fell to 2-3 before kicking things into gear to finish the regular season with a 10-3 record.

While Tony Sanchez and the staff wouldn’t choose to be in a position with one win in six games, it’s a situation the Aggies have proven they can bounce back from. In fact, in six of the Aggies’ last seven seasons, which resulted in a winning percentage above .500, NM State had a losing record through at least five games.

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