LAS CRUCES, N.M. — The New Mexico State football team seeks its first road victory of the season as they take on Conference USA opponent Liberty University Tuesday, Oct. 14, at 5 p.m. MT at Williams Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia. Fans can watch the game on CBS Sports Network.
This will be the Aggies second Weekday CUSA game of the year and the second straight nationally-televised game.
NMSU has a 3-2 win-loss record to begin the year (1-1 in CUSA), which is the program’s best start since 2008. A victory would surpass its win total from last season and be the first 4-2 start since 1992.
Meanwhile, the Liberty Flames (2-4, 1-1) are coming off a 19-8 road victory against the University of Texas at El Paso Oct. 8 at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.
This snapped the Flames four game losing streak and gave them their first FBS win of the year. This is the worst start Liberty has had since becoming an FBS program.
Since 2022, both teams have played meaningful games against each other. The Aggies defeated Liberty on the road 49-14 Nov. 26, 2022, to improve to 5-6 and have a chance at a bowl game.
The following season, the Flames got their revenge by beating NMSU in both matchups. This included a 49-35 victory in the CUSA championship game Dec. 2, 2023, in Lynchburg.
After three consecutive outings away from Las Cruces, the Aggies finally took on the Flames at Aggie Memorial Stadium Sept. 7, 2024. This was the second game of the season for both schools and the first conference game. NMSU got off to a promising 17-3 start at the beginning of the second quarter, but eventually fell 30-24 in heartbreaking fashion.
As far as this year, junior quarterback Ethan Vasko has proven to be the man for the job for the Flames. He has thrown six passing touchdowns for 1,006 yards on the season.
In comparison, Aggie quarterback Logan Fife has also thrown six passing touchdowns but for 1,272 yards. This surpasses all four quarterbacks passing yards for NMSU last year.
The Aggies are coming off a 37-10 win over Sam Houston State University Oct. 2, which is the most dominant performance of the head coach Tony Sanchez era.
Sanchez said persistence is key coming off this high note.
“I think consistency is the whole deal,” Sanchez said. “I’m never going to be too high or too low. I’m just going to be steady about the process.”
Fife said this has given the team positivity for the rest of the season.
“We still have a couple things to clean up but that felt like our best well rounded game as on offense,” Fife said. “It gave everybody in that room a lot of confidence to keep moving forward and build off that momentum.”
The defense is what has been getting it done for NMSU as they have the 10th-ranked red zone defense in the country. Part of this success can be attributed to safety Naeten Mitchell, who compiled the first pick-six of the season for the Aggies last outing to secure the victory. This 71-yard interception return helped him earn CUSA Defensive Player of the Week honors.
It has not just been Mitchell making things happen on the defensive end, as the Aggies have forced a turnover in each outing this year.
Kicker Ryan Hawk has also been a key asset as he was named the league’s Special Teams Player of the Week. One of the reasons for this was his intentional pooch kick to force a Sam Houston fumble and Aggie recovery. This set up NMSU at the 2-yard line early in the fourth quarter to take a 27-10 lead.
The Flames currently sit as -10.5 point favorites over the Aggies, according to ESPN Analytics.
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