LAS CRUCES, N.M. — The New Mexico State football team (2-3, 1-0 CUSA) is slated for its first road Weekday Conference USA matchup versus Florida International (2-2, 0-0 CUSA) Wednesday, Oct. 7.
The Aggies are coming off a huge home win against conference foe Western Kentucky, where the Aggies put together their most complete performance of the season. NM State’s defense held WKU to only 43 total rushing yards and garnered six sacks and nine tackles for loss.
Offensively, running back James Jones had 157 yards on 20 attempts, continuing his assertive start for the 2026 campaign. Jones averages 102 yards per game, which will be put to the test against a stingy FIU defense that’s ranked 12th in the nation in rushing yards allowed per game, with 81.5.
Quarterback Adam Damante notched his first start of the season last week and will start again this week. Damante showed flashes in last week’s game, but with a new opponent and a road environment, he and the Aggies offense have their work cut out for them in order to carve out a win.
“This past week, we didn’t ask [Damante] to do a ton,” Head coach Tony Sanchez said. “but what we did ask him, he did well. His [completion] percentage right now is really good, but we’ve got to be better on third down.”
The Aggies have struggled to convert on third down, moving the chains just 2-for-12 on third down last Thursday, and are 29-for-63 (43%) on the season.
After starting off CUSA 1-0 for the first time since joining the conference in 2023, Sanchez is preparing the Aggies to move 2-0 to set the precedent in conference play moving forward.
FIU enters the matchup with the 10th ranked defense in total yards allowed nationally, and has two weeks of rest before they open up CUSA play by welcoming the Aggies into Pitbull Stadium.
Kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m. MT and the game will be live on ESPN2.
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