The New Mexico State (3-4, 1-2) football team will host a tough WAC opponent in the Bulldogs of Fresno State (2-3, 1-1). This weekend the Aggies and Bulldogs will meet on the gridiron for the 16th time, as Fresno State holds a 15-0 lead in the series. Game time is set for 8:15 p.m. (MT) at Aggie Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 24.
The game will be televised live on ESPNU, as Carter Blackburn (Play-by-Play) and JC Pearson (Analyst) bring you all the action from the television booth. This will be the Aggies first nationally televised game this season.
You can listen to all the action with the 'Voice of the Aggies' Jack Nixon and color analyst Mike Mitchell beginning at 7 p.m. on KGRT 104 FM. Also catch the action in Spanish with Martin Cortez and Bob Sherman on Vista 98.7 FM.
Aggies/ Bulldogs, the Series
The Aggies face the Bulldogs for the 16th time in school history Saturday, as the New Mexico State hosts Fresno State for the ninth time. The Bulldogs hold a 15-0 series lead over the Aggies.
The series dates back to the 1972 season when the Bulldogs traveled to Las Cruces. Fresno State won that game, 49-17. The Aggies would get a chance at revenge two years later as the Bulldogs again made their way to the Mesilla Valley, but NM State fell just short, 9-7. The two schools became conference foes in 1984 as both were members of the Pacific Coast Conference and the Big West until 1992 when Fresno State made the jump to the WAC. As conference opponents in the WAC, this will be the fifth meeting.
Scouting the Bulldogs
This season the Bulldogs have been a balanced team through the air and on the ground, averaging 181.5 yards passing and 279.7 yards rushing a game. FSU has been out scoring its opponents 36.5 points per game to 25.2 this season. With a 3-3 record the Bulldogs have been great in the red-zone, converting on 83 percent of their trips inside the 20-yard line. This past weekend the Bulldogs beat San Jose State, 41-21, at home. The Bulldogs are now 2-1 in conference play.
Individually for Fresno State, quarterback Ryan Colburn has thrown for 1,027 yards and 11 touchdowns in six games for FSU, averaging 171.2 yards in the air. Ryan Matthews leads the rushing attack for FSU, averaging 162.3 yards a game and scoring seven touchdowns, while Seyi Ajirotutu and Devon Wylie lead the receiving corps, as Wylie has 15 catches for 242 yards and four touchdowns. Ajirotutu has recorded 21 catches for 292 yards and two touchdowns. Ben Jacobs leads the Bulldogs defense with 40 tackles on the season, followed by Moses Harris with 30.
Last Time against Fresno State in Las Cruces
Anthony Harding had a career-high 121 yards rushing on a slippery field, and freshman Ryan Mathews ran for another 99 yards to help Fresno State beat New Mexico State 30-23, Nov. 30, 2007.
As a steady rain fell, Fresno State rolled up 263 yards on the ground compared with 92 for the Aggies.
Harding had 115 yards rushing in last weekend's 45-29 win over Kansas State.
The only drawback for the Bulldogs was seeing Mathews leave in the fourth quarter with an injured collarbone, just 1 yard short of a 100-yard night.
The Bulldogs scored 24 straight points for a 30-13 lead after Harding's 6-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. During that burst, quarterback Tom Brandstater also had a 1-run plunge and Mathews scored on a 7-yard run.
But the Aggies rallied with a 24-yard field goal from Paul Young and Chase Holbrook's 1-yard touchdown run, trimming the margin to 30-23 with 5:43 remaining.
After Fresno's Clint Stitser missed a late 24-yard field goal attempt, the Aggies took over at their own 20 with 1:04 remaining but stalled on downs near midfield.
Brandstater completed 10 of 19 passes for 205 yards, and Holbrook was 30-of-51 for 323 yards, throwing a 66-yard touchdown strike to Kenneth Buckley.
Remarkably, neither team committed a turnover on a wet, cold night.
The Aggies were hoping to send retiring defensive coordinator Woody Widenhofer out with a victory. The former Pittsburgh Steelers assistant and ex-head coach at Missouri and Vanderbilt worked the final game of a 40-year career.
Last Year against the Bulldogs
New Mexico State senior wide receiver Chris Williams ran for a career-best 96-yard touchdown return, but it was not enough as the Aggies fell to Fresno State, 24-17, at the Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, Calif.
Chase Holbrook threw for 192 yards on 27-of-38 passing with one touchdown pass. Wide receiver AJ Harris led the receiving corps with nine receptions for 97 yard and a touchdown. Williams recorded 126 return yards to go alone with his nine receptions for 55 yards. Derrick Richardson led the Aggies with 12 tackles, followed by Nick Paden with 10.
The Aggies started the game going three and out but the NMSU defense responded by forcing a Fresno State fumble as Justen Alford recorded his first fumble recovery of his career. The NMSU offense marched the ball down the field, converting on a fourth and one, as NMSU got all the way down to the Bulldog six yard line before stalling. Kyle Hughes then came in nailed a 23-yard field goal attempt to give NMSU a 3-0 lead with 7:19 left in the first quarter.
Fresno State then put together a long drive, starting at the Bulldog 25 yard line. The NMSU defense dug their heels in and stopped the Bulldogs on a third and 13 to force Fresno State to try a 30-yard field. The Bulldogs converted and tied the game at 3-to-3 with 1:19 remaining in the first quarter.
On the ensuing kick-off Chris Williams took the ball 96 yards for a touchdown, recording the longest kick-off return for a touchdown in his career, it was also fifth longest in school history. It was his second kick-off return for a touchdown in his career. Kyle Hughes would add his school record tying 28th straight extra point to give NMSU a 10-3 lead with 1:05 left in quarter number one.
Fresno State opened the second quarter with another solid drive, scoring on a one-yard run by quarterback Tom Brandstater to tie the game at 10-10 with 12 minutes left in the half. On the ensuing kick-off, Marcus Anderson took the return and was stripped of the ball by Sharrod Davis, who took the ball for a touchdown, giving Fresno State a 17-10 lead with 11:51 remaining in the half.
After both offenses were unsuccessful on their next drives, the NMSU defense forced the Bulldogs to punt. Punter Robert Malone kicked one off the side of his foot and the Aggies took over at the Bulldogs 32 yard line. On a third and seven from the Fresno State 17 yard line, Holbrook hooked up with AJ Harris for a touchdown, pulling NMSU even at 17-17 with 6:22 to go in the half. The touchdown pass by Holbrook moved him into 36th all-time in NCAA history for touchdown passes in a career and moved Harris into the top-25 in NCAA for receptions in a career.
The Aggies forced the Bulldogs to punt on their next possession but were unsuccessful at moving the ball as the Aggies were also forced to punt, giving the ball back to the Bulldogs with 2:32 left in the half. Fresno State took the ball down the field and with just :06 second remaining in the half the Bulldogs' were stoned by the Aggies at the one yard line, as the gun sounded to end the half at 17-17.
Holbrook threw for 93 yards on 10-of-17 passing in the first half, as AJ Harris caught seven passes for 86 yards and a touchdown. Defensively, Nick Paden led the Aggies with seven tackles.
The third quarter was a defensive battle as both teams were unable to capitalize on their three possessions in the quarter.
Fresno State opened the final quarter of the game with the ball on the FSU 45 yard line. Brandstater tallied his second rushing touchdown of the game on a one-yard run with 10:38 remaining in the game to give the Bulldogs a 24-17 lead.
The Aggies got the ball down to the Fresno State 19 yard line but failed on a fourth down conversion on their final drive of the game.
House Return Marks
Defensive back Davon House has been in the right place at the right time. This past weekend against LA Tech, House picked up a fumble late in the game and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown. It was House's first career fumble return for a touchdown and second touchdown of his career.
The first touchdown of his career came back in 2007 when he intercepted a pass against Idaho and returned it for a school record 100 yards. House had two interceptions in that game for 164 return yards, which was also a school single-game record. House tallied 171 interception return yards in 2007, also a school record for a season. He needs just 37 interception return yards to break the school record for a career.
With his fumble return for a touchdown and interception return for a touchdown, House becomes the first Aggie player to do both during his career, since Gary Jessie accomplished this feat back in the mid-1990's.
Dueling Quarterbacks
After seven games in the 2009 season the Aggies have adopted the two-quarterback system. In fact, Walker has said that the Aggies will go with whoever the hot quarterback is at the moment.
Trevor Walls is 2-1 as a starter, while Jeff Fleming is 1-3. Walls has thrown for 340 yards and two touchdowns, hitting 51.9 percent of his passes. Against LA Tech, Walls had his best passing game of the season, hitting 10-of-12. Walls also ran for two touchdowns on the year.
Fleming has passed for 446 yards and two touchdowns, completing 52.7 percent of his pass attempts. He has also rushed for 107 yards and a touchdown on the year.
Hatchett Choppin' Down
Free safety Stephon Hatchett has been a consistent play maker for the Aggie defense all season. Hatchett is third on the team in tackles with 44, a tackle for a loss, an interception return for 32 yards, three pass break-ups, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble.
Against LA Tech, Hatchett tallied a career-high 13 tackles. This season, Hatchett has recorded at least five tackles in five of the seven games this season. His previous high was nine tackles against Prairie View A&M.
Cotton Coming Around
Linebacker Jamar Cotton has made his presence felt over the last few weeks after taking over the starting outside linebacker position. In the last three games, Cotton has tallied 14 tackles, a sack and a pass break-up. Prior to that Cotton had recorded just nine tackles.
Against LA Tech, Cotton recorded a season-high six tackles and first sack of the season. He also reached the 100 tackle mark for his career.
Cotton has 101 tackles, four sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Blocked Punts in a Season
The Aggie punt return team has shined this season, averaging 12.4 yards a return, ranking 28th in the nation and third in the WAC. Punt returner Marcus Anderson leads the WAC and is 24th in the nation is punt return average.
The Aggie punt return team has also recorded two blocked punts this year, one by Donte Savage and the other by B.J. Adolpho.
The last time an Aggie team has blocked two punts in a single season was in 1992. The last time an Aggie team recorded a single blocked punt in a season was in 1999 against New Mexico.
Anderson Closing on Career List for Punt Returns
Punt returner Marcus Anderson is leading the WAC in punt return average with 11.4 yards a return this season. He is also 24th in the nation.
He currently ranks ninth on the single-season list for punt return average for a season. He needs just five returns to break into the top-10 for a singles season and 34 yards to make the top 10 in yardage as well.
For his career, Anderson is averaging 11.2 yards a return. He needs three return attempts to make the top 10 for a career and five yards for the top 10 in return yardage.
Walker Stacking Up
Head Coach DeWayne Walker is 3-4 to begin his head coaching career at NM State. How has the past first year head coaches done in their first seven games at NM State? Let's take a look.
DeWayne Walker 3-4 (2009)
Fred Zechman 3-4 (1983)
Gil Krueger 3-4 (1978)
Mike Knoll 1-6 (1986)
Tony Samuel 1-6 (1997)
Hal Mumme 0-7 (2005)
Jim Hess 0-7 (1990)
Smith Tallies Career First
After earning the starting job on week two of the season, Seth Smith hasn't looked back. Over the last six games, Smith has rushed for 598 yards, averaging 4.2 yards per carry. He is also averaging 85.4 yards a game and 25 carries a game. The last Aggie running back to average over 100 yards a game in a season was Chris Barnes (102.8) in 2000. Smith is currently 40th in the nation and sixth in the WAC in rushing yards per game. Smith needs just two more yards to become just the third guy since 2002 to record over 700 yards in a season.
Versus Utah State, Smith recorded his fourth game with at least 95 yards, as he ran for 98 yards this past Saturday. He also recorded his first career touchdown run with a 1-yard scamper, late in the third quarter. Against San Diego State, Smith tallied 89 yards on the ground. Versus New Mexico, Smith tallied 113 yards on the ground for the Aggies, recording his second 100-yard rushing game of the season. Smith became the second Aggie running back since 2005 to record two 100-yard rushing games in a single season. The last running back to record more than two 100-yard rushing games in a single season was Justine Buries, who tallied four in 2005.
Against UTEP, Smith carried the ball for 13 times for 99 yards, averaging 7.6 yards a carry. Versus Prairie View A&M, Smith ran the ball for 150 yards on 25 carries. It was the first time since 2003 that an Aggie had rushed for 150 yards or more.
Scott Shows Knack for the Ball
Linebacker Jason Scott for the second week in a row, tallied double number tackles with a career-high 15 against LA Tech. Scott also recorded two tackles for a loss.
He tied a career-high 14 tackles against Utah State this past weekend, including a pass break-up, to help the Aggies get their first WAC win this season. On the season, Scott is leading the team in tackles with 62. He also has three pass break-ups on the year.
For his career, Scott has 146 tackles and two sacks. He is now fourth in the WAC in tackles per game (8.9).
NM State Offensive Line showing Consistencies
The New Mexico State offensive line has been solid in the first six games of the season. The Aggies have allowed just 10 sacks and are a big part of the Aggies 137.9 rushing yards per game. Below is a breakdown on each player along the offensive line.
Mike Grady - Grady has two of the top three performance grades on the year against Idaho and Prairie View A&M...He's tallied just three penalties in six games and has not allowed a sack...Grady has 35 knockdowns on the season, including a season-high eight against New Mexico and Utah State.
Joe Palmer - Palmer has tallied 46 knockdowns on the season with a season-high and team leading 10 against New Mexico and Utah State...He has recorded the highest performance grade of the year, a 75% against Prairie View...He has allowed no sacks in 152 pass attempts. He also had a perfect assignment rating against Utah State
Sieoli Fakalata - Fakalata has graded out with the second most knockdowns so far this season with 41...He has allowed two sacks this season but has been penalized just three times... Fakalata had a near perfect assignment performance against UTEP.
Dwayne Barton - Barton has 25 knockdowns on the season, including a season-high seven against Utah State.
David Norman - Norman played in just the first two games for the Aggies before a knee injury sidelined him...In two games, Norman tallied four knockdowns, allowed no sacks and committed just one penalty. He came back against San Diego State and has tallied six knockdown and no sacks in the last three games.
Joe Suder - Suder took over for Norman in the Aggies' third game...In two games Suder had given up two sacks and tallied four knockdowns.
Fils Continues to Tally the Sacks
Defensive lineman Pierre Fils recorded his fifth sack of the season against Utah State. That puts Fils in fifth place for sacks per game in the WAC and 68th in the nation. On the season, Fils has 26 tackles, five tackles for a loss, five sacks, a pass break-up and a force fumble.
For his career, Fils has tallied 38 tackles. Fils needs just one more sacks to put him in the top 3 for a single-season in NM State history. If he accomplishes this feat, Fils will have become just the fourth Aggie since 1992 to tally six or more sacks in a single-season.
Glynn Continues to put up the Numbers
Over the last four years, Tonny Glynn has been known for his running back skills but lately Glynn has been displaying another quality as a kick returner. Against UTEP, Glynn had a monster night, recording 134 yards on six kick returns, with a career-long of 44 yards. Glynn has run the ball for 30 yards on nine carries. He followed that with another solid game against New Mexico, where he tallied 106 yards in return yardage, including a 40 run back. Versus San Diego State, Glynn tallied his third straight game with over 100 return yards (140).
Glynn has 622 kick return yards this season, averaging 22.2 yards a return, good for sixth in the conference and 80th in the nation. His 622 is fifth all-time for a single-season and his 28 returns ranks third all-time for a single-season. Glynn needs just 108 return yards and six return attempts to break both single season records, both set by Bryan Love in 1988.
For his career, Glynn has 790 kick return yards, averaging 19.8 yards a kick. He has also rushed for 853 yards and five touchdowns, while catching 44 passes for 306 yards and a touchdown. Glynn tallied 1,949 all-purpose yards in his career as well.
Defense Shines
What a difference a season makes and that couldn't be truer for the Aggie defense. Last season, the Aggies were at the bottom of most statistical categories in the WAC defensively. This season the Aggie defense has started to turn the corner.
The Aggies rank in the top five in scoring defense (27.1), rushing defense (186.3), passing defense (177.4) and total defense (363.7). In fact, the Aggies are second in the WAC in passing defense and are third in total defense and scoring defense.
Nationally, the Aggies rank 25th in passing defense and 66th in total defense and 80th in scoring defense. At this time last year, the Aggie defense ranked last in the WAC and fifth in scoring defense. The Aggies are giving up 76.6 yards less on the ground per game in 2009.
Hughes Taken all the Kicks
Aggie kicker Kyle Hughes continues to kick well for the Aggies in all areas of the game. Against New Mexico, Hughes booted two field goals of 40 and 42 yards, averaged 53.4 yards on five punts, downing two inside the Lobos' 20-yard line and tallied three touchbacks on five kickoff efforts. He was also named the WAC Player of the Week for his efforts.
Hughes is seventh in the WAC in field goal percentage and his one PAT against the LA Tech pushed his streak of consecutive PAT's made to 43.
On the season, Hughes has made 10-of-10 PAT's, is 5-of-8 on field goal attempts with a long of 42 and is averaging 42.4 yards a punt. He has recorded 10 punts this season of 50-plus yards. Hughes was named an honorable mention kick off specialist and punt specialist by College Football Performance Awards (9/26) & (10/10).
For his career, Hughes is averaging 42.6 yards per punt, has hit 12-of-19 field goal attempts and is a perfect 43-of-43 on PAT attempts.
Anderson looks for Repeat Year
Marcus Anderson was one of the Aggies' go to receivers in 2008 and will be called upon again in 2009 to handle a big load for the NM State offense. Anderson continued to rack up the numbers, starting right where he left off in 2008 with a solid performance against Idaho to open the season. Anderson caught four passes for 50 yards and long of 21 yards. Against Prairie View A&M, Anderson caught one pass for two yards. Versus UTEP, Anderson caught two passes for 11 yards. Versus New Mexico, Anderson caught the winning touchdown with just :39 second left on the clock.
Anderson tallied 50 catches for 617 yards and nine touchdowns in 2008. His nine touchdowns tied him for first on the team with all-American Chris Williams. His best game of the season came against New Mexico, where he caught four passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns. At UTEP, Anderson grabbed five passes for 70 yards and season-high three touchdown receptions. His nine receptions at Idaho (10/25) was a season-high. Anderson recorded six games with at least four receptions. Against Hawai'i, Anderson tallied seven receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown, followed by a seven-reception performance against Louisiana Tech.
Anderson needs just 43 receptions and three touchdown catches to move into the NM State's top 10 career lists in both categories. Last season, Anderson averaged 4.2 receptions per game and 12.3 yards per catch.
For his career, Anderson has caught 66 passes for 763 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Aggies in the WAC
As a team, New Mexico State ranks seventh in the WAC in rushing offense (137.9), second in passing defense (177.4), third in total defense (363.7), fifth in scoring defense (27.1), eighth in first downs (107), fifth in sacks against (12) and sixth in opponent first downs (125).
Individually, running back Seth Smith is sixth in the conference, averaging 85.4 yards per game, while kick returner Tonny Glynn is sixth in the league averaging 22.2 yards per return, while Marcus Anderson is first in the conference in punt return average with 11.4. Kyle Hughes is third in the league in punting with 42.4 yards a punt.
Defensively, the Aggies' Jason Scott is fourth in the league in tackles per game (8.9), while Ross Conner is sixth (8.0). Defensive lineman Pierre Fils is fifth in the league in sacks per game with .57.
Aggies in the Nation
Seth Smith ranks 40h in the nation in rushing yards per game. Marcus Anderson ranks 24th in the country in punt return average, while Jason Scott is 47th in the country in tackles per game, while Pierre Fils is 68th in the nation in sacks per game.
Courtesy: New Mexico State University
