New Mexico State 21, Prairie View A&M 18

Aggie Football Beats Prairie View A&M

LAS CRUCES, N.M.-New Mexico State football head coach DeWayne Walker earned his first career victory with the 21-18 Aggie win over Prairie View A&M, Saturday, Sept. 12, at Aggie Memorial Stadium in Las Cruces, N.M. Junior running back Seth Smith led the Aggies with a career-high 150 rushing yards. NM State hadn’t registered that many yards on the ground since 2003 when Eric Higgins recorded 218 against Louisiana-Monroe. Sophomore quarterback Jeff Fleming added two touchdown runs in the first half, while senior running back Marquell Colston put the Aggies up for good with a fourth-quarter score.

NMSU Aggies Coach DeWayne Walker--- Courtesy: New Mexico State University

After Prairie View A&M tallied the first points of the game with a 30-yard field goal, the Aggies responded with an 11-play, 80-yard scoring drive of the game to take a 7-3 lead. Fleming posted his first career touchdown with a 10-yard run. Smith and Colston combined for 59 rushing on the drive, which also included Fleming’s first completion of the game. Sophomore wide receiver Todd Lee grabbed an 11-yard pass to continue the Aggie campaign. NM State established the running game early and recorded 100 yards on the ground after the first two series.


Pregame 9-12-2009, Prairie View vs. Aggies NMSU Las Cruces PRIDE Marching Band

Halftime 9 12 09 Prairie View vs. Aggies NMSU Las Cruces NM PRIDE Marching Band and Sundancers

In the second quarter, the Aggies scored again for a 14-3 advantage after 12 plays and 67 yards. Smith was the workhorse with 28 rushing yards. Fleming collected his second touchdown of the contest on a quarterback sneak. With less than a minute before the half, junior defensive back Alphonso Powell grabbed his first interception of the season. The turnover was the lone one in the first half.

Smith had 102 rushing yards on 14 carries at the break, and that mark was the first time an Aggie had achieved that feat since the Nevada win in 2008. Following a scoreless third quarter, the Aggie ground attack continued and NM State increased the lead to 21-3. Colston claimed his first of the touchdown of the year on a four-yard rush that concluded a 12-play, 71-yard drive. The Panthers scored a pair of late touchdowns to pull within three, 21-18.

Attendance: 15,902 @Aggie Memorial Stadium
NM State in-game notes
Box Score

Area Colleges: Prairie View has offensive issues

Prairie View A&M coach Henry Frazier III was surprised to enter a mostly silent locker room after the Panthers' 17-7 season-opening win over Texas Southern in Saturday's Labor Day Classic. Several defensive players were excited about the performance of their unit, but members of the offense didn't see much reason to celebrate. After all, the offense recorded only 176 yards, converting just three of 15 third-down attempts. “I said, ‘It's so quiet in here; you guys act as if you lost the game,'” said Frazier, who won his third straight Labor Day Classic. “They were like, ‘We could have done a lot better, coach.'”

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Practice pays off for NMSU Aggies in win over Alcorn

LAS CRUCES, NM — The players said it. Coach Hal Mumme said it too. The New Mexico State Aggies went through possibly their most grueling practices of the year during the past week in preparation for Saturday's affair versus Alcorn State. The workouts came on the heals of the team's disappointing performance last weekend against the University of New Mexico — a 35-24 NMSU loss. The hard work paid off, as the Aggies pummeled the Braves 45-10 at Aggie Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

"We got after it," Mumme said. "We weren't happy after last week's Lobo game. It wasn't the best week of practice but It was an intense week of practice and I think everybody was like me — pretty much mad at the world." During the week, the team worked specifically on running the football and solid play along both the offensive and defensive lines. NMSU responded, pounding Alcorn for 220 yards on the ground and recording six sacks on the defensive side of the ball while holding the Braves to minus 13 yards rushing.

Game Notes
Box Score

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ATTENDANCE: 11,374 (37.5%) at Aggie Memorial Stadium, Las Cruces, NM (Capacity: 30, 343).

NMSU avoids scare against Pine Bluff

Photo: The Golden Lion defense gives NMSU more problems than anticipated.

By Teddy Feinberg/Las Cruces Sun-News

LAS CRUCES — The New Mexico State Aggies avoided a major scare on Saturday night.

Still questions remain about the team heading into the second half of the season.

NMSU (3-2) squeaked by Arkansas-Pine Bluff 20-17 behind a Paul Young 37-yard field goal with .7-seconds remaining in regulation. Pine Bluff (1-4), a Division 1-AA program, came in as serious underdogs but gave the Aggies all they could handle and then some. It was the Golden Lions first Division 1 game for a program that has existed for over 100 years.

"They came in here and we let them stay in the game with us and they took it," Mumme said. "They made plays."

There are concerns following Saturday's game that go beyond the final score however. Quarterback Chase Holbrook took a vicious shot midway through the fourth quarter that forced him to come out for an extended period of time. Holbrook eventually did return to lead the team downfield on the game winning drive, but was noticeably shook up throughout the closing minutes of the contest.

Mumme said that Holbrook injured his ribs and that his status is uncertain at this point.

"They're looking at him," Mumme said of Holbrook and the medical staff. "It's his ribs."

Another red flag was just how badly NMSU struggled against the Golden Lions. NMSU's vaunted offense outgained UAPB by just 70 yards (297-367), and the Aggies secondary gave up 234-yards passing. Pine Bluff's feature runner Martell Mallet ran for 87 yards on 18 carries and gave NMSU fits throughout.

"We made some mistakes," Floyd said. "Some people got blocked, some people were out of position at times and sometimes we were in the right positions and missed some tackles."

After taking a 10-0 lead early on and eventually a 17-7 advantage, NMSU let the Golden Lions back in the game.

After kicking a field goal at the halftime horn to cut the lead down to seven, Pine Bluff came out in the second half and drove immediately downfield. Two third-down plays highlighted the scoring march. The first one came on third-and-22 from midfield, when quarterback Johnathan Moore dumped it off to Mallett near the line of scrimmage. Mallett gutted the middle of the Aggie defense, breaking tackles and barreling his way down to the NMSU 27 for the first down.

Three plays later, facing a third-and-10, Moore felt pressure and lobbed a ball down towards the goalline. Jason Jones came down with it, outleaping cornerback Chris Woods at the 1 before falling to the ground. Mallett took it in on a pitch-right two plays later. The extra point tied things at 17.

"It just seemed like we were flat even during warmups," safety Derrick Richardson said. "They definitely were better than we thought they were."

The score remained deadlocked at 17 until late in the fourth quarter with Pine Bluff threatening. With the ball at the NMSU 28 on third-and-5, Moore went for the endzone. The ball was tipped by Alex Bernard and picked by Richardson, who fell to the ground for the touchback with 2:30 remaining in regulation.

Two plays later, backup quarterback J.J. McDermott threw a fade down the right sideline for Chris Williams, who was bumped by cornerback Jermaine Clemmons while going up for the ball. The officials threw the flag, calling a pass interference penalty on the play, a 15-yard infraction.

"It was definitely a good call," Williams said. "I went up and he ran right into me."

Holbrook re-entered the game and helped move the ball down the Pine Bluff 20. Holbrook hit wide receiver Wes Neiman on third-and-6 from the Pine Bluff 47 for an 18 yard pickup with just under a minute remaining.

The Aggies got the ball down to the 20 when Young lined up for his 37-yarder.

"I'd thought he'd make it," Mumme said. "I'm pretty optimistic all the time."

15,329 fans came out for Saturday night's game, highlighted by the

Tough Enough to Wear Pink fundraiser. Mumme's wife June led the charge as part of a breast cancer awareness movement. Thousands of fans came out dressed in pink in support of the cause. Over $225,000 was generated coming into the evening, with donations still expected to come.

UAPB faces another difficult assignment

BY BECK CROSS, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

LAS CRUCES, N. M. — Arkansas-Pine Bluff Coach Mo Forte insists he’s not looking for any moral victories when the Golden Lions take on New Mexico State tonight at Aggie Memorial Stadium.

“No, I won’t be led down that road,” Forte said. “The bottom line for me is winning, and that’s the way it’s always going to be.”

Pulling off a victory against New Mexico State could be a far-fetched notion for even the staunchest optimist.

The Golden Lions (1-3 ) are coming off a 58-3 loss last week at Southern Illinois, marking its worst rout in four seasons under Forte and the program’s worst since a 63-0 loss to Mississippi Valley State in 1983.

UAPB’s defense, which had been top-ranked in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, gave up almost 600 yards in total offense to the Salukis.

“Any time you get beat like we got beat, the kids come back to practice more enthused,” UAPB defensive coordinator Monte Coleman said “They [players ] were embarrassed, and we [coaches ] were embarrassed. We don’t want to have that happen again, so they came back and had a good week of practice.”

Offensively, it’s been a struggle from the beginning. UAPB, which last year boasted the top-ranked offense in the SWAC, has scored only 10. 8 points per game. The Golden Lions’ average of 222. 8 yards a game in total offense ranks ninth in the SWAC.

Against Southern Illinois, UAPB had only 51 yards of total offense in the first half and trailed 30-0 at halftime.

“The same thing that plagued us last week is the same thing that’s bothered us all year,” Forte said. “We just haven’t been able to generate any offense on a consistent basis.” On paper, New Mexico State’s offense is even more talented than Southern Illinois’. New Mexico State ranks seventh in the nation in passing offense with 363. 8 yards per game and is 16 th nationally in total offense with 487. 2 yards a game. Junior quarterback Chase Holbrook is eighth nationally

ense (355. 8 yards per game ) and 21 st in passing efficiency (152. 7 ). Junior wide receiver Chris Williams had 109 yards in receiving last week against Auburn to mark his third consecutive 100-yard game. New Mexico State led Auburn 20-14 last week on the road late in the second quarter before losing 42-20.

“I knew this was a tough schedule going into the season,” Forte said. “But you want to have tough games because your team is never going to know how good they are unless they play tough teams.

“ We’re playing a very talented Division I team and that’s going to be good for us in the long run.” Arkansas-Pine Bluff vs. New Mexico St. WHEN 7 p. m. Central today WHERE Aggie Memorial Stadium, Las Cruces, N. M. RECORDS UAPB 1-3; New Mexico State 2-2 COACHES Maurice “Mo” Forte (18-18 in fourth season at UAPB, 66-86-1 in 14 th season overall ); Hal Mumme (6-22 in third season at New Mexico State, 103-86-1 in 17 th season overall ) SERIES First meeting RADIO KUAP-FM, 89. 7, in Pine Bluff

Things won’t get any easier for UAPB

By Mike Marzelli, of the Commercial Staff

How does a team bounce back from a 55-point loss when it knows its next opponent is expected to be its toughest of the season?

That’s the question Arkansas-Pine Bluff is trying to answer this week as it prepares for New Mexico State. Fresh off an embarrassing 58-3 loss to No. 7 Southern Illinois that was the program’s worst defeat since 1983, the Golden Lions are now staring down the task of taking on a Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) opponent for the first time in school history. Not just any FBS team, either. The Aggies (2-2) have been an offensive juggernaut under former Kentucky coach Hal Mumme, averaging 487 yards of total offense and just under 30 points a game on the season.

The situation may appear to spell doom already, but UAPB head coach Mo Forte isn’t ready to count out the competitive spirit of his team.

“We know it’s going to be a huge challenge for us out there but if we just gave in to what things looked like on paper we would never need to play a game,” Forte said after practice Tuesday. “I don’t think anyone in Las Vegas is going to pick us but hopefully we will go out there and give 100 percent and that will be good enough to win the game. I think our team’s mindset is that they know how they were embarrassed last weekend and they need to go out and fight harder and focus more on playing better to make sure that never happens again.”

After watching film Forte heaped plenty of praise on the Aggies, but he was also quick to point out that his team may not be taking a giant step up in competition this week.

“Obviously [New Mexico State is] a good football program and they’re the biggest challenge we’ve faced since I’ve been here, but who’s to say that [Southern Illinois] isn’t as good as a mid-level Division I team like they are?” he asked. “We already found out that the [former] No. 1 team in I-AA is better than Michigan, the No. 5 team in Division I, so who knows how good they’re really going to be compared to what we’ve faced?”

Regardless of how good New Mexico State may be, UAPB needs to play a drastically different game than it did Saturday in Carbondale, Ill. The Golden Lions were stagnant offensively for the fourth straight week, eventually leading them to wear down on defense, but the most alarming aspect of the game was players’ lack of effort and intensity in the second half.

“Pride is always on the line any time you’re involved in any type of competition and when you’re a competitor you’re going to do whatever you can to be successful in any situation because of that pride,” Forte said. “We didn’t play with pride for four quarters last week and that surprised me because I know our team is made up of competitors.

“I’m looking for a renewed sense of pride and focus for this game and for our guys to come out fighting and working hard and focusing on one play at a time and giving 100 percent on that one play until its over.”

There will not be wholesale changes for the Lions, as Forte plans to stick with junior Johnathan Moore at quarterback after Moore and former starter Chris Wallace both saw action at SIU.

“I saw progress with the offense last week, especially with our offensive line, I really did,” Forte said. “We had much better pass protection than we had before, we were just killed by drops that cost us a number of chances to move the chains.”

NOTE: Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. Saturday and not 6 p.m. as listed on a number of area schedules. Las Cruces, NM is in Mountain Time and the game is slated for 6 p.m. MDT, which is an hour behind Central Time. There will be no television broadcast, so the only chance to follow the game will be on KUAP 89.7 FM.

New Mexico State University to face UAPB

NMSU Press Release

New Mexico State Aggies (2-2, 0-0 WAC)
vs.
Arkansas Pine-Bluff (1-3, 1-2 SWAC)
September 29, 2007 • 6:00 p.m. MDT
First Ever Meeting • Aggie Memorial Stadium (Capacity 30,343)
Radio: Aggie Sports Network - KGRT 104 FM (Las Cruces); plus 12 other stations
Spanish Radio - KKVS 98.7 FM (Las Cruces) & KPZE 106.1;
Television: Aggie Vision

The Aggie football team wraps up their non-conference schedule this coming weekend as they welcome Arkansas-Pine Bluff to town. This is the second 1-AA school to visit Las Cruces this season but the first match up between the Aggies and Golden Lions.

The Golden Lions are coming off a tough loss to Southern Illinois. This week the Aggies will be wearing pink in support of the NMSU Aggies are Tough Enough to Wear Pink campaign that has raised over $140,000 to date for cancer research.

You can listen to all the action with the ‘Voice of the Aggies’ Jack Nixon on KGRT 104 FM, as well as listen to the game in Spanish with Martin Cortez on Vista 98.7 FM. The game will also be televised on Aggie Vision on Comcast channel 4 in Las Cruces tape delayed and live on El Paso (Ch. 24), Albuquerque (Ch. 53) and Gallup (Ch. 66).

In a unique opportunity, the New Mexico State Athletics Department has agreed to designate the football game on September 29th against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, as a breast cancer awareness initiative and fundraiser. Coach Mumme has brought together Four Honorary Chair-Women for this event, all with strong ties to New Mexico State University and all cancer survivors; Magellia Boston (wife of Athletics Director Dr. McKinley Boston), Laura Conniff (Chair of the NMSU Regents), June Mumme (wife of head football coach Hal Mumme) and Pat Sisbarro (wife of car dealer Lou Sisbarro).

The proceeds generated by this event will be used to fund breast cancer and women's cancer research project, conducted by UNM Cancer Center and the New Mexico State University Department of Chemistry and Biology. This initiative is being conducted in partnership with ‘Cowboys For Cancer Research’.

“The response has been wildly overwhelming,” Coach Mumme said. “It has put a kind and giving, female face on football. Breast cancer has touched many lives, including players, trainers and coaches. Fans and supporters are anxious to get involved in anyway possible.”

In less than 3 months, over $140,000 has been raised through this sporting event in sponsorship donations for this health initiative. An additional $50,000 worth of food, supplies, etc., have been donated, bringing the total to close to $200,000. This unique, but powerful relationship between a state university, a charitable organization and medical research has gained national attention from the NCAA, ESPN, and the WAC.

New Mexico State University along with the Aggie Athletics Department is encouraging the Las Cruces community to attend the game as a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to ‘Cowboys for Cancer Research’. Fans will be giving the opportunity to donate to the great cause at the game. Be a part of the largest ‘Tough Enough to Wear Pink’ fund raising event in history, as well as the biggest fund raising event in Las Cruces. For tickets call the Pan Am Ticket Office at (505) 646-1420 or go to www.ticketmaster.com.

Scouting the Golden Lions

The Golden Lions are 1-3 on the season and 1-2 on the road in 2007. Their lone win came against the ALCN-Braves on Sept. 6th. Last weekend the Golden Lions fell to Southern Illinois 58-3.

As a team the Golden Lions are averaging 222.8 yards of total offense a game and allowing 306.2 yards to their opponents. Arkansas-Pine Bluff has fumbled the ball 10 times in four games, but have not thrown an interception in 108 pass attempts.

Individually, Johnathan Moore and Chris Wallace have split time at quarterback this season, each throwing a touchdown pass while Moore has thrown for 320 yards, averaging 106.7 yards a game. Martell Mallett leads the running attack with 128 yards on the ground and one touchdown, while Jason Jones has caught 19 passes for 267 yards and a touchdown to lead the receiving corps. Defensively, Tim Turner leads the way with 42 tackles, a fumble recovery, a pass break-up and two tackles-for-a-loss.