Week 5: New Mexico at New Mexico State

New Mexico has owned this rivalry, but this might be the year New Mexico State gets the upper hand. The Lobos are 66-28-5 against the Aggies, including five straight wins.

New Mexico State is coming off a 34-33 victory over UTEP last week in its other heated rivalry game. Quarterback Chase Holbrook has lit up the Lobos in two previous meetings with 945 passing yards and eight touchdowns. He will enjoy seeing New Mexico ranked 101st in pass-efficiency defense.

New Mexico has had a weird year. The Lobos lost by six points to Texas A&M and beat Arizona, but they have been whipped by non-BCS teams TCU and Tulsa. It’s an ominous sign that they rank 100th in the nation in total offense (301.8 yards per game) and 79th in total defense (380.3). The Lobos will break in a new quarterback this week, freshman Brad Gruner. Starter Donovan Porterie was knocked out for the year with a knee injury last week.

New Mexico State also has struggled on defense, allowing 462.5 yards per game. The Aggies, however, are still learning a 3-3-5 system that is new this year. They did not play the first two weeks of the year.

Notes:

New Mexico State has lost its past three home games. This is the Aggies’ home opener.

New Mexico State safety Derrick Richardson leads the nation with 19 tackles per game. He made 21 tackles last week against UTEP.

New Mexico State defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn was the defensive coordinator at New Mexico from 1980 to 1982 and the head coach from 1983 to 1986. New Mexico coach Rocky Long was the secondary coach under Dunn in 1980.

New Mexico State has committed 17 turnovers in the past five meetings.

Three of New Mexico’s four opponents have scored at least 14 points before the Lobos got on the board. They have been outscored 58-17 in the first quarter.

Key Player (Lobos) — Rodney Ferguson, RB

Ferguson has rushed for 100 yards in three straight games and 13 games in his career. He’s fifth all-time at New Mexico with 2,933 rushing yards and 26 rushing touchdowns. He has accounted for 42 percent of New Mexico’s offense and 75 percent of the touchdowns this season.

Key Player (Aggies) — Chase Holbrook, QB

Holbrook had a rough opener at Nebraska, but he tore up UTEP last week. He was 29-of-39 for 329 yards and five touchdowns. He also identified a new go-to receiver in junior Marcus Anderson, who had five catches and scored three touchdowns in his second major college game.

New Mexico State by 3