LAS CRUCES, N.M. - For the second time in as many years, the Aggies will meet up with the Minutemen of UMass. The Aggies will head to Amherst, Mass., for the Saturday afternoon contest as they look to pick up win number three on the season. 

Tomorrow's get-together will mark just the second time the Aggies will play the Minutemen following a meeting in 2021 when the Aggies dismantled UMass, 44-27, at home in the season finale.

Game Information
NM State (2-5) at UMass (1-6)
Date: October 29, 2022
Time: 1:30 p.m. MT
TV: ESPN3

• Jay Burnham (PxP)
• Andy Gresh (Analyst)
• Matt Goldstein (Sidelines)

Radio: Aggie Radio Network from LEARFIELD / The Varsity Network App

• Jack Nixon (PxP)
• Cory Lucas (Analyst)

Pick Six
160 - Jerry Kill picked up his 160th career win last Saturday when NM State knocked off in-state rival New Mexico 21-9. Kill also moves to 1-0 alltime against the Lobos - A stat that will make Las Cruces proud.

25 - Despite an idle weekend, the NM State defense remains No. 25 nationally in passing yards allowed. Allowing just 193.9 yards through the air, NM State ranks second among FBS Independent programs, trailing just Army (192.0).

29 - The NM State defense is allowing 29.0 points per game this season. No Aggie defense since 2003 has allowed less than 30 points per game over the course of the season.

11 - Chris Ojoh ranks 11th among active FBS players with 177 career solo tackles. This season, Ojoh leads all NM State defenders with 46 total tackles, including three sacks and five tackles for a loss. Ojoh posted a monster game against UNM, making 15 stops - 11 of which were solo.

58 - With a projected high of 58 degrees on Saturday, NM State's trip to Amherst will be the coldest game of the season for the Aggies. Previously, the August 27 Nevada game was 77 degrees at kickoff.

1 - Senior Donavan King recorded the first interception of his career in the win over New Mexico. King's pick was just the second of the season defensively for the Aggies. Syrus Dumas had the other interception for NM State in the Aggies' trip to Madison to take on the Badgers

News and Notes
REMEMBERING CAMDAN MCWRIGHT
Following the tragic passing of Camdan McWright, a freshman running back at San José State, the Aggies and Spartans decided to postpone the game scheduled for October 22. OJOH Linebacker Chris Ojoh is tied for seventh nationally with 42 solo tackles this season. Throughout his career, Ojoh has recorded 177 solo tackles, which ranks 11th among all active FBS players. Ojoh's 42 solo tackles matches his total from the 2021 season. Last week, Ojoh was also named to the Bednarik Award midseason watch list.

HOLD THE LINE
After being a massive question mark throughout fall camp, the NM State offensive line has quickly become one of the most impressive groups throughout the country. The Aggies have allowed just six sacks this season, which is tied with Army, Navy, South Florida, and No. 12 UCLA for the ninth-fewest across FBS football.

LOCK-DOWN PUNT DEFENSE
This season, NM State has allowed the third-fewest punt return yards in college football. In fact, the Aggies are holding opponents to -0.75 punt return yards per game. NM State trails just Army (-10.00) and Rutgers (-3.00) in punt return defense.

NO FLY ZONE Despite having an international airport, Las Cruces is officially a no-fly zone. The Aggie defense is allowing the fewest passing yards of any FBS Independent team with 193.9 yards per game. That total is also tied with Utah State for 25th nationally.

UNFAMILIAR FACES
The Aggies and Minutemen have only met once before on the gridiron - A 44-27 NM State victory in Las Cruces last season.

VICTORY LAP
For the first time this season, NM State took their victory lap around Aggie Memorial Stadium, taking down Hawai'i 45-20. NM State concludes every good practice with a victory lap - A tradition that Jerry Kill wants to begin in Las Cruces following wins.

A WINNING TRADITION Following the conclusion of the 2021 season, Director of Athletics Mario Moccia quickly made a coaching change, hiring Jerry Kill to lead the Aggies football program. Kill enters the 2022 season as the eighth winningest active coach in FBS football. Kill trails just Nick Saban (Alabama), Mack Brown (North Carolina), Brian Kelly (LSU), Willie Fritz (Tulane), Chris Crieghton (Eastern Michigan), and Terry Bowden (Louisiana - Monroe).

RUNNIN' AGS
The ground game was working in full force on Saturday over Hawai'i. NM State ran for 357 yards and five touchdowns in the victory. The game marked the first time since September 21, 2019 against New Mexico that the Aggies ran for four or more touchdowns in a game. With 133 rushing yards, Star Thomas became the first Aggie to finish with between 100-149 rushing yards since Christian Gibson ran for 103 yards at UTEP in 2018. Jamoni Jones ran for his first two touchdowns of the season in the win and became the second NM State player this season to run for two or more touchdowns in a game, joining Diego Pavia (2) at UTEP.

EL CAPITANS
Chris Ojoh, Diego Pavia, Trevor Brohard, Lazarus Williams, Canaan Yarro, and Syrus Dumas have each represented NM State at the coin toss this season. For the first time this season, NM State sent three players to the coin toss against FIU. Brohard, Pavia, and Yarro won the toss and elected to defer.

REPRESENTING A COUNTRY
With the addition of Nikhil Webb Walker, NM State now has the only player in FBS football with a hometown located in Jamaica. The linebacker recently joined the NM State roster as a walk-on.

SECOND QUARTER STRUGGLES
Through four games this season, NM State has struggled to get anything going. The Aggies are being outscored 93-30 in the second quarter thus far this season. In the Hawai'i game, the Aggies made great strides towards erasing the deficit, outscoring the Rainbow Warriors 21-3 in the second frame. DEJA VU Both of NM State's games against UTEP and Wisconsin ended after exactly 3:23 of game time.

QB1/2
Have the Aggies finally found their quarterback? For the first time this season, one player remained under center for the entire contest when Gavin Frakes played every snap against New Mexico. Frakes had been platooning with Diego Pavia through the first six games.

YOUNG GUN
As Nate Dreiling prepares to take over as the NM State Defensive Coordinator, he also becomes the second youngest DC among the FBS ranks. Only Austin Armstrong of Southern Mississippi (29) will be younger than Dreiling (31) at the beginning of the season. Dreiling is tied for the third youngest coordinator in FBS, regardless of offensive or defensive. Armstrong (DC - Southern Miss.) and Tommy Rees (OC - Notre Dame) are the lone coordinators who are younger than Dreiling. The Kansas native joins Zach Kittley (OC - Western Kentucky) as the only 31-year old coordinators.

ROAD WOE-RRIORS
NM State has currently lost 21 straight road contests, tied for the longest road losing streak in the country with UMass. The Aggies' next road trip will be to Amherst, Mass. to take on the Minutemen on October 29.

WOMEN BELONG IN SPORTS
In her first season as the NM State equipment manager, Paulina Mihelich becomes one of just four lead equipment managers across the FBS level. Under Mihelich, the Aggies join Nevada, New Mexico, and Temple as the lone schools to be powered by women. With Rachel Phillips also serving as the Aggies' Director of Football Operations, NM State and Temple are the only two programs that feature women at both the head equipment manager and DFO positions. Phillips is one of just eight female DFOs around the country, joining women at Temple, Notre Dame, TCU, Kansas State, Maryland, Bowling Green, and FAU. Also new to Las Cruces is Associate Athletic Trainer Sam Graff. With Graff leading the way for the Aggies, NM State becomes one of 12 schools at the FBS level with a female lead athletic trainer for football - Rice, Georgia Southern, Bowling Green, Troy, Kansas State, Western Kentucky, Western Michigan, Iowa, Virginia, BYU, and UCF are the other 11.

STEELE LIKES THE AGGIES
Led by Chris Ojoh and Trevor Brohard, the Aggies were well represented on Phil Steele's Preseason All-Independent team. In addition to the linebacker duo, tight end Thomaz Whitford, punter Josh Carlson, and kicker Ethan Albertson all earned spots on Steele's list.

THE LAST MEETING
In the 2021 meeting between the Spartans and Aggies, San José State came out victorious by a score of 37-31. As 15,803 fans packed CEFCU Stadium, NM State and San José State traded blows before a short touchdown pass in the fourth quarter put the game out of reach. Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda caught a pair of touchdown passes for NM State to go alongside 106 receiving yards. Among returning players, Thomaz Whitford's three receptions led the Aggies. Defensively, Nick Giacolone led the way for NM State with 11 tackles in the contest. The Aggies picked apart the Spartan offensive line, recording four sacks in the showing as well.

NOTABLES: LAST GAME (New Mexico)
Few games mean more to the NM State faithful than the Battle of I-25 and Jerry Kill's first meeting against the in-state opponent went as well as anybody could have hoped for. Going 60 minutes without a turnover, the Aggie offense appeared to be hitting its stride against the Lobos. Gavin Frakes put the Aggies on top with 3:00 to play in the first quarter when he found Ahmonte Watkins for a 22-yard touchdown pass. Frakes then hit Kordell David for a 31-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to push NM State's lead to eight. On the following possession, Star Thomas would power into the end zone for his third touchdown of the season, giving the Aggies a 21-6 lead. Luke Drzewiecki kicked his third field goal of the day in the fourth quarter but it was too little, too late for the team from Albuquerque. Coach Jerry Kill moves to 1-0 all-time against New Mexico and the Aggies snapped a three-game skip to the in-state rival.

AGGIE ADDITIONS
When HC Jerry Kill replaced Doug Martin, the Aggies cleaned house for the remainder of the coaching staff as well. In fact, just one staff member remains from the 2021 team - Defensive Graduate Assistant Quinn Thomas. As Thomas begins his second season, he is joined by 10 new assistant coaches, three new graduate assistants, and an almost entirely new support staff. The new Aggie staff includes: • Tim Beck - Offensive Coordinator • Nate Dreiling - Defensive Coordinator • Chuka Ndulue - Defensive Line • Bobby McMillen - Inside Linebackers • Cliff Odom - Defensive Backs • Melvin Rice - Co-Defensive Coordinator/ Safeties • Andrew Mitchell - Offensive Line • Ghaali Muhammad-Lankford - Running Backs.