LAS CRUCES, N.M. - This weekend, NM State football looks to win three straight games for the first time since 2017 and only the third time in the 21st century. The Aggies will square off with Lamar, who boasts a 1-7 record at the FCS level this season, on Saturday. The action from Aggie Memorial Stadium will kickoff at 12 p.m. MT and can be found on FloSports, Bally Sports Arizona, or Comcast New Mexico. 

Game Information
Lamar (1-7, 1-4 Southland) at NM State (3-5)
Date: November 12, 2022
Time: 12:00 p.m.
TV: FloSports / Bally Sports Arizona / Comcast New Mexico

• Adam Young (PxP)
• Danny Knee (Analyst)
• Tatiana Favela (Sidelines)

Radio: Aggie Radio Network powered by LEARFIELD / The Varsity Network App

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

Pick Six
17 - 17 different players for NM State have caught a pass this season. Three players - Kordell David, Justice Powers, and Bryce Childress - have all caught 10 or more passes this season.

111 - The Aggie defense went 111:07 between touchdowns. FIU last scored with 6:00 remaining in the second quarter. NM State did not allow New Mexico to find the end zone and UMass' only touchdown came with 12:54 remaining in the second quarter.

27 - The NM State defense is allowing 27.0 points per game this season. No Aggie defense since 1999 (24.9 ppg) has allowed less than 27 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.

41 - NM State has seen a 41% growth in average home attendance over last year - The largest year-over-year home growth in FBS football.

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.

ATTENDANCE BOOM
No school across FBS football has seen a larger attendance growth this season than NM State. The Aggies are averaging 16,701 fans per home game, up 41% from last season.

Also highlighting massive growth are No. 19 Tulane, (29.48%), Arizona (25.43%), No. 20 Syracuse (23.52%), and No. 7 TCU (20.02%).

IRONMEN
Six Aggies - Jamoni Jones, Chris Ojoh, Syrus Dumas, Bryce Jackson, Trevor Brohard, and Thomaz Whitford - have started all eight games for the Aggies thus far.

RUSHING ATTACK
The Aggies have not lost a game this season in which they have ran for more than 100 yards. All three wins this season have seen the Aggies eclipse 100 yards of rushing as well.

ZIA HELMETS
This season, NM State is 2-0 when wearing the Zia decal on the helmet. The Aggies took down New Mexico (21-9) and UMass (23-13) before switching back to the script State logo for this weekend.

MILITARY APPRECIATION HELMETS
This weekend, each Aggie player will choose a different branch of the United States military to represent on their helmet. The small decal will be featured on the back of the helmet, opposite the American flag.

Each player will also feature a decal honoring the U.S.S. New Mexico, a battleship in service with the United States Navy from 1918 to 1946. The U.S.S. New Mexico escorted the ship carrying President Woodrow Wilson to Brest, France to sign the Treaty of Versailles, ending World War I.

NATIONAL ATTENTION
The Southeastern Conference announced Monday that NM State's trip to battle Missouri will air on ESPNU. Kickoff from Columbia was announced for 6:30 p.m. CT/5:30 p.m. MT and will be NM State's fourth game on national television this season.

The Aggies also battled Nevada (ESPN2), Minnesota (Big Ten Network), and Wisconsin (Big Ten Network) in front of a national audience.

OJOH
Linebacker Chris Ojoh ranks tenth nationally with 46 solo tackles this season. Throughout his career, Ojoh has recorded 177 solo tackles, which ranks 11th among all active FBS players.

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.

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 in the win 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, Syrus Dumas, Linwood Crump, and Thomaz Whitford have each represented NM State at the coin toss this season.

The Aggies were represented by Linwood Crump (New Jersey) and Thomaz Whitford (Rhode Island) at the coin toss against UMass.

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.

DEJA VU
Both of NM State's games against UTEP and Wisconsin ended after exactly 3:23 of game time.

DUELING QUARTERBACKS
Both Diego Pavia and Gavin Frakes have played in at least seven games for the Aggies, with Frakes playing in all eight. Frakes has made five starts under center, including each of the last four games.

Pavia led the comeback effort against UMass, though, throwing for a career-high 194 yards and two touchdowns.

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.

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.

The Aggies have also added Kaylee Nilsson to the staff as a Graduate Assistant Nutritionist. In her role, Nilsson keeps NM State at optimal nutrition levels for training, competition, recovery, hydration, immunity, travel, and more.

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
Lamar and NM State have not met in 46 years. The last meeting between the two squads came while Gerald Ford was the President of the United States and saw Lamar escape Las Cruces with a 21-17 victory.

NOTABLES: LAST GAME (UMass)
The Aggies snapped the nation's longest road losing streak at 21 games with a trip to Amherst, Massachusetts. The Aggies took home a 23-13 victory over the Minutemen.

Diego Pavia came off the bench to lead the charge for an NM State comeback. Trailing 10-0, Pavia and the Aggies swung the sails and connected with Jamoni Jones for a 39-yard touchdown pass - The first of Pavia's career.

Coming back from injury, Ethan Albertson looked as good as ever, going a perfect 3-3 on field goal attempts.

With the Aggies leading by three late in the contest, Pavia put the game on ice with a 27-yard touchdown pass for Terrell Warner with 3:42 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The first road win of the Jerry Kill era ended a 1,498 day drought away from Aggie Memorial Stadium.

BEHIND ENEMY LINES (Lamar)
Lamar has struggled throughout the 2022 campaign, going just 1-8. The 27-14 win over Nicholls ended a 15-game skid for the Cardinals.

The Aggies mark the second FBS opponent of the season for Lamar. On September 10, the Cardinals made the trip to Dallas to battle SMU, falling 45-16. \

The Cardinals are averaging 358.7 yards of offense per game. Michael Chandler has thrown for 1,211 yards and eight touchdowns. In the backfield, Khalen Griffin has ran for 528 yards and five touchdowns this season.

On defense, Tyler Jackson leads the way with 84 total tackles, including eight for a loss. Jackson nearly doubles the secondtackler on the Cardinals (Caleb Arnold, 47).