LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Following a pair of home games, NM State returns to the road once again as they make the trip to South Florida to take on FIU in a Wednesday Conference USA matchup. This will mark the fourth time that the Aggies are on national television this season as the bout is slated to air on ESPN2 at 5:30 p.m. MDT.
 
GAME SIX
Who: NM State (2-3, 1-0 CUSA) at FIU (2-2, 0-0 CUSA)
Where: Miami, Fla. – Pitbull Stadium (20,000)
When: Wednesday, October 7, 2026 – 5:30 p.m. MT
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
Watch: ESPN2
Play-by-Play: Cooper Boardman
Analyst: Dave Clawson
 
Radio: 99.5 FM KXPZ / TuneIn App
Play-by-Play: MJ Newsom
Color Analyst: Cory Lucas
  
Live Stats: NMStateSports.com/Stats
 
LAST TIME OUT: NM STATE 34, WKU 13
NM State earned a convincing 34-13 victory over Western Kentucky in its Conference USA opener, using a balanced effort highlighted by 206 rushing yards, six sacks and a defensive touchdown. James Jones led the ground attack with a career-high 155 yards and a touchdown, while Ilya Uvaydov added a pair of field goals, including a 52-yarder.
 
The Aggies took control in the first half as De'Marcus Peters returned an interception 53 yards for a touchdown and Adam Damante capped a 78-yard drive with a rushing score to build a 20-6 halftime advantage. Making his first start of the season, Damante finished 15-of-26 passing for 146 yards and a touchdown while adding a score on the ground.
 
NM State put the game away in the second half with a touchdown pass from Damante to TK King and a Jones rushing touchdown. The Aggie defense dominated throughout, recording six sacks, forcing two turnovers on downs and holding the Hilltoppers to just 13 points.
 
STRONG START TO CUSA PLAY                              
The victory over WKU on Thursday marked NM State's first-ever win in a Conference USA opener and moved the Aggies into a tie atop the league standings. Previously, the Aggies were 0-3 in CUSA openers, including a 2023 campaign that saw the Aggies reach the conference title game.
 
DAMANTE'S DAY                                               
Thursday, quarterback Adam Damante earned his third career start and first of the 2026 season. In the start, Damante finished 15-of-26 for 146 yards with one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown. His night even included a completion to himself as a he snared a ball that was batted back toward him at the line of scrimmage.
 
With the win, the Aggies are now 2-1 with Damante as their starting quarterback. Damante last led the Aggies to a win over rival UTEP in 2025 when he guided the offense on a game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter.
 
SPECIAL SPECIALISTS                                   
On Thursday, the Aggie specialists played a major role in the 21-point victory. Kicker Ilya Uvaydov concluded the night 2-for-2 on field goal attempts and was a perfect 4-for-4 on extra points. Uvaydov's outing also included a 52-yard field goal to mark the longest make of his Aggie career. This also served as the sixth field goal of 50 or more yards in Uvaydov's collegiate career.
 
Punter Brody Richter also had a superb night as he recorded six punts for a total of 257 yards and an average of 42.8 yards per punt. Of his six punts, five of them finished inside the 15-yard line. Three of his punts actually finished inside the 10-yard line, including a 54-yarder that was fair caught at the 7-yard line. This season, Richter has booted 12 of his 16 punts inside the 20-yard line
 
BIG-TIME BRAD                                                 
Defensive end Brad Vislisel turned in his second straight game with a sack to give him two sacks on the season. Prior to the New Mexico game, Vislisel had yet to record a sack at the collegiate level.
 
SACK PARTY                                       
On Thursday, the Aggie defense recorded six total sacks to mark the program's most sacks in a single game since a seven-sack performance against FIU on Oct. 4, 2023.
 
With this monster performance, NM State doubled its sack total on the season to give them 12 for the year. This effort is led by Gabe Peterson who has 2.5 sacks on the year and sits just one sack shy of his season high 3.5 which he set in 2023.
 
The matchup between the Aggie defense and the FIU offensive line will be one to watch this weekend as the Aggies currently rank third in CUSA in sacks per game (2.4) while FIU has allowed just three sacks this season to rank tied for 13th in the nation.
 
RESTRICTING THE RUSH                           
In the win over WKU, the Aggie defense allowed just 46 total rushing yards to mark the third time this season that the Aggies have allowed fewer than 75 rushing yards. This marks the first time since at least 1994 that the Aggies have kept their opponents under 75 rushing yards three times in a single season.
 
Thus far, Aggie opponents are averaging just 3.8 yards per carry. This will be important this week in Miami as FIU enters the game averaging just 3.6 yards per rush and just 124 rushing yards per game to rank 112th in the country.
 
GOOD ON GOOD                                                 
Entering Thursday, the Aggie offense is averaging 150 rushing yards per game to rank fourth among CUSA teams. Meanwhile, FIU features one of the top rushing defenses in the country as they are giving up just 80 rushing yards per game to pace all CUSA teams and rank 12th in the nation. Thus far, the Panther defense has yet to allow an opponent to rush for more than 108 yards, while the Aggies have eclipsed this mark in all but one game this season, including rushing for 206 yards in their most recent outing to represent the second time this season that they eclipsed the 200-yard mark.
 
WINNING AT HOME                                        
NM State collected its second home win of the season on Thursday, improving to 2-1 at Aggie Memorial Stadium this year. This season, Conference USA teams have found major success on their home turf as they currently hold a record of 17-5 in home games. On the contrary, CUSA teams hold a record of 2-22 on the road.
 
TALLYING TURNOVERS                               
With an interception against WKU, the NM State defense has now forced a turnover in 20 of its last 21 games dating back to the 2024 season. During this stretch, the Aggies have recorded an interception in 15 of the 21 contests.
 
The Aggies will look to continue this trend on Wednesday as they face off against FIU quarterback JJ Kohl who has six interceptions to mark the most among CUSA passers.
 
GOING THE OTHER WAY                            
After finishing 14th in the nation in turnovers forced in 2025, the Aggie defense has continued to produce takeaways. Against WKU, De'Marcus Peters' pick-six marked his second touchdown of the season and the third for the Aggie defense this season. With this, NM State ranks tied for first in the country in defensive touchdowns and is one of just four FBS teams in the nation with three defensive touchdowns this year. It is joined by Notre Dame, Alabama and North Dakota State as the best in the nation in this category.
 
SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE                     
Currently, the Aggies hold one of CUSA's top scoring offenses as they are averaging 27.8 points per game to rank second in the league. This will be put to the test this week as FIU enters the Wednesday night game ranked 21st in the nation in scoring defense, allowing opponents to just 14.5 points per game. Additionally, the Panthers have yet to allow more than 20 points this season.
 
JAMES JONES LEADS THE WAY              
On Thursday, James Jones rushed for 155 yards to mark a new season high and mark the most in a single game by an Aggie since Mike Washington rushed for 152 yards against WKU on Nov. 9, 2024. This also puts Jones just 170 rushing yards away from 2,000 yards for his NCAA career.
 
This performance also propelled him to earning CUSA Offensive Player of the Week honors for Week 5.
 
Through his first five games with NM State, Jones paces the Aggies with 510 rushing yards on 77 carries. With 102 rushing yards per game, Jones currently paces all Conference USA rushers and ranks 15th in the nation. His 510 total rushing yards also ranks sixth in the country while his 6.6 yards per carry also rank second among CUSA rushers and stands at 18th among all FBS players.
 
He is also one of just 16 rushers in the nation avergaing more than 100 rushing yards per game. While there are still seven games remaining on the schedule, it is worth noting that no Aggie has averaged over 100 rushing yards in a single season since 2015 when Larry Rose averaged a program record 137.6 yards per game.
 
In his last four games, Jones has totaled 479 rushing yards on 66 carries. With his third 100-yard rushing game of the season, Jones becomes the first Aggie back to record three 100-yard games in a four-game stretch since Jason Huntley who did so in 2019 as he surpassed the century mark four times in his final six games as an Aggie.
 
Jones is familiar with big days in the backfield as he went over the 100-yard mark six times last season as a member of Delaware State. Dating back to his time with the Hornets, Jones has now rushed for 100-plus yards in six of his last nine games. Across his collegiate career, Jones has now rushed for 100-plus yards a total of 13 times, including four times at Garden City CC, six times at Delaware State and three times with the Aggies.
 
As a senior at Delaware State last season, Jones compiled 958 rushing yards on just 98 carries to post an average of 9.8 yards per carry and 87.1 yards per game.
 
WEEKDAY CUSA                                                 
Wednesday serves as the Aggies' second midweek contest of the season and is one of 18 nationally televised midweek Conference USA games.
 
Thus far, the Aggies hold a record of 7-4 in midweek CUSA games. This will mark the third time that the Aggies collide with FIU during the midweek slate after also doing so in 2023 and 2024. In fact, FIU was the Aggies' first-ever midweek opponent when they faced off in Las Cruces on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023.
 
MOVE THE STICKS                                           
Through five games, the Aggie offense has been one of the best in the country at converting on third down. Currently, NM State is converting on third down at a 46.3% clip to rank second in the conference and 37th in the nation.
 
THOMAS' COMING OUT PARTY                               
Sophomore tight end Josiah Thomas has emerged as one of the Aggies' top receiving targets as he has now tallied nine catches for 150 yards over the course of the last two games. With 60 yards against WKU on Thursday, he now has 226 receiving yards and is just two yards shy of matching his season total from last season when he played for Western Carolina.
 
SPREAD THE LOVE                                          
Entering the sixth game of the year, a total of six different Aggies have caught passes for touchdowns this season as TK King (3), Myles Libman (2), AJ Williams III (1), Brodie Malone-Bradford (1), James Jones (1) and Terrione Graves (1) have all notched receiving touchdowns.
 
Similarly, a total of 16 different Aggies have caught at least one pass this season, including three different players with 10 or more receptions as King (20), Williams III (15) and Josiah Thomas (11) each caught double-digit catches thus far.
 
THE AGGIES IN CUSA                                                
The Aggies are now in their fourth year as members of Conference USA. NM State made quite the splash in its debut campaign - going 7-1 in league play on its way to an appearance in the CUSA Championship Game in addition to being one of only 27 FBS programs to reach the 10-win mark in 2023.
 
NM State has now won 12 games across its first four seasons in the new league and will continue conference play this Wednesday against FIU.
 
OFFENSIVE OUTLOOK                                  
Through five weeks, the Aggie offense has been among the best in Conference USA in several categories. Currently, the Aggies rank fourth in total offense (402.0), second in scoring offense (27.8), fourth in passing offense (252.0) and third in third down conversion percentage (43.9%).
 
CLASS IS IN SESSION       
One of the biggest plays in the Aggies' win over Mercyhurst came from safety Nick Session who intercepted a pass on the first play of the game and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown.
 
Prior to his interception in the season opener, Session had just one interception in his collegiate career with his first coming as a member of the Oklahoma State defense in 2021.
 
Session has also been flying around on the back end this season as he currently leads the Aggies in total tackles with 37, including 25 solo tackles. With this, he is already more than halfway to his season total from last year (61).
 
KING OF THE GRIDIRON                             
After recording 41 catches for 588 yards to introduce himself to Aggie fans in 2025, TK King is off to a strong start to his final collegiate season.
 
Through five games in 2026, King paces all Aggie wideouts in receptions (20), receiving yards (286) and receiving touchdowns (3). His 57.2 receiving yards per game ranks seventh among all CUSA wideouts.
 
Across two seasons with the Aggies, King has eclipsed 50 yards receiving eight times 12 contests, including going over 100 yards twice. With his performance against New Mexico, King also eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark for his collegiate career and now sits at 1,116 career receiving yards.
 
Offensive Coordinator David Yost will continue to look to utilize King to take the top off of the defense as the Houston native brings elite speed with him from the track to the football field. As a junior in high school, TK King ran a 10.21 in the 100-meter dash and placed third in the 200-meter dash at the 2021 Texas 6A state meet with a time of 20.74 seconds. 
 
CUSA PLAYERS OF THE WEEK                                 
Several Aggies have already produced standout performances this season as NM State has garnered a total of six Conference USA Player of the Week awards.
 
This includes recognition for James Jones (offense), Trey Hedden (offense), Gabe Peterson (defense), Nick Session (defense), Ma'Kyi Lee (offensive lineman) and Carson Su'esu'e (freshman).
 
LEADERS IN THE MIDDLE                         
NM State brought back two big pieces of its defense as both linebackers Sone Aupiu and Tory Gethers returned for the 2026 season.
 
Aupiu is in his fifth year with the program and fourth as a starter. In total, Aupiu has now made 41 starts to lead all Aggies and is coming off a 2025 campaign in which he ranked third on the team in total tackles with 68.
 
After a breakout season in 2025, Tory Gethers is alongside Aupiu once again. Gethers serves as the Aggies' leading tackler among returners after ranking second on the team with 88 total tackles, despite only starting eight games last year. Currently, Gethers ranks second on the team in tackles with 30, including a sack and two tackles for loss.
 
FREQUENT FLYER MILES                           
This season, the Aggies will be near the top of the nation in movies downloaded as they are set to take on a schedule which includes trips to Tallahassee, Honolulu and Miami. According to CFBMap.com, the Aggies' schedule features the seventh most travel miles among all FBS programs. In total, the Aggies are slated to travel a total of 17,763 miles to rank behind only Hawaii, Stanford, Sacramento State, North Dakota State, Arizona State and California.
 
This week, the Aggies will check off yet another lengthy trip as they are set to travel approximately 3,301 miles to Miami for their Wednesday night game at Pitbull Stadium.
 
WHERE TO WATCH THE AGGIES         
After just three of the Aggies' 12 games were featured on national networks in 2025, the Aggies will find themselves in the national spotlight six times this season. This year, NM State is slated to play three games on ESPN2, two games on CBS Sports Network and one game on The CW.
 
Week 6 marks the fourth time this season that the Aggies will play on national television as Cooper Boardman (PxP) and Dave Clawson (Analyst) will be on the call for ESPN2.
 
WHERE TO LISTEN TO THE AGGIES  
Once again, all games this season will air live on 99.5 FM KXPZ for those in Las Cruces and the surrounding areas. Radio broadcasts for all Aggie games will also be available to listen to nationwide via the TuneIn App. Radio play-by-play for Wednesday's game will be provided by MJ Newsom, with analysis provided by Cory Lucas.
 
Additionally, all home games will be available in Spanish on 96.7 FM La Equis with the call provided by Darien Salayandia (play-by-play) and Jose Aragon (analyst).