RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesIt wasn’t a win, but there were plenty of good things to come out of Saturday’s season opener for the NM State Aggies in a 34-17 road loss to Florida State in Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee.
The 31.5-point favorite Seminoles couldn’t give the announced home crowd of 65,915 the comfortable win they had hoped for as it was still a one-score game until the final two minutes of the third quarter and still a 10-point game with 4 minutes left.
The biggest positive for the Aggies came in the form of a welcome-to-FBS showing of Furman transfer quarterback Trey Hedden, who overcame a first half interception to lead NM State down the field on several drives and settle any doubt about his ability to lead the team moving forward.
Key stat: NM State quarterback Trey Hedden completed 26-of-42 passes for 272 yards, 2 touchdowns and one interception.
Turning point: Maybe “turning point” isn’t the ideal description in a loss, but NMSU starting the second half with a defensive stop then a scoring drive (a FG to cut the lead to 17-10) made clear to everyone the usual second-half blowout in these money games vs. power conference schools wasn’t going to happen.
Aggie up: Brodie Malone-Bradford (6 receptions/96 yards/1 TD) and TK King (7/78/1) both looked like legit WR1s against a power conference secondary, combining for 13 catches, 174 yards and two TDs.
Aggie down: After several big runs on their opening drive of the second half, NMSU set up nicely a halfback pass trick play that running back T.J. Washington threw a perfect pass to a wide open AJ Williams III in the back of the Florida State endzone. Williams dropped it. The Aggies still managed a FG, but it still had a lost opportunity feel.
Add-ons: New Mexico State University pocketed $1.4 million for playing Saturday’s game... LB Sone Aupiu had eight tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss... Utah Tech transfer kicker Ilya Uvaydov in his first FBS game hit his only FG try (38 yards) and both his extra point attempts.
Next up: NMSU (0-1) hosts FCS Mercyhurst (0-1) next Saturday (Sept. 5) at 7 p.m. in Aggie Memorial Stadium. The game will be streamed on ESPN-plus.
Geoff Grammer is the Sports Editor and a podcaster for the Albuquerque Journal. He primarily covers UNM Lobos basketball, among other things. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.
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