Liberty (1-0, 0-0 CUSA) will face New Mexico State (1-0, 0-0 CUSA) Saturday at 10:30 p.m. to open the Conference USA play this season. Kickoff from Las Cruces, New Mexico will be televised on ESPN2.

“They’re going to play extremely hard; they are a disciplined team, I think they’re finding their way as well,” Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell said of his week two opponent. “They lost a lot of players, and so that first game is always challenging when you’re trying to organize a big new group like that.”

Liberty is 5-2 all-time against the Aggies, including a 1-1 mark in Las Cruces. The Flames will be making their first visit to NMSU since Oct. 5, 2019, a 20-13 Liberty win. The Aggies have visited Williams Stadium four times since that trip.

These two teams, who each joined Conference USA last year after spending some time as an FBS Independent, went 15-1 in CUSA games their first year in the league, with the only loss being a 33-17 NMSU loss to the Flames last September.

This will be a rematch of the 2023 CUSA Championship game just about nine months ago, a 49-35 Liberty win. The Flames and NMSU will be meeting for the fourth time in 21 months.

Despite the two teams meeting so frequently, this year’s matchup will feature a much different version of the Aggies. Head coach Jerry Kill, who performed a monumental task in rebuilding NMSU, has moved on to Vanderbilt. He took with him quarterback Diego Pavia who helped the Aggies have so much success the past two seasons.

Tony Sanchez, former head coach at UNLV who was on staff at New Mexico State under Kill as wide receivers coach, takes over the reigns this season. He sported a 20-40 record while head coach at UNLV from 2015-2019. Sanchez has worked with Kill since 2021, spending time together at TCU before making their way to New Mexico State.

NMSU opened the year with a 23-16 come from behind victory over FCS Southeast Missouri, 23-16. The Aggies trailed 16-10 early in the fourth quarter before picking up a safety, a 51-yard field goal, a touchdown and two-point conversion to take the lead with just under two minutes remaining.

“There’s going to be a lot of similarities,” Chadwell said of the NMSU system this year under a new head coach. “Obviously, I think they probably held back some things in their first game a little bit too, but they had some balance. There’s some similarities, but he’s going to put his two cents in the way he’s running it.”

The Aggies rotated quarterbacks throughout the season opener. Parker Awad, a JUCO transfer, completed just 5 of 17 passes for 37 yards with one interception. He also rushed 7 times for 14 yards. Kentucky transfer Deuce Hogan completed 2 of 5 passes for 23 yards while rushing twice for two yards. Coach Sanchez reaffirmed his commitment to Awad as the Aggies’ starter entering this week’s contest against the Flames.

As noted by those numbers, the Aggies threw for just 60 yards and one interception against SEMO in the opener. New Mexico State rushed the ball 49 times for 210 yards and 2 scores, good for 4.3 yards per carry. Seth McGowan, an Oklahoma transfer, rushed 11 times for 87 yards and 2 touchdowns. Buffalo transfer Mike Washington toted the rock 18 times for 50 yards. Washington had 11 carries for 37 yards in Buffalo’s 55-27 loss to Liberty last September. A total of 8 different players had at least one rushing attempt for NMSU in the opener.

Three receivers combined for 7 receptions for 60 yards, led by PJ Johnson who had 2 catches for 35 yards.

“I think it was week one, because you’re trying to figure out a new coach, all the new coaches, and then you don’t know tons about the player,” Chadwell said of NMSU’s personnel and system. “At least we got a game to see. You can watch the guys and see them, and you can watch the guys that came from other places. They brought transfers from here and there, so you can watch some of the video they have. No matter what your scheme is, it’s the players you got up there, they’re the ones that make it go. Now that at least you got one (game), you have a chance to see the majority of who’s playing, and then you can put your study into what we want to do and how you want to try to attack.”

Joe Morris has taken over as defensive coordinator for the Aggies. He comes to Las Cruces after three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Sam Houston. The Bearkats had one of the top defenses in CUSA last year under his tutelage.

The Aggies allowed 352 yards to SEMO, 295 through the air. They held Southeast Missouri to 57 rushing yards on 21 rush attempts.

“I expect them to play way better than they did,” said Chadwell. “I expect us to play way better than we did. So, it should be a heck of a game.”

PREDICTION

Liberty 30, New Mexico State 17

Line: Liberty -22.5

Picks results this year:
Straight-up: 1-0
ATS: 1-0