After a dominant win against Western Illinois last Saturday, the New Mexico State Aggies will travel to Liberty Mountain to face off against the Liberty Flames.
The Flames and Aggies will showdown at Williams Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia on Sept. 9 at 6 PM. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and LFSN Radio (The Journey 88.3 FM).
This Saturday will be the sixth time in program history these two programs have played. Last season, the Aggies beat the Flames 49-14 in Williams Stadium. Liberty is 3-2 against New Mexico State all-time.
The Aggies are currently 1-1 overall. They began the season with a 41-30 home loss to the UMass Minutemen, despite besting the Minutemen in total yardage and first downs. Aggie Quarterback Diego Pavia threw two interceptions in the season opener.
Last week, Pavia threw for 317 yards and two touchdowns. Pavia is a Junior in his second season with the Aggies.
Jerry Kill, the head coach for New Mexico State, started with the Aggies last season. Kill coached the Aggies to a 7-6 record and a Quick Lane Bowl win against Bowling Green.
After playing linebacker in college for Southwestern, Kill began his coaching career in 1985 at Pittsburg State as their Defensive Coordinator. Kill was TCU’s assistant and interim head coach for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. From 2015-2017, Kill was absent from the college football world for health reasons.
The Aggies and the Flames will be each other’s premier conference game as members of Conference USA. After each playing the last 5 seasons as independents, both teams elected to join Conference USA for the 2023-24 season.
New Mexico State has only appeared in 5 bowl games since the program’s establishment in the late 1890s. The Aggies have a 4-0-1 bowl game record and are therefore the only FBS team to have appeared in one or more bowl games without sustaining a loss. The Aggies also hold the record for the longest drought between bowl games (57 seasons between their 1960 and 2017 bowl games).
Three Players to Watch For
RB #4 – Star Thomas has rushed 20 times for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns and had 5 receptions for 52 yards already this year. Thomas is one of the Aggies’ biggest weapons on offense.
LB #99 – Nikhil Webb Walker has had 7 solo tackles, 3 assists, and 1.5 sacks so far this season. Walker leads the Aggies in solo tackles this season.
WR #6 – Jonathan Brady is in his sophomore season with the Aggies. So far this season he has had 6 receptions for 150 yards and 1 touchdown.
Upcoming Games
Sept. 9 – New Mexico State @ Liberty
Sept. 16 – New Mexico State @ New Mexico
Sept. 23 – New Mexico State @ Hawai’i
