BAD MEMORIES
NMSU has something to prove after two straight beatdowns by Trojans
New Mexico State players’ recollections of an embarrassing loss to Troy last year are helpful as the Aggies prep for the rematch.
LAS CRUCES — It was easily the low point of New Mexico State’s 2015 football season.
Losers of 16 straight games, the Aggies hosted a then 1-5 Troy football team to Aggie Memorial Stadium for the Homecoming/Tough Enough to Wear Pink game.
The Trojans led 45-7 at halftime and won going away 52-7.
“Last year, we kind of embarrassed ourselves,” Aggies junior linebacker Derek Ibekwe said. “I think it all starts in practice. If we practice to win, we shouldn’t be surprised about what happens in the game. If we practice to lose, we deserve whatever we get.”
On paper, the teams match up fairly well for Saturday’s rematch at 2-1 Troy in the Sun Belt Conference opener. But Aggie players are certainly using last year’s game as an extra motivating factor.
“For me personally, I see this as a must-win game for us because you want to start off 1-0 and what better way than to play against Troy, who came down here last year and just flat out beat us,” said Aggie junior running back Larry Rose, who is expected to play Saturday after missing the 1-2 Aggies’ first three games because of a sports hernia injury. “Everybody has a hunger. Everybody knows what happened last year. That being said, I feel pretty confident going into this game against them.”
Not that last year was an anomaly. Troy beat NMSU 41-24 in 2014 in Alabama.
“They have beaten us to death the last two times we have played them,” Aggies head coach Doug Martin said. “Our guys have to step up and prove that we can go on the road and win and beat a top caliber Sun Belt team.”
Troy may be the talk of the Sun Belt Conference team entering Saturday’s matchup. The Trojans led then No. 2 Clemson in the second half on the road in Week 2 before losing 30-24. Troy beat Conference USA contender Southern Mississippi 37-31 on the road last week.
“I feel like we are in a better mental state than we were in last year when we were getting ready to play them,” said NMSU senior linebacker Rodney Butler, who leads the country with 17 tackles per game.
Butler and the Aggies defense are coming off a 62-42 loss at Kentucky where NMSU allowed 692 total yards.
Troy gained 482 yards against the Aggies last season, rushing for 166 yards on 6.9 yards per carry. Troy quarterback Brandon Silvers completed 22 of 37 pass attempts for 288 yards with five touchdowns. Silvers has completed 54 of 96 (56.2 percent) passes for 585 yards with seven touchdowns and three interceptions.
“You don’t want to spend too much time on (last year’s game), but you do want to remind yourself and your teammates that (Troy) is a good team and they will come and play hard,” Butler said. “They play good football, so you do need to realize what they are capable of.”
The Aggies used the embarrassment of last year’s Troy game to catapult them to a three-game winning streak, but Butler doesn’t want his team to wait until the midway point of the season to light a spark for the 2016 season.
“It was going into the end of the season and that game kicked it into us that something does need to change,” Butler said. “I do believe that is why we went on that streak.”
Butler and the Aggies hope that a Troy win can start a win streak earlier in the conference season.