Aggies on the road after winning conference opener

For at least one night, New Mexico State found a formula that worked. James Jones ran for 155 yards. The Aggie defense piled up six sacks. Adam Damante, making his first start of the season, directed the offense without turning the ball over, and by the time NMSU finished off Western Kentucky 34-13 Thursday night, a team that had struggled through much of September had opened October with perhaps its most complete performance of the season.

Wednesday night in Miami offers a test of how well that formula travels. NM State (2-3, 1-0 Conference USA) meets FIU (2-2, 0-0) at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Pitbull Stadium, where the Aggies have an opportunity to turn one impressive conference victory into something more significant.

They can start CUSA play 2-0 but getting there could require the Aggies to do some of the things they did best against Western Kentucky against an FIU team particularly equipped to stop them.

Jones enters Wednesday as Conference USA's leading rusher, averaging 102 yards per game after his career-high performance against WKU. He has rushed for 479 yards over his last four games and has topped 100 yards three times during that stretch.

His latest performance earned him CUSA Offensive Player of the Week honors.

But FIU has allowed just 80 rushing yards per game, best in Conference USA and 12th nationally. No opponent has rushed for more than 108 yards against the Panthers this season. Something will have to give.

The Aggies have rushed for more than 108 yards in four of their five games, including a pair of 200-yard performances. They enter Wednesday averaging 150 rush yards per game and Jones has been at the center of it.

The senior has 510 yards on 77 carries through his first five games at NM State, averaging 6.6 yards per carry. He is one of just 16 FBS players averaging more than 100 rushing yards per game and is trying to become the first Aggie since Larry Rose in 2015 to average 100 yards for an entire season.

But Jones wasn't the only part of the formula that worked against Western Kentucky.

The Aggie defense had its best pass-rushing performance in three years, sacking WKU quarterbacks six times, the most for NMSU since it recorded seven against FIU in 2023. Those six sacks doubled the Aggies' season total.

Getting to the quarterback may be considerably more difficult Wednesday. FIU has surrendered just three sacks this season, tied for 13th fewest nationally.

NM State, meanwhile, has quietly developed into one of Conference USA's better defensive teams in a couple of other important areas.

The Aggies held Western Kentucky to 46 rushing yards, the third time this season they have held an opponent below 75. It is the first time since at least 1994 NMSU has accomplished that three times in the same season.

The defense has also forced at least one turnover in 20 of its last 21 games. That could become particularly significant against FIU quarterback JJ Kohl, who enters Wednesday with six interceptions, the most among CUSA quarterbacks.

NM State turned its takeaway against WKU into points when De'Marcus Peters returned an interception 53 yards for a touchdown. It was Peters' second touchdown of the season and the Aggie defense's third.

NMSU is tied for the national lead with three defensive touchdowns. While the defense was creating opportunities Thursday, Damante was taking advantage of his. Starting in place of Trey Hedden, Damante completed 15 of 26 passes for 146 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score. NM State is now 2-1 in his three career starts.

He also had the benefit of an increasingly productive group of targets. Tight end Josiah Thomas has caught nine passes for 150 yards over the past two games, while TK King leads the Aggies with 20 receptions, 286 yards and three touchdowns.

The Aggies enter the game second in CUSA in scoring at 27.8 points per game. The Panthers are allowing just 14.5 points per game, 21st nationally, and haven't allowed an opponent to score more than 20.

For NM State, Wednesday also represents a chance to establish a much different direction for a season that looked considerably different only a week ago.

The Aggies went 1-3 through their nonconference schedule before beating Western Kentucky. Thursday's victory was NMSU's first win in a CUSA opener since joining the league in 2023.

Now the Aggies leave home, where they are 2-1, for a conference road environment that has been particularly unforgiving this season. CUSA teams are 17-5 at home and just 2-22 on the road.

NMSU has already shown what its formula can look like when almost everything works. Wednesday night will reveal how the Aggies do trying to take it on the road.