Three takeaways from New Mexico State's Quick Lane Bowl win over Bowling Green
DETROIT, Mich. - New Mexico State improved its record in bowl games to 4-0-1 following Monday’s 24-19 victory over Bowling Green at Ford Field in Detroit.
The Aggies finished the season 7-6 in Jerry Kill’s first year as head coach and Monday’s game was the first time Kill had won a bowl game as a FBS head coach.
NM State led 17-0, but had to hang on and bleed the final six minutes of the clock, which was highlighted by three third down runs from the game’s Most Valuable Player, Diego Pavia.
That’s where we will start with three takeaways from the Aggies bowl win:
Diego Pavia closes games
I know that the Aggies signed a four-star transfer quarterback from Texas A&M, but I don’t see how Pavia doesn’t start the 2023 season at quarterback after what he just did.
The list of quarterbacks who have won bowl games at NM State consists of Charley Johnson, Tyler Rogers and Diego Pavia.
Pavia won a national championship at New Mexico Military Institute and was asked postgame how he would compare his two championship wins as a college quarterback.
“Back at NMMI, the foundation isn’t really set because you have guys in and out every single year,” said Pavia, who finished the game 17 of 29 passing for 167 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. “Here it’s four years. … The seniors have set the foundation for us. We got behind them and kept pushing every single day. They took the reins of this and we wanted to play behind them and they did a great job for us.”
Pavia opened the game throwing the football all over the stadium, passing for 137 yards in the first half and two scores for a 14-0 lead.
“In the first half, they were running a lot of Cover 2 to the boundary with that safety so we had one-on-one on the back side so we took that matchup,” Pavia said. “Then they started dropping to Cover 3 type looks and with that, if you drop too many, you can run the ball.”
But as the game tightened in the second half, Pavia’s strength, and the identity of the team as a running team, started to emerge, first with a 45-yard burst up the middle by running back Ahmonte Watkins that made it 24-7 in the third, and then from Pavia in the closing minutes.
“Diego drives me crazy sometimes but when it comes down to winning, he finds a way to win and the last couple runs he made towards the end were unbelievable," Kill said. "He throws his body out there."
Bowling Green had all of the momentum following their first offense touchdown of the game that made it 24-19 with 6:27 to play.
The Aggies took over at their own 25 and Bowling Green had all three timeouts.
On a third and 9, Pavia scrambled to his right for nine yards and officials said Pavia fumbled as he stretched his arm out for the first down, but Pavia also recovered.
Two plays later, the Aggies were whistled for a false start on third and 5 so the Aggies faced third and 10 from their 35.
Pavia again broke free to his right and dove across the first down marker and out of bounds with 3:02 to play.
After Bowling Green used timeouts after first and second down, the Aggies reached midfield, but faced a third and 5, where Pavia this time converted with his arm, hitting Kordell David on a slant for six yards with 2:20 to play.
The Aggies finished the game 11 for 17 on third down conversions with the final conversion a 5-yard Pavia run up the middle on third and 2 from the Bowling Green 36.
“I stepped in the offensive huddle and said everyone needs to relax," Kill said. "We are fine. Take a deep breath. Diego, slow your calls down. O-Line, pay attention. Chill out a little bit and they did, certainly on that last drive. As a coach, you can't show panic in that situation. If you do, the kids do. I think they came back down to earth."
Defense caps remarkable turnaround season
The Aggies finished the season No. 29 in total defense after finishing last year No. 127.
Monday’s bowl matchup pitted strength against strength when Bowling Green’s offense had the ball.
The Falcons leaned on their passing game and the Aggies entered the season as a top 15 defense against the pass.
While the momentum of the game changed on Bowling Green’s second possession when Falcons quarterback Matt McDonald left the game on the second series after a Dylan Early late hit, the Aggies made it tough for the Falcons through the air.
NM State senior linebacker Trevor Brohard had his first career interception, against McDonald, on Bowling Green’s first possession, dropping into coverage on a third and long inside Aggies territory.
The Aggies first of two forced turnovers were converted into a touchdown on the Aggies’ first possession of the game.
“I dropped back in converage and saw the quarterback leave the pocket and we turned into scramble rule,” Brohard said. “I latched onto the first guy I was with. He threw it, I saw the ball and I was like, I have to get it.”
The second Aggies forced turnover may very well have saved the Aggies five points against.
Trailing 24-10, Bowling Green was driving with backup quarterback Camden Orth. Orth hit Odieu Hiliare over the middle to the Aggies 3, but senior linebacker Chris Ojoh stripped the ball at the NM State 3 and Syrus Dumas recovered.
It was a play that was reminiscent of former linebacker Terrill Hanks against Utah State in the 2017 Arizona Bowl where Hanks read a pitch at the goalline, knocked the ball out of the air and recovered the fumble to prevent Utah State from scoreing.
Bowling Green ultimately scored points as the Aggies couldn’t move the ball and were forced to punt from their own end zone. The punt was blocked and knocked out of the end zone for a safety, but Bowling Green walked away with two points instead of seven in a crucial point of the game.
Special teams was not a complete disaster
On the day after Christmas, Kill didn’t want to talk about special teams.
“We sure didn't win the kicking game, that's for damn sure, but I'm not going to bring that up right now because then I'll be in a bad mood but it will never happen again as long as I coach," Kill said.
But the reality is special teams was a mixed bag on Monday and believe it or not, it could have been much worse.
Aggies punter George Eberle got off to an incredible start with his first two punts of the season after replacing Josh Carlson, who transferred to Arizona State following the regular season.
Eberle stepped pinned Bowling Green inside their own 20 on his first two punts, but his day also included a short kickoff that resulted in a 75-yard kickoff return touchdown that got Bowling Green on the board with 11:02 left in the third quarter.
Eberle's third punt of the game was a 14-yarder that gave Bowling Green the ball at the Aggies 41 in the fourth quarter.
Eberle's fifth punt was blocked, but Eberle raced Bowling Green defenders for the loose ball and the effort resulted in a safety rather than a Bowling Green recovery in the end zone for a touchdown.
"The protection struggled, it opened up like the Red Sea," Kill said. "Poor coaching. It won't happen again."
Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459 or jgroves@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Three takeaways from New Mexico State's Quick Lane Bowl win over Bowling Green
