Needing a win over New Mexico to keep their bowl game hopes alive, the Aggies battled the weather at home to secure a victory.

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First half

Utah State got on the board first in the game, scoring a touchdown in just under two minutes. Returning from injury, quarterback Cooper Legas found Terrell Vaughn for a 38-yard score and a 7-0 lead.

It seemed like the Aggies might coast to a win after the quick start, but that was not the case.

Utah State did not score for the remainder of the first half, while New Mexico tallied a field goal and a touchdown to take a 10-7 lead into the locker room.

Second half

Trailing at the half, the Aggies knew they needed to play better in the second half to keep their season alive.

On the first drive, Utah State drove 88 yards in 15 plays, scoring a touchdown when kicker Connor Coles found the endzone on a fourth-down fake field goal.

Coles then booted a 49-yard field goal at the 4:32 mark of the third quarter to make the score 17-10 in the home team’s favor.

After forcing punts on back-to-back New Mexico possessions, the Aggies made it a two-score game when Coles nailed a 27-yard field goal with just under eight minutes remaining to make the score 20-10.

With the Lobos trying to make it a one-score affair with the time running down, Utah State forced a first-down fumble that was recovered by Hunter Reynolds. Reynolds then turned on the jets, cruising 55 yards for the score and the 27-10 lead that sealed the win for the Aggies.

While the offense struggled to move the ball against New Mexico, Utah State’s defense held strong. The Aggies allowed only 10 points and 250 yards of total offense while also forcing a pair of turnovers.

Up next

Looking to even its record, Utah State (4-5) will now travel to Hawai’i on Saturday, Nov. 12.

The game will kick off at 9 p.m. MT and can be seen on Spectrum Sports.

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The founder of Stadium Sportzz and the Sportzz with Spencer podcast, Spencer hopes to one day achieve his dream of working in the world of sports media after completing his Bachelor's degree. Spencer first gained experience in the field of sports writing as a high school senior, where he became the first intern to have a published byline writing for The Spectrum & Daily News in St. George, Utah. Later in the fall of 2017, he was the sports editor for independent campus news source Thunderground and the public address announcer for the women's soccer team at Southern Utah University. Since then, Spencer has worked as a high school sports reporter in St. George, writing for both St. George News and Southern Utah Now. Spencer is also an avid freelancer and has had works appear in the Deseret News, Standard-Examiner, RSL Soapbox, and Fansided's Venom Strikes. Currently, he is a regular contributor to Fan-Insider.com and the UK-based Tottenham site, SpursWeb. When he isn't playing, watching, writing about, or discussing sports, Spencer enjoys working as a part-time athletics PA voice at Utah Tech University and spending time with his amazing wife.