Football: NMSU Sneaks Away Victory in Final Four Minutes

Box Score (PDF)

LAFAYETTE – A pair of scores in the final four minutes lifted New Mexico State to a 37-34 win over the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns football team Saturday evening in a Sun Belt Conference contest at Cajun Field.
 
The Aggies (3-7, 3-3 Sun Belt) drew a 34-all tie with 3:59 remaining on an Andrew Allen 23-yard touchdown pass to Gregory Hogan, then the defense forced the Ragin’ Cajuns (4-6, 3-3 Sun Belt) into a three-and-out.
 
Punting from his own 29-yard line, Steven Coutts saw the wind knock down his attempt and the ball roll back to the 34-yard line for a net punt of five yards setting up NMSU with a short field for the eventual winning tally.
 
Larry Rose III rushed for 14 yards, then two plays later Allen completed a pass to Tyrain Taylor down to the UL6 which led to Parker Davidson’s 21-yard field goal that completed the Aggies rally.
 
Rodney Butler intercepted a second-down pass by Brooks Haack to prevent the Ragin’ Cajuns from answering and seal the NMSU victory.
 
Louisiana fell for the second straight week while NMSU picked up its third straight victory. The Aggies won at Cajun Field for the first time since November 2001.
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns travel to Boone, N.C., on Saturday, Nov. 28 to face Appalachian State in their road finale and return to Cajun Field on Saturday, Dec. 5 for the home finale against Troy.
 
Trailing or tied after falling behind 20-14 late in the second quarter, Louisiana generated touchdowns on back-to-back possessions in the fourth quarter. The latter score was a 31-yard touchdown pass from Haack to Jamal Robinson with 6:27 left to play which gave the Cajuns a 34-27 advantage.
 
Haack and Robinson turned in career performances for Louisiana. Haack completed a career-high 24 passes (37 attempts) for a career-high 283 yards while Robinson caught a career-high 12 passes totaling 183 yards.
 
Elijah McGuire netted 159 yards rushing on 18 carries and scored two touchdowns. The junior running back eclipsed 3,000 yards rushing in his career (now at 3,056) becoming only the third running back in program history to reach the mark joining Tyrell Fenroy (4,646) and Alonzo Harris (3,330).
 
Rose III grinded out a game-high 191 rushing yards to lead the Aggies, finishing nine yards shy of his third straight 200-yard outing. Allen tossed four touchdown passes after replacing starter Nick Jeanty on NMSU’s fourth possession of the game.