NMSU football suffers 3413 loss to FIU
Oct 29, 2024
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — New Mexico State football suffered a 34-13 loss to Florida International in a Conference USA game at Pitbull Stadium in Miami, Florida on Saturday on Tuesday night.
FINAL: FIU 34, NMSU 13FIU too hot to stop on offense. 438 total yards of offense. 295 of them coming from wide receiver Eric Rivers. NMSU falls to 2-6 overall and 1-4 in CUSA.Aggies need to win out for a bowl game berth. Will not be easy by any means.— Sam Guzman (@SamGuzmanTV) October 30, 2024
FIU's offense was too hot to stop. The Panthers racked up 438 yards of total offense in the contest. 295 of those yards belonged to FIU wide receiver Eric Rivers. The junior collected 295 receiving yards on 11 catches. Three of those catches were touchdown catches for Rivers. Quarterback Keyon Jenkins recorded 338 passing yards on 18-of-27 passing, threw four touchdown passes and had no interceptions.
After going into halftime down one point, 7-6, New Mexico State gave up 27 points in the second half. That led to Florida International running away with the 21-point victory.
New Mexico State struggled on offense. It recorded 246 yards of total offense. 216 of those yards came on the ground from NMSU's running game. In his first start of the 2024 season, quarterback Brandon Nunez completed only 5-of-15 passes. He only collected 12 passing yards and threw an interception. Santino Marucci was tonight's backup QB for Nunez and got into the game late.
New Mexico State's running back duo of Mike Washington and Seth McGowan combined for just 153 rushing yards. Washington scored the Aggies' only touchdown of the game.
NMSU's kicker Abraham Montaño continues to be one of the few shinning spots on this year's team. Montaño was 2-for-2 in field goals, both of them were attempts from more than 50 yards.
Montaño's first made field goal came in the second quarter with 13:30 to go. He nailed a 57-yard field goal, tying a program record, to give the Aggies its first score of the game.
New Mexico State's (@abemontanoc) is cash money from 57 yards out. Ties a program record.That was the Aggies' first score of the game. pic.twitter.com/RGZExmyhLL— Sam Guzman (@SamGuzmanTV) October 29, 2024
In the last seconds of the first half, Montaño made a 54-yard field goal to pull NMSU within one point headed into halftime.
UP NEXT
New Mexico State (2-6, 1-4 CUSA) will take on Western Kentucky at Aggie Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 9.