LYNCHBURG, Virginia (KTSM) – New Mexico State suffered a, 49-35, loss to CFP No. 24 Liberty in the Conference USA football championship game at Williams Stadium on Friday.
It was a thrilling contest that the Aggies and Flames put on in the 19th annual Conference USA championship game. It was a back-and-forth game between the two most of the night before Liberty pulled away in the fourth quarter behind the efforts of quarterback Kaidon Salter, who finished 20-25 for 319 passing yards, two passing touchdowns and had a crucial 35-yard rushing touchdown to put the game away in the fourth.
“We did everything we could. We blitzed and you can’t get there on the kid,” NM State head coach Jerry Kill said on Kaidon Salter’s play in the CUSA title game. “I think we’re all frustrated through that series of things, but we just couldn’t we couldn’t stop him.”
“Anything that we tried to do, he would hurt us,” NM State linebacker Keyshaun Elliott said on Salter. “I mean, you send seven, six [players], he’s going to just throw the ball out quick and there’s no point of the blitz…He hurt us and he’s a reason they’re 13-0 now.”
The first half of the game was explosive from both teams. New Mexico State came out swinging in its first drive of the contest. It took eight plays for the Aggies to march 75 yards down the field to score the first touchdown of the game. NMSU quarterback Diego Pavia capped off the opening drive with a 25-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0 after the extra point.
Liberty immediately responded and tied things at 7-7 with a nine-play, 80-yard drive of its own, which was capped off by a Quinton Cooley one-yard scoring run, his 14th rushing score on the year.
In NMSU’s next drive, Pavia connected with tight end Ron Tiavaasue to make it 14-7, Aggies.
Later in the second quarter, Liberty tied the game up at 14 with a 12-yard rushing touchdown by Quinto Cooley with 05:38 left in the first half.
New Mexico State would get the ball back and do nothing with it and was forced to punt. Liberty received the ball back and put together an eight play, 89-yard drive to score its third touchdown of the game to take a 21-14 lead with :27 left to play in the first half.
A botched kickoff by Liberty resulted in NMSU getting the ball at its own 42-yard line with :25 left in the half. New Mexico State pieced together a smooth four-play, 58-yard drive that ended with Pavia to Trent Hudson 17-yard touchdown connection over the air. New Mexico State and Liberty headed into the locker rooms at halftime tied at 21.
In the second half, Liberty did what they wanted to start out. The Flames just 1:40 in its opening drive to tack on its fourth touchdown of the game. Cooley put the Flames up 28-21 with a four-yard rushing touchdown. That was Cooley’s third and final touchdown of the contest as he rushed for 71 yards on 11 carries.
The ensuing drive, Liberty forced New Mexico State to go three-and-out. Liberty received the ball pack and scored its fifth touchdown of the game after Salter hit CJ Daniels for a 20-yard connection to make it 35-21, Liberty with 09:19 left in the third quarter of the game.
New Mexico State still wanted to show that it was in the fight despite being down two scores. On the first play of the Aggies’ next drive, Jonathan Brady made an incredible catch for a 75-yard catch and run touchdown to make it a one score game, 35-28, in the favor of the Flames.
Next Flames’ drive, they would march all the way down to NMSU’s 14-yard line, settled for a 32-yard field goal attempt, but Nick Brown missed the field goal attempt, wide right, and NMSU got the ball back at its own 20 with 05:21 left in the third quarter, down 35-28 still.
The Aggies came back onto the field, but without Pavia.
He was on the sidelines, stayed there the rest of the game, and true freshman Blaze Berlowitz stepped into the game. In the post-game press conference, New Mexico State head coach Jerry Kill revealed Pavia had a shoulder injury and that Pavia played through it and couldn’t perform as well anymore.
Berlowitz did what he could and impressed early in his collegiate football debut. Berlowitz led the Aggies offense on a six-play, 80-yard drive and threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Hudson to tie the game at 35 after three quarters of play. It is unclear if Pavia will be able to play in NMSU’s upcoming bowl game.
In the fourth quarter, the Flames were too hot to stop. The Flames scored two touchdowns and the dagger for NMSU came on a 35-yard touchdown run by Salter with 08:35 left in the game. New Mexico State couldn’t mustard up any more points and were dealt a 49-35 loss after four hard fought quarters by both teams.
“We came to win, and it didn’t work out. You have a lot of kids in there that fought their tail ends off,” Kill said post-game. “When you lose, you want it to hurt. I’ve coached teams that didn’t hurt enough because they didn’t care enough. It hurt these kids and I feel bad for them.”
Liberty, the only 13-0 G5 champion, recorded all 13 wins over FBS competition. Six of those wins have come against bowl-eligible opponents, including a pair over the 10-win Aggies. The Flames have beaten those opponents handily, winning those games by an average of 16.5 points per game.
“We preached all week that don’t you don’t get second chances in life and that this is very rare for us to do that,” Elliott said. “I think the biggest thing for us right now is stick together and keep our heads up and prepare for the next game.”
Up next, New Mexico State, who sits with a 10-4 overall record on the season, will find out what bowl game it’ll play in and against who on Selection Day: Sunday, Dec. 3.
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