Terrell Warner (7) rejoices after his fourth quarterer touchdown catch for New Mexico State in its 23-13 win at UMass on Saturday in Amherst, Massachusetts. (Chris Tucci/UMass Athletics)
AMHERST, Mass. — New Mexico State earned its first football road win in over three years Saturday, defending UMass 23-13 on the Minutemen’s homecoming day.
It’s the first road win since Sept. 22, 2018 at UTEP. Coming into Saturday, NMSU (3-5) shared the nation’s longest Football Bowl Subdivision road losing streak — with UMass — at 21 games.
UMass led 10-0 midway through the second quarter and 13-10 at halftime before the Aggies shut them out in the second half.
Albuquerque’s Diego Pavia came on at quarterback in relief of Gavin Frakes and sparked the offense, finishing with 194 yards and his first two touchdowns passing as an Aggie. They were the first scoring catches for Jamoni Jones (39 yards) and Terrell Warner (27 yards) as well.
Pavia also had a 48-yard rushing play, the longest of the season for New Mexico State. Chris Ojoh finished the game with 12 tackles, marking his third straight game with double-digit stops, and Syrus Dumas’ second interception of the season set up an Aggie field goal by Ethan Albertson.
Brady Olson was 15 of 28 for 97 yards with an interception for UMass (1-7). Ellis Merriweather rushed for 84 yards.
UMass led 13-10 at halftime after two field goals by Cameron Carson and a 66-yard scoring run by Kay’Ron Adams, who finished with six carries for 72 yards.
New Mexico State has won three of four for the first time since 2017 and goes into a bye week before its home finale on Nov. 12 vs. Lamar. The Aggies lost a home game last Saturday; San Jose State didn’t make the trip after one of its players was killed a day earlier in a vehicle accident.
New Mexico State 23, UMass 13
New Mexico St. 0 10 6 7 — 23
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Umass 3 10 0 0 — 13
first quarter
MASS—FG Carson 41, 6:35.
Second Quarter
MASS—Adams 66 run (Carson kick), 12:54.
NMSU-FG Albertson 41, 6:37.
NMSU—Yes. Jones 39 pass from Pavia (Albertson kick), 1:47.
MASS—FG Carson 35, :02.
Third quarters
NMSU-FG Albertson 30, 9:59.
NMSU-FG Albertson 43, 6:16.
FourthQuarter
NMSU—Warner 27 pass from Pavia (Albertson kick), 3:42.
A—9,274.
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NMSU MASS
First down 18 12
Total net yards 334 259
Rushes yards 32-111 32-162
Passing 223 97
Punt returns 2-3 1-1
Kick off returns 4-60 4-126
Interceptions Ret. 1-0 0-0
Comp Att Int 14-25-0 15-28-1
Sacked yards lost 3-26 1-8
Punts 7-34.857 8-39.75
Fumbles Lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties yards 10-69 10-95
Time of possession 30:57 29:03
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—New Mexico St., Pavia 8-56, Frakes 4-28, S.Thomas 7-23, Parker 1-7, Watkins 2-4, Ja.Jones 5-4, Whitford 1-(minus 4), ( team) 4-(minus 7). Umass, Merriweather 23-84, Adams 6-72, Olson 3-6.
PASSING—New Mexico St., Pavia 7-12-0-194, Frakes 7-13-0-29. Umass, Olson 15-28-1-97.
RECEIVING—New Mexico St., Powers 3-81, Whitford 3-17, Ja.Jones 2-45, Childress 2-20, Brady 1-33, Warner 1-27, J.Jones 1-2, S.Thomas 1 -(minus 2). Umass, Geo.Johnson 4-34, Jo.Johnson 4-25, Sullivan-Brown 2-10, I.Ross 2-1, Gibson 1-19, Falayi 1-5, Dieke 1-3.
MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.
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