Friday, August 31, 2012

NMSU tops Sac Stae in season opener

By: Anthony Esparza

Big plays on offense in the first half and timely stops on defense in the second half led the New Mexico State football team to a 49-19 win over Sacramento State Thursday at Aggie Memorial Stadium.

The Aggies compiled 468 total yards in the win over the Hornets, 367 of which were through the air. The Aggie offense gained momentum early, jumping to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter.

“Offensively we’ve always been able to hit explosive plays. That’s something that I wasn’t really surprised by,” said NMSU head coach DeWayne Walker. “We’ve got a good quarterback, we’ve good receivers and guys were making plays,”

One player in particular who made plays was sophomore wide receiver Austin Franklin, who finished with 236 yards and two touchdowns on eight receptions. Franklin’s 236 receiving yards was the third-highest single game total in program history.

“I really didn’t think I was going to have a night like this,” Franklin said. “It just came to me. I just did what Coach [Walker] said, believe and compete.”

In his first start since injuring his knee in the third game of last season, redshirt sophomore quarterback Andrew Manley threw for 367 yards and three touchdowns, both were career highs. Manley credited the offensive line for giving him time to get rid of the ball.

“They just did a great job and that’s what we keep preaching to them...” Manley said of the line. “They did a great job tonight picking up the blitzes when they came, and that’s what we worked on the whole past week was blitzes and they picked it up great.”

The NMSU defense held Sac State to ten points in the first half, as the Aggies led 21-10 at halftime. However, sophomore quarterback Garrett Safron led the Hornet offense to a quick start in the second half.

The Hornets started the half by advancing the ball to the Aggie nine-yard line, from which they made a 25-yard field goal. After the Sac State defense forced an NMSU three-and-out, the offense scored on a 25-yard touchdown reception to make the score 28-19.

“I thought they did a good job scheming us a little bit,” Walker said of the Hornet offense’s quick second-half start.“I thought that the quarterback and the offensive coordinator took advantage of the defense we were in and they executed and we didn’t.”

With the Hornets an extra point away from making it a one-possession game, senior defensive lineman Donte Savage blocked the kick, which shifted the momentum of the game back to NMSU.

“They had a little bit of momentum and then when the field goal got blocked, it just all swung our way,” said junior linebacker Trashaun Nixon, who finished with a game-high 15 tackles on the night.

NMSU senior defensive lineman Walter Taumoepeau recovered a fumble in the Hornets’ following possession, which gave the Aggie offense the ball in Sac State territory. Junior running back Germi Morrison then scored on a 12-yard touchdown run to put NMSU up by 15 with 13:35 remaining.

The Aggie offense scored off another Sac State fumble later in the quarter to go up 42-19. NMSU scored once more in the waning seconds of the game to secure the 30-point win.

Although the Aggies won by a large margin, Walker said there are still lots of improvements to be made –namely in the run game and on defense—before the team goes on the road to play Ohio on Sept. 8.

“There are some things we’ve got to get fixed before we play a very good Ohio team…” Walker said. “But at the end of the day, it’s 49-19 and that’s what we’re going to enjoy.”

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