Finally, something went right for the Utah State football team.
Playing their second overtime game in New Mexico this season, the Aggies came out on top this time with a thrilling 29-26 victory on an 11-yard touchdown run by Demario Brown in the second overtime.Back in the second game of the season, USU lost to New Mexico 39-36 in three overtimes, but this time the Ags held NMSU to two field goals in overtime and then won it on Brown's run up the middle.
The run capped a brilliant game by the junior running back, who rushed for 204 yards on 33 carries and scored two touchdowns. It was a career best for Brown, who had struggled all season after suffering a couple of early-season injuries.
"Thank goodness - these young men deserved this one today," said relieved Utah State coach Dave Arslanian. "People don't realize how hard it is when you've got a losing streak going, to break it."
The victory broke a 4-game losing streak for USU, which improved to 1-2 in the Big West and 2-7 overall. NMSU fell to 1-1 and 3-5.
Utah State extended its winning streak over New Mexico State to 19, including the past 14 years in a row.
Utah State gave up a season-high 459 yards, but the offense came through with its best effort of the season - 492 yards. Freshman Jeff Crosbie had a fine outing, passing for 279 yards and two touchdowns on 19 of 45 completions with no interceptions.
A week earlier, the Aggies blew a 9-point lead in the fourth quarter against Boise State, and heading into the fourth quarter Saturday they led 20-10. However, NMSU came back with a touchdown early in the quarter and a field goal with 17 seconds left.
In overtime, USU got the ball first and settled for a 27-yard field goal by Brad Bohn after getting stopped at the 9-yard line. NMSU moved from the 25 to the 6 and extended the game with a 23-yard field goal by Nick Cecava.
In the second overtime, the Aggie defense held and Cecava booted a 27-yard field goal to make it 26-23. But it took USU just two plays to score as Brown went 14 yards on the first play, before scoring the winning touchdown.
"I got good blocking up front and ran it in," said Brown.
NMSU struck first with a 2-yard run by backup quarterback K.C. Enzminger midway through the second quarter.
USU responded with a 10-play, 79-yard drive with Crosbie hitting Robert Scott with a 5-yard touchdown pass.
Utah State came out strong in the third quarter and put together its longest drive of the season, moving 94 plays with Crosbie throwing a 6-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Jones. However, the usually-reliable Bohn, who missed two field goals in the first half, missed the PAT wide left.
NMSU cut the lead to 13-10 on a 26-yard field goal by Cecava, only to see USU come right back with another strong drive, covering 75 yards. On 4th-and-goal at the 2, USU spread the field then ran Brown over left tackle for the touchdown.
A 12-yard touchdown pass from Ty Houghtaling to Ryan Shaw made it 20-17 on the first play of the 4th quarter. Then NMSU moved from its own 20 to the 14-yard line over the last four and a half minutes and tied it 20-20 on a 31-yard field goal by Cecava.
The Aggies have two home games left, Saturday against Nevada and Nov. 14 vs. North Texas. Unbelievably, they still have a mathematical chance of finishing in a tie for first in the Big West Conference.
GAME NOTES: USU had no turnovers, but came up with three turnovers, including interceptions by Brent Passey and Tony Walker and a fumble recovery by Tony D'Amato . . . New Mexico State running back Denvis Manns became the third player to rush for 1,000 yards in four different seasons with 131 yards on 31 carries. He needed 106 yards to crack 1,000 . . . The average score of the previous 18 USU-NMSU games was 38-14 for USU . . . Only 13,312 fans showed up at Aggie Memorial Stadium on Homecoming on a nice day. In three previous home games, the average attendance was more than 25,000.