New Mexico State’s challenging start to the 2018 football season continues this week with an Arizona Bowl rematch against the Utah State Aggies in Logan.

Head coach Doug Martin’s squad have dropped their first two games of the season, but early season struggles were to be expected with the turnover at important positions and a tough opening schedule against quality opponents in Wyoming and Minnesota.

Despite last week’s matchup in Minneapolis ending in a 48-10 rout for NM State, the Aggie offense showed some signs of life that lacked in their 138-yard opening week performance, more than doubling their yardage totals and picking up first downs.

Quarterback Matt Romero was tasked with carrying the load for the offense, throwing a Tyler Rogers-esque 58 times (with 10 carries to boot) in what was a confidence building game for the JUCO-tansfer, who struggled in his debut under center. Despite completing just 50 percent of his passes, Romero was much more comfortable in his starting role, taking more shots down the field while throwing for 233 yards and a first-quarter touchdown.

New Mexico State was as one dimensional as it gets in the loss, though, running the ball with their backs just six times against Minnesota, with their defense conceding 295 rushing yards and over 450 total yards for the second straight game — all marks that have to be improved on if the Aggies from Las Cruces hope for a repeat of last December’s triumph over 22.5 point favorite USU, who nearly knocked off 11th ranked Michigan State over the weekend.

Utah State was just as anemic on the ground as New Mexico State in their opener, averaging one yard per attempt on 25 carries, but the blue and white Aggies set themselves up in scoring positions with a prolific enough passing game, led by sophomore quarterback Jordan Love and his 319 yards through the air, that gave them a 31-30 lead over the Big Ten powerhouse with under five minutes to play.

It may be a long game with NM State and Utah State averaging the third and fifth fewest rush yards per game nationally, but that’s a matchup that bodes well for Frank Spaziani’s group on defense, who have faired far better against the pass than the run, holding opposing quarterbacks to a 52 percent completion percentage through two games despite very little help from their pass rush (zero sacks).

Still, the onus to end the two game skid might have to fall on the offense with linebackers Leon McQuaker, Javahn Ferguson and Lui Fa’amasino all likely to miss Saturday’s game due to injury.

New Mexico State is still searching for its identity at this stage in the season, and while staving off Utah State’s attempt at revenge would be huge for the Aggies’ quest to sustain the winning culture put in motion last year, establishing who they are and what they do well with this specific group is going to be priority number one.