If New Mexico State needed to win a game this year, this would be the one.

Last Saturday’s 42-25 loss to UNM kept the Aggies winless through four games to start the 2018 season, creating some added pressure for head coach Doug Martin and his team as they hit the road this weekend for second straight rivalry matchup — this time against UTEP.

In that loss, New Mexico State gave up a 14-0 first quarter lead in large part because of their continued offensive ineptitude shown to this point this season, but the defense corrected their biggest flaw in stopping the run and the overall physicality and aggression of the team was way up according to Martin, which testifies to their heightened confidence — something that was a big issue in the first three weeks of the season.

That, coupled with NM State committing to promising redshirt freshman quarterback Josh Adkins as their starter going forward, has Martin feeling confident heading into his sixth Battle of I-10.

“This [has been] the first time I felt good about our football team honestly. We’re starting to look like what we want to look like… but we’ve got to be emotionally ready to play this week. We can’t go over to UTEP and be hung over just because we lost one rivalry game,” Martin said. “There’s such a slim margin for error when you’re in our situation. We just can’t give games away like we did last week and hope to have a good season so all these games are critical, and I really believe we’re getting to the point where we’re healthy enough and good enough to win any game we step out and play.”

Regardless of what the team might look like as a whole, the big story this week will be Adkins making his first start under center for the Aggies.

Adkins came in to start the second half last week and showed enough for Martin to announce that he’d be leading what has been a lowly offense going forward immediately after during the post-game press conference.

“I think Saturday was really helpful for Josh. I thought he made really good decisions most of the night and he threw the ball exactly where he was suppose to throw it. He threw for 160-something yards in a half and if he can do that for two halves and take care of the football, then he will really bring something to our program,” Martin said of his young quarterback. “I think our team got energized when he went in the game — I think they believe in him and I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do.

“It’s going to be a tough task, you know, he’s playing his first real start in a rival game against a defense is a little bit unconventional and will present some new problems for him so I’m sure he’s going to go through his growing pains too, but we’re starting to play better in other areas around the quarterback, so that’s a good sign offensively,” Martin continued. “In our style of offense, the quarterback does a lot of things… he’s got to have a good understanding for the game. That’s what was encouraging about Josh, at Utah State he did those things pretty well in limited reps and the other night he did those things really well in a half.”

Quarterback has been the biggest problem for an Aggie offense that sits in the bottom five nationally in both yards per game and points per game, and with Adkins’ skillset and youth, he could serve as both the short-term and long-term solution for a team that needs good quarterback play to turn this season around and succeed.

Like NM State, UTEP’s offense has struggled to produce much of anything early in the season, with the team leaning on their defense to keep them competitive in games.

The Miners are one of the few teams to average fewer yards and points per game than New Mexico State, putting up second-from-the-bottom marks nationally in those respective categories (250 ypg and 11.3 ppg compared to NM State’s 264 ypg and 13.8 ppg).

A team is always harder to stop when they have a dual-threat quarterback, though, and UTEP definitely has that in Kai Locksley. The junior leads the team in rushing with 193 yards on a serviceable 4.1 yards per carry all while being the man taking snaps.

Luckily for the Aggies, Locksley may be more of a threat running the ball than he is throwing it. The Miners are one of four teams averaging fewer than 100 yards passing and, barring a sudden shift in offensive philosophy, will be one of the more predictable team’s NM State faces this year.

With UTEP trying to snap their nation-high 15 game losing streak that began at the start of their 0-12 2017 campaign and New Mexico State going for their first win in a season that started with high expectations following a bowl victory, this game is especially important. Backs are against the wall on both sides and a win would be the kickstart that both teams desperately need if they want auto salvage a successful season.