It took five weeks, but New Mexico State finally put a full game together last night in their 27-20 road win over UTEP.

While it was hardly a dominant showing, the Aggies still secured those all important bragging rights for another year, improved in a number of areas and picked up some much needed confidence going into the open week.

There’s plenty to unpack from last night’s successful effort in what Doug Martin described as a must-win game, but after having some time to let the result breathe, a few takeaways stood out as paramount going forward for New Mexico State as they try to salvage the season.

Adkins is the man for NM State

Josh Adkins made his debut as the Aggie starter at the Sun Bowl last night, completing nine out of his 18 passes for 156 yards and a touchdown while adding 16 yards on the ground.

Those aren’t spectacular numbers, but that’s not what the game warranted. The rushing attack was more of a threat than it has been at any point this season and Adkins was able to step up and make some key throws, especially in the fourth quarter, to keep New Mexico State in front.

There was one turnover, but it’s difficult for a quarterback not to fumble when an untouched pass rusher comes screaming off of his blind side. The zero interceptions is what was most encouraging about Adkins’ performance after turnovers played such big part in the Aggies’ giving away last week’s game against UNM.

There’s no doubt that Adkins earned his starting spot last night.

New Mexico State should lean on their running game

The Aggies continued their improvement in the ground game last night, racking up a new season high in rushing yards with 155 on a 4.6 yards per carry.

For the last couple of years, Martin’s offense has been predicated around a copious passing attack, but that was with a veteran taking snaps. Adkins showed that he should be quarterback, but it will still be a while before he’s able to effectively play throwing 50-plus passes a game.

While Adkins develops, NM State should embrace being a running team. The three headed monster that is Jason Huntley, Royce Caldwell and Christian Gibson out of the backfield can do it all, with Gibson being a much needed physical presence between the tackles and Huntley and Caldwell giving more of a speedy, elusive, get-on-the-edge-and-go threat.

Defense needs a break

More of a running game would also give some relief for New Mexico State’s defense — the side that deserves most of the credit for any success the Aggies have had this year.

Through five games, the average time of possession difference has been 12 minutes in favor of NM State opponents, making it difficult for the defense to keep a high level of energy throughout the game.

The offense needs to sustain drives to give defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani’s group more breaks so that they’re able to keep up their high level of play. Not often do team’s that give up over 40 minutes of possession win football games, and while the Aggies did last night, that’s not a recipe that good team’s rely on.