After another win last weekend propelled by a refreshingly rich offensive performance, the New Mexico State football team carry some serious momentum heading into this week’s matchup against former conference rival Louisiana Lafayette with the chance to stay on pace with last year’s bowl eligible record.

Against Liberty, the Aggie offense finally found their rhythm, moving the ball to the tune of 573 yards and seven touchdowns (compared to NM State’s six offensive touchdowns through their first five games of the season) in a must-win over a team that had just handedly knocked off UNM on the road the week prior.

New Mexico State is as confident as they’ve been to this point in the season, but the team needs to continue improving, according to head coach Doug Martin, if there’s any hope for a potential second straight bowl bid.

“The thing that bothered me about this team early in the year is that we weren’t getting better from game to game. We’ve all seen the hamster run on the wheel where he doesn’t go anywhere, right? That’s what we were doing — we were on the wheel and we had to get off the wheel,” Martin chuckled. “This [past] week is the first time I’ve felt like we started going somewhere, we started making progress and getting better. Defense has done that the previous two weeks but offensively, we took a giant step forward this week, so it’s just about getting better from game to game. We’ve got to be better this coming week than we were last week if we’re going to have a chance to win this one.”

Martin took advantage of the recent bye week by taking the safety-lock off the offense and opening the field up for Josh Adkins and his playmakers, giving way for that giant step forward that propelled the Aggies over one of the most successful passing offenses in the country.

Adkins was nothing short of spectacular last Saturday, torching the Flames defense for 402 yards through the air and four touchdowns while hitting nine different receivers and turning the ball over an ideal zero times for the second straight game (his two career starts).

“The two starts under my belt definitely give me a lot more confidence going into my third game… I’m seeing things a lot better. The team’s making it real easy on me — I have a lot of confidence in the guys around me, so I’m having a lot of fun, seeing the field a lot better. The game’s slowing down most definitely,” Adkins said when asked about his progress made from his first bit of action less than a month ago to now. “[Louisiana is] real athletic. Big and athletic how they usually are, so I think our focus is just going to have to be to out-execute them — to make sure not to beat ourselves.”

Adkins’ growing grasp of the offense will only continue to open up the rushing attack, with the team topping their season high in rushing yardage (171 at 6.3 yards per carry) for a fifth straight game against Liberty.

Christian Gibson has emerged as the bell cow out of the backfield, leading the Aggies in total rushing after his second straight 100 yard performance on Saturday, but the diversity in the backfield keeps NM State’s ground game dangerous regardless of personnel or situation.

“Those guys, they really do compliment me as well because [the defense] get tired of chasing those guys around and finally I get to come in and go down hill,” Gibson said of his running back mates Jason Huntley and Royce Caldwell. “With their style, it’s opened up gaps on the inside for me. It’s running back by committee, like it’s a three headed monster I like to say, and it all ends up working together.”

Adkins, Gibson and the offense will have another favorable opportunity over a Rajin’ Cajuns defense that gives up 37 points 488 yards per game — both bottom-20 marks in the country.

Louisiana Lafayette have had one of the tougher schedules in the FBS to this point, though, playing No. 1 ranked Alabama and then-No. 16 Mississippi State both on the road in what were predictable losses to national powerhouses, so their 2-3 record is not one to be ashamed of.

The Rajin’ Cajun also boast one of the stronger running games for a Group-of-Five school, topping the 200 rushing YPG mark with their top-three backs all averaging more than 7 YPC, challenging an NM State front-seven that rank near the bottom in stopping the run.

“I think he would probably like to be more wide open offensively, throwing the ball around and things like that, but he’s playing to their strengths, which is the running game,” Martin said when asked about Louisiana head coach Bill Napier’s offense. “We have to play well against the run. We’re not going to stop them from running the ball, they’re too good to do that, but we have to slow it down and we have to get them in some third and long situations where they’re not as comfortable.”

It’ll be another tall task for NM State, who enter the week as eight-point underdogs on the road, but at 2-4, the Aggies are in the same position they were this time last year…

Just look how that turned out.