More defensive struggles derail another hot start by the New Mexico State football team, who fall 48-31 to Georgia Southern for their second straight blowout loss to a former conference opponent.

The NM State offense was practically flawless in their opening two drives to start the game, capping off back-to-back 75 yard drives with rushing touchdowns (a five yarder by Christian Gibson and a nine yarder by Jason Huntley respectively) to give the Aggies an early 14-3 lead.

Once the Eagles’ adjusted defensively, though, it was all Georgia Southern for the remainder of the night.

GSU would quickly get back into the game, taking advantage of good field position set up by a poor NM State punt and going 46 yards in two plays for their first touchdown of the game (a 15 yard rush by Wesley Kennedy III) just before the end of the first quarter. This would kickoff a rushing onslaught that triple-option offenses like Georgia Southern dream of putting on film.

The Eagles would go on to find the end zone on their next six drives — including a pair of key scores heading into and coming out of the half that stole all momentum away from New Mexico State — and rush for 389 yards for the game, marking the fourth time the Aggies have given up over 300 yards on the ground and a new season-high for GSU’s top-10 running offense.

“It’s like we have two sides of the ball going in two different directions — our offense keeps getting better and our defense is lagging behind, and it’s tough. When you can’t stop the run and can’t get off the field, it’s hard to win games,” head coach Doug Martin said. “We’re just not playing very good defensive football right now.”

After giving up 53.5 points per game and a combined 1277 yards in their last two, tonight was hardly a step in the right direction for the NM State defense, who started the season as a team strength.

“It didn’t seem like we were ready to come out and get a stop. For some reason, the glue just ain’t coming together in the game… and when we mess up, the offense always finds it,” senior safety Ron LaForce said of the Aggies’ current defensive issues. “I feel like the last four games are going to be on the defense. Obviously our offense has got some momentum together — they’re starting to score points almost as efficiently as last year, and I think we’ve let them down the last few weeks.

“No matter the score, even if it is a shootout, at one point, the defense is going to have to win the game. In a shootout, one defense gets a stop, they win the game,” LaForce continued. “It always comes down to us — if we play bad, there’s no way we’re winning anything.”

With 443 total yards and a good balance of passing shots down the field and efficient running from Gibson and Huntley, who both averaged over 5 yards a carry, Martin’s offensive unit is still trending upward, but that’s not to say they’re playing perfect. Josh Adkins turned the ball over three times (two fumbles and an interception) and two of the Aggies’ four touchdowns came in relative garbage time.

“With our defense right now, if you turn the ball over, it’s seven points going the other way. We can’t get beat by a short field right now and win a game because our defense can’t get stops,” Martin said when asked about his offense’s turnovers. “Offensively, we just have to find a way to not worry what the scoreboard says and just get points. We just have to keep scoring points and answer scores, and that’s what really hurt us in this game.”

NM State is still yet to play a full team game this, year and unfortunately for the Aggies, their record shows it.

The team’s next takes the field again hoping to end their newfound losing streak next week when they head travel to San Marcos to take on the Texas State Bobcats.