War Aggies! NMSU football slams Auburn for first-ever SEC win

Most coaches will tell you the feeling is priceless: walking away from a capacity crowd balancing pure shock and bitter disappointment and into a locker room ready to explode with excitement.

Jerry Kill will tell you otherwise.

“I said, ‘hey,’” New Mexico State’s head coach recalled about his speech to the team on Saturday. “‘We just got ($1.85) million to play an SEC conference team. So how about that: ($1.85) million and winning the game.’”

That sense of giddy joy was front and center on Saturday as New Mexico State’s dream season (9-3) took on a new level. The Aggies upset Auburn, 31-10, leaving Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala. with their first-ever victory over an SEC program (in 27 attempts) and $1.85 million in tow (which the team earns, win or lose, as part of a predetermined contract).

“The kids, they’re all fired up. They’re wondering when they’re gonna get it,” Kill laughed while talking about NMSU’s payday. “They want it to be all NIL money.”

More than a few made their case for it. Quarterback Diego Pavia turned in one of the finest performances of his career, completing 19 of 28 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns with 35 rushing yards to boot.

Playing through a hamstring injury suffered during last week’s 38-29 win over Western Kentucky, Pavia keyed an offensive attack that outgained Auburn by nearly 200 yards and held the ball for nearly 20 minutes longer.

“I think he had a twinge in the first quarter, first half and he came to me and I wanted to take him out,” Kill said. “And he goes, ‘coach, I ain’t goin’ out.’ We’ll have to use some real proper judgement in the next (game) because we got to have that kid around.

“He’s the toughest kid I’ve ever seen playing quarterback. And Joel Sambursky was a tough one at Southern Illinois. But there ain’t anyone I’ve coached that’s tougher than that kid.”

And after leaving that same win over Western Kentucky with concerns about the defense’s performance, the Aggies last week suffocated an Auburn offense averaging 35.3 points over their last three games. Out of the Tigers’ 213 total yards, NMSU held them to just 65 yards on the ground and an average of 2.5 yards per carry.

For context: Auburn (6-5) entered Saturday averaging 207.2 rushing yards per game — the eighth-best mark in the country.

The Aggies made it apparent they wouldn’t be pushed over early, capping their opening 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive with wide receiver Kordell David’s 9-yard toe-tap touchdown.

And after forcing a three-and-out on Auburn’s opening possession, NMSU asserted itself in a different way. When the 5-foot-9, 200-pound Pavia threw an interception that was later wiped from the board to the 6-foot-1 Nehemiah Pritchett, Pavia met him at the sideline and suplexed him.

“I didn’t like it … I don’t need my quarterback wrestling,” Kill said of Pavia’s slam. “He wrestled enough in high school. He doesn’t need to be wrestling now.”

Both teams batted each other back and forth over the next four drives before Auburn broke through with wide receiver Rivaldo Fairweather’s 32-yard touchdown reception midway through the second quarter. The Aggies, however, pulled back ahead with Ethan Albertson’s 40-yard field goal, setting up a halftime score of 10-7.

NMSU would extend its lead to 17-7 with five minutes to go in the third after a 17-yard bullet from Pavia to running back Star Thomas.

Auburn struggled to another three and out on their ensuing possession before NMSU embarked on a 16 play, 83-yard drive that came down to two plays.

The first: with NMSU facing 4th and 2 at midfield, the Aggies brought out their punt team — only to call a fake, with Ron Tiavaasue running for 23 yards to get the first.

“We put it in this week,” Kill said. “Me and (special teams consultant Joey Connors) knew that they were gonna offset and try to get us on the rush. And they only had three people over there, and we’d been working on it all week — worked on it on a Friday.

“... Here’s the deal. I ran a fake punt to beat Purdue back when I was at Southern Illinois, I think. You gotta do what you gotta do and in a game like this, you got to keep momentum. I just felt that it was a great time to call it.”

And the second: facing fourth and goal at the Auburn 5-yard line, Pavia rolled out to his left and found Eli Stowers, streaking across the back of the end zone. The backup quarterback made a contested catch, getting one foot down to make it 24-7 NMSU with 8:47 left.

Tasked with making up a 17-point deficit, Auburn settled for Alex McPherson’s 48-yard field goal to make it 24-10 with 5:27 left. The Tigers attempted an onside kick — only for NMSU to recover and deliver the dagger six plays later with Makhilyn Young’s 2-yard plunge into the end zone.

“(Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze) talked to me and he goes, ‘your kids play hard,’” Kill said. “And I said, ‘well, that’s a credit to the kids.’ But we’re just playing hard right now.

“We’re not playing perfect. But we’re playing hard.”

According to ESPN, NMSU entered the game as 25 1/2-point underdogs and their win represented the second largest by point spread this season.

NMSU, which has it’s first nine-win season in more than 60 years, will host Jacksonville State (8-3) next Saturday. Then, the Aggies will head to Lynchburg, Va., to play No. 25 Liberty (11-0) on Dec. 1 for the Conference USA title.

Photos: NMSU football stuns Auburn