What we learned as MTSU football has bowl hopes dashed with 13-7 loss to New Mexico State

Middle Tennessee State football had its chances in the end, but dropped its second game in a row, falling at New Mexico State 13-7 Saturday.

The Blue Raiders (2-7, 1-4 CUSA) drove from their own 11-yard line to the New Mexico State 15 in the closing seconds, but a fourth-down incompletion in the end zone as time expired ended their comeback hopes.

"First of all, I was proud out effort," MTSU coach Rick Stockstill said. "Our guys busted their gut, they left everything out there. Just when you look at the totality of this game, we didn't do enough to win the game, obviously. We score right there at the end of the half and then they go down and kick a field goal with 42 seconds, hit a field goal at the buzzer."

Here is what we learned from the defensive struggle:

MTSU football has bowl hopes dashed

Middle Tennessee State will not go to a bowl game for the third consecutive season, as the loss was the team's seventh this season. It takes six wins to become bowl eligible.

MTSU would have had to win its final four games to accomplish bowl eligibility.

Conversely, New Mexico State (7-3, 5-1) became bowl eligible with the win. The Aggies needed seven wins, with a 13-game regular-season schedule.

MTSU football offense struggles early

Maybe it was due to an 18-day layoff, but MTSU's offense struggled getting into rhythm for most of the game, particularly early.

The Blue Raiders were held to just 34 total yards through the first 25 minutes of the game. During those four possessions MTSU had just two first downs, one which was on a New Mexico State facemask penalty.

After punting on their first five possessions, the Blue Raiders finally got on the scoreboard late in the first half when Nick Vattiato hit D.J. England-Chisolm on a 27-yard touchdown strike to complete a six-play, 79-yard drive. it tied the game at 7 before the Aggies drove into field-goal range and took the halftime lead 10-7.

MTSU's second-half possessions resulted in two punts, an interception, a missed field goal and the turnover in downs as time expired.

MTSU football defense opportunistic

While the offense was struggling, MTSU's defense kept the Blue Raiders in the game, despite allowing New Mexico State to move the ball.

The Aggies had 278 yards and 15 first downs in the first half but were limited to just the 10 points, thanks to coming away empty on four of their first five drives, despite driving into Blue Raiders territory all five of the possessions.

MTSU's defense stiffened on the first two drives, keeping New Mexico State out of field goal position. A Tra Fluellen interception halted the third drive. After a nine-play, 80-yard TD drive on the fourth possession, the Aggies missed a 33-yard field goal on the fifth.

The Blue Raiders also took advantage of a holding call on New Mexico State on what would have been a punt return for a touchdown.

MTSU's defense allowed New Mexico State to drive inside the Blue Raiders' 20 late in the third but held the Aggies to another field goal. The Aggies finished with 402 yards.

"I'm not blaming the defense, because they played their tail off," said Stockstill. "But we gave them three there, we drive down their in fourth quarter. We miss a three-pointer. If we don't give up the three, we hit our field goal, there at the end of the game we're kicking to send it to overtime or win it."

New Mexico State football's Pavia lives up to billing

New Mexico State junior quarterback Diego Pavia was a point of emphasis for the MTSU defense heading into the game, and he showed why.

Pavia completed 16 of 31 passes for 220 yards and rushed 15 times for 67 yards. He rushed for 39 yards on three plays to take the Aggies from MTSU's 42 to the 3 on New Mexico State's lone touchdown drive.

New Mexico State rushed 36 times for 182 yards.

Vattiato dominated MTSU's offense, completing 20 of 36 for 178 yards and a touchdown and rushing for a team-high 96 yards on 18 carries. The rest of the team accounted for 13 carries and 72 yards.

"We did a lot of good things defensively," said Stockstill. "We only gave up 13 points and in this day and time, that's a good day's work. And then offensively, we just never got in a rhythm in the first half."

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: MTSU football: Bowl hopes dashed in 13-7 loss to New Mexico State