Our Q&A this week is with the sports editor of the NMSU student paper, the Round Up, James Martin.

ASOR: NMSU had a very successful season in 2017, making it to and winning a bowl game for the first time in over 50 years. How exciting was that for the fan base?

James Martin: To put it shortly, very.

Last year’s Arizona Bowl win was definitely one of the greatest moments in the history of New Mexico State athletics. It had been a painful 57 year drought that generations of Aggie fans were forced to endure, but all that misery seemed to disappear when Larry Rose III crossed the goal-line for that walk-off touchdown run in overtime. The tens of thousands of NM State fans in attendance stormed the field, at a neutral site nevertheless, and stuck around for as long as security allowed, soaking up a feeling that was half a century in the making.

ASOR: The Aggies are now an Independent after the Sun Belt decided to go in a different direction. What are the options for NMSU in regards to conference affiliation in the coming years?

JM: Joining the Mountain West would make the most sense from both a geographical and competitive standpoint for New Mexico State. The conference already has one member from New Mexico in the Aggies’ Rio Grande rival UNM and Athletic Director Mario Moccia has done a good job scheduling games against MWC teams.

NMSU made their best case for a potential partnership during last year’s Arizona Bowl, beating Utah State – one of the better teams in the Mountain West – and showing a tremendous level of fan support, with the city of Las Cruces basically taking over Tucson during that weekend.

ASOR: Josh Adkins made his first career start as a redshirt-freshman last time out against UTEP, is he expected to be the main signal caller moving forward?

JM: The redshirt-freshman solidified himself as the quarterback of the future this past offseason, but with New Mexico State’s early season struggles at quarterback, the future quickly had to become the present.

Adkins made his first meaningful appearance in the second half of NMSU’s loss to UNM and impressed head coach Doug Martin enough to earn his first start against UTEP the following week, where he completed nine of his 18 passes for 156 yards and a touchdown. Those numbers won’t light the world on fire, but the young signal caller did enough to secure the all important first win of the season for NMSU. Any future success that the Aggie offense might have this year, as well as years to come, will likely be with Adkins at quarterback.

ASOR: The offense has struggled to score points this year, how much is that related to not being able to find a consistent quarterback to this point of the season?

JM: While the turnover at quarterback has been a big reason for New Mexico State’s offensive struggles, there is plenty of blame to go around. The offensive line has left a lot to be desired and the ground game has gotten off to a sluggish start, with the Aggies averaging a mere 82 rushing yards per game through the first half of the season. Things have started to click since Adkins took over at QB, but it’s still clear that this is an offense trying to find their identity after losing their leading passer, rusher and receiver from last season.

ASOR: With NMSU having an open date this past Saturday and Liberty playing in the same state, how closely was the coaching staff watching that Liberty/New Mexico game?

JM: It was about as good of as scouting opportunity as a college football team can get during the season. Liberty’s explosive offensive performance last weekend definitely provided NMSU with something to prepare for during their first open week of the season, and the similarities between New Mexico and New Mexico State’s offense gave Martin and the Aggie coaching staff a great look at what Liberty will likely show on the defense.

Thank you James for joining us. Liberty fans, be sure to give the NMSU Round Up a follow on twitter @roundup_sports this week!