The last time New Mexico State was in a bowl game, Chubby Checker was doing the twist, but Larry Rose III prefers the Hustle. His overtime touchdown pushed the Aggies to a historic win.
New Mexico State won the 1960 Sun Bowl in El Paso and repeated in the Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl 57 years later, the longest drought in all of college football. The opponent was the same 57 years age, Utah State.
The Aggies from Las Cruces, New Mexico got on the board first with a field goal, but Savon Scarver took the kickoff back for 96 yards to give Utah State the lead. The lead was short lived because New Mexico State returned the favor. Jason Huntley took the next kickoff 100 yards to regain the lead at 10-7 just five minutes into the game in Tucson.
The remainder of the half was a defensive struggle in which both teams could not convert third downs and field goals were the order of the day. Rose was stripped of the ball on a 25-yard run and Utah State recovered and turned it into a field goal to tie the game. The half ended 13-13.
The score remained until the fourth quarter when New Mexico State had a short punt and the Aggies from Logan, Utah took advantage. LaJuan Hunt scored on a one-yard run and Utah State took the 20-13 lead with 13:28 remaining in the game.
New Mexico State came back midway through the fourth quarter. The Aggies got to inside the Utah State 20 and faced a fourth down. Quarterback Tyler Rogers tossed a pass over the shoulder of his diving receiver Johnathan Boone and converted on a great catch to extend the drive.
On the next play, Rogers threw to his favorite receiver Jaleel Scott in the front corner of the end zone. The pass was ruled incomplete, but a video review showed that he had one foot in and control of the catch. The play was ruled a touchdown and the game was tied at 20-20 and headed for overtime.
In the overtime period, Utah State got the ball first and the drive stalled immediately. The field goal unit came on and Dominik Eberle missed the 29-yard field goal, his fourth miss of the game, New Mexico State needed to get only a field goal, but the stage was set to make history.
On second down from the 21-yard line, Rose III, the pride of Freestone County and Fairfield High School, took the handoff on the sweep to the left. He raced through the defense and into the history books with the touchdown and the Arizona Bowl win.
“That game couldn’t have ended any better,” head coach Doug Martin told ESPN.com. “That was just poetic that Larry Rose would score that last touchdown. He’s meant so much to this program. We sold him on a vision when we didn’t have anything. It was just a vision that he was going to be a part of a class that changed the culture of a place.”
Rose III rushed for 142 yards on 16 carries and that historic touchdown which tied him for the most in school history. He also added six catches for 48 yards.
I wouldn’t want to go out any other way,” Rose told ESPN.com. “I told them (after the fumble), I’m going to make it up to you. The game ended, and I hadn’t made it up, so there was a lot of pressure on me. I told them I got them, and I like to be a man of my word.”
As several hundred fans poured onto the field at the University of Arizona, there were also several hundred in Fairfield and surrounding areas watching the former Fairfield Eagle make his University and his hometown proud. Larry Rose III was name the outstanding offensive player in the game.
He may be an Aggie one state over, but everyone claims LRIII. And he is a bowl game MVP and champion. His legacy is complete in Las Cruces and everyone is proud of #3.
