New Mexico State had one final chance to redeem themselves.

Tyler Rogers, who added two interceptions to his conference high total, had five seconds left in the fourth quarter with his team down eight points. 

It was too little, too late.

Rogers’ pass to Teldrick Robinson was deflected in the back of the end zone as the Bobcats sealed a 37-29 victory. Texas State is now one win away from earning FBS bowl eligibility for the second consecutive season.

Meanwhile, New Mexico State lost its seventh consecutive game. While the Bobcats have re-invigorated the team with three straight road wins, the Aggies are toiling at the bottom of the Sun Belt Conference standings because of excessive offensive errors.

Rogers’ first interception — a deflected pass landing in sophomore safety Germod Williams’ hands — led to a Bobcat touchdown in the first quarter.

His second mistake wiped potential points away from his offense. Rolling to his right, Rogers overthrew his intended receiver, as the ball wobbled into senior cornerback Craig Magers’ gloves. Rather than setting up a long field goal attempt, Texas State retained possession.

The third error, and perhaps most debilitating, occurred in the special teams unit. Terrence Franks, senior running back, beelined towards freshman punter Kelly Kingseed from the left side of the line. He was untouched and Kingseed didn’t have enough time to complete the punt with Franks bearing in on him.  

Franks deflected the punt and recovered it for a 10-yard touchdown, the programs first touchdown on a blocked kick since 2005. Texas State scored 14 points in a span of 55 seconds. Franks was responsible for both scores.

“We did a lot of good things today,” Coach Dennis Franchione said. “I thought the big play in the game was the Terrence Franks blocked punt.”

Rogers threw for a career-high 404 yards and three touchdowns in the loss, completing a pass to eight different receivers. New Mexico State running back Larry Rose III added 181 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. 

Tyler Jones threw for 142 yards, one touchdown and a team-high 82 rushing yards. The Bobcats didn’t have a 100-yard rusher or a 100-yard receiver. The team was outgained by 209 total yards.

“We were good in the first quarter, bad in the second quarter, and we were excellent in the second half,” Franchione said. “This was Tyler’s best day ever as a Bobcat running the football. He was huge for us.”

The surface stats reflect a game that New Mexico State dominated. Instead, the Aggies were on the losing end because they committed 11 penalties and lost the turnover margin.

“We have effort, energy and guys that can make plays but we are still a very immature football team as far as beating ourselves and we certainly have to eliminate that,” New Mexico State Coach Doug Martin said. “We have great effort and a much more talented football team than we did last year but it’s not translating into wins right now which is frustrating for all of us.”

Texas State’s win reaffirmed its place in the Sun Belt Conference hierarchy as they close the gap on the top tier teams. New Mexico State’s loss reaffirmed its place as one of the conference doormats.

The Bobcats’ next game is against the Georgia Southern Eagles, Nov. 8.

Quixem Ramires is Sports Editor for the University Star where this story originally published. It is reprinted here through a news partnership between the University Star and San Marcos Corridor News.