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FACTS & STATS: Site: Aggie Memorial Stadium (30,343) -- Las Cruces, New Mexico. Television: AggieVision. Home Record: USU 1-0, NMSU 1-2. Away Record: USU 0-3, NMSU 1-1. Neutral Record: USU 0-0, NMSU 0-0. Conference Record: USU 0-0, NMSU 0-1. Series Record: Utah State leads, 27-6.

GAME NOTES: The Utah State Aggies get their first taste of Western Athletic Conference action this weekend as they drop in on the Aggies of New Mexico State in Las Cruces.

USU has had a rough go of it through the first month of the season, losing to a pair of top-20 opponents from the Mountain West Conference in both Utah and BYU by identical 35-17 scores. In between there was a 38-30 setback to Texas A&M on the road and a 53-34 thrashing of Southern Utah at home to account for the squad's lone victory thus far.

As for NMSU, a team that has yet to score more than 21 points in any one game in 2009, it has alternated wins and losses since bowing to Idaho in the season and conference opener (21-6) back on September 5th. The team's most recent outing took place on Saturday, with the trip to San Diego resulting in a 34-17 setback.

USU easily dismissed NMSU last year in a 47-2 thumping, moving the squad to 27-6 in the all-time series. Utah State built up its large advantage in the series by claiming 20 straight meetings between 1968-1998.

Diondre Borel scored the first points of the game against 20th-ranked BYU last Friday night in Provo, hitting the end zone on a six-yard run, but from there the game belonged to the Cougars. Borel, who finished the contest with 38 yards rushing, also converted 20-of-28 passes for another 213 yards and a score, while overcoming three sacks. Robert Turbin, one of the top rushers in the conference, was limited to just 47 yards on 17 attempts. Even though Turbin was held in check on Friday, he still stands as the second-best rusher in the WAC with his 105 ypg, averaging an even seven yards per attempt. Borel, while posting just a single win, has the sort of talent that opponents always have to plan for, having run for a team-best four touchdowns and completed 56.6 percent of his passes for 246 ypg and five touchdowns. More importantly, of his 122 attempts, only once has Borel been picked off this season. Last year the signal-caller tossed just 11 TDs, but had 10 picks.

Trying to hold down a BYU team that was needing a strong performance to regain its footing on the national stage was a huge order that the Aggies were unable to fill. In fact, the run defense and the pass defense were equally exploited by the Cougars as they registered 213 yards and two touchdowns by way of the run and came up with another 218 yards and two scores because of quarterback Max Hall's arm. Rajric Coleman did have some impact in the meeting with his team-high 13 tackles and one interception return for 16 yards, while James Brindley accounted for the only sack of the game against Hall. Now second on the team with his 38 stops through four games, Brindley leads the group with two of their five interceptions. What these Aggies desperately need is a stronger presence at the line of scrimmage that will allow them to put more pressure in the backfield. After four games the squad ranks 108th in the nation with an average of only four tackles for loss per game and is 83rd with 1.5 sacks per outing.

Against the Aztecs last week, New Mexico State had to resort to fielding a pair of quarterbacks in order to try and stay competitive. Unfortunately, the combined efforts of Jeff Fleming and Trevor Walls failed to get the job done as they converted a collective 15-of-26 passes for 146 yards and two touchdowns, but were also sacked three times and intercepted twice in the setback. The SDSU defense came up with countless tackles for loss, which meant NMSU was left with a net of only 88 yards on 47 rushing attempts. The skills players in the backfield for the Aggies this season are all youngsters who are being molded by the coaching staff, so there are bound to be plenty of issues due to inexperience. Fleming, a sophomore, has completed just over 54 percent of his attempts for a total of 429 yards and two touchdowns, against five INTs over five games while Walls, a freshman, also has converted about 54 percent, leading to a pair of TDs, but also two picks. Running back Seth Smith, a transfer from College of the Sequoias, is averaging 93.6 ypg on the ground, but having carried the ball 104 times already one would have expected him to hit the end zone at least once by now.

The pass defense for the Aggies did a rather fine job against San Diego State, aside from giving up a pair of TDs. In fact, it was one of the best efforts the team has put forth in quite some time, allowing the Aztecs to convert just eight of 28 pass attempts for a mere 144 yards. Pierre Fils made just four stops for the Aggies, yet two of those were for loss, one a sack, and also came up with a forced fumble in the effort. In terms of turnovers this season, the Aggies have had a very difficult time trying to offset the damage that has been brought on by a weak and inefficient offense. The squad is one of only a handful of programs that has just a single fumble recovery to this point in the season and with a mere five forced turnovers the Aggies are tied for 113th in the nation with a minus-1.60 turnovers per outing. Getting pressure at the line of scrimmage has been a problem for the Aggies thus far, the team registering a mere three TFLs per contest to rank not only last in the WAC, but also 118th in the country this week.

If history is any indication, this game should belong to the visiting Aggies. Realistically, the outcome will hinge on the play of the quarterbacks and in Borel Utah State certain comes out on top in that category.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Utah State 28, New Mexico State 21