FACTS & STATS: Site: Aggie Memorial Stadium (30,343) -- Las Cruces, New Mexico. Television: Local. Home Record: LaTech 5-0, NMSU 1-4. Away Record: LaTech 1-4, NMSU 2-3. Neutral Record: LaTech 0-0, NMSU 0-0. Conference Record: LaTech 4-2, NMSU 1-5. Series Record: New Mexico State leads, 4-3.

GAME NOTES: Sporting a four-game win streak in Western Athletic Conference play, the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs continue their drive towards the postseason as they face off against the New Mexico State Aggies in Las Cruces this weekend. Already bowl eligible, head coach Derek Dooley has the Bulldogs in rare territory riding a three-game win streak overall. Since losing to Army at West Point back on October 25th, LaTech has taken down Fresno State, San Jose State and most recently Utah State last Saturday in a 45-38 thriller in Ruston. With the win, the Bulldogs moved into a tie for second place in the conference standings at 4-2 with Nevada, the team they will face in the regular-season finale next Saturday at home. Meanwhile, the Aggies have the league's longest current losing streak at five games and are second-to-last in the standings with a 1-5 WAC mark. NMSU, which hasn't won since it defeated Nevada on the road by three points (48-45) back on October 11th, suffered a 24-17 loss at the hands of the Fresno State Bulldogs last Saturday. LaTech, which lost the first three games of this series by a combined 111-27 between 1967-1995, has won three of the last four games, including a narrow 22-21 decision a season ago.

Trailing by a field goal in the fourth quarter on Saturday, Daniel Porter hit the end zone on a 22-yard run for the Bulldogs, putting them ahead in what would become a seven-point victory for the squad at Joe Aillet Stadium. Porter finished the outing with 114 yards on 24 carries, while Patrick Jackson picked up 65 yards and a TD on 12 attempts. Quarterback Ross Jenkins converted 12- of-17 passes for 145 yards and two scores, but he was also picked off twice and sacked three times. Jenkins, who has been playing in place of Taylor Bennett, has completed 53.1 percent of his pass attempts and has four TDs to show for his efforts. However, the 39.5 percent effort by Bennett means the passing offense for LaTech is last in the WAC and 105th in the country this week with a mere 149.4 ypg. What's worse, the team's pass efficiency rating is also last in the conference and is 114th in the nation at 91.48 through 10 games.

Matt Broha had just three tackles against the Aggies last weekend, but he also posted one of the team's three interceptions, but in his case he managed to return it 40 yards for a touchdown barely two minutes into the first period. Not to be outdone, Dominique Faust better than duplicated the effort by Broha when he picked off a pass and brought it back 60 yards for a LaTech TD early in the second quarter. If not for the two returns the outcome against Utah State would have been entirely different because the defense allowed five rushing touchdowns. Weldon Brown current leads the pass defense for the Bulldogs with his four interceptions, while Antonio Baker ranks second in that department with three picks but is first in total tackles with 88 through 10 games. As good as the Bulldogs may have been when it comes to interceptions (14), they are still ranked sixth in the conference and 100th in the nation with 247.6 ypg allowed.

Marquell Colston ran for a whopping 20 yards as the leading rusher for the Aggies on Saturday, but everyone knows NMSU is solely dependent on quarterback Chase Holbrook. Never mind that the Aggies ended up with minus-nine yards on the ground on 15 attempts, because Holbrook is there to lead the team. But against Fresno State the signal-caller was held in check, converting 27-of-38 passes for 192 yards and just a single touchdown. Tied for the team lead with nine receptions, leading to 55 yards, Chris Williams made a bigger impact with a kickoff return of 96 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter. Williams is again one of the most aggressive receivers in the WAC this season with a team-best 74 catches for 1,064 yards and seven touchdowns, yet with just 39 receptions Marcus Anderson actually has one more TD grab. With almost two-thirds of his passes completed Holbrook is again one of the nation's leaders in passing, but his 21 TDs are not enough to offset his 13 interceptions as of yet.

For the most part the New Mexico State defense kept FSU quarterback Tom Brandstater under wraps, allowing him to hit 14-of-20 for 146 yards through the air. However, what the Aggies failed to take into consideration was Brandstater as a ball carrier because he's the one who ended up with a pair of touchdown runs, including the game winner in the fourth quarter. Derrick Richardson continued to assault opponents with his tackling proficiency, leading all players with 12 stops, while Nick Paden tacked on 10 stops and logged a fumble recovery. Richardson continues to lead the entire nation in tackles per game with an average of just under 13 stops per outing. However, very few of those tackles have been the sort of game-changing plays that a defense can hang their hat on. Much further down the list with 49 tackles is La'Auli Fonoti who paces the group with 8.5 TFLs and four sacks, but still this unit ranks 110th in the nation in run defense (217.5 ypg) and 103rd in points allowed (32.7 ppg).

Last week, the Bulldogs showed they could but up some big numbers on the scoreboard, but that's because they were going against an inferior offense. New Mexico State hasn't been great this season, but there's always that potential for Holbrook and Williams to get into a rhythm that a team like LaTech can't stop.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: New Mexico State 31, Louisiana Tech 20

Saturday, November 22nd, 4:00 p.m. (et).