New Mexico State didn't fold, either. Quarterback Trey Hedden threw for 249 yards and 2 touchdowns, hitting TK King and Brodie Malone-Bradford for scores of 34 and 33 yards. The Aggies also lost running back Bernock Iya to a lacerated liver, a brutal blow to a backfield that was already trying to keep pace with a program on a completely different tier of talent. Florida State, for its part, was missing Devin Carter with a back injury.
The turning point wasn't a single play so much as a whole team finally getting rolling on the ground. Samuel Singleton Jr. was the game's best player, piling up 164 total yards and 2 touchdowns, and Ousmane Kromah broke off a 52-yard score as Florida State finished the night averaging 11.2 yards per carry as a team. Once that started clicking in the second half, the Aggies simply didn't have the horses to keep up.
Florida State enters this season with head coach Mike Norvell squarely on the hot seat after back-to-back disappointing years, and a shaky opening half against a Conference USA opponent isn't the kind of start that quiets that noise. Cornerback Quindarrius Jones did come up with a goal-line interception of Hedden in the first quarter, a reminder that even in a sluggish half there was talent flashing on both sides of the ball.
New Mexico State, under third-year coach Tony Sanchez, is still trying to climb back to relevance after a 2025 season full of close losses, and this one won't sting the way a blowout would have. The Aggies converted 10 of 17 third downs and left Doak Campbell Stadium having made a heavy favorite work for every point in the first half, even if the final line ended up lopsided by the fourth quarter.