LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Ninety-seven seconds. It doesn't sound like much time but, Saturday night it turned out to be an eternity for the University of Idaho football team. New Mexico State University used a scant 64 seconds of the final moments of the Sun Belt Conference showdown to score what turned out to be the winning touchdown in a 46-39 thriller.

After the Aggies' two-point conversion, Idaho was left with only 23 seconds to score again.

"It's tough to swallow what just happened," said Idaho coach Tom Cable after the Vandals dropped to 0-6, 0-2 in the Sun Belt. "They hit a couple passes and a couple big plays and the next thing you know they score a touchdown."

The result was another in a series of disappointing losses for the Vandals, who, in spite of it all, have been showing steady improvement - particularly on offense.

Blair Lewis eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the fourth time this season before leaving the game in the third quarter with a knee injury, and quarterback Brian Lindgren, in for the injured John Welsh, threw for 288 yards on 27-of-44 passing.

The problem, though, was Lindgren also threw five interceptions and fumbled once as he was sacked.

"I made a lot of mental mistakes; bad decisions with the football," Lindgren said. "It's very frustrating."

As for the defense, it yielded 356 yards rushing to the NMSU's option attack but some of the most critical gains made by the Aggies were on a 12-of-19 passing effort by senior quarterback K.C. Enzminger that yielded 124 yards and the game-winning TD.

"We throw five interceptions and they run for 300 and some yards," Cable said.

The kicking game wasn't' exempt, either. While placekicker Keith Stamps was perfect with five PATs and a 36-yard field goal, Brian Pope was errant on the final kickoff that was supposed to go deep left but wound up short left and with good field position for the Aggies at their own 36.

"It' hard to explain how I feel right now," Cable said. "I'm proud of them for the effort but when you have a chance to win it you have to finish. It's probably - in terms of our effort and emotion - our best effort that way. But again when you get someone down you've got to keep them down. There's no doubt about it."