09: Texas A&M Aggies-New Mexico Lobos

Written by Mark | 03 September 2009

College Football 9/5/09

New Mexico Lobos (MWC)-Texas A&M Aggies (Big 12)

By Mark • Saturday, September 5th, 2009 7 PM EST

Texas A&M (0-0) vs. New Mexico (0-0)
Line-Texas A&M-13.5

These teams met last season to open their 2008 schedule with Texas A&M walking away with a 28-22 victory. It appears this game was par for the course for New Mexico and one of the few bright spots for Texas A&M as both teams went 4-8 on the season.

If New Mexico could only throw the ball half as well as they ran it, 2008 would have been much brighter. The Lobos racked up 208 yards on the ground good for the #16 ranked rushing unit in the nation. Impressive but in contrast the offense as a whole was ranked only #80 in total yards illustrating the futility of New Mexico' air attack.

RB Rodney Ferguson, the leading rusher in 2008 with over 1,100 yards is gone and if the Lobos are to have continued success on the ground it will come from the trio of Terrence Brown, AJ Butler and James Wright. The Lobos spread it out on offense and seldom have more than one back in the backfield, so it's go with the hot hand here.

New Mexico's strength was their defense last season, which them saw approach a top 40 ranking. The Lobos were strong against the run and weak against the pass, but the problem here is duplicating that performance with only three returning starters. New Mexico only allowed 23 ppg which should have been enough for a few more wins, but when the offense is putting up just 21 there's a reason for the 4-8 record.

The Aggies strength of a year ago was passing the football and that's not going to change a whole lot,, especially against a suspect New Mexico pass defense. Ranked #27 nationally I expect QB Jerrod Johnson to fill the air with footballs and to pull it down and run when the situation presents itself.

Texas A&M had almost zero production from their ground attack which got them less than 90 yards per game placing near the bottom of college football. RB Cyrus Gray has break away speed but needs the O-Line to open up some holes or his speed will remain in the backfield. A semblance of a rushing attack combined with good passing could squeeze out a few more points than the 25 Texas A&M managed last year.

The more points the better and a quick glance at the Aggies ‘D' (or lack of it) is frightening. Unable to stop the run or pass saddled them with the #115 ranking. Not surprisingly, opposing offenses tasted success quite often throwing up an ugly 37 ppg on Texas A&M.

New Mexico was 6-6 ATS and just 2-4 ATS on the road while the Aggies were really poor posting a 4-8 ATS overall mark and an even poorer 2-4 ATS record at home. Texas A&M returns 16 players of which 10 are on offense while the Lobos return just 9 total. The Aggies are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 home games and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 non conference match ups. New Mexico is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 non conference tilts but 2-7 in their last 9 away games. Some ugly numbers throughout and when these guys get together there will be 80,000+ fans in attendance? Must really love college football...