When and where: September 21, 2019, Dreamstyle Stadium, Albuquerque, NM, 4:30 PM ET
The New Mexico State Aggies will be looking for their first win of the season when taking a road trip to Albuquerque for Saturday’s tilt against the New Mexico Lobos. A pair of road games against Washington State and Alabama didn’t do the Aggies any favors to start off the season. Of course, they were completely crushed by a 120-17 point differential in those two games combined. That’s without mentioning the 31 points they gave up to San Diego State in Week 3.
Meanwhile, the Lobos opened their season up with a win over Sam Houston State before getting trounced at Notre Dame in a game no one expected them to win. They’ll try to get back on track against a far less talented team in the Aggies.
Not a fair start for the Aggies
Imagine being forced to start the season off with back-to-back road games against Washington State and Alabama.
The poor Aggies didn’t have to imagine it after basically getting sent to the gallows by their 2019 schedule. They were completely dominated on both sides of the ball, leaving few takeaways other than the simple fact they weren’t talented enough to compete.
Things didn’t go any better against San Diego State, either.
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They’re hoping the same isn’t the case when taking on the Lobos on Saturday. The Lobos haven’t shown much defensive efficiency, if any at all, in their first two games of the season. That should at least aid in the confidence of New Mexico State quarterback Josh Adkins to remain in attack mode, despite already throwing five interceptions on the season.
The Lobos are giving up an average of 438.5 passing yards per game to opponents. This game must be about Adkins’ ability to remain poised in the pocket and put the ball in the air with confidence. Perhaps we can finally see the Aggies get the ground game going without the concern of facing an elite defensive front.
Davie slated to return on September 28
The Lobos will be without head coach Bob Davie until September 28, according to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg. After coaching in the season opener against Sam Houston State, Davie was taken to the hospital with what was believed to be a serious condition. He is currently resting and listening to the advice of his doctors in hopes of being back on the field with his team.
Without their coach on the sidelines, the Lobos were trounced 66-14 in a road game against Notre Dame. In all honesty, it wouldn’t have mattered if Bill Belichick was coaching the Lobos in that game.
That was a loss the moment the schedule was printed.
The goal in Saturday’s attempted bounce-back game against New Mexico State is to put as much pressure on Adkins as possible. He has already shown he’s a turnover-prone quarterback behind center and the Lobos can give themselves an edge if they’re able to pressure him up front and force him into making bad throws.
At least they shouldn’t have to worry about the run game. The Aggies haven’t shown the ability to establish a rushing attack with their team averaging only 75.7 yards per game on the ground.
Team Trends
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- Aggies are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games after allowing less than 170 yards passing in their previous game.
- Aggies are 1-9-1 ATS in their last 11 games after allowing more than 200 yards rushing in their previous game.
- Aggies are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games after accumulating more than 280 yards passing in their previous game.
- Aggies are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 vs. MWC.
- Aggies are 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 games after accumulating less than 100 yards rushing in their previous game.
- Aggies are 5-15-1 ATS in their last 21 games following a straight up loss of more than 20 points.
- Lobos are 14-6 ATS in their last 20 games after allowing more than 280 yards passing in their previous game.
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