College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the New Mexico State Aggies season with what you need to know.
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– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Schedule Analysis
– New Mexico State Previews 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2019 Record: 2-10
Head Coach: Doug Martin, 8th year, 22-63
2019 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 126
2019 CFN Final Season Formula Ranking: 127
2019 CFN Preview Ranking: 129
No one knows what’s going to happen to the 2020 college football season. We’ll take a general look at where each team stands – doing it without spring ball to go by – while crossing our fingers that we’ll all have some well-deserved fun this fall. Hoping you and yours are safe and healthy.
5. College Football News Preview 2020: New Mexico State Aggies Offense 3 Things To Know
– The offense sputtered with its worst scoring output since 2013, and with 17 points or fewer in seven of the first nine games. On the plus side, the O kicked it in over the last three games, winning two of them.
The passing game had to keep going to keep up with the struggling defense, but the ground attack was good at times when it got a chance to get moving. With eight starters gone, though, it’s going to take a while to get going.
– Finding a quarterback is Job One. Starter Josh Adkins left for UTSA, and backups Matt Romero and Jeremy Hodge are in the transfer portal, too. JUCO transfer Jonah Johnson is a 6-2, 220-pound dual-threat playmaker who’s being brought in to take over right away, but redshirt freshman Weston Eget will get a long look, too.
But who will catch the ball?
The top three receivers are gone, not to mention 40-catch RB Jason Huntley. Two backups transferred out, but UCF TE Anthony Roberson is available right away, as is Georgia WR transfer Joshua Moran.
Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda should be an instant factor among the seven JUCO transfers on the roader. Senior Robert Downs is the team’s leading returning wide receiver with 22 catches for 265 yards and two scores, and 6-2, 200-pound Jared Wyatt is back after averaging close to 20 yards per catch on his seven grabs.
– The running game had its moments, but not having Huntley around anymore hurts, and No. 2 back Christian Gibson is gone, too. It doesn’t help that Josh Foley is leaving to go up the road to New Mexico, putting the pressure on Michigan transfer O’Maury Samuels and sophomore Naveon Mitchell to handle the duties.
The O line has to replace three starters, but 6-7, 330-pound senior Sage Doxtater isn’t a bad left tackle and Max Wilhite is a 300-pound veteran center. Getting in former Missouri star recruit Darvis Holmes helps.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: New Mexico State Aggies Defense 3 Things To Know
4. College Football News Preview 2020: New Mexico State Aggies Defense 3 Things To Know
– Just enough veterans are around – six of the top nine tacklers return and five starters are expected back – to hope for more production after allowing 480 yards and 41 points – second-worst in the nation – per game. The pass defense was bad, but the run defense was the biggest disaster.
There’s size up front in the tackle rotation, but the production has to be there. Myles Vigne is a 290-pound veteran on the nose, and 6-2, 310-pound senior Roy Lopez is one of the team’s best players at one of the other tackle spots.
A pass rush has to emerge, though, starting with more from 6-6, 257-pound senior Xander Yarberough, who tied for the team lead with three sacks.
– Leading tackler and star of the team Javahn Ferguson is done after coming up with 133 tackles, but 235-pound Rashie Hodge is back on the strongside coming off a 90-tackle season. Devin Richardson is another good-sized linebacker – he tied for third with 69 stops – and hybrid end/linebacker Matthew Young will fit in somewhere in the mix.
– The Aggies picked off just five passes, and the only one returning came from Hodge, a linebacker. Sophomore Jason Simmons is the only returning starter in the secondary; he’s coming off a 62-tackle season.
4JUCO transfer Xavier Dunkle is being brought in to take over a corner job, and former Oklahoma State Cowboy, Chance Cook will need to be a statistical leader, making 42 stops last year.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Top New Mexico State Aggies Players
College Football News Preview 2020: Top New Mexico State Aggies Players
Best New Mexico State Aggies Offensive Player
OT Sage Doxtater, Sr.
Hurt throughout last season, he missed most of the year before coming back late. A three-year starter, the 6-7, 330-pounder carries his weight well and has room to get even more rocked up. He’s the team’s top pass protector and he’ll be the star of a line that might not be all that bad.
2. WR Robert Downs, Sr.
3. QB Jonah Johnson, Jr.
4. RB O’Maury Samuels, Jr.
5. C Max Wilhite, Soph.
Best New Mexico State Aggies Defensive Player
DT Roy Lopez, Sr.
Hurt right out of the gate, he missed most of the season and made only 11 tackles on the year. When he’s right, though, he’s a dangerous interior presence who came up with 63 tackles with four sacks and 12.5 tackles for loss two years ago, and made 39 tackles with two sacks as a sophomore. Extremely quick, he’s the game-changer the team desperately missed throughout 2019.
2. LB Rashie Hodge, Sr.
3. LB Devin Richardson, Jr.
4. S Jason Simmons, Soph.
5. LB Matthew Young, Sr.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: New Mexico State Aggies Keys To The Season
College Football News Preview 2020: New Mexico State Aggies Keys To The Season
Biggest Key To The New Mexico State Aggies Offense
There have to be more big plays down the field, and at the same time the turnovers have to stop.
New Mexico State didn’t do itself any favors with 27 giveaways – it gave it up 25 two years ago – with three or more in seven games.
15 of those turnovers were interceptions, but somehow the passing attack has to take more shots down the field. The Aggies only averaged 5.9 yards per attempt and a paltry 9.39 yards per catch. Only nine teams averaged more yards per attempt.
Biggest Key To The New Mexico State Aggies Defense
The run defense has to be far, far better. It wasn’t the worst in America, but it was close. It allowed 3,110 yards and over six yards per carry. It gave up 35 touchdowns with two or more in every game but two, and it was hammered for 199 yards or more in nine games.
The program has lost its last 12 games against FBS teams when allowing 200 yards or more – beating UTEP in the middle to 2018 – and now it has to be merely bad, not horrific.
UMass was the only other team to allow more than six yards per carry, and ULM and UMass were the only other teams to give up more than 250 yards per game.
Key New Mexico State Aggies Player To A Successful Season
QB Jonah Johnson, Jr.
The team needs a steady quarterback who not only makes the offense go, but doesn’t make a whole slew of mistakes. Johnson is a transfer from Fresno City College where he became a dual-threat playmaker. With concerns at all the skill spots, the 6-2, 220-pounder has to step up.
Key Game To The New Mexico State Aggies Season
at UMass, Nov. 7
As this is being written, the date at UMass might be the only one that’s relatively secure if the college footballs season goes off. It’s the first ever meeting between the two independents, and they’re both in the same boat.
The schedule is up in the air, but there’s supposed to be a week off before going to Amherst for a true 50/50 game the Aggies need to win – they need to have a little fun this year.
– New Mexico State Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2019 New Mexico State Fun Stats
– Touchdowns Scored: Opponents 61 – New Mexico State 33
– 4th Down Conversions: Opponents 8-of-11 (73%) – New Mexico State 16-of-26 (62%)
– Sacks: Opponents 31 for 202 yards – New Mexico State 15 for 105 yards
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: New Mexico State Aggies Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
1. College Football News Preview 2020: New Mexico State Aggies Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
God bless New Mexico State head coach Doug Martin.
No one has done more to fight the good fight, dealing with seven seasons at Kent State before trying to turn around the even more impossible New Mexico State program. He got the 7-6 campaign with a bowl win in 2017 – the only winning season in his 14-year career – and he keeps on plugging away to try making Aggie football consistently okay.
The skill players are undergoing an overhaul, and the defense has to go from miserable to non-miserable, but this season is about getting the pieces in place to potentially come back loaded with veterans for 2021.
In this strangest of off-seasons, all bets are off when it comes to the schedule depending on what the conferences all do. There’s a chance a whole slew of places come calling at the last second, and the Aggies have to be ready.
All of a sudden, life as an independent is a problem.
If most of the schedule goes off close to normal, there are a slew of games the team can at least be competitive in, with the goal to get to four wins for the second time since 2011.
Martin and New Mexico State are owed a little bit of consistent success.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– Schedule Analysis
