College Football Predictions – New Mexico St Aggies 2019 College Football Preview
2018 Recap
Record – 3-9
ATS – 3-9
What goes up, must come down.
The Aggies were coming off a wonderful season in which they won their first bowl game since 1960 but couldn’t get things rolling and finished with just three wins. It wasn’t easy starting with games vs Wyoming, Minnesota, and Utah St, but they should have found a few more wins on the schedule.
Take a walk with us and find out if the Aggies have what it takes to make another post-season appearance.
2019 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating
Independents – #5
New Mexico St Aggies 2019 Outlook
OFFENSE
The QB play was fairly rotten last year BUT there is hope on the horizon. True freshman Josh Adkins looked pretty good when given the opportunity and the Aggies just might have a SURPRISE PACKAGE under center this year. Adkins should be able to MATRICULATE the ball effectively down the field when necessary, even with the departure of #1 WR Johnathan Boone (59-715 LY) as the Aggies still have a deep WR corps. New Mexico St is even better shape at RB with the return of a solid 1-2 combo (Christian Gibson, Jason Huntley) that combined for over 1,000 yards rushing and 13 TDs on the ground a season ago. The OL needs to do some better work as they yielded 40 sacks and paved the way for a paltry 105 YPG on the ground in 2018.
With a more seasoned QB it seems reasonable to expect that the Aggies will have a bit more scoring punch (25.3 PPG LY).
DEFENSE
The Aggies struggled mightily last season and allowed a horrifying 41.3 PPG (#126 FBS) just a year after they were pretty good (29.7 PPG in 2017). A big reason for the drop-off was a LITANY of injuries and suspensions, and hopefully things will be better in that regard this year. We like the look of the DL (3 returning starters) and keep in mind that the Aggies have tallied an impressive 71 sacks over the past two campaigns. Leading tackler MLB Javahn Fergurson (132) is back for one more year and the secondary boasts a pair of senior CBs.
These guys are still going to have problems with the better offenses on their schedule, but it’s reasonable to expect a TD+ improvement in scoring defense.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The kicking game appears sketchy BUT the good news is that star KR returner Jason Huntley is a TD waiting to happen. Last season Huntley returned THREE kickoffs for TDs (22 returns).
Schedule Analysis
Overall – It looks pretty difficult. Check it out, yo. They start with road games at Washington St and ROLL TIDE and a home game with San Diego St. There are some winnable games on the docket but it looks like they will have to SHOCK THE WORLD and pull a least a pair of upsets to get back to bowl season.
Potential ATS Trouble Spot – San Diego St (September 14)
The Aggies will be coming off a BLUDGEONING at the hands of ROLL TIDE and have their biggest game of the year on deck (New Mexico rivalry).
Season Win Total
Over 3.5 -130
Under 3.5 +110
MEGALOCKS says:
It wouldn’t surprise us to see them get to four wins. The last three games are all winnable (Incarnate Word, UTEP, at Liberty). No play for now, but we lean to the ‘under’ if you can find a rogue ‘4.5’ in the market.
MEGAmazing Tidbits
MEGALOCKS ATS Outlook: Neutral
It’s going to be really challenging to recreate the magic from the 2017 season. There is talent on both sides of the football but their schedule doesn’t do them any favors. Hopefully they can avoid the dreaded injury bug and give themselves an outside shot to achieve bowl eligibility heading into November.
Want more New Mexico St Football ?
WEBSITE
http://nmstatesports.com/index.aspx?path=football
FORUM
https://csnbbs.com/forum-378.html
NEWS
http://www.lcsun-news.com/sports/nmsu-sports/
http://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/166/new-mexico-state-aggies
http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/teams/new-mexico-st-aggies
http://bleacherreport.com/new-mexico-state-football
http://www.lcsun-news.com/sports/nmsu-sports/
TWITTER
Hashtags – #AggieUp, #MakeAPlay, #A3
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