Spring practices are in the books and
fall camps will be here before you know it so that means
getting an early jump on the 2006 NCAA football season.
Knowing the teams now will save you time in August and Matt
Fargo is here to help you get a grasp of what to expect this
upcoming year. We go from worst to first in this 2006
College Football Preview.
Fargo’s Take A high-flying passing attack was supposed to
happen for the Aggies in 2005 but it never got off the
ground. This was a triple option team the year prior so
trying to completely revamp the offense in one year was a
stretch. Things should be better in the second year of the
Hal Mumme experiment but it’s the defense that is the bigger
concern. The Aggies were next to last in total defense and
116th in scoring defense, giving up 38.8 ppg. The stop unit
should improve with six starters coming back, five of which
are seniors but in order for this team to be successful, it
will have to improve immensely. This will be New Mexico
St.’s second year in the WAC where anything is possible so
if the offense can find a groove, this could be a fun team
to watch with a fair share of shootouts taking place. It is
almost assured that this team will not be winless again
since two 1-AA teams are on the schedule but a couple other
wins within the conference must be attained or Mumme could
be in trouble only after two years.
Returning Starters on Offense – 8 The Mumme aerial show
never happened in 2005 as the offense tallied more than 30
points on only one occasion, which ended up being a
one-point loss to Idaho. The best athlete on the offense,
Paul Dombrowski, is gone but the rest of the receiving corps
remains intact for new quarterback Chase Holbrook, who has
the tools and the size to be a star. He sat out last year
because of transfer regulations but he played under Mumme at
Southeastern Louisiana so even though he is a sophomore, he
has been in this system for three seasons. The running game
gets everyone back and will be led by Justine Buries, who
rushed for 779 yards and five touchdowns in the limited
running attack offense.
Returning Starters on Defense – 6 This is where the Aggies
need to get better quickly and the going might be tough
despite the return of six very experienced starters, a key
thing to remember when making your
college football picks.
Replacing NCAA leading tackler Jimmy Cottrell will be
impossible and his leadership will be sorely missed. Even
though the defense lost three starting linebackers in total,
the depth and experience at that position is still fairly
strong. It needs to be as this team allowed 216.3 ypg on the
ground last year, 6th worst in the country. The secondary is
another concern with Matt Griebel needing to be replaced at
free safety. Playing in the WAC means facing a lot of
excellent passing teams so getting into too many shootouts
will not be beneficial.
Schedule The schedule last year did the Aggies no favors as
non-conference games against UTEP, Colorado, New Mexico and
Cal started them out 0-4 and left them barely breathing.
Colorado and Cal are out and SE Louisiana and Texas Southern
are in so New Mexico St. should be 2-1 heading into its bye.
The two best chances for WAC victories are against Idaho and
Utah St. but both of those come on the road. This is the
first time in the history of the school that the Aggies will
have seven home games so there could be some surprises in
the mix especially when the schedule has only four teams
that made it to a bowl game in 2005.
You can bet on… Two wins. If the Aggies cannot grab both of
those wins against the 1-AA teams, they have no right
playing in 1-A. With the easy slate and seven home contests,
New Mexico St. has a legitimate shot at four or five wins
but the preseason ranking is still near the bottom because
they haven’t proved anything yet. It could very well turn
into another catastrophe if Holbrook can’t get the job done.
New Mexico St. was one of the worst teams against the spread
last season, covering only twice and losing money in its
last eight games. As bad as this team was, they were getting
single digits in their last three contests but don’t expect
to see that this year.
