Oppo Notes: New Mexico St. Coaching, Offense & Special Teams

As Bellerophon pointed out in the defensive preview yesterday, New Mexico St. is a historically bad program. How bad? The Aggies haven't been to a bowl game since 1960, and the 51 year bowl drought is the longest in FBS. Given the state of the program, it isn't surprising that President Garrey Carruthers has publically stated the possibility of dropping football to the FCS level.

The current staff is led by head coach Doug Martin, who served as offensive coordinator at Boston College last year. Martin previously served as HC for Kent State from 2004-2010, where he tallied a 29-53 record. The coordinators are OC Gregg Brandon, who brings 32 years of experience, and DC David Elson, who is in in his first year as coordinator.

NMSU has played three games, and while the offense has proven more productive than the defense, it is by no means a dangerous offense. The offense is putting up 16.3 PPG, 367 YPG split between 102 rushing and 265 passing, and has turned the ball over 8 times.

While the numbers aren't spectacular, NMSU has done some good things offensively. Namely, the short passing game has only allowed 4 sacks and the quarterbacks are completing 67% of their passes. NMSU will start Fr. King Davis III, who is replacing Sr. Andrew McDonald for his first career start. Davis III has performed well in his opportunities this year, completing 14/23 passes for 210 yards with 1 touchdown and no interceptions. Davis III also has 6 carries for 60 yards, and one of the reasons for the switch is Davis III's ability to make plays on the ground.

NMSU spreads the ball around in the passing game very well. So. Joshua Bowen leads the team with 16 catches for 150 yards and 1 touchdown. Jr. Jordan Bergstrom is second on the team with 13 catches for 96 yards. Bowen is 5'10 175 lbs., and Bergstrom is 5'11 180 lbs., but NMSU does have some good size in receivers Jr. Joseph Matthews(6'2 203 lbs.) and Jr. Jerrel Brown (6'0 190 lbs.), who are also productive with 10 catches for 146 yards and 7 catches for 136 yards and 1 touchdown, respectively. NMSU will also utilize running back Jr. Brandon Betancourt in the passing game. Betancourt has 8 catches for 98 yards and 1 touchdwon.

The running game is led by Sr. Germi Morrison, who has struggled gaininig 105 yards on 39 carries for 2.6 ypc. Morrison does have 2 touchdowns, but the 6'0 207 lbs. Calfornia product would like to get back to last year's production level when he averaged nearly 5 ypc. Betancourt's role is as a third down back, as evidenced by his 8 receptions, but the 5'10 187 lbs. running back also has 19 carries for 37 yards and 1 touchdown.

As mentioned above, the offensive line has done a good job holding opponents to only four sacks, but has struggled in the running game and the team is only gaining a little over 3 yards per rush, and opponents have made 17 tackles for loss for a total of 64 lost yards.

Placekicker Jr. Maxwell Johnson is 7/7 on XP's and has not attempted a FG yet this year. Punter Sr. Cayle Chapman-Brown has gotten a bit more action, punting 19 times for an average of 43 yards per punt. The return game has decent numbers, with kick returner Jr. Adam Shapiro averaging a little over 20 yards per return and Sr. Darien Johnson averaging 12 yards per punt return.

That concludes Part II of the New Mexico St. preview. Chime in with any additional thoughts and comments.