Fall Camp Is Over, Game Week Begins

It is now Sunday, game week for our first game of the season on September 5 against New Mexico. The football team had a good, early workout Friday at 6:30 a.m. They now have two days off before they begin preparations for the New Mexico game on Monday.

With two-a-days over, the players are probably ready for this much needed break, just so they can relax and refresh before the real fun of the season begins. Practices during the season are never as long as practices during two-a-days, so the longest practices are over; they've made it.

New Mexico does present an interesting test, as they have a new coaching staff headed up by former Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley. If what he did at Illinois is any indication, we can expect New Mexico to run a spread option attack similar to what Wake Forest runs. It won't be the zone read-option we ran under Fran, because it doesn't use 21 and 22 personnel as much; it is more of a 10 or 11 personnel attack, with the triple option being created by a motioning wide receiver. Wake Forest calls this back the Orbit Back, because he goes into orbit motion around the QB and TB to get to the pitch relationship. To stop this running game, you need to play disciplined, assignemtn football. Illinois was able to be successful with this attack in 2007 because they had Juice Williams at QB, Arrelious Benn at WR, and Rashard Mendenhall at TB. It looks like this New Mexico team will start Donovan Porterie at QB, and possibly Roland Bruno and Bryant Williams at WR. They should be a little easier to stop than the Benn/Williams/Mendenhall triumvirate. I also expect New Mexico to spread the ball around in their passing game, and try to create space in the defense for them to open up the running game.

The Lobos have already begun preparing for the A&M game, and putting in their gameplan, so our coaching staff has their work cut out for them.

The Aggies should have the speed and (hopefully) the depth on defense to stop New Mexico's offense. If we struggle in any large part during our opening game, it will not be a positive sign for this season.

It is a new season, and right now the Aggies are undefeated. Time to get your game face on, and get ready to support the Aggies as they try to progress as a team, improve on last year's record, have a winning season, and make a bowl game.