New Mexico Football Report

NMSU 49  Sacramento St. Univ. 19


At every level of competitive football from Pee Wees to High School, College & Pro, a 49-19 win is what you would call a blowout. Yet, after the game Aggie head coach DeWayne Walker and Qb. Andrew Manley were almost apologetic about the Aggie's weak running game. ""We can't throw the ball every down, so we have to open up that run," said Manley. ""It's a win. I'm not going to sit here and say I'm unhappy" added Coach Walker.

Perhaps keeping it all in perspective (The Sac St. Hornets are an FCS club that plays in The Big Sky) Coach Walker continued, "Forty-nine to 19, anytime you score 49 points and give up 19 to anybody, you're supposed to be happy, but I agree with you .... We gotta get our run game going. Defensively, we played in spurts .... At the end of the day, it's 49-19"  The Aggies rushed for 101 yds. on 40 carries, last year that was an average game for Kenny Turner.

The brilliant emergence of Kenny Turner (a converted wide receiver) pulled the NMSU running game out of the doldrums in 2011. Turner, a Junior at the age of 27, had an odd back story.   Whenever you see someone that old on a FBS roster, you assume they're Mormons back from a two year mission or armed forces veterans. Neither was the case for Turner, he had to come back after serving a five year prison sentence.

 At age 16, Turner was charged with second degree aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and sentenced to prison as an adult. Upon his release he enrolled at Fullerton College in California and then signed with NMSU. During 2011 he rushed for 1,074 (4.9 avg. per carry) and 10 td's, 46 receptions for 514 yards. He decided to forgo his Senior year to enter the NFL draft,  unfortunately Turner went undrafted.

What the Aggies need is another Kenny Turner, or for that matter another WR like Taveon Rogers ( he's in camp with the Bengals who have converted him to cornerback) Austin Franklin who emerged late in the 2011 season, is ready to step into Taveon's shoes, he had 8 receptions for 236 yards and two td's (both for long yardage, 53 & 84 yds.) Qb. Andrew Manley picked up where he left off last season (he was injured during the UTEP game) 

Manley led NMSU's pass happy attack that accumulated 367 yards. Though, Andrew was quick to say, "We just have to keep working on it .... We do want to run the ball more and have more rushing yards to help us out." What Manley really meant is, take away the big plays and this game would have been a whole lot tighter. When they weren't striking deep, the Aggie offense did struggle to sustain drives and that is bothersome.  

Perhaps what kept the Aggies from fully enjoying their big win, was the miserable third quarter suffered by their defense. The Sac St. Hornets bullied the Aggie defense for 400 yards total offense to close the gap to 28-19. That would be as close as the Hornets would get, Garrett Safron, the Sac St. Qb. fumbled near his own 40 yd. line, the Aggies recovered and scored during the ensuing possession. NMSU then ran off 21 unanswered points. 

Sac St. head coach Marshall Sperbeck said the Hornets gave the game away "I felt like we missed some chances – let's put it that way"  Sorry coach! what really happened was that Sac St. got knocked the fuck out!  The final was  49-19, the only real chance they had was when the score was still 0-0.  Sac State trailed early because of NMSU's explosive passing game. Each of the Aggies' four first-half td drives had a pass of at least 50 yards.

The Aggies exploited an unprepared Hornet secondary. Sac State LB Todd Davis was surprised by the Aggies' big passing plays. "I wasn't expecting them to go so deep," said Davis, who noted that he hadn't seen film of Manley. Hey!,  maybe the Hornets were expecting to see Travaughn Colwell.  Could it be that Sperbeck and his staff have never heard of YouTube, Yahoo Sports or the internet?

Once the smoke cleared and the dust settled, it was a good season opener for NMSU. Next  on the schedule is a murderous road game to take on the Ohio University Bobcats of the MAC. That's the hard hitting Ohio Univ. Bobcats, coached by Frank Solich who beat Utah St. in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in 2011 (they pounded the Aggies 44-24 in Las Cruces) "There's some things we've got to get fixed," Walker said without a hint of sarcasm "before we play a very good Ohio team."

I take my leave with a poem that appeared in The Athens (Oh.) Messenger and Herald newspaper in 1897 to celebrate an Ohio University win over West Virginia Univ.

And they came and they were conquer'd 

With swift dispatch and ease,

And they felt that twinging sorrow which

In vain they could appease

Thought not that woe awaited them

Across Ohio's stream.

And like the poet found that things

Aren't ever what they seem.

Proud and boasting came they hither

To wrestle for the goals

Which they found almost as quickly

As disembodied souls.

Badly battered left they homeward

In vain could they conceal

The awful havoc of their bucks

'Gainst O.U.'s pointed steel:

No respect, I tells ya'.... no respect at all!