Sacramento State at New Mexico State--This matchup comes between two
4-win teams from 2011 with Sacramento State going 4-7 and New Mexico State
going 4-9. The Hornets played a much different schedule being a FCS school but
pulled out a season opening win over Oregon State so they are dangerous. New
Mexico improved in 2011 and have a very effective passing game that will be
hard for the Hornet defense to stop.
Offense: Sacramento State struggled on offense in 2011 only scoring
23.7 points per game on the season. The rushing attack was serviceable running
for 164 yards per game to go along with a 4.7 yards per carry average. Passing
was a bit more difficult as the Hornets passed for 176 yards per game. The
Hornet offense totaled 30 touchdowns on the season. The New Mexico State Aggies
had one of the better passing attacks in the nation in 2011 with 273 yards
coming in the air per game, good for 26th best in the nation last fall. The
Aggie rushing attack was nowhere near as successful. The rushing attack was
good for 123 yards per game but only 3.5 yards per carry putting them in the
bottom 1/3 of all rushing attacks in the FBS. EDGE: New Mexico State
Defense: Sacramento State was not horrible on defense but struggled to
make many needed stops to win games. The Hornets gave up 27.4 points per game
and 33 offensive touchdowns by their opponents. Opponents were able to run for
4.1 yards per carry and 167 yards per game to go along with 209 yards passing
per game. New Mexico State was horrible on defense in 2011 to say the least.
The Aggie defense gave up 37.8 points per game, which was the 8th worst scoring
defense in the nation. The Aggies gave up 5.4 yards per carry and 204 yards on
the ground to go along with 253 yards in the air. Huge changes must be made for
the Aggies to be successful on defense. EDGE: Sacramento State
Coaching: Marshall Sperbeck is the head coach of the Sacramento State
Hornets. This is his 6th year with the program where he has amassed a 24-32
record in his previous 5 years. The Hornets have not made the playoffs yet
under Sperbeck's watch and have losing records in 3 of the 5 years under
Sperbeck. DeWayne Walker is the head coach of the New Mexico State Aggies.
Walker has been coaching since 1988 where he started at Mount San Antonio CC
and coached there from 1988-1992. After Mount San Antonio, Walker coached at
Utah State, BYU, Oklahoma State, California, New England Patriots, USC, New
York Giants, Washington Redskins, and UCLA before finally getting his first
head coaching job at New Mexico State in 2009. Walker was the interim coach for
his final game at UCLA where the bruins lost in the Las Vegas Bowl. Since
Walker took over the Aggie program, NMSU has gone 9-29 with two 10-loss seasons
and a 4-19 conference record as a member of the WAC. EDGE: Push
This is the first meeting between the two programs.
This is the matchup of a mid to lower level FBS program versus a mid to
lower level FCS program. New Mexico State has a great passing offense but a
horrible defense and tends to get into situations in which they must put up
many points to win. Sacramento State is much more comfortable in a lower
scoring game that is slowed down and decided in the 4th quarter. The danger for
the Aggies is if they allow the Hornets to hang around to the final quarter
within a touchdown. The Hornets showed in 2011 that when they are allowed to
hang around, they know how to win as evidenced by their 29-28 opening day win
versus Oregon State. The passing game of New Mexico State should be enough to
overcome a very porous defense and allow the Aggies to win by at least 10-14
points in the end.
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