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New Mexico State football is preparing for its toughest challenge this season.
The Aggies plays at another set of Aggies ― No. 14 Texas A&M ― at 5:45 p.m. Saturday. NM State earned a 31-10 win last season over Auburn in its latest SEC trip, but College Football Playoff-contending A&M presents a significantly tougher challenge.
Few coaches show fear though, and Aggies coach Tony Sanchez certainly isn’t one of them.
“They’re fighting to get into the playoffs. It’s a big deal for them,” Sanchez said on Monday. “We know it’s a challenge, but at the same time, we’re not afraid of the challenge. Our guys are ready to go. We’re ready to go scrap and we’ll see what happens on Saturday.”
Sanchez was complementary of A&M’s first-year coach Mike Elko, calling him a great hire and praising his decision to change from Conner Weigman to Marcel Reed at quarterback. He’s also doing everything he can to beat Elko’s team, from letting his players see Kyle Field on Friday for adjusting to the 102,733-capacity stadium, to emphasizing takeaways.
NM State (2-7, 1-5 Conference USA) believe the latter is something they can’t beat A&M (7-2, 5-1 SEC) without. NM State earned two takeaways in a 41-28 defeat to Western Kentucky last Saturday after going all of October without one, and hopes its defense plays “as one” in College Station.
“We just need to communicate better,” said senior safety Da’Marcus Crosby. We gotta be on the same page and trust one another. I feel like we are really starting to understand each other better and start to understand the scheme… we just got to start running our feet on tackles, on contact, punching at the ball, and being physical at the point of attack.”
Bet MGM has NM State as a 39.5-point underdog as of Monday afternoon, which would make a victory the third-largest point-spread upset in college football…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/were-not-afraid-mexico-state-230816981.html
Author : Las Cruces Sun-News
Publish date : 2024-11-11 23:08:16
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