Texas A&M Football: Aggies make big statistical strides vs New Mexico

Texas A&M football beat New Mexico on Saturday. The Lobos aren’t a powerhouse, but the Aggies showed significant improvement on both sides of the ball.

More: 3 Takeaways from Aggies’ win over New Mexico

The offense looked different under quarterback Nick Starkel. Some would say it had that Starkel sparkle. He went crazy this past week, going 21-30 for 416 yards and four touchdowns in one half of play. That doesn’t happen often, no matter the opponent.

If you dig a bit deeper into Texas A&M history the Aggies have had a freshmen quarterbacks throw for more than 400 yards once. Johnny did it against Arkansas. That’s it. New Mexico isn’t Arkansas (S&P+ has New Mexico 104th and Arkansas 99th this year), but the offense was alive and well in Kyle Field on Saturday.

Around the country, there were plenty of teams that made huge leaps in S&P+. Michigan State, after a 48-3 drubbing from Ohio State, went down 17 spots. Iowa free fell 20 spots after losing to Wisconsin, New Mexico went down 19 spots (I wonder what happened there), and Rutgers went down 14 as well.

In the opposite direction, the Texas A&M Aggies were the biggest risers of the week, going up from an S&P+ rating of -.4 (just below average) to 2.5 (above average). That brought the Aggies from 72nd to 57th. Don’t forget, S&P+ is adjusted for opponent as well, so the rankings are fully aware it was New Mexico. Ole Miss was the other big riser, coming up 14 points. They are now ranked 51st, and it should be a close, fun game this weekend.