Texas A&M Football: Three Reasons the Aggies Will Beat New Mexico

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Nov 26, 2022; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies wide receiver Evan Stewart (1) celebrates a touchdown catch by wide receiver Moose Muhammad III (7) against the LSU Tigers during the second half at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /

College football is officially back, and we are just under 24 hours away from Texas A&M football finally putting toe to leather for the first time in the 2023 season, beginning what will hopefully be a campaign that very effectively erases the painful memory of the 2022 season. The opponent against whom they will be kicking off the season? None other than the New Mexico Lobos.

While the Lobos are not exactly a team that is dreaded and feared around FBS (to say the least), they are certainly a team that poses specific challenges to a squad like the Aggies. That said, however, the Aggies are far more talented, possessing a completely different level of athlete than UNM. But mere talent enough isn’t all it takes to win a game—a fact with which Aggie fans are all-too-familiar by this point. So let’s take a look at three reasons Texas A&M football will take home the win versus New Mexico.

Texas A&M Football’s OC Bobby Petrino Will Call A Great Game

Bar none, the biggest storyline for the Aggies this year, and one of the biggest in all of college football, is the fit and ability of the new OC for Texas A&M football, Bobby Petrino. All eyes will be fixed squarely on College Station to see whether the offense will finally start reaching the potential of its constituent parts—something it has failed to do each of the last two years at least.

Petrino will have his work cut out for him when facing off against this New Mexico defensive scheme. The Lobos run an aggressive 3-3-5 look and will attack opposing offenses with all manner of stunts, blitzes, and exotic looks up front to throw their foes off-balance. This can serve as quite the equalizer if the offense in question is not ready to face it; but it can also play right into a shrewd OC’s hands.

Look at the national championship last year. TCU ran a very similar scheme to what we will see out of New Mexico tomorrow, and UGA tore them to shreds—not only because of superior talent, but also the amount of misdirection that former Bulldog OC Todd Monken incorporated. If Petrino can turn the tables on this aggressive scheme, causing the Lobo defense to be the ones off-balance, then we will see chunk play after chunk play for the Aggie offense. I for one think he opens things up in style on Saturday, with
a deep shot to Evan Stewart on the first drive.