Texas A&M Football: New Mexico Halftime Thoughts

Half of the first game is gone for Texas A&M football, and we saw quite a bit from the Aggies—both good and bad.

I loved what I saw from the passing game, but the defense had its struggles. They allowed the Lobos to control the ball far too much, despite only giving up 7 points. The rush defense was boom-or-bust, finally allowing that 27-yard TD against what was a dreadful rushing offense last year. Yes, this is a new-look team and new OC, but the Aggie players were too out of position on that play.

But for however much this Texas A&M football team disappointed on defense, they shone on offense. The UNM defensive backs stood no chance against the Aggie receivers, and the Petrino/Weigman combo took full advantage of that matchup, connecting on long balls and drawing more than one pass interference flag. Weigman looked good under pressure, too, completing a ball to Jahdae Walker with a man right in his face.

This was one of the big questions we had after he underperformed behind a leaky OL in 2023. The touch he displayed, especially on deep balls like his second TD to Noah Thomas, was a refreshing sight.

https://twitter.com/AggieFootball/status/1698125388470513995?s=20

In fact, the vertical passing game overall was a refreshing sight for Texas A&M football fans. Weigman pushed the ball downfield several times, connecting more often than not. Noah Thomas and Evan Stewart showed their quality, making contested and difficult catches. They, along with Ainias Smith and Moose Muhammad, will be difficult covers for every team the Aggies face this year.

Anyone who still bought into the idea that Jimbo was still calling the plays should be corrected of that notion by this point.

Ainias Smith showed his ability on a long punt return and almost broke free for a touchdown, but it was brought back after an unnecessary roughness penalty against Martrell Harris. The Aggies would put the ball in the end zone behind some great runs by Amari Daniels, finally crossing the goal line with Leveon Moss and the heavy package. That made four straight scoring drives for Texas A&M football.

The Aggies would get the ball back one more time before the half, and it would be the sole drive of the half where they would fail to get a touchdown. Instead, kicker Randy Bond would have a long field goal attempt from 48 yards blocked to cement Texas A&M football’s 35-3 lead before the half.

Lots of highlights and things to be encouraged by in this first half. The Aggies have already surpassed their scoring total against the Lobos from 2 years ago, and have a whole half to pile on even more.