Minnesota Football: Gophers Hit the Road to Face New Mexico State - OPEN THREAD

TV: not on TV locally, Fox Sports Arizona Plus (DirecTV 695) and on tape delay on FSN
Internet: BTN2Go
Game Time: 7:00 PM
Radio: 100.3 FM, 1130 AM

The big story here is that this game is going to be really difficult to see here. No live TV locally unless you have the DirecTV Sports Pack. But I'll be watching on BTN2Go (unless I can find a Buffalo Wild Wings airing it or something). The other non-football story here is that this is the game that replaced North Carolina on the schedule. But that is all in the past and it is time to get a win over a weak FBS Independent team.

After keeping things relatively close for 2 quarters the Aggies were then pounded by Texas last week. In fact NMSU led UT late in the 2nd quarter 7-0, they then proceeded to give up 56 unanswered points and in total gave up over 700 yards of offense.

The Stats

3 Keys

Offensive rhythm - The offense never seemed to be in a good rhythm last week. I am willing to give them a pass due to it being the first live game of the year and facing a defense with a new defensive coordinator so they had to adjust on the fly. The offense wasn't totally inept, there were things that worked well and they did manage to score 4 touchdowns on their own. But it there is room for improvement at every position. I'd like to see a crisper offense that is capable of getting 200 yards of offense through the air.

Defensive line domination - Texas had 6 tackles for a loss and 2 sacks as they held the Aggies to 104 yards of rushing only. I'm going to assume that they have a quick passing attack, but I'd like to see a few sacks by the defensive line.

Moar Turnovers - I'd like to see a couple more picks for the defense and few (if any) turnovers for the offense. As long as we don't give them multiple extra opportunities to score I think it would be very difficult to lose this one.

Bring on the Saturday night game that I get to watch on my laptop.