First off, let me say that 41-6 is 41-6.  Offense scored a ton of points and the defense pitched a shutout related to touchdowns.  Not much more can you ask for coming off a 4-8 season and with as much as youth as the Aggies ran out there on Saturday night.  Great win, great feeling knowing you whipped the opponent who came into Kyle.  It’s still New Mexico (I bet Fran was confused on who to root for) but we didn’t see anything near this last year.  Kudos to Sherman and the players.

I’m just going to hit random bullets for each phase of the game.

Offense:

• Statistically JJ had an AMAZING game and he did.  The only thing I would fault him for is he’s not real good in the short game.  He had 3-4 passes where he had a guy wide open less than 15-20 yards away from him and he either floated it or put in the dirt.  He’s got to complete those if he wants to be great.  Regardless, he had a great game.  The other amazing thing that JJ can do is roll to his left and get off a great pass.  That’s a pretty special trait.
• Jeff Fuller is a flat out stud.  What’s amazing about him last night is that I think he caught 11 balls but it was so workman like.  No big plays.  He just went out and played ball.  That’s honestly what we need out of him.  Chewing up 4-15 yards a catch will do this offense more good than last year where it seemed like he and JJ just wanted to play the long ball.  He needs to draw the double teams but still be able to keep the ball moving.  He didn’t really draw many double teams last night but he kept the ball moving.  Great game for him.  His TD was a thing of beauty.  For whatever reason UNM decided to run zone coverage on that play.  JJ realized it and simply hit Jeff on his cut for a TD.  You can’t run zone on JJ in the red zone.  Great game for Fuller.
• Tanneyhill (sic) is unreal.  He probably saw 10 snaps but 3 of those were converting 3^rd downs of longer than 7 yards.  His knack for finding the defenses weak spot is unreal.  He might just be better reading the defense on the sideline and then coming in to exploit them.  I think it was obvious by Saturday night that he wants to be on the field.  I think there’s an outside chance that he could be our starting QB at some point this season (not due to injury – I just worry about JJ against the better defenses like you saw down the stretch last year) but the kid is a flat out baller.  I’ve NEVER seen anyone come off the bench on a 3^rd and long and convert it like him.  It’s unreal.  He comes off the bench, gets a first, and heads back to the sidelines.  Unreal.
• All of the freshman receivers looked solid.  EZ looked the best but that’s mainly because he got the most PT.  Brandal looked good and Kenric had a nice TD reception.  Kudos to Sherman and his staff for getting these kids and getting them coached up.
• Evidently Bradley Stephens had a solid run in the 4^th quarter.  Don’t know as I elected to hit the tailgate and the end of the OU/BYU game about mid-way through the 4^th quarter.  Blame Bill Byrne as not ONCE during the game did I get an update on the Baylor or Tech game and only got first half reports of the OU game.  For some reason they were running the scores of the other Big XII opponents but not the South.  That’s why I left early as I like to be a well rounded college football fan.  Plus, there was beer at the tailgate.  I’m probably more of a fan of beer than college football but they’re neck and neck.  Either way I’m mad at Bill for keeping those Big XII scores from me.
• Running game took a while to get on track which I’ll hit on later but Cyrus Gray looked decent.
• Christine Michael – BOY HOWDY!!!  If you follow recruiting you’ll know that it’s uncertain if we got him because we recruited him the hardest or because tu and LSU really never showed him the love.  If it’s the latter then Les and Mack are IDIOTS!  Most of you know my man love for Mike Goodson (Did you know he once outran the Miami MFen’ Defense) and Christine is on that level.  He’s different than Mike in Christine has this acceleration that Mike didn’t have and a spin move that’s out of control.  In addition, his pad height is low which I hear gives Big Sherm a Big Wood.  I feel bad for Cyrus and Bradley as you can’t keep this kid off the field.  I truly feel like we’re looking at a first round pick in a few years like Knowshown Moreno.  I don’t think there’s a freshman (true or RS) in the Big XII on CMike’s level.  Sometimes you’re good and get kids like this and sometimes you’re lucky.  I don’t care how we got him as I’m just glad he’s in maroon.
• Now is where we get to the negatives and it’s called the offense line.  Despite the 41 points the greatest thing that bothered me was the play in the first half.  We came out in the no huddle and obviously had UNM on the heels not expecting it as we easily scored on the first drive.  After that drive we kept trying to establish the run and UNM wouldn’t let us.  Not good, folks.  Our Oline could not establish the run game against a decent UNM DLine.  That’s a serious concern.  We really struggled offensively after that first drive but luckily we were able to open it up with the pass and off we went.
• Individually the best performer might be Mike Shumard as I didn’t see him make any mistakes.  Of course, he might have simply been helping all night which doesn’t hurt as you don’t get exposed.
• Matt Allen is apparently in the running for the Aldo DeLaGarza Transfer Achievement Award.  This award is for an OL transfer that came from a major program that never lived up to the hype.  It was his first game as an Aggie so he deserves a break but if he doesn’t clean up his act then he’s going to be on that level with Aldo.  I think he was responsible for 4 calls resulting in 40 yards of penalties.  That ain’t good folks.  In addition there were a few time I saw him either whiff on a blitz pick up or whiff on a defender when pulling.  That’s not what you want with a guard.
• Grimey played most of the game except for one play where he got hurt on the previous play on the sidelines.  It still confuses me on how Sherman thinks he can shirt Scales and Barrera with the classes he has coming in.  Grimey actually played a decent game but I don’t think he’s going to be able to hold up all season.  Let’s realize that and get ready for it.
• Danny Baker actually did pretty decent.  A former player told me he’s the meanest guy on the OLine and that’s good enough for me.  He won’t be all Big XII but if he can hold the fort for a season until Scales or Matthews is ready then that’s okay with me.  He didn’t look great but he did look better than any LT we had last season so it’s all relative.
• I hate saying this because his brother is such a great recruit but I’d be shocked if Patrick Lewis isn’t our starting center by the middle of the season.  Kevin Matthews is decent enough but he just doesn’t have the physical strength even though he does have great technique.  UNM shaded him the entire game and did a number on him for the most part.  Kevin did well enough but he was definitely on the receiving end most of the night.  I worry what other Big XII teams are going to do to him.  Kevin would be fine under most circumstances but I think Pat Lewis is just that big of a stud at the C position.  I’m just saying don’t be shocked to see Lewis starting at some point this season.
• We all know this but it was painfully obvious on Saturday night that this OL still has a ways to go.  The coaches did do a nice job utilizing the power sweep to the short side after a big gain using the no huddle and I really think that helped open up the running game.  Not sure we can simply establish a between the tackles type game with this crew.  Against lesser teams yes, but most of the Big XII opponents are going to be pretty tough to get it going.  If Sherman is going to be bull headed about establishing it like he was last year then he’s going to lose 2 games he shouldn’t.  For this team, the pass has to set up the run.
• Did I tell you I went for beer in the 4^th quarter so I can’t really write about the second teamers?

Defense:

For those of you that subscribed to my service last year (okay, didn’t tell me to quit wasting your time) you’ll know I ALWAYS claimed Joe Kines got a bad rap.  I always talked about how Kines essentially pitched to contact and essentially got clowned because the offensive side of the equation couldn’t get a first down exposing his defense to too much time on the field and feeling beaten before it was over.

Well Joe Kines pitched a beauty Saturday night thanks to the offense staying on the field and giving his defense some rest and motivation to dominate.  When your defense doesn’t give up a TD no matter who the opponent is you’ve done something good.  All in all this is a different defense than last year.  Joe Kines found some speed and used it to his advantage.  Say what you want but I think Joe Kines is the best coach on our staff including Sherman.  I’m not kidding.

• Let’s get this out of the way – Von Miller is a pass rushing freak.  We all heard the stories in the off season but I was always interested to see how it would play out on the field since our OL is so suspect.  Well, Von had 3 sacks and they were legit sacks.  What impressed me about Von on Saturday night was that he played smart and wasn’t always looking to fly around the left tackle.  There were times he stopped his rush and cut up inside to take a line to the QB.  He’s also very good about not rounding off his rush and can cut in after blowing by the OT.  He’s not going to get 3 sacks every game which is fine because defenses will now have to scheme against him.  What was interesting is that he really only played on passing downs as Featherston actually started and played on 1^st and 2^nd downs.  The other thing to get ready for on Von is late hits on the QB.  The kid is such a freak that he can’t shut it down when he gets the line and it’s going to cause him to hit the QB late.  It’s not cheap but it’s going to happen.  If it’s a 3 to 1 ratio like it was on Friday night then I’ll probably take it.
• All in all this defense played MUCH faster on Saturday night.  Lots of youth on the field but they all looked good.  They’re not big but they’re fast and that’s what we need right now for all of these spread offenses in the Big XII.
• TACKLING – Holy cow this crew actually tackled on Saturday night.  Probably the greatest thing I saw in the game on either side of the ball.  They were hitting and wrapping up and they looked damn good doing it.  They were swarming to the ball and actually bringing down the guy with the ball.  It was refreshing to see.
• Linebackers – As a whole this crew looked LIGHT YEARS ahead of last season.  Mangan looked pretty good but the rest of the guys looked really good.  Garrick Williams probably looked the best.  He was just all over the field and making tackles.  Looked really confident out there.  Jonathan Stewart looks the part and played the part as well when he was in there.  The other guy I was impressed with was Sean Porter.  I thought this kid would be too small to play LB but he moves well which helps him a ton and will help us a ton against pass teams.  Ricky Cavanaugh didn’t really stand out to me but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have a good game.  Lots of youth out there on Saturday night as Williams and Cavanaugh were your graybeards out there and they’re only Sophomores.  This crew should just get better and better which is something we haven’t been able to say about our LBs in a LONG time.
• The defensive line as a whole looked pretty good but this wasn’t the type of offense to let those guys shine or get exposed.  UNM ran a lot of spread trying to play catch up so they didn’t run much up the middle and the QB didn’t hold the ball too long.  I though the DTs with the Eddies and Lucas looked pretty solid.  Matt Moss was solid on the outside.  Spencer Nealy looked GREAT.  This kid looks like a recruiting steal.  He looks like the kind of player you have to get in a program to be really great.  He’s not a dominant guy but he’s the kind of guy to come off the bench and really just give the OL a few plays of just having to go full blast which helps wear them down.
• There weren’t too many deep balls and I really didn’t watch the coverage too much as I watched the line and backers most of the time.  It did bother me one time where UNM had 3^rd and 3 and TFred was playing off the ball about 8 yards which UNM then exploited for a 4 yard pass and a first down.
• The stats show it but before we get too excited about this defense lets not forget that they got a TON of help from the Aggie offense moving the chains and getting time of possession while forcing UNM to play catch up.  They got screwed last year statistically so it’s nice to see them have a great statistical game.  All in all though this is a much better defense and they deserve GREAT credit for a well played game.

Special Teams:

• Not much to report on here as it looked they were working on different things throughout the game.  Bullock hit a couple field goals.

I still say a great coach gets us to 6 wins this season and we look on our way.  We should have 5 wins in UNM, Utah St., UAB, ISU, and KSU.  That hasn’t changed.  CU looked like HELL the other night and Baylor looked solid in the first half.  I still think we can win one of those.  I still think there’s an outside chance we can beat Arky or Tech and don’t stand a chance against OU, tu, or OSU.  If Sherman is a great coach he’ll get us to 6 wins and in a bowl game.