Zona @ New Mexico

[Mort The Flying Cow]

Personally, I'm loving the -10 line in favor of Arizona. The Wildcat OC, Sonny Dykes, is very familiar with the UNM defense and scheme from his days at Texas Tech. UNM is reeling after two losses, but there is no way they can keep up with the suddenly ultra-high powered offense of Zona.

One very key note: Dykes is set to have his first child in the coming days, which could result in him being absent from the game. No idea what impact this would have on play-calling, prep, etc. But it is an off-field distraction that won't get talked about in the papers or box score.

 

[tooltones]

good stuff, mort. i don't bet much road chalk, if any, but this one jumped out at me.

 

[jimbof20]

already pounded it..gl

 

[SHSUHorn]

Mort good info again. If Dykes is out this could be trouble for us Zona backers. If Grigsby can continue to put up huge rushing numbers to go with the Zona passing attack the Pac 10 defenses are going to have some points scored on them.

 

[hile75]

Tell his wife to squeeze it in until after Saturday

 

[STEED]

Good luck Mort...

:Cheers:

 

[JumpOnBoard]

Good stuff dude..took them a year but they've really started to get it rolling w/ Dykes like we kind of excited last year.

 

[RetroVK]

Well Criner really stepped up and delivered in start for the drunk driving kid. If that wasn't a fluke and with gronkowski finally at decent health , unm is going to struggle in coverage as a team even if wright is able to contain thomas a little bit.

i just dont see a way that lobos can contend with an offense as balanced as this one and the matchup is terrible for unm who relies so heavily on ferguson to get the job done running the ball. Zona gave up 64 on the ground to idaho and 74 on the ground to toledo. Decent defenses , with a defensive head coach can take away the run and lobos dont have the receivers to beat you.... see tcu game.

lobos were able to run on aggies but will find it harder sledding in this game. Also while they had 370 yards of offense last game 160 of it came in the last two garbage td drives when game had already been decided.

Whenever unm faces a good run defense there will probably be value in the line against them in my opinion.

There is also a revenge angle in this game as unm went into tucson and knocked the wildcats off last year.

It will definitely hurt if dykes is off filming a child birth but i agree with your take on zona taking this one.

 

[E.T.G.]

lean zona strong, all of the reasons mentioned, was on Zona board today, game last yr seems like it really stings but laying DD on road, I want my OC

 

[JPicks]

So the entire world is on Zona it seems. I'm not sold. This will be the first road game of the year and also is the week leading up to Pac-10 play. I get that they lost to these guys last year, but if there is one team in the MWC that can line up against Zona and not have 6 DB's on the field it's NM. Easily, IMO, the best secondary in the conference. Those 4 wide sets that punished Idaho and Toledo aren't going to be nearly as intimidating to NM who have three corners that should be able to man up with no safety help. We'll see how good the AZ RB is when he's not facing a one linebacker defense.

And Kyle why I agree that some of the yards (92) were gained in garbage time it still creates some positives heading into week 3. NM has traditionally been to damn good to lose 3 straight games at home to start the year. I just have this strange feeling that one team has gone straight up since the opener and one team has gone straight down. NM has gotten beat in the TO department 7-2 this year and their defense is only giving up 250 yards a game.

Just some opposite thoughts on this one. I'll be on NM, still pondering the ML.


And ETG that chick is smoking hot.

 

[O-State]

I posted this somewhere else.

New Mexico is one of those good dogs IMO. Lobos outgained A&M 370-236. Lost turnovers 4-1. TCU was one of those traditional bad matchups for them. I was leaning Zona due to fact they played that 3-3-5 last year and put up over 400 passing. But I don't foresee that this year, Lobos didn't come close to allowing that again and secondary very strong. Other edge to Zona is been wondering if they are like last years Kansas, as usually such absolutely abominations early mean something. 40+ type wins. At the same time I just think New Mexico is a tricky situation and Lobos need a win.

 

[CapTwo]

anyone got a dykes status update?

 

[SHSUHorn]

I'll repeat this here again. A&M Soph. QB Jared Johnson played his first college game ever last week vs NM when he came in for the injured Stephen Mcgee. A&M RB Michael Goodson got hurt as well in the game so a true freshman and RS freshman saw the rest of the carries. A&M even behind a horrible OL still moved the ball well.

 

[horses]

I'm in the minority and with JPicks here as well, as I lean New Mexico. Not at all willing to believe that Arizona has a good run defense and I would think the Lobos get much closer to last weeks rush total than what they got vs TCU.

Granted, this is the best offense NM has seen to date, but it's also the best defense that 'Zona has seen. Lobo defense has done nothing wrong this year and I want to see 'Zona play someone with a pulse before I lay this chalk on the road, myself. This will be a likely pass for me but I still have my eye on the game.

 

[JPicks]

I'll repeat this here again. A&M Soph. QB Jared Johnson played his first college game ever last week vs NM when he came in for the injured Stephen Mcgee. A&M RB Michael Goodson got hurt as well in the game so a true freshman and RS freshman saw the rest of the carries. A&M even behind a horrible OL still moved the ball well.

Honestly you think they moved the ball well? If you think 236 yards of offense is moving the ball well then we'll just have to agree to disagree.

From what I saw out of McGee in the 1st game and thinking about what a team like A&M can recruit I'm not sure that Johnson is better either way. It helps that he knows which color his team is.

Goodson wasn't doing a damn thing when he got hurt so another lateral injury imo. I mean you're a running back, you certainly don't need to have size (such as a DL or OL) and you don't need experience as a QB would. Beyond that I don't consider 17 carries for 54 yards by the Freshman duo to be a success.

Of course I agree that A&M is not a good team, but let's not play it up like they did a thing against NM. They were gifted their first TD on a pic 6 and then were FORCED to go 20 yards for their 2nd TD on another turnover. Down 14-0 NM packed up the gameplan and went away from what they wanted to do to win the game and that was run the ball.

I know I have an unpopular opinion, but I'm not shy enough to resist the debate.

 

[pags11]

to me this game comes down to Porterie...if he plays like he did in the first half last week they don't cover, if he plays like he did in the second half they do...

 

[broadwayjoe]

to me this game comes down to Porterie...if he plays like he did in the first half last week they don't cover, if he plays like he did in the second half they do...

:shake:

 

[Mort The Flying Cow]

I know Zona's defense isn't all world, but they are a lot closer to TCU than A&M. Mainly because A&M's defense is ridiculously terrible (and I'll be all OVER the Miami/A&M line next week! Cash money!)

That being said, I see UNM putting up between 14 and 21 points. I put AZ closer to 28-41 points.

The Lobos may be in a corner, but that doesn't mean they have enough firepower to claw their way out.

Oh, and the All-MWC corner, DeAndre Wright, had a true frosh take a ball away from him. I have ever reason to believe that the AZ receivers can do the same. Oh, and THE GRONK should be back this week.

I'll see if I can get a Dykes update. Since it is a rather personal matter, it's harder to get that info.

 

[ddk997]

On Arizona -10 already :shake:

 

[Mort The Flying Cow]

One very key note: Dykes is set to have his first child in the coming days, which could result in him being absent from the game. No idea what impact this would have on play-calling, prep, etc. But it is an off-field distraction that won't get talked about in the papers or box score.

Baby born Wednesday morning. Will be coaching tomorrow.

 

[JumpOnBoard]

Great stuff man.