This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/usffan on 2024-07-26 14:07:40+00:00.

You can find the start of this series with links to all teams here

As we reach the T minus 4 week mark on the 2024 season, nobody is more keenly aware that the 2023 season is over than New Mexico State. The Aggies were definitely the pluckiest G5 team last year, putting a crimp in the SEC tune-up penultimate game strategy, but I bet Aggie fans would like for the story to stop there instead of how things played out. Diego Pavia whizzed off to Vanderbilt in the portal, and Jerry Kill stepped down as head coach. Side bar, it’s hard to not feel empathy for Jerry Kill. Guy has done a great job everywhere he’s been and even led the Aggies to a conference championship appearance in their first season in CUSA, but seeing him have to step down for health reasons really sucks.

The Aggies now turn to Tony Sanchez, who is kind of a poor man’s Bob Davie (high school coaching phenom, failure in his first run as a college head coach so he moves to the Land of Enchantment for a second bite of the Hatch chili pepper). Sanchez inherits what amounts to an unanticipated rebuilding job of a team coming off back-to-back bowl appearances, and one that neither FPI (-13.5, 7th in CUSA) or Sagarin (63.21, good for 4th) is particularly high on. Only 41% (worst in the conference) of their productivity returns because they lost 39 players in the transfer portal, bringing in 15 (19.98). And despite Sanchez’ high school ties, their high school recruiting (67.75) is dead last in CUSA. Yowza! Here’s their 2024 schedule:

8/31 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE (W)

9/7 LIBERTY (L)

9/14 @ Fresno State (L)

9/21 @ Sam Houston State (L, coin toss)

9/28 NEW MEXICO (L, coin toss)

10/5 BYE

10/9 @ Jacksonville State (L)

10/15 LOUISIANA TECH (W, coin toss)

10/19 BYE

10/29 @ Florida International (W)

11/2 BYE

11/9 WESTERN KENTUCKY (L)

11/16 @ Texas A&M (L)

11/23 @ Middle Tennessee State (L)

11/30 UTEP (W, coin toss)

Outlook Not knowing the mindset of the fans in Las Cruces, it’s tough to predict how they’ll deal with a 4-8 season. Win all their coin tosses and they could very well go bowling again in 2024, but it sure looks like an uphill climb.