New Mexico State Aggies vs. Arizona State Sun Devils Betting Preview
Where: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe
When: Thursday, August 31, 10:30 PM ET
Line: New Mexico State Aggies (+23.5) vs. Arizona State Sun Devils (-23.5) – view all NCAA Football lines
College Football News and Previews
Betting on the New Mexico State Aggies
Point Spread: +23.5
New Mexico State continued its streak of mediocrity last season, when the Aggies finished with an overall record of 3-9 SU record, including a 2-6 SU slate in Sun Belt play.
Just like last season, the Aggies’ focal point is going to be their offense that proved capable of putting up points on the board in 2016, when the team averaged 24.8 points per game and ranked third in the conference in total offense with 414.7 total yards per contest.
Quarterback Tyler Rogers was allowed to return for one more year thanks to a medical waiver. Rogers played in 12 games last season and passed for 2,589 yards and 16 touchdowns with 12 interceptions. To be fair to Rogers, his high rate of interceptions was partly because of a weak offensive line that allowed him to get sacked 31 times – second most among all quarterbacks in the conference. Six offensive linemen return this season, though, so experience could be a factor for a significant improvement.
Rogers should get help from running back Larry Rose III, who is aiming to return to his form in 2015, when he was named member of third-team All-America. Rose missed three games last season with a sports hernia and finished with 865 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns.
The defense needs plenty of work after a season in which the Aggies saw opponents swallow their stop unit for close to 500 total yards per game.
The Aggies are 5-5 ATS in their last 10 games when they were underdogs by at least eight points.
Betting on the Arizona State Sun Devils
Point Spread: -23.5
The positives for New Mexico State last season were only apparent when the Aggies were pitted against some of the weakest teams college football had to offer. While the Sun Devils didn’t exactly blew away the competition in 2016 and failed to appear in a bowl game in five seasons, it’s reasonable to expect that they should be able to pound New Mexico State into fine powder at the end of the contest.
It’s been reported that returning quarterback Manny Wilkins is slated to start the season opener against New Mexico State instead of Alabama transfer Blake Barnett. Regardless of who gets to ultimately start under center, the Sun Devils should have little problem overpowering the Aggies’ D that, as mentioned earlier, barely presented any challenge last season. Arizona State was 37th in the nation last year in scoring offense (32.4 points per game) and 77th in total offense (385.2 total yards per contest).
Like the Aggies, Arizona State’s defense last season was nothing to brag about. It allowed 42.3 points per game on 530.5 total yards per contest in 2016. The Aggies, however, aren’t the type of team that’s likely to thoroughly expose the Sun Devils’ porous D. New Mexico could at least make a dent on it, but in a game between two teams with suspect defenses, it’s the one with the better offense that’ll come out on top – and that’s ASU.
Writer’s Prediction
Like we said, the better offensive team will win in this game. Arizona State (-23.5) crushes the Aggies and covers the spread, too.
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