#56 Elijah Hill and #44 Baron Hopson celebrate after a defensive play. Photo by: Jackson Louneounbonh
Sentinel sports writer Lance Warren spoke with Nick Coppola of the Las Cruces Sun-News to preview Kennesaw State football’s matchup with New Mexico State this weekend.
Lance Warren: New Mexico State has lost three straight games after beginning the season 2-0. With that said, what have been the feelings around the state of the team and the season as a whole?
Nick Coppola: Yeah, well, not a lot of good feelings, you know, they started 2-0, and now they’ve lost five of six. I guess a lot of people are feeling down about it, you know what I mean, and especially because of some of the losses they’ve had, you know, they collapsed at the end of 4th against Liberty, and then Missouri State, they lost in overtime so just probably a lot of negative energy around it right now.
LW: Who are some the key players on the Aggies that Kennesaw State fans should be watching out for?
NC: Offensively, their leading receiver is Donovan Faupel. I believe he’s around fifth in the conference in receiving yards and he’s been the go-to target all season long. TK King is another receiver to watch. He’ll line up mostly in the slot, he missed the first four games of the season with a hamstring injury, but since he returned, he’s been a really good explosive threat for them. He hasn’t really made the impact on special teams that they might have hoped for, as he was a really good special teams player last season at Wyoming, but he’s making an impact offensively. So, if they’re going to take a shot down field or up the seam or the middle of the field, they’re probably going to do it to TK King. Defensively, Ezra Christensen, if he plays, will be a guy to watch. He missed last week against Western Kentucky with a sprained knee, and they really missed him. He’s their sack leader, I believe he has six on the season, so they really miss his presence. He’s been their top defensive lineman this season. He was a very late transfer too, he only got added to the roster around the end or middle of July from Fresno State, so he had a very short time to learn everything, but he did that very quickly, and now he’s become one of their best players. Sone Aupiu is their top linebacker with Tyler Martinez still out with a high ankle sprain. He got an interception last week against Western Kentucky, his first interception of the season, and he’s just a really good linebacker. He can make plays in coverage, but he can also be a part of the pass rush at times, so he’s been their anchor of the defense right now without Tyler Martinez. In the secondary, Nick Session is probably their top defensive back without Dakerric Hobbs, who tore his labrum against New Mexico and is out with the season now. So, he’s been their top defensive back since then. He’s a solid safety. Also, the guy who is replacing Dakerric Hobbs, Zedekiah Rodriguez-Brown has been really good replacing Hobbs on his side of the field. He’s been making plays, getting pass breakups, covering well, so he’s been a really good guy.
LW: Play style wise, what is New Mexico State looking to do on both sides of the ball?
NC: Offensively, they run a tempo offense. David Yost, the offensive coordinator, that’s what he’s known for. That’s what he’s run at Utah State, at Texas Tech, at FIU, he runs a lot of tempo stuff. You’ll see a lot of screens, a lot of swings, a lot of short routes to kind of open-up the explosive passing game. And they do like to run the ball. I mean it is a thing with a David Yost offenses just to run the ball and establish that ground, but it hasn’t really gone well for them apart from a few games so far this season. They do have statistically the worst rushing offense in the country, so they haven’t been able to quite do that, but they will try. And then defensively, it’s a lot about takeaways, they’ve had at least one takeaway in each game so far this season and I believe they lead the conference in takeaways. They got their 10th interception last week against the Hilltoppers and statistically they’re one of the best teams in the nation at takeaways so that’s a big identity for them defensively.
LW: Moving forward to this week’s game, what are the matchup advantages and disadvantages you see unfolding for each team?
NC: For Kennesaw State, I do believe that the strongest part of the defense is their secondary. They have a lot of good corners with Caleb Offord and Jericho Washington so it might be a little bit harder for the Aggies to move the ball through the air like they really want to so that’s probably an advantage for Kennesaw State. That could open up the ground game for them, but again, New Mexico State’s really bad at rushing football. Defensively, I think the pass rush can really go at Kennesaw State. That offensive line is probably the weakest part of the offense, so they should be able to get a good pass rush and pressure on Amari Odom. Odom does like to scramble, but so did Rodney Tisdale Jr. last week for Western Kentucky and they kept him in the pocket most of the time. Their main problem that game was he just had a really efficient passing day with over 300 yards and four touchdowns, so they got to avoid that. If they’re going to keep Amari Odom in the pocket, they got to make sure he doesn’t get going through the year, but defensively, they’re probably going to get a pass rush going.
LW: With all that said, how do you see the game unfolding and what is your score prediction?
NC: Well, I don’t think New Mexico State is going to get blown out. Since I started covering the team last season, they play a lot better at home than they do on the road and their backs are kind of against the wall, so they’re probably going to play hard. They probably have to win these next two conference games because they have a game against Tennessee sandwiched between them and they’re not going to win that one. So, they got to win these conference games, and I expect them to fight, I expect them to take it to Kennesaw State, but I do think New Mexico State is going to lose. Let’s say the score is going to be like 30-20 or something like that.
