Five Takeaways From Texas A&M's Blowout Win Over New Mexico State

Texas A&M came out as the superior Aggie squad Saturday night with a 38-3 routing of New Mexico State.

Nov 16, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies wide receiver Noah Thomas (3) celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the first quarter against the New Mexico State Aggies at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images / Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

The No. 15 Texas A&M Aggies were able to return to their winning ways that they had familiarized themselves with before, cleaning house against the New Mexico State Aggies, 38-3.

Texas A&M scored on their first two offensive drives and didn't look back, never trailing once in the contest and putting on an offensive onslaught against their fellow Aggies from New Mexico.

It was clear that A&M had put the upset loss against South Carolina behind them, taking a much more aggressive approach on both sides of the ball to start out the game and executing much better than what was seen in Columbia.

As Texas A&M heads into likely the two biggest games of the season, here are five takeaways from their victory tonight.

No Moss? No Problem.

Losing star running back Le'Veon Moss to a lower-body injury in the loss to South Carolina was sure to put a pretty big dent in the Aggie offense, especially in the running game.

That wasn't the case tonight.

Sans Moss, the A&M rushing attack still took off for 209 yards on the ground, led by Amari Daniels 84 yards on just five carries, including an explosive 71-yard score halfway through the first quarter. E.J. Smith added 15 carries for 60 yards and Marcel Reed kept it four times for 41 yards and a touchdown of his own. It's like Moss never went down.

Mike Elko will surely expect this performance to repeat over the next two weeks, knowing now what his team is capable of without Le'Veon Moss in the backfield.

Marcel Magic Returns

After being tormented by the Gamecock defense two weeks ago, Marcel Reed enjoyed a nice return to form tonight against New Mexico State, completing 20 of 31 passes with 268 yards, two passing touchdowns, and an interception. Thankfully, the interception came with two seconds left in the first half, so no damage really came from it aside from points being left off the board.

Reed's legs were also still displayed occasionally throughout the contest, running four times for 41 yards and a touchdown. Not having to run as many times also went to show how strong of a pocket Marcel had throughout the night, so kudos to the A&M offensive line as well.

A Tight End Takeover

The top two A&M receivers on the night? Theo Melin Ohrstrom and Tre Watson. Texas A&M does have a history of getting tight ends heavily involved in the passing game, throwback to when Jace Sternberger and Jalen Wydermeyer were in Aggieland. However, that hasn't really been the case under Elko this season.

Coming into the game tonight, Ohrstrom only had four receptions for 69 yards and two touchdowns. He would erupt for five receptions for 111 yards. Marcel Reed said in the postgame interview that he told Ohrstrom in practice he would try and get the Swede a touchdown but would go on to instead put the tight end over 100 receiving yards for the game for the first time this season. He should be okay with that outcome.

Same story with Tre Watson, who transferred to College Station after finishing runner-up in the national championship to the Michigan Wolverines as a part of the Washington Huskies last season. Only having eight receptions for 109 yards and a score coming into tonight's contest, Watson was dialed up four times for 67 yards. A stellar showing from the A&M tight ends tonight that should help them gain Mike Elko and Collin Klein's trust going forward.

The Wrecking Crew Strikes Again

It's no wonder that New Mexico State could only put a field goal on the board for the entire game. They were tackled for loss 10 times by the A&M defense and the quarterbacks were sacked twice. They almost spent more time going backward than forwards.

Lineman Malick Sylla tallied three tackles for loss and both A&M sacks, including one on the final play of the game to put the cherry on top of the dominant victory in a career night for the junior defensive lineman.

Jay Bateman and Elko clearly struck a chord with the defense in the two weeks of practice. We will see if it carries over to Jordan-Hare Stadium next week and then back at Kyle Field to finish out the season the week after that.

Sharing Is Caring

The A&M game plan has been ground and pound for the majority of this season. Even though that still stayed true tonight, the A&M quarterbacks got the ball to 12 different receivers, which included receiver Moose Muhammad III getting his second touchdown of the season on his sole reception, and freshman receiver Ashton Bethel-Roman racking up three receptions for 35 yards and his first career receiving touchdown. Having multiple players that can make plays with the football will make this a dangerous Texas A&M team to face over the next few weeks.

Texas A&M will head to Auburn next week to face the Tigers in their final road SEC game of 2024.

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