DEPTH CHART CHANGES | Last night, the official site released their game notes for New Mexico, and when that happens, the depth chart is released (PDF). There are surprises all over the place.
OFFENSE:
* WR Eric Ward is your starting X-receiver, with WR Marcus Kennard backing him up.
* IR Bradley Marquez is starting ahead of IR Cornelius Douglas.
DEFENSE:
* DT Delvon Simmons has been moved to the second team defensive tackle, backing up DT Kerry Hyder. I don't think that Simmons was second team last week.
* DE Kindred Evans is the co-starter with DE Jackson Richards at defensive end.
* LB Sam Eguavoen is starting ahead of LB Cqulin Hubert.
* CB Jarvis Phillips is no longer on the two-deep as CB Eugene Neboh (backing up CB Derrick Mays) and CB Sawyer Vest (backing up CB Tre' Porter).
* SS Happiness Osunde is backing up D.J. Johnson at free safety. I don't think that Osunde was in the two deep last week.
LAJ's Don Williams has these changes as well as a notebook of items, including OC Neal Brown saying that RB Aaron Crawford would be second team at running back and C Justin Keown is back in pads, but most likely won't play this week, possibly against Nevada
NEW MEXICO LINKS | The Albuquerque Journal's Rick Wright writes that star transfer WR Lamaar Thomas is out with a broken bone in his back. That's a significant loss for New Mexico. LAJ's Don Williams writes that OC Neal Brown wants to prepare for New Mexico as their first big game:
"What we did is we basically just continued camp (last week)," Brown said. "We treated the Texas State game like it was still part of preseason camp, then last week was our last week of preseason. We’re treating this like it’s our first big game — an on-the-road test against a hungry opponent.
"I’m glad we’re playing on the road, just for the sake of our young guys, so when we get in conference it’s not a shock to them."
And DC Chad Glasgow says that New Mexico should have confidence and there is room for improvement:
"I think they’ll have confidence," Glasgow said. "They’re going back home to play a home game, and they’ll be excited for us coming to town. It’s the first time we’ve been on the road, and when you go in somebody else’s house, you’ve got to go take the football game."
Tech is hoping to build on a good second half against Texas State. The Red Raiders outscored the Bobcats 41-0 and recovered four fumbles after halftime.
"We’ve got to go play fast and go play smart," Glasgow said. "The one thing we did do against Texas State is I thought we played really hard, and we made some things happen because of how hard we played. We’ve got to continue to do that."
CONFERENCE REALIGNMENT LINKS | TexAgs' Billy Lucci has been right about the Aggies in just about every step of the way, I wonder if he's right with the following:
Of even greater concern for the SEC should be visionary commissioner Larry Scott and the aggressive, ever-expanding Pac-12. The conference is already deep into negotiations with at least three and probably four Big 12 teams and are on the verge of becoming the nation's first 16-team superconference. If Larry Scott adds OU, OSU and Tech (sources tell me that all three have been offered), the next move will be to find team No. 16, with Texas being the prime candidate.
As always, take everything with a grain of salt, but that's the first time I've seen in print (on the computer) where Texas Tech has an offer from the Pac-12. I'd still guess that it's contingent on OU and OSU also going, but this is the first time where I've seen someone write that Texas Tech is not tied to the hip of UT.
And from Oklahoma, NewsOK's Travis Haney and Berry Tramel write that the SEC expects Texas A&M to be cleared and that the Pac-12, should it expend to 16, not use divisional models, but pods.
BIG 12 AND COLLEGE FOOTBALL LINKS | Football Study Hall's Billy Connelly recaps the action in the Big 12 . . . CBS Sports takes a look at the ranked Big 12 teams . . . SB Nation's Spencer Hall provides the bare minimum of what you need to know from Saturday's games . . .