There had been a great deal of anticipation in many regards leading up to Thursday's home opener for the New Mexico State football team.
Would Joe Lee Dunn and his 3-3-5 defense have success? With the return of Chris Williams and the addition of added speed at receiver and running back, the offense was hoping for a big offensive night. And on special teams, the Aggies are hopeful that not only will their place-kicking efforts be better, but also their kickoff and punt coverage.
But with the postponement of the game vs. Nicholls University because of Hurricane Gustav, the Aggies must get ready for Nebraska on Sept. 13 in Lincoln.
The Aggies were initially expected to open the season vs. Wyoming, but the Cowboys pulled out and instead beat Ohio 21-20 on Saturday in Laramie.
Now comes the postponement. Not a great way to start the 2008 season.
The Cornhuskers area already 1-0 on the season after whipping Western Michigan 47-24 on Saturday night. Next up for Nebraska and new coach Bo Pelini is a home game with fellow Western Athletic Conference member San Jose State.
Nebraska had a rare losing campaign last year and replaced Bill Callahan with Pelini, a former Cornhusker assistant.
The Cornhusker program suffered embarrassing losses in Callahan's four years and Callahan apparently alienated many close to the program.
So the Cornhuskers are out for blood this season and it's tough enough playing at their place with a game under your belt.
New Mexico State will have to deal with first-game jitters and while they will have two of Nebraska's games to look at, it won't have anything to build off of in terms of game tempo.
Playing what is now its season opener at Nebraska has to be a concern in some respects for the Aggies. They had already begun preparation for Nicholls, but must now turn their attention to the Cornhuskers.
The first game could have been a confidence booster for NMSU and would have at least given them a chance to get a lot of new players a chance to get their feet wet before playing a Division I team.
The added week of practice will help in some ways for NMSU and Nebraska won't have the chance to see fresh tape of NMSU from this year.
Perhaps, it will work out for the team, but I'm not sure the Aggies will be as sure about themselves, especially on defense, with no game experience before Nebraska.
The team needed a game to get themselves comfortable on defense and to integrate some new players on offense. Now they'll have to find out about themselves in front of 80,000-plus Cornhusker fans.
