LAS CRUCES, N.M. – A road trip to open the season is never easy. It is even harder when the trip is more than 1,600 miles.

Ohio makes its longest trip of the year for its season opener, taking a trip to face New Mexico State on Saturday.

“It’s a very long road trip,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “It will be a four-hour flight. You’re always a little concerned about the distance in traveling to an away game such as that. There is some altitude involved. They’ve been practicing in much warmer weather than what we’ve been practicing in. There’s all those concerns leading up the game. I think our team has worked hard. We’re in pretty good shape, so hopefully we’ll line up and play well.”

Temperatures are expected to reach around 95 on Friday in Las Cruces, N.M., and are expected to still be in the upper 80s at game time.

The conditions will be something most of the Bobcats are not used to, but offensive coordinator Gerry Gdowski and offensive line coach Kevin Lightner both are familiar with Las Cruces, having served on the Aggies’ coach staffs through 2004.

“Obviously, I’ve talked to both of them about what to expect, weather-wise, facility-wise, where we’re staying,” Solich said. “For those kind of things, we were able to draw on those two to help make some choices there.”

On the other side, New Mexico State also has a connection to the East, with New Mexico State offensive coordinator Doug Martin having served as Kent State’s head coach for seven seasons prior.

“He had some success against Ohio when he was at Kent State,” New Mexico State coach DeWayne Walker said. “He’s pretty knowledgeable about their personnel and coaching staff. He’s been pretty helpful from that standpoint.”

Whatever advantage each team has from its coaches or the weather probably will not matter as much as the advantages in personnel.

Ohio, which went 8-5 in 2010, returns a lot of experience on offense, but not nearly as much on defense.

The Bobcats averaged 326.1 yards of offense per game in 2010, which ranked in the bottom third in the nation, but they ranked in the middle of all teams in the country in yards per play. With eight starters returning, Ohio has decided to go to a no-huddle offense in order to try to make the most of their opportunities.

One newcomer to the offense, though, is at quarterback, where redshirt sophomore Tyler Tettleton is just one of 16 signal callers nationwide expected to make their first career start in the opening week.

Senior Dante Harden (244 yards) is slated to carry the load for the Bobcats at running back, while LaVon Brazill (53 catches, 702 yards in 2009) and Riley Dunlop (27 catches, 378 yards in 2010) will provide targets for Tettleton behind a starting line that returns everyone from last year.

By comparison, the Aggies, who were just 2-10 last year, ranked among the worst teams in the nation with averages of just 15.7 points and 296.5 yards per game.

New Mexico State also will be young at quarterback with sophomore Andrew Manley getting the start, but he did have five games of experience last season, tallying 604 passing yards with one touchdown and six interceptions.

Junior running back Robert Clay (226 yards in 2010) replaces Seth Smith, who signed a free agent contract with the San Francisco 49ers. Kenny Turner, who actually led the Aggies in rushing last year with 461 yards, has converted to wide receiver.

Defensively, Ohio allowed only 23.8 points and 353.4 yards per game in 2010, but the Bobcats graduated their entire defensive line and most of their secondary.

The Aggies struggled on defense last season, allowing 453.3 yards and 39.5 points per game. New Mexico State loses five starters from last year’s defense.

A big struggle for the Aggies last season was that they only forced 12 turnovers, but the Bobcats were turnover-prone in 2010 with 20 interceptions and 12 fumbles lost.

Walker said his Aggies have looked improved all the way around in practice, but they still need to prove it in games this season.

“I think our guys are ready to play a football game,” Walker said. “I’ve been pretty happy with our team chemistry. Our offense has really made a lot of progress. I’m pretty happy with our defense the last couple weeks. I think our return teams are going to be better, so we’ve got a better football team. We’ve just got to prove it on Saturdays.”

Ohio will be without defensive tackle Jeff King (knee) and tight ends Troy Hill (knee) and Derek Roback (back). In addition, wide receiver/wildcat quarterback Phil Bates and outside linebacker Eric Benjamin are questionable.

“You’ve got to have a mindset that whoever we line up with, we’re going to play very good football. We’ve been here at Ohio long enough that we’ve been able to build some depth. … That will be tested right away as we go to New Mexico State.”

Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. Eastern time at Aggie Memorial Stadium.