Aggie Preview: Texas A&M vs Arkansas
October 5th, 2009 | Published in Featured Stories
The Aggies will travel to Arlington to face the Arkansas Razorbacks in the first of matchup of the renewed Southwest Classic at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. The Aggies come in 3-0 on the season, going up against the 1-2 Razorbacks.
The records of both of these teams are somewhat misleading as Arkansas has played two ranked SEC teams and the Aggies have played a relatively easy schedule thus far.
Look for the Aggies to have some success throwing the football. The Razorbacks have allowed an average of 263 yards passing per game against teams that aren’t necessarily known for throwing it. I expect Jerrod Johnson to have yet another big game and possibly throw for over 300 yards again.
However, I don’t expect the Aggies to have a lot of success running the ball. The Razorbacks are allowing just 3.3 yards per carry on the season, and that has been against teams that are much better at running the ball than the Aggies are at this point. Look for the Aggies to try and establish a running game so they can set up the pass. But I wouldn’t expect them to have much success against the athletic front seven of Arkansas.
I’m concerned about the Aggies ability to stop the run and the explosiveness of Arkansas running back Michael Smith. Smith is somewhat of a scat back but the Razorbacks use a lot of the power running game. They haven’t been dominating in their last two games because of their competition, but I expect the Razorbacks will have a big day running the football.
Look for Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett to have some success as well through the air. Mallett has a big time arm and can really hurt any defense. I expect him to hit on some big passes in this game.
The Aggie defense has been fortunate a number of times this season that opposing quarterbacks have missed some wide open receivers. But look for Von Miller to come away with at least two more sacks penetrating the Razorbacks O-line.
I expect the Aggies to play well in this game and to keep it close throughout in their first true test of the season.
Ultimately, I think the Aggies lack of experience and poor run defense will be the difference in a close game as the Aggies drop their first game of the season, 34-38.
