Crucial Brazos River Rivalry to play out at Kyle Field
November 19th, 2009 | Published in Football, Sports
Bowl eligibility still on the line for Aggies
By Turner Dawson
The Texas A&M football team will play host to the Baylor Bears at Kyle Field. Both teams come into the game following embarrassing losses to Big 12 South opponents and are looking to rebound in what will be the battle for last place in the division. Baylor comes in with a record of 4-6 (1-4) while the Aggies are 5-5 (2-4) and desperately needing to win this game to become bowl eligible.
Jerrod Johnson has been very up and down this season. He has racked up some huge numbers against some bad teams and had some very poor games against good teams. I expect that he will play well against Baylor as they have struggled this year defensively. If Jerrod can have a big game, the Aggies will be in very good position to win this game.
On the ground, the Aggies really need to get back on track. They ran the ball very well against Texas Tech and Iowa State and really struggled against Colorado and Oklahoma. Baylor has allowed opposing offenses to average 4.2 yards per carry on the ground this season. I expect that the Aggies will find some success on the ground in this game. Look for Cyrus Gray to get more than the six carries he got against OU.
Baylor’s offense has been struggling since star quarterback Robert Griffin went down with a knee injury for the season. Nick Florence has done his best to replace him but he simply is not as talented as Griffin. Florence has only 6 touchdown passes this season and seven interceptions. Nonetheless, I expect him to have his best game of the season. Baylor has some talented receivers so don’t be surprised to see the Bears throw the ball all over the field on the Aggies.
On the ground the Bears have had almost no running game. The Bears leading rusher is Jay Finley with 274 yards for the entire season. They are only averaging 102 yards per carry. Then again, Colorado was averaging 80 per game coming into their matchup with the Aggies, and they proceeded to rack up more than double that. So I imagine Baylor will be at least moderately successful on the ground.
The Bears are a team that the Aggies absolutely should and must beat. This is the Aggies last real opportunity to get to the six win mark and become bowl eligible. Let’s be honest, the Aggies don’t have much of a chance against Texas. If the Aggies lose this game, I don’t think Kyle Field will see more than 75,000 fans at the Texas game. But I do expect the Aggies to get back on track and win this game, 38-24.
