By Turner Dawson
As the Aggies get ready for their match up with the Lumberjacks on September 4, many Aggie fans are looking at this game as a glorified scrimmage. SFA is still a Division 1 program, but they simply cannot match up with the athletes that A&M will put on the field.
Offense
The Aggies figure to have loads of success on offense in this one. The Aggies boasted the number 5 offense in the entire country last season and are returning virtually every skill position player. The only question mark is the offensive line, but the Lumberjacks don’t have the athletes up front to really challenge this young group. It should be a great opportunity for them to get their feet wet and hopefully build some confidence.
Look for the Aggies to have a great deal of success both on the ground and through the air. If the Aggies play anywhere near their potential they should absolutely run through this SFA defense.
Defense
This should be the most interesting thing to watch in this game. The Aggies will be unveiling their new 3-4 defense under new defensive coordinator Tim Deruyter. The Aggie defense was less than desirable last season as they finished 105th in the country in total defense.
It will be tough to read too much into this defense based on how they perform in this game, but based on the way fall camp has gone, I expect the defense to fair quite well in this game. This is big for the defense to get off to a good start and build some confidence in themselves. The Aggies need some success in order to get some swagger back on defense.
Special Teams
This could quite possibly be a point of concern again this season. Randy Bullock was 12-19 on field goals last season and kind of fell apart at the end and he has looked extremely inconsistent thus far in fall camp. Punter is another issue as Ryan Epperson has looked very shaky in fall camp as well. This could be an issue in this game and all of the games this season.
Cyrus Gray and Ryan Swope should be handling the kickoff return duties and both are extremely dangerous there. The punt return job is still up in there air and you could see either Nate Askew, Kenric McNeal, or Terrance Frederick.
Outloook
I predict that the Aggies will have a lot of success in this one with a few blown assignments and mistakes sprinkled in. I think the offense will have a number of explosive plays and Jerrod Johnson should be done playing by the start of the fourth quarter.
The defense has been swarming all fall camp and I expect that to continue into this game. Look for Von Miller to be very disruptive along with a number of other outside linebackers. True freshman Damontre Moore is my player to watch, he has the potential to be really special rushing the passer now.
My prediction is the Aggies will get out to a bit of a slow start on offense, but will then get it in gear and start scoring quickly. Look for the defense to really give SFA problems with all of the pressure they will put on the quarterback and they better be able to shut down SFA’s running game. I look for an Aggie win, 48-13.