Texas A&M football hosts Arkansas on Saturday in College Station. Here are your three keys to an Aggie Win.
By Matt Zemek
So much about this year’s Texas A&M-Arkansas game is different. The game is not being played in AT&T Stadium at the normal neutral site in suburban Dallas. The game won’t have a full capacity crowd due to the pandemic. Most of all, Arkansas comes in with a decent team, having exceeded expectations under national coach of the year candidate Sam Pittman. This former Southwest Conference rivalry is a lot more interesting this year than many people had expected. Arkansas is a legitimate contender to A&M for second place in the SEC West. The Aggies can get the inside track to second place in the division if they can win here and cool off the Hogs. Let’s look at what Texas A&M has to do to win.
1 – Patient, opportunistic offense
Arkansas’ defense has the distinction of having frustrated the two other new head coaches in the SEC West. While Pittman has established himself in Fayetteville, Mike Leach of Mississippi State and Lane Kiffin of Ole Miss have both lost to Arkansas. Instructively, both MSU and Ole Miss struggled on offense against Arkansas’ defense. Arkansas has forced opposing SEC quarterbacks to take what the defense gives them, throwing the short checkdown and working the flats in a horizontal passing game. Texas A&M is capable of doing that, but the obvious point about facing a disciplined defense is that defeating it requires great consistency. That is where A&M quarterback Kellen Mond has been known to fall short. Mond has to be mentally ready to throw a lot of short passes and work the ball down the field.
Yet, while being patient is certainly at the forefront of a winning plan for A&M’s offense, the Aggies need to see what they can do to stretch the field and find an opening in Arkansas’ defense for downfield plays which reduce the team’s margin for error. If a patient approach is what this game requires, so be it… but A&M will reach the next level as an offense (and a football team) if it can find a way to regularly hit big plays and show a level of potency it hasn’t generally had under Jimbo Fisher. If Fisher has a strength, it is his play design. He creates exquisite plays. If some of his better play designs can create huge gains, A&M’s task against Arkansas’ formidable defense becomes a lot easier.
2 – Feleipe Franks’ scrambles
Feleipe Franks’ running is an X-factor for Arkansas. His dual-threat capabilities give Arkansas’ offense a measure of balance which can frustrate Texas A&M’s defense. The book on Franks is that if you make him beat you strictly with the pass, you’re in good shape. Let’s see if the Aggies can turn that plan into reality on Saturday. If Franks gets loose as a runner, A&M will not only be caught off balance; Arkansas can control the ball and create a situation in which A&M’s offense will find it hard to develop a rhythm. That is the precise scenario which could put the Aggies in trouble.
3 – Preparedness for a challenge
The Florida defense A&M exposed a few weeks ago is one of the worst defenses in the SEC. Arkansas sets a much higher standard. It will be important for Mond and the rest of the A&M offense to realize that not every game will offer smooth sailing. This lesson might have been learned when the Aggies failed to score 30 points against Mississippi State. Arkansas figures to challenge A&M’s offense at a higher level. Knowing this, and treating this game with an appropriate level of urgency, gives the Aggies the right approach as they come out of the tunnel at Kyle Field.
Saturday‘s Texas A&M football game kicks off at 6:30 PM CT (7:30 PM ET). You can watch on the SEC Network.
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