Texas A&M Week

[GoHogs1091]

HOW 'BOUT THOSE UNBEATABLE NOLES?!!!

They didn't have the QB of their Defense, All-American Derwin James (also didn't have Josh Sweat, who would have contained better out on the edge).  The game would have been at least more competitive with those two.

Regarding our match-up with Texas A&M, a huge key will be how well do we defend their WR, Josh Reynolds.  When a game is on-the-line, that is who they seem to go to.

[hamstring]

The only thing that I am certain of this week is that we will learn a whole lot about where we honestly are with this team.
I'm was stuck on 8 to 10 wins with this team in preseason ,and i am still there. we will, for the first time this season, see where this team is honestly this week.

[Hawgar The Horrible]

I'll guess tamu opens up at -3

Following the LaTech game many here would have called that absurd.

[Rayzback]

Settled for a lot of field goals in the red zone against Aubbie. Two of 15 on third down.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

I just hope they move the time of the game up. According to the link in the stickied thread at the top of MMQB, it is currently 8 p.m.

[HogBreath]

It should be kept in mind that Alabama could not contain Knight.

Sounds like this guy is really good..any idea why he left OU?

[HOGS82]

Sounds like this guy is really good..any idea why he left OU?

Lost his job to Baker Mayfield.

[woodhog14]

I just hope they move the time of the game up. According to the link in the stickied thread at the top of MMQB, it is currently 8 p.m.

It is at 8 p.m. on ESPN. Game time is not moving.

[hawginbigd1]

I just hope they move the time of the game up. According to the link in the stickied thread at the top of MMQB, it is currently 8 p.m.

It's not moving it is on ESPN after LSU game that starts at 5.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

It's not moving it is on ESPN after LSU game that starts at 5.

It is at 8 p.m. on ESPN. Game time is not moving.

Yes, I know. I was just hoping that they would swap time slots with the LSU-Auburn game (a snoozer), but they won't do that, it is at Auburn and that would have them starting at 9 p.m. Eastern.

[hawginbigd1]

I am not convinced that Texas A&M's Linebacker play has improved enough to stop a good rushing Offense.  We should be able to run the ball on them.

On the flip side, Trevor Knight is a more difficult match-up to contend with than Kenny Hill and Kyle Allen.  Knight just seems to have a knack to make plays.

It should be kept in mind that Alabama could not contain Knight.

I could not disagree any more, Knight had his career night against Bama, he has literally been mediocre since then at best. I am very confident we win because he is their QB.

I also feel good we will have a relatively healthy DJ Dean

[fsmhogfan]

We're going to beat their asses. 

This is what all red blooded Hog fans want and I believe. The hAggs are gonna know they've been playing playing against men for 60 minutes! I believe the Hogs will make 'em quit down the stretch as we go on long dominant drives. I believe we will be 5-0 going into the Bama game. I saw the change in AA in the OT against TCU when he won the hearts of the team. Reminded me of the Auburn win for BA last year. Woo Pig!!! Go Hogs!

[Hog N Bama]

Sure. But I'm an eternal optimist, and I think we have a pretty good team that's playing with confidence. I've seen Trevor Knight at his worst and know he can slip back into that with the right scheme and pressure.

AA is a far better QB than Knight

[jgphillips3]

We all know this game could go either way.  However, I think we are making good progress and that we have a really good shot at beating them.  I really haven't been able to get a solid feel for what I think will really transpire but I'm leaning toward a final score of: Arkansas 38 - Texas A&M 35.

[RockyMtnHog]

This looks like another OT game to me.  I just hope that we don't have another 3rd or 4th Qtr let down.  Stay focused the entire game.

[Hollywood_HOGan45]

Yes, I know. I was just hoping that they would swap time slots with the LSU-Auburn game (a snoozer), but they won't do that, it is at Auburn and that would have them starting at 9 p.m. Eastern.

Great job with game spacing ESPN. SMH.

[RaisinHog]

This game is a double grudge match it has to have been circled for a while I think the hogs come to play

[GoHogs1091]

I could not disagree any more, Knight had his career night against Bama, he has literally been mediocre since then at best. I am very confident we win because he is their QB.

I also feel good we will have a relatively healthy DJ Dean

Knight is just as good of a runner as Kenny Hill, and Knight is a better passer than Kyle Allen.

Knight also has a lot more game experience than those prior 2 Texas A&M QBs.

[CFB_Fanatic]

AA is a far better QB than Knight

He's a far better passer. But Knight is a far better runner than AA

This is the same guy that lit up Bama in the Sugar Bowl. The guy can play. But of course so can AA.

IMO it will come down to QB play on who wins the game.

[870hogfan]

He's a far better passer. But Knight is a far better runner than AA

This is the same guy that lit up Bama in the Sugar Bowl. The guy can play. But of course so can AA.

IMO it will come down to QB play on who wins the game.

Arkansas has the better QB.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

He's a far better passer. But Knight is a far better runner than AA

This is the same guy that lit up Bama in the Sugar Bowl. The guy can play. But of course so can AA.

IMO it will come down to QB play on who wins the game.

Everybody wants to look back and point to Knight's performance vs. Alabama and that by far, may very well be the best game that he has played in his life. But that isn't what he usually produces. He completed almost 73% of his passes, threw for 348 yards, 4 TD's and 1 INT in that game, but only had 7 yards rushing. He was a far more productive QB when he focused on his passing, 3 seasons ago.

We want to talk about how he runs, and he can do that, but he has turned into an average passer at best which makes it easier to prepare for him. He is tied for 2nd on the team at A&M for the most net rushing yards, but he is only completing about 53% of his passes. He is averaging 6.7 yards per passing attempt but 12.8 per completion. He has really good receivers, if he can deliver the ball to them. Our challenge will be containing and pressuring him and making sure those receivers are limited in their YAC.

They are averaging 82.3 offensive plays per game but thankfully, we are prepared to face that pace of fast play.

[lefty08]

Trevor Knight is gonna feel the pain. 52% completion percentage is horrible

[Rayzback]

The fact that even the fans have put the Texas State win behind us Saturday night and are 100% focused on the TAMU game is a good sign.

[Pig in the Pokey]

Knight possesses "escapability", so like so many times before, we have to keep him boxed-in and not allow him to run. He averages almost 7 yards every time he takes off with the ball.

We are going to have to get pressure on Knight and not allow him all day to throw the ball, though he isn't all that accurate.

A&M, oddly enough, is more effective running the ball than I remember them being in the past. So this makes it more difficult for our D-Line who, while they want to apply pressure on Knight, need to respect and cover the run game as well.

If we can shut down their run and not allow Knight to escape, we will have a far better chance of limiting their passing game as well.

But our run game needs to take a step forward this week and we will need to average 5 yards a carry to do that. A&M has been allowing 3.2 yards per rush up to this point.

And ST's have to get better. Look at those numbers above. A&M is averaging 31 yards per punt return while we average 7.1. That can make a huge difference in terms of field position and the odds of scoring.

he is gonna get knocked out of this game. I'm calling it now. Who is their backup?

[Pig in the Pokey]

Trevor Knight is gonna feel the pain. 52% completion percentage is horrible

agree. Im not sure if it'll be Wise, Agim, Ledbetter, Brooksie.... somebody gonna rough that dude up. I'm going with Winston.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

agree. Im not sure if it'll be Wise, Agim, Ledbetter, Brooksie.... somebody gonna rough that dude up. I'm going with Winston.

I don't know about that but we best be prepared to handle their rush.

Team Sacks
Jarrett Johnson DE: 2
Myles Garrett DE: 3
Kingley Keke DT: 1
Qualen Cunningham DE: 1
Claude George LB: 2
Shaun Washington LB: 1
Armani Watts DB: 1

It isn't just Myles Garrett we need to be worried about. It looks like Chavis is dialing up pressure from different areas all the time.

[CFB_Fanatic]

Everybody wants to look back and point to Knight's performance vs. Alabama and that by far, may very well be the best game that he has played in his life. But that isn't what he usually produces. He completed almost 73% of his passes, threw for 348 yards, 4 TD's and 1 INT in that game, but only had 7 yards rushing. He was a far more productive QB when he focused on his passing, 3 seasons ago.

We want to talk about how he runs, and he can do that, but he has turned into an average passer at best which makes it easier to prepare for him. He is tied for 2nd on the team at A&M for the most net rushing yards, but he is only completing about 53% of his passes. He is averaging 6.7 yards per passing attempt but 12.8 per completion. He has really good receivers, if he can deliver the ball to them. Our challenge will be containing and pressuring him and making sure those receivers are limited in their YAC.

They are averaging 82.3 offensive plays per game but thankfully, we are prepared to face that pace of fast play.

Very true, he has regressed as a passer. A lot of that has to do with the fact that his OL stinks and he is running for his life back there, which is a good thing for us. But if we give him any time at all in the pocket he could pick us apart with his talent at WR. It will be difficult to contain his ability to run as we struggle with these types of QBs. Our best bet is to get pressure on him and get him rattled. That and keep the ball out of his hands with long, sustained drives with our offense.

[lahawg1]

Very true, he has regressed as a passer. A lot of that has to do with the fact that his OL stinks and he is running for his life back there, which is a good thing for us. But if we give him any time at all in the pocket he could pick us apart with his talent at WR. It will be difficult to contain his ability to run as we struggle with these types of QBs. Our best bet is to get pressure on him and get him rattled. That and keep the ball out of his hands with long, sustained drives with our offense.

If that is the case come Saturday he better put his track shoes on, our DL ain't no slouch.

[12247]

I believe Knight is a super hero/super bust type QB.  If we can get to him and rattle him he might bust.  If he has time, we are beat.  I watched most of the Aubbie/A&M game and Aubbie didn't have a QB the first 3 quarters.  The poor Guy went from not very good to terrible and yet, the Aubbie D held on though having to play 80 percent of the game.  I do not believe our D is as good as the Aubbie D.  Aubbie's D swelled up and saved the day time after time until there was just no hope.  Turns out that Aubbie does have a freshman QB who knows what a football field looks like and shows promise.  How the hell the other fellow ever got on the field is beyond me.  Knight will show out if all our D line can do is keep their O-line busy wallering all over each other.  We got to bust his backside a couple of times early on by blitz, luck or just being better than the o-line of A&M and I doubt our D-line can go through their O-line.  I am convinced this game hangs in the balance on how well we can shake Knight up.  If Knight functions at a lower level than he did against Aubbie, we very well can win this game.  I do not believe we can just outscore them or defend them with our back 7.  I do think we can score some on their D.  The question is how much?

[Pig In The City]

I think it is a toss up. Turnovers, penalties and special teams will decide this one.

[Valleysports]

Something a little different this year, A&M actually has a running game.  I don't think anyone needs to get overly concerned about pulling it out in the 4th qtr....

[MuskogeeHogFan]

I think it is a toss up. Turnovers, penalties and special teams will decide this one.

Turnovers will probably be about equal in this game and each team could have 1 T/O.

As far as penalties per game go: Arkansas- 5.3 for 40 yds, 7.5 per penalty. A&M- 6.3 for 57.3 yds, 9.0 per penalty.

In terms of the kicking game, I think we would be wise to put every KO through the EZ and punt every ball out of bounds. Give them zero opportunities.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

In order to beat A&M, the Hogs D Line has to dominate and pressure Knight throughout the game. I bet there will be some spying from the LB's as well depending on the down and yards to go. Likewise........this may be the most dangerous D Line the Hogs offensive line faces all year and we don't exactly have the most steady group going into this game. A&M could struggle against the run, but their pass rush is what's scary.

Not a good paper matchup for the Hogs, but neither was TCU and they dominated that game till the momentum shifting field goal miss in the 4th. Something tells me Hogs win this one and exorcise the A&M demons.

The D-Line has it's work cut out for it this week.

1) Pressure the QB. A&M averages allowing just 1 sack per game but so far they haven't faced a rush like we seem to be putting on this year. UCLA and Auburn averaged just 1.7 sacks per game, we average 3.3. Still, you can bet that Trevor Knight isn't likely to be standing around waiting for us to get to him, but pressures can be good as well.

2) Contain the A&M run game that is averaging 237 yards per game (56 of which belong to Knight). UCLA averages allowing 133.7 and A&M gained 203. Auburn averages 149.3 and A&M ran for 231 on them. We are allowing an average of 98.7 per game.

3) Contain Trevor Knight and keep him in the pocket. Against UCLA he ran 9 times (including scrambles and designed runs) for 31 yards and against Auburn, 12 times for 42 yards.

And of course this doesn't even mention containing the A&M receivers, sure tackling and the ST's play.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Very true, he has regressed as a passer. A lot of that has to do with the fact that his OL stinks and he is running for his life back there, which is a good thing for us. But if we give him any time at all in the pocket he could pick us apart with his talent at WR. It will be difficult to contain his ability to run as we struggle with these types of QBs. Our best bet is to get pressure on him and get him rattled. That and keep the ball out of his hands with long, sustained drives with our offense.

His O-Line "stinks"? They definitely lost most if not all of their starting OL from last year but they are only giving up (on average) 1 Sack per game and 4 TFL Allowed.  The TFL Allowed avg ranks them #16 in the NCAA and the Sacks Allowed number has them tied at #25 with a whole slew of other teams. I'd say that despite being just 3 games into the season, that is pretty good for having to replace almost your entire starting O-Line.

[DeltaBoy]

Life is short and it is Past time to beat the Whoop out of TAMU!

[CFB_Fanatic]

His O-Line "stinks"? They definitely lost most if not all of their starting OL from last year but they are only giving up (on average) 1 Sack per game and 4 TFL Allowed.  The TFL Allowed avg ranks them #16 in the NCAA and the Sacks Allowed number has them tied at #25 with a whole slew of other teams. I'd say that despite being just 3 games into the season, that is pretty good for having to replace almost your entire starting O-Line.

You can chalk that up to Trevor Knights ability to bail them out. He is very very hard to sack. Look and see how many QB hurry ups his OL has allowed and you will see what I mean. I watched a video on youtube of every throw that Knight made against UCLA.....their OL looked bad. Granted, this was thier first game.

As far as TFL, they have good RBs and they can run block fine. Pass block is another beast entirely, and we of all people should know this. We havent looked great in pass pro but have been able to run effectively at times.

Its going to be a good game

[lefty08]

Knight is great at avoiding sacks, unfortunately for aTm, he is also great at letting his passes hit the turf.