We’d like to welcome guest writer Ryan Levy from Texas A&M and Baseball In No Particular Order. He has prepared the Aggie perspective on the game for us. You can head on over to TAMABINPO for our rake on the action
Five years ago today, October 7th, 2000, and the Fightin’ Texas Aggies were riding a 22 game home winning streak and playing the 0-4 Colorado Buffalos. The Buffs had been so bad that second year head coach, Gary Barnett, threatened to remove the buffalo from the player’s helmets unless they played better.
It was a cold and rainy day at Kyle Field and from row 15 of the third deck of Kyle Field, it was the most miserable sporting event I had ever attended. The aura of Kyle Field was broken that day for only the 5th time in 10 years. I was thinking a good deal about it yesterday and that game seemed to be the turning point for an Aggie program that had been very, very strong over the previous 15 or so years.
Then in 2001 at Folsom Field in a 24-21 game starting with the ball on A&M’s own 9-yard line with 2:16 remaining on the clock, Mark Farris began to lead the Ags down the field….5 plays later we were on the Buff’s 35….and then Farris was blindsided from behind, the ball hit the ground then ended up in the end zone as Colorado returned the fumble for a dagger-in-the-heart TD.

The next meeting between the two teams was last October in an overtime thriller as the Ags force a goal line fumble to seal a victory….and payback for the two previous meetings.
And here we sit again, ready for what has turned into an incredibly exciting series considering the lack of head-to-head match-ups due to the north/south schedule rotation.
The Ags enter play 3-1 but it isn’t a great 3-1 after two way-closer-than-they-should-be games against Texas State and Baylor. This is a huge game for the Aggies as we try to turn our season back onto the right track with a win on the road in a tough environment. The biggest concern is that playing on the road has been the Achilles heel of the program over the last few years as we are 2-9 on the road since the start of the 2003 season.
Most of you probably know a little about #1 Reggie McNeal, our highly regarded quarterback. Reggie is pretty much rewriting every quarterback record in school history. He runs a legit 4.4 and has a very strong arm. The Baylor game last weekend was the second worst performance of his career and the offense suffered tremendously because of it. Reggie has thrown for 908 yards and 8 TDs on 48-of-95 passing with three INTS (two last week against Baylor). On the ground he 369 yards on 38 attempts for 92 ypg. I’d say that Reggie’s biggest flaw is that he starts out very slowly.

Passing            Rushing
Comp  Att  Yds  TD    Att  Yds  TD
==================    ============
1st Q    10    25  168   0      9   34   0
2nd Q    14    26  276   3     10  100   1
3rd Q    13    20  350   4     13   91   0
4th Q    11    24  114   1      8  129   0
O.T.     0     0    0   0      1    8   0

His 4th quarter stats would be higher but he didn’t play a snap after the 6:06 mark in the 3rd Q against SMU. Reggie doesn’t run all the time but instead breaks 2 or 3 ten yards runs and 1 or 2 big thirty or forty yard runs. He is at his best when the middle of the field opens up and he just runs straight ahead. He also runs the play-action pass as well as anyone I’ve ever seen.
Coach Fran has an obsession with being balanced on offense and is doing a very good job with that as we are averaging 238.5 ypg on the ground (12th nationally) and 241 ypg in the air (46th nationally). We are currently 12th in total offense (479.5 ypg) & the 19th in scoring offense (37.5 ppg). Really, if I had to give one complaint about our offense it would be that we don’t keep it long….we’re either scoring or punting. We have lost the T.O.P. battle in each game this season which has lead to a completely lopsided number of plays our offense and our defense have to play (256 offensive snaps to 302 defensive snaps).
Our running game is led by Reggie but followed by junior #25 Courtney Lewis (84.8 ypg with 5 TDs on 71 carries). True freshman/human tank, #11 Jorvorskie Lane (isn’t that fun to say?; 15 for 67 and 2 TDs), will likely get the ball for our short carries but fullback, #24 Chris Alexander, runs well and has had some big rumbles as well (5 carries for 49 yards).
We haven’t really thrown to our TEs but true freshman, 6’7″ #3 Martellus Bennett, was the #1 recruit in the state of Texas last year and has all the talent in the world (he has also blocked very well).
Our wideouts are easily our deepest position although we have been hurt somewhat by injuries (like that the play on words?). Our top two chain movers, L’Tydrick Riley & Earvin Taylor are now both out for the season. They will not only be missed for their sure hands but for their great blocking as well.
#7 Jason Carter, while always talented, has come out this season and been simply incredible (20 receptions for 431 yards, 107.8 ypg, & 3 TDs). He was recruited as a QB, and has since been turned into a hybrid HB/WR who lines up in the slot as well as next to Reggie.
#14 Chad Schroeder is a white dude who just flat out surprises, then flies by his defenders. He only has 6 receptions but is averaging over 25 ypc with a season long of only 44 yards. 4 of his six receptions have been TDs and his only rush has been for a TD as well (that’s 5 TDs on 7 touches). He, like Carter, was a HS QB and is also our holder on special teams….he threw for a TD last season and his rushing TD this year was on a fake FG.

Defensively, we aren’t the Wreckin’ Crew of old.

We sit at #35 in rush defense (115.5 ypg), #101 in pass defense (280.5 ypg), #76 in total defense (396 ypg) and surprisingly still sit at #33 in scoring defense (19.3 ppg).
I’m really interested in seeing our true freshman punter, #44 Jeff Brantly, up in the thin air. He is averaging 44.7 ypp with 5 of his 13 punts sailing over 50 yards (his three longs are 58, 58, & 61….all returned or caught as fair catch). He is going to be a good one.

The reason? Our red zone defense has been solid. Our opponents have been in the red zone 15 times and have only scored 4 TDs (7 FGs). From inside the 10 we have given up only 1 TD.
The biggest problem has been our 3rd-down defense as opponents have converted 48% of the time (32/67). That is a killer, especially when you throw it on top of our offensive T.O.P. Could this could be a big factor up in the thinner air?
Our D-Line is made up of 3 sophomores & a senior, our LBers are all upperclassmen, & our DBs are all sophomores or younger except Jaxson Appel (our run stuffing safety). It’s certainly an interesting mix of players and you can see why our pass defense is our weakness. We play VERY soft against the pass, mainly because I think we’re worried about getting burnt deep. If you can stretch the field on us it will certainly be to your advantage.
If I had to give you a few defensive players to watch I’d give you….DE #92 Chris Harrington, DT #97 Johnny Jolly, LB #10 Justin Warren, & #19 Jaxson Appel.
I hope that was a helpful guide to the Aggie squad. Good luck tomorrow.
Gig’em & B.T.H.O. Colorado! WHOOP!

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