Orange Bowl Preview

Well let’s just get this out of the way… Their players didn’t opt out and ours did. Now that is over with Texas A&M will definitely be playing with a chip on their shoulder since they believed they belonged in the CFP. Will our young guys have a bigger chip on their shoulder when it comes to proving themselves as they try to fill some big shoes? We shall see soon enough.

Texas A&M is 8-1 with their most impressive win being against Florida. The only other team they beat with a winning record was Auburn. They also beat LSU who is .500. Their only loss was a 24-52 beat down at the hands of Alabama. They had to cancel two games against Tennessee and Ole Miss due to Covid. Neither of those teams ended up with winning records.

The big story is obviously the players we are missing. We lost our entire starting backfield in Carter and Williams. We lost our best receiver, Brown, and lost the leader of our defense, Surratt. I honestly think we will be fine when it comes to receivers. We still have Newsome who has had an off year compared to last year, but is still a huge threat. A&M wil be hyper focused on him though. That means other players will have opportunities to step up. Emery Simmons, Antoine Green, Josh Downs, and Khafre Brown will all have opportunities to make big plays in this game. Simmons has shown flashes this season with 201 yards, 13.4 average per catch and a touchdown. Khafre Brown has 297 yards, 22.84 average per catch and 2 touchdowns. The word from the older Brown is that Khafre is faster than he is. I sure hope he is right. Plus add Walston at tight end.

Missing Carter and Williams gives me room for pause though as we now must turn to inexperienced running backs. It may be running back by committee. Our options are as follows:

DJ Jones 66 yards 5.9 yards per carry

Elijah Green 55 yards 5.5 per carry

British Brooks 50 yards 5.1 per carry

Josh henderson 51 3.8 per carry

It gives me room for pause because we have inexperienced backs going up against the 3rd best run defense in the nation. A&M is led in tackles by their linebackers, specifically Buddy Johnson. Their defensive line is very disruptive. DT Bobby Brown has 5.5 sacks on the season and is a first-team All-SEC player. On the edge, we will have to deal with DeMarvin Leal. He is fast out on the edge and is one of the team leaders in tackles for loss. Our offensive line is going to be key. They have to open up holes or we are going to be in trouble. Expect Walston to be brought in a lot to be an extra blocker. I expect the game to be put in the hands of Sam Howell and wouldn’t be surprised if was allowed to run more. Maybe even have some designed runs.

This game will be won or lost in the trenches. The Aggies have one of the best offensive lines in the country and is a finalist for the Joe Moore Award. They have the second best run game in the SEC. Their game is to run the ball with Isiah Spiller. He has good speed and makes sharp cuts. He has 986 yards on the year and 7 touchdowns. Smith, their secondary back, lines up everywhere. He is used out of the backfield and has been effective as a receiver as well. He has 439 receiving yards, averaging 11.9 yards a catch with 6 receiving touchdowns. Their tight end, Wydermyer, is Mond’s go to receiver. He is a Mackey Award Finalist and is 3rd nationally among tight ends in receptions (45) and has 6 touchdown catches. He leads the team with 502 receiving yards and averages 11.2 yards a catch. Their QB, Kellen Mond, has had a quietly good season. He has thrown 19 touchdowns to just 3 interceptions with a 63.5 completion percentage. He has done a good job minimizing turnovers and is surprisingly good in the option game. Lane is 3rd on the team in receiving with 382 receiving yards, averaging 13.6 yards per catch with 2 touchdowns. Most of A&M’s receivers are young and Mond’s go to’s are definitely Wydermyer and Smith.

We have to be able to stop their run game. Again the trenches are going to determine this game. We allow 147.8 rush yards a game and 4.1 per carry which is good enough for 5th best in the ACC. We have held opponents under 100 rushing yards 4 times, but have allowed over 199 rushing yards 4 times. What rush defense shows up is going to be a big factor for our chance in this game. Losing Surratt definitely hurts us against the run and in pass coverage with Wydermyer. Gemmel isn’t great in pass coverage. Eugene Asante will be Surratt’s replacement and he has some big shoes to fill. Him and Khadry Jackson are going to have a big role in this game. Texas A7M is by no means an offensive juggernaut. They probably aren’t going to beat us deep. They will nickel and dime us down the field with hand offs and passes to Smith and Wydermyer. The Aggies control the clock and keep opposing offenses off the field. We will have to take advantage of all the offensive possessions we get. We can’t go 3 and out, that is just going to exhaust our defense.

I am digging the uniform pick for this game. Let’s hope the throwback uniforms offer some inspiration. A&M is going to be a tough test and we are going to have to play our best game with the players we have to beat them.