First Glance: Vols eye another critical Neyland Stadium victory with Texas A&M coming to town
The Record
Tennessee (4-1, 1-1 SEC) vs. Texas A&M (4-2, 2-1 SEC)
The Coaches
Josh Heupel (3rd season, 22-9) vs. Jimbo Fisher (7th season, 43-23)
The Line
Tennessee opens as a 3-point favorite at home with the total sitting at 55.5 as of Monday. (FanDuel)
What’s at Stake?
Tennessee is fresh off the BYE week and looking to continue momentum it built from the lopsided win over South Carolina. For the Vols to keep pace in the Southeastern Conference, the month of October is critical. Another win inside the Friendly Confines of Neyland Stadium would go a long way. Texas A&M is coming off a close loss at home to Alabama. Will it let the Crimson Tide beat it twice like so many teams have done over the years? We’ll find out. Tennessee and Texas A&M will be the 3:30 pm ET CBS kick and the fans will CheckerNeyland.
The Texas A&M Scout
Overall, the Aggies have been pretty solid this season entering the matchup. Texas A&M had the close loss over the weekend to Alabama and a week 2 downfall to Miami, but have looked and played well through the season’s first six weeks. Safe to say that plenty of the 2022 woes that plagued this team are a thing of the past and that the intriguing hire of longtime coach Bobby Petrino as the team’s new offensive coordinator is paying off. That is, if Jimbo Fisher continues to let him run the offense.
For a team that was at or near the bottom in several offensive categories a seasons ago, the Aggie offense has been in good shape – scoring 35 points per game off 420 yards of total offense. All this without starting quarterback Connor Weigman, who was lost for the year in week four. A&M has a former starting quarterback in this league on the roster behind him, though, and Max Johnson has stepped in and played well.
“Well, first of all, I’ve said already they got really good personnel. Quarterback is a smart decision maker,” Josh Heupel said during his Monday press conference. “He’s able to extend and make some plays with his arm. But he’s always got some balance in what he does too. So we got to do a good job of the run game and be able to handle all the different pass concepts that you gonna see from him.”
In parts of five games, the left-handed quarterback has thrown for nearly 700 yards with seven touchdowns and two interceptions. His top-two targets out wide have been Evan Stewart and Anias Smith – both who have combined for 834 yards on 59 receptions with five touchdowns. Noah Thomas has hauled in four touchdowns on the year across his 11 receptions while tight end Jake Johnson has caught two passes for touchdowns.
The offensive line up front has allowed 12 sacks on the year but paves the way for 4.4 yards per carry in the backfield as the team averages just under 150 yards a game on the ground. Le’Veon Moss leads the way with 325 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 5.2 yards per carry on 62 attempts. Amari Daniels, who gets plenty of opportunities each week, has accumulated almost 300 yards with two scores while former five-star tailback Rueben Owens is an option as well – scoring a touchdown on 114 yards rushing thus far.
As improved as this offense has been under Petrino & Fisher – even without Weigman as the starting quarterback of late – the story of Texas A&M has been the defensive play this season. As a whole, the group leads the Southeastern Conference by allowing just 268 yards of total offense a game on average with just 84 yards on the ground. The Aggies have allowed 19.8 points per game with 26 sacks up front and five forced turnovers.
Stopping the run was a major issue a season ago as the Aggies were last in the league at 208 yards a contest. To say 84 rushing yards on average through six games is an improvement would be an understatement. The group has also played more aggressively and gotten home a lot more with 26 sacks already compared to just 19 in 2022 (13th in SEC).
“They’re good at stopping the run. They’re good at getting after for the quarterback too. First of all, they got really good skill. And when I say that, probably about the big scale up front too. They’re physical, they’re dynamic, they’re thick, they play strong,” Heupel said. “They’re multiple up front. They’ve created a bunch of negative yardage plays in the run game and that’s giving them the ability to go get after the quarterback. Second-and-long, third-and-long, too. So you got to do a great job in communication. You got to win some one-on-ones when you’re in a one-on-one. Your double team’s got to be good enough to change the way the line of scrimmage looks too. So (it’s a) big test for us upfront and across the board.”
Linebackers Edgerrin Cooper and Taureon York lead the way from the second-layer of the 4-2-5 scheme. The duo is 1-2 in tackles, respectively, while the former also leads the team with six sacks and 12 tackles for loss thus far. Chris Russell Jr., who has an interception this year, is also one to see snaps in the middle of the defense.
Former Tennessee target Walter Nolen (who played his senior season at nearby Powell High School) is second on the squad with four sacks from the interior of the defensive line. Shemar Turner and McKinnely Jackson have also combined for 5.5 sacks and over 10 TFLs while edge player Fadil Diggs has a pair of sacks with five TFLs himself.
Cornerback Josh DeBerry leads the squad with seven pass breakups and has logged one pick thus far while free safety Demani Richardson is third on the team with 25 stops. The defense is solid up front but there’s opportunity in the backend. Still, it’s proved to be one of the better units in the SEC this season.
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