Texas Longhorns at Texas A&M Aggies | College Football Predictions
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- Thursday, November 26, 2009, 12:22
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The third-ranked Texas Longhorns will attempt to remain undefeated and keep their national title hopes alive as they close out the regular season against Big 12 foe Texas A&M on Thanksgiving night.
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Texas is a perfect 11-0, and 10 of the team’s wins have come by double figures. The Longhorns crushed Kansas last weekend in a 51-10 final, and the club has scored 41 or more points seven times. Mack Brown may not have his best team since taking the reigns at Texas, but this group figures to have a chance to play for the national title if it can win this game and next weekend against Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship Game.
Texas A&M hasn’t been nearly as successful as Texas this season, but the Aggies are bowl eligible at 6-5, and they can even their Big 12 record at 4-4 with a victory on Thursday night. Last weekend, the team halted a two-game skid with a 38-3 romp over Baylor in front of the home crowd. Texas A&M has been wildly inconsistent this season, as it beat Texas Tech by 22 points while also losing to Oklahoma and Kansas State by a combined score of 127-24.
Texas owns a 74-36-5 advantage in the all-time series with Texas A&M, including a 49-9 triumph over the Aggies last season.
UT’s Colt McCoy has now won more games as a starting quarterback (43) than any player in Division I football history. Last weekend against Kansas, McCoy completed 32-of-41 passes for 396 yards with four touchdowns and zero interceptions, another brilliant performance by the Heisman hopeful. His favorite target, Jordan Shipley, made 10 catches for 108 yards and a touchdown in the win, while James Kirkendoll posted two scores.
“I don’t think we could have scripted it any better,” said coach Brown of McCoy’s performance against Kansas en route to breaking the all-time wins record. “With all the pressure on him, he’s showing everybody he’s in here for a big finish. He is in here for a big finish and he was sending that message tonight.”
Defensively, Texas was able to hold Kansas to 303 total yards on 65 plays, including 47 rushing yards on 26 carries. Sure, McCoy and the offense garner most of the attention, but this Longhorns’ defense has been among the nation’s best groups all year.
“We gave up more big plays than we’ve been giving up but they’ve got a great scheme offensively and I think they’re really talented,” said Brown when asked to assess his defense’s play against Kansas. “I think that’ll be really good for us going to A&M because they’ve got a great quarterback and really good skill at receiver as well.”
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Overall this season, Shipley has made 91 catches for a school-record 1,204 yards and nine touchdowns, and he is also one of the truly elite punt returners in the nation, having scored twice this year. McCoy has completed 73 percent of his throws for 3,024 yards and 23 touchdowns with nine interceptions, numbers that definitely place him in the Heisman discussion. Considering the fact that no player has rushed for more than 370 yards for Texas this season, the team has obviously employed a backfield-by-committee approach. The Longhorns are averaging 42.5 ppg to go along with 438.4 total ypg.
Defensively, Texas is limiting foes to 13.3 ppg and 238.7 total ypg. The Longhorns have only allowed 14 touchdowns to opponents through 11 games, including a mere four rushing scores. The fact that they are holding opponents to 1.7 yards per rushing attempt and 50.1 yards per game on the ground is downright staggering. Texas has made a wealth of big plays, as the club has registered 20 interceptions, 10 fumble recoveries and 35 sacks. Earl Thomas is second on the team in tackles, and he has recorded a stellar total of seven interceptions. As for Roddrick Muckelroy, he leads Texas with 69 total tackles.
Texas A&M is scoring 33.5 ppg this season, and the team is generating 459.3 total ypg. Those numbers are extremely solid by any standards, so there is little chance that the Longhorns will take the Aggies lightly this weekend. Quarterback Jerrod Johnson is a standout performer who has thrown 24 touchdowns against only five touchdowns and has 2,875 passing yards to his credit. More than just a passer, the versatile Johnson has rushed for 358 yards and eight touchdowns. Cyrus Gray has posted 741 rushing yards and five touchdowns to lead the ground attack, and Ryan Tannehill paces a balanced group of receivers with 40 catches.
While the Texas A&M offense has been strong, the team’s defense has been rather weak. Opponents are scoring 31.2 ppg against the Aggies, who are yielding 416.3 total ypg. They have struggled against both the run and the pass, as opponents have racked up 40 total touchdowns against them, including 24 on the ground.
Fortunately, the defense played brilliantly against Baylor last weekend, limiting the Bears to 297 total yards while coming up with three big interceptions. Most importantly, zero touchdowns were permitted in 60 minutes of football.
“It was huge for us to keep a team out of the end zone for an entire game,” said defensive lineman Eddie Brown. “The win was great — it means we’re going bowling. Now we can’t wait for Texas on Thursday.”
The offense took care of business as well against Baylor, as 375 yards were gained on the ground en route to a total of 528 yards. Johnson was tremendous under center, as he completed 19-of-25 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns with zero interceptions. He also ran for 83 yards and a score, while Christine Michael had 116 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
“It’s a great feeling knowing that Thursday isn’t our last game,” said offensive lineman Lee Grimes when asked to comment on his team becoming bowl eligible. “It’s rewarding to the team to know we are coming back to play a bowl game.”
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