Southwest Classic Preview

The Aggies will play Arkansas for the first time since 1991 when they meet the Razorbacks on the field Saturday. The Razorbacks left the Southwest Conference for the Southeastern Conference following the 1991 season; the Ags sent them on their way with a 13-3  loss in College Station. In the 18 seasons since then, Arkansas has lost 95 games, making you wonder if they made the right move by leaving for the SEC. The renewal of the rivalry between A&M and Arkansas helps both teams; it gives A&M a marquee non-conference game in the Metroplex, which helps with television exposure and recruiting, and it gives Arkansas a guaranteed game in Texas for the next 10 seasons, which will definitely help their recruiting. A&M might have the bigger advantage here, simply because the location will make it a de facto home game for the Aggies.

Join us after the jump as we take a statistical look at Arkansas so far this season....

 Obviously, Ryan Mallett is the leader of this offense. As QB, he makes the Razorback spread attack go. Mallett has been able to spread the ball around to 12 different receivers so far this season, but his main targets seem to be Greg Childs, Joe Adams, and Jarius Wright. Mallett has been solid and sometimes spectacular this season; he had 408 yds through the air on 21-39 passing for 5 TDs against Georgia. Granted, Georgia has the second-worst pass defense and second-worst defense overall in the SEC, but that is still a solid performance, regardless of who you play. Part of that poor defensive showing for Georgia is because of Ryan Mallett. If Mallett has a weakness, it is that he is fairly immobile in the pocket. He was sacked twice against Georgia and three times against Alabama; getting pressure on Mallett and forcing him to hurry his throws will be imperative for the Aggie defense. Alabama was able to hurry him 8 times besides those 3 sacks, and that is something we want to duplicate.

The Razorback running game is headlined by Michael Smith, a stud picked by many as All-SEC in the preseason. Smith had over 1000 yds rushng last season, despite missing two games, and has produced this season when given the ball, as shown by his 6.8 yards per carry average. Unfortunately for Smith, Arkansas has been playing from behind in games against Georgia and Alabama, which has caused them to run the ball less. As a team, Arkansas only averages 94.7 yds per game rushing, which ranks them dead last in the SEC. Arkansas is also dead last in scoring defense (32.3 ppg) and total defense (386.7 ypg), but we'll get to that later. Next to Mallett going crazy, Smith is my biggest concern going into this game. If we don't contain him and stop the running game early, it can be a long night in Arlington for our defense.

Defensively, Arkansas is led by Matt Harris, a redshirt freshman free safety from Richardson Pearce HS. Harris has 19 total tackles on the season, which ties him with senior LB Wendel Davis, who is from Sweeny, TX. I've always said you know you are in trouble when your defensive leader in tackles is a safety, which is partially the case here, but Davis is a stellar LB, with 2.5 tackles for loss, a pass broken up, and 1 fumble recovery so far this season. The Hogs defensive line is led by DE Adrian Davis, a senior from Rosenberg, TX (you starting to understand why Arkansas wants a game in Texas for recruiting?), who has 16 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 sack, and 1 fumble recovery so far on the season. Arkansas' pass defense is the weakness of their team; they are currently last in the SEC, giving up an average of 263 yds per game, and have already given up 8 TDs through the air. Being able to protect Jerrod Johnson from their pass rush so he can exploit their porous pass defense will be one of the bigger offensive keys to the game for A&M. Arkansas' run defense isn't great, but it isn't horrible, giving up an average of 3.3 yards per carry, and 123.7 yds per game. They have given up 4 rushing touchdowns on the year, though. Given that Arkansas' spread offense is going to force opponents to want to run the ball more to keep the ball out of Ryan Mallett's hands, this isn't a bad performance by their defense. If we can get 150 or more yards rushing on Arkansas to balance out our passing attack, we'll be in a good position to win the game.

Overall, I think Arkansas is a solid to decent team which is still figuring things out in coach Bobby Petrino's second season. Like us, Arkansas is still learning to win games after a losing season last year. Arkansas has a significant advantage over us in that they have played two conference games, so their team has been through the fire. Coming into this game after two straight losses, Arkansas will be a hungry and desperate team, and will play with a lot of intensity. Matching that intensity and breaking their will, so we destroy any hope they ever have for victory, will be the key to us winning the game on Saturday.