Texas A&M vs. Utah State Preview

It will be a battle of Aggies against Aggies when the Utah State (0-1) football team comes to College Station Saturday to play 1-0 Texas A&M.

The game will begin at 6:05 p.m at Kyle Field. There will be no television.

A&M took heart from the weekend results in games played by Big 12 South powers Oklahoma State, Texas University, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Colorado. The Aggies are thinking perhaps they may have a chance to move up in the standings. That is if all things are equal.

A&M junior quarterback Jerrod Johnson (31-41-0) is coming off out a career day in his opener against New Mexico. He threw for 349 yards and two touchdowns. Look for Johnson to continue his magic against Utah State. A&M head coach Mike Sherman was pleased that Johnson threw so well was choosing his receivers much better than in 2008.

“ Jerrod (Johnson) made good decisions and didn't force the ball down the field. He likes to take his shots. As I told him, 'Let the system work for you, don't you work the system’… He took his check-downs when he had to, and took the deep throws when they were there… He made good decisions," Sherman told a news conference.

For the first time in perhaps a decade, the Aggies will step out on the turf sporting a legitimate passing offense led for a cadre of proven receivers. Sophomore tight Jeff Fuller, TE Jamie McCoy, freshman wideout Uzoma Nwachukwu got three or more catches for the Aggies. Sherman, the old NFL coach, was especially pleased that his receiving corps did not drop any passes.

Quarterback Ryan Tannehill was listed as a backup to Johnson up to until the Aggies took the field. Tannehill snatched three passes for 40 yards. His longest catch was for 16 yards.

Sherman told the press, “ [Playing Tannehill at receiver] is a difficult one, but it's hard to keep him on the sidelines. He wants to be a part of it, so it's very difficult. At the same time, I have to be smart and protect him as best I can, so if we need to go with him he's ready to go. It's a fine line I'm walking.”

The only question mark for Sherman is the running game. Where did it go? There were some brilliant plays. The ground game was tepid at best.

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“ Well, we struggled running the football. I really wanted to establish the run early in the game and was not able to do that. Give New Mexico credit, they were running some stunts we weren't necessarily picking up, and slanting their front, and we were a little bit too quick to climb with our offensive line up to the linebackers, and not press the line of scrimmage with our line and our backs. From a running-game standpoint, there were those issues,” Sherman said.

A&M has never lost to any members of the current Western Athletic Conference School. Utah State is 5-9-1 on Texas soil.

By Jay Goode
Big 12 Fans Texas A&M Correspondent

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