Gator Football Week 2 Preview: Texas A&M

[DocZaius]

In their first SEC game of the season, the Gators travel to College Station, Texas to take on the Aggies of Texas A&M. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m., televised on ESPN. The College Gameday crew will be there.

Here's a profile:

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 800, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]Name:[/TD]
[TD]Texas A&M University (no periods, no spaces and with an ampersand - seriously)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Location:[/TD]
[TD]College Station, Texas[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Mascot:[/TD]
[TD]Although the students call themselves "Aggies," the official mascot is Reveille, a rough collie.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Colors:[/TD]
[TD]Maroon and White[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Founded:[/TD]
[TD]1876[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Enrollment:[/TD]
[TD]Over 50,000[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Notable Alumni:[/TD]
[TD]Former Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga, former Panamanian President Martin Torrijos, Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Alabama head coach Gene Stallings, country singers Robert Earl Keen and Lyle Lovett, astronauts William A. Pailes and Michael E. Fossum, actor Rip Torn, conservative radio talk show host Neal Boortz, Chinese spy Wen Ho Lee, Lowry Mays, chairman and CEO of Clear Channel Communications, Khalid A. Al-Falih, President and CEO of Saudi Aramco, and Eduardo Castro-Wright, CEO of Wal-Mart Stores USA.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Division and Conference:[/TD]
[TD]Div. I-FBS, Southeastern Conference[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Head Coach:[/TD]
[TD]

"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Sumlin"
Kevin Sumlin, 35-17 as a head coach (Houston), 0-0 at Texas A&M, working on an impressive half-fro

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]All-Time Record vs. UF:[/TD]
[TD]1-1 (1962 and 1977)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2011 Record:[/TD]
[TD]7-6 regular season, defeated Northwestern in the Meineke Car Care Bowl[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Most Stunning Victory of 2011:[/TD]
[TD]61-7 victory against Kansas[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Most Devastating Loss of 2011:[/TD]
[TD]27-25 loss to arch-rival Texas at home, after which head coach Mike Sherman was unceremoniously fired over the phone.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Common Opponents in 2011:[/TD]
[TD]None.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Notable Traditions:[/TD]
[TD]12th Man, Aggie Bonfire, Corps of Cadets, Midnight Yell Practice, Aggie Yell Leaders[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Player with the Silliest Name:[/TD]
[TD]Although there are plenty to choose from, my vote goes to senior WR Uzoma Nwachukwu[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

This is a game full of question marks. This will be A&M's first SEC game ever, after leaving the Big XII last year. Moreover, since Hurricane Isaac prompted the delay of their season opener with Louisiana Tech, no one knows how good or how poorly A&M will play this year. Compounding the mystery is that A&M has a new head coach and a brand new quarterback - redshirt freshman Johnny Manziel. You might remember Manziel - he was arrested a couple of months ago after getting in a fight and giving the cops a fake ID.

Although the Aggies' record in 2011 is comparable to Florida's in its suckitude, I note that A&M's losses were almost all very close games:

• Oklahoma State, 30-29
• Arkansas, 42-38
• Missouri, 38-31
• Oklahoma, 41-25
• Kansas State, 53-50 (OT)
• Texas (27-25)

With one exception (Oklahoma), A&M was within 7 points of the victor in each of their losses. With the exception of Missouri, all of their losses came to ranked opponents (at the time of the loss), with the lowest-ranked opponent being Texas (#25) and the highest-ranked being Oklahoma and Oklahoma State (both ranked #7). A&M started the season ranked 8 and 9 in the AP and Coaches' polls, respectively, but dropped out of the standings after their loss to Kansas State.

As a school, A&M has a lot going for it. It's got a lot of students; like Florida, it's a member of the prestigious AAU; it has a number of great traditions, not the least of which is its Corps of Cadets, which has produced many military heroes. Yet, there's something not quite right about their fans and students. Witness the recent kerfluffle about a billboard that was put up in Gainesville:

The A&M athletic department has made it clear it wasn't their billboard, but then went on to make somewhat spurious accusations of trademark infringement and had it taken down. Meanwhile, the Aggie fan base has been falling all over themselves to put the blame on one of their former rivals from the Big XII - even going so far as to dummy up a contractwith ClearChannel that points the finger at the administrator of ShaggyBevo.com, a popular University of Texas message board. This latest billboard was probably purchased by an Aggie fan, just trying to follow up on A&M's official billboard they put up in Austin:

According to fans of A&M's rivals, this behavior is par for the course: loudly proclaiming A&M's superiority in all aspects of academia and athletics, while studiously ignoring its failures. It reminds me a lot of F$U's inferiority complex.

But enough about that. Let's get to the game. Everyone knows how poor Florida looked in its season opener against Bowling Green. I'm not going to re-hash that here; I would just get depressed. Let's look at A&M's strengths and weaknesses.

Offense

Despite a 7-6 regular-season record last year, the Aggies managed to put up some good offensive stats. Statistically, they were ranked 24th in the nation in rushing offense and 18th in passing offense. They averaged 490 yards total offense per game. Although their quarterback is untested (and probably not ready for what awaits in SEC play), A&M is going to be tough to defend against.

Manziel is going to have good protection. The Aggies return 4 of 5 starters on the offensive line - a line that gave up only 9 sacks last season. If Manziel does his job, Florida's defense is going to have a tough day. A&M also returns a very good receiving corps, led by senior Ryan Swope, who caught 89 passes for over 1200 yards and 11 touchdowns last year.

The Aggie running game is no slouch, either. Senior running back Christine Michaelreturns after an injury-shortened junior season, in which he still managed to gain almost 900 yards in 9 games - while sharing duties with Cyrus Gray, who put up over 1,000 yards last season and was drafted in the sixth round by the Kansas City Chiefs.

Defense

The Aggies were rated 59th in total defense last year, and were particularly vulnerable to a passing attack. Their pass defense was rated 109th in the nation. Their rush defense was pretty good, giving up an average of only 101 yards per game, 12 nationally.

A&M's linebacking corps is experienced and strong, led by Seniors Jonathan Stewart, Sean Porter and Steven Jenkins. Their secondary is porous, however, and there is potential for a team with a strong passing attack to make some big plays downfield. Too bad that team isn't us.

Prediction

This is gonna be a close game. I hope. Despite their record, the Aggies are capable of scoring early and often, and our offensive strengths don't match up well with their defensive weaknesses. Nonetheless, the Aggies are unranked, and although some of their stats appear to be impressive, they were achieved against somewhat weaker opponents than they will face in the SEC.

I'm looking to Coach Muschamp to kick it up a notch this week offensively. If Driskell is to have any opportunity to throw downfield this season, A&M is it. Their pass defense is vulnerable. Let's try to take advantage of it. If we can stretch the field, it'll help us establish a running game as well.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Gators will win this one 28-24. At least I hope we will.

[DocZaius]

Another point of view, from a very talented Aggie.

[DocZaius]

The Aggie jizz jar?
http://tuxedoyoda.blogspot.com/2012/04/is-aggie-jizz-jar-story-true.html

Mother of God, what have we done?

[DocZaius]

WTF is wrong with these students?

[DocZaius]

[DocZaius]

[TheTodd]

love the 'no take backs' from the UTx fans.

[TheTodd]

"During important plays of the game, some members of Texas A&M's cadet corps will squeeze their testicles."

[quote=DocZaius][/QUOTE]

[DocZaius]

LOL!
http://www.rantsports.com/lacesout/2012/09/06/texas-am-aggies-win-two-additional-football-national-titles-this-summer/

It’s been one heck of a year for theTexas A&M Aggies. First, they parted ways with their long-time arch rivals, theTexas Longhorns, and set their sights on what they perceive to be the greener pastures of the SEC–at least pastures in which no Longhorns dwell.
To commemorate the event, the Texas A&M sports marketing department decided to frivolously add two additionalNCAA football national championships to their resume over the summer without even playing a game.
How do you ask?
Well, for years, the Aggies have boasted one football national title, which they won nearly 3-quarters of a century ago in 1939.
Yet the Aggies have now decided that, in order to better fit in with their new conference foes, that they will also claim national titles from 1919 and 1927 as well.
In addition to now claiming themselves as 3-time National Champions, they’ve even taken it a step further, “updating” their stadium with their latest accolades.
The following picture of the Aggie’s Kyle Field was taken just last year, proudly displaying their 1939 National Championship along with their 17 conference titles.

Now, a mere 9 months later, the Aggies’ storied history has changed quite drastically as evidenced in their new stadium upgrades shown below:

Apparently, Texas A&M has decided to go back and rewrite the record books.
In 1919, Illinois, Harvard, Notre Dame and A&M all received a national championship from at least 1 different publication, but Harvard and Illinois received the 1st place vote in more publications.
In 1927, Texas A&M received a retroactive national championship from the “Poling System”, a ranking method developed by a Mr. Polin in Ohio in 1935, but it was retroactively given to A&M for the 1927 season.
Now, 80 years later, the Aggies have decided that they will claim them as well.
And about those new conference titles:
In 1997, the Aggies finished 6-2 in conference play and faced the 8-0 Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Big XII title game. They lost to the Big Red by a score of 54-15, but that didn’t stop them from claiming their Big 12 South title as a full-fledged conference championship.
They also now claim to have been conference champions in 2010. That’s partially true, but what they fail to mention is that they finished 3rd in a 3-way tie for the Big 12 South crown that season, and didn’t even represent the division in the Big 12 Championship game. But again, why not claim the title? They were close, right?
Clearly, the Aggies have had a great off-season: new conference, new head coach in Kevin Sumlin, three new conference titles, two new National Championships.
And all of this without even taking the field.
Well done, Aggies. Well done.

Okay, I kind of understand the whole "retroactive national title" thing, even if it is a pretty lame exercise. After all, Bama's been doing that for years - they're up to what? 27 titles now? But how the hell can they claim a conference title in which they got completely creamed by Nebraska?

[DocZaius]

My apologies for lack of a better link, but here is the text of an article written in 2003 by a columnist for the Daily Utah Chronicle:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/980524/posts

Cult! Fear and loathing in College Station (Texas A&M Cult Alert) Daily Utah Chronicle (University of Utah) ^ | September 11, 2003 | Chris Bellamy
Posted on Thu Sep 11 2003 13:35:49 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time) by Recourse

Cult! Fear and loathing in College Station

By Chris Bellamy

Media Credit: kevin buehler / The Daily Utah Chronicle My two colleagues and I were terrified as we stumbled upon the worshipping ground of the Texas A&M football faithful.

I tried to escape. Honest, I did. But believe me when I tell you, I didn't know what the hell was going on. What was happening around me was dumbfounding, disturbing, frightening.

I don't know what it was that compelled me to stay. Maybe it was fear. Maybe it was my obscene sense of curiosity. Maybe it was the smell.

Whatever the reason, last Friday night I found myself, along with my co-workers Asad Kudiya and Kevin Buehler, in probably the most peculiar situation of my life.

Cannons were firing. People were chanting. They were gyrating in unison. My God, they were doing synchronized pushups!

This was called "The Yell," and I found myself unwittingly and unintentionally thrown into the middle of it. It was there that I began to discover just what College Station, Texas was all about-and I'm not exaggerating when I say it may have changed my life forever.

More than 30,000 Aggie fans crowded the streets outside the stadium just before midnight last Friday, as they do before every home game, ready to take part in this massive pre-game pep rally.

Now, I had always heard about cults. I had even seen a few documentaries on them on The Learning Channel. Heaven's Gate. Jim Jones and The People's Temple.

But never had I seen a cult up close and personal until we settled into our places in Kyle Field Friday night.

It started with the pushups. Then it was the "Fighting Aggie War Hymn," a tune repeated ad nauseam all night long, one that still rings in my head at this very hour.

Hullabaloo, Caneck, Caneck. Hullabaloo, Caneck, Caneck. All hail to dear old Texas A&M...

Then it got weird. A group of young men, wearing matching overalls, took center stage down on the sidelines as the raucous crowd suddenly hushed. The men began leading these Aggie faithful in chants, cheers and the reading of Masonic verses.

And everyone knew exactly what to do-and when to do it. They knew what every hand gesture meant. They knew every word of every chant and every song.

Everyone except us, of course. We, visitors from Utah, did not belong. We did not have the ceremony down by heart. But we did what we were told. What else could we do?

"I was confused...and scared," a genuinely shaken Asad told me afterward. "I felt like if I didn't do what they were doing, they were going to rape me."

We leaned over and bowed our heads with the rest of them. We repeated those infernal chants and sang the praises of the Aggie gods. We leaped up and threw our hands in the air, and praised the Good Laaaaawwwwd, as the four men down in front declared a Jihad on the Utah Ute football team.

Beat the hell out of Utah, they chanted. Beat the hell out of Utah!!

The four Yell leaders wailed on the microphone and told the crowd to Riiiiiise Up! They made a strange, Hitler-looking gesture to the crowd, and all of a sudden the people around us threw their arms around us and we all began to sway from side to side, singing that war hymn...and it was then that I realized that everyone was speaking in tongues.

Hullabaloo, Caneck, Caneck. Hullabaloo, Caneck, Caneck. We're gonna beat you all to Chigaroogarem. Chigaroogarem. Rough, tough, real stuff, Texas A&M!

My memory is a little fuzzy, but if I remember correctly, everyone around us was wearing long, white cloaks and burning candles. And If I'm not mistaken, there was a virgin sacrifice as well.

Strange and terrible things began happening inside me. These people had been brainwashed, I was sure of it...but...I kind of liked it. I was oddly titillated by the whole experience, ashamed as I am to admit that.

I was conflicted. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I loved them and loathed them. I was repulsed, yet mysteriously drawn to their sick, twisted game, comforted by this theatre of mass worship, this cornucopia of rabid fan psychosis. It was like a KKK gathering on mushrooms.

Talk about worshipping false idols. This was just for the football team, for Pete's sake. The football team!

The U football team sometimes struggles to get 35,000 fans at the actual game-A&M got that many for the pep rally. On a late Friday night, no less. These kids should have been getting wasted, having sex and walking around town in a drunken stupor stealing stop signs and falling asleep in public fountains.

But no-at half past midnight, they were at the football stadium, worshipping Dennis Franchione while four boys in overalls did their best impression of an Episcopal sermon.

I'd never seen anything like this place. None of us had.

I mean, what can you say about a town that simultaneously symbolizes everything that is right about college football, and everything that's wrong about our nation's educational system?

But it wasn't just the football fans-the whole town of College Station was ass-backward.

The place was littered with the scary but aptly named Crickets on Steroids with Wings, which may or may not have been the apocalyptic, flesh-eating bugs prophesied in the Bible.

The night desk clerk at our hotel was named Lucifer. Everyone in town drove a maroon-colored pickup truck. The uniform code at every business establishment was an Aggies T-shirt. The school marching band looked uncannily like the Third Reich. We went to a bar where people actually played darts for hours and hours on end. Who does that?!

Small things, I know. But after our experience Friday night, every little thing made the town seem all the more strange.

When we left "The Yell" Friday night, none of us could speak. What the hell just happened, we all thought to ourselves. That wasn't just school spirit-it was something different altogether. Those people were just...different. If this wasn't a cult, I didn't know what was.

The experience of College Station was an odd one. To tell you the truth, I'm just glad I got out of there alive. Hopefully, the place didn't rub off on me.

Hullabaloo, caneck, caneck. Chigaroogarem. Chigaroogarem.

cbellamy@chronicle.utah.edu

[G8RKyle]

And I invited some of them to my home tomorrow to watch the game. I'm now hoping they don't come.

[DocZaius]

Careful, if you invite them more than once it'll become an Aggie tradition.

[Toothy]

I can't believe we have to play these jerkoffs, whose main contributions to world culture are 1) more enthusiastic methods of cattle castration, and 2) Rip Torn.

It's gonna be a dark day in my life, too, when they beat the shit out of us today.

A&M 28, Gators 16

[DocZaius]

Glad we pulled that one out. Is Gillislee okay? Saw him limp off after that last TD.

Showed some improvement in the second half, especially on defense. Our offensive line was terrible though. How many times did Driskell get pressured or sacked? Just awful.

[G8RKyle]

Well, A&M has the same defensive line that led the nation in sacks last year. We did two things that were great today that I would never have expected. One was cleaning up the penalties, and two was making great halftime adjustments on defense. I can't remember a time when we've had such a drastic change after halftime. It was great.

[DocZaius]

That's a good point about the Aggy defensive line. Still, 8 sacks is a little much.

But I agree with you. It was refreshing to see so few penalties and the way we adjusted.

[DocZaius]

[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

[DocZaius]

Ok, last post on Aggy. Check this thread out: http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp? ... =&opt=post

This didn't come across on TV, but apparently there was some booing of Gator players when they got injured. Apparently, this was all some kind of conspiracy to throw them off their fast-paced offensive attack and it's therefore okay to boo players when they are clearly "faking an injury."

Oh, and Florida players can't handle the "Texas heat."

Aggy really is out there.

[TheTodd]

I don't doubt that we were taking a dive to slow them down. That is part of the game IMO. If you try that up tempo stuff then you can expect "cramps" to just happen.

[TheTodd]

their stadium is horrible. Might be the worst in the conference. Smelled like bat feces where we sat in the upper deck of the end zone.

[radbag]

the thought HAD occurred to me that the "injuries" seemed to start happening at times in the game when momentum started shifting...concur that it's part of the game...it's happened to us many a time (f$u) so i'm not really surprised...having said that - i can't bring myself to boo...the 12th man was definitely booing

that uptempo style, no-huddle offense was very effective imo...what i liked was it was a TRUE uptempo style in that plays were being run ASAP...none of that "line up and look to the sideline" bullshit...i couldn't help but think that at some point, the aggs were going to lose some steam as a result of that uptempo style late in the game...i felt as if we were biding time and it kinda paid off imo.

[DocZaius]

Injury reports:

Gators injury report from Texas A&M game

Sep 8 - 8:10PM ET
By Michael DiRocco | ESPN.com
Here's what Florida coach Will Muschamp said about the Gators' injury situation:
LB Jelani Jenkins suffered a thumb injury and was in a cast after the game. Muschamp said he did not know how long Jenkins would be out.
S Josh Evans suffered a right shoulder injury on a tackle. Muschamp said he believes Evans should be fine. "He just didn't get the strength back in his shoulder (to come back into the game)," Muschamp said.
CB Cody Riggs suffered a sprained foot. "He should be fine based on what I was told on the sideline," Muschamp said.
RB Mike Gillislee suffered an undisclosed injury. Muschamp said he didn't know what it was -- just that Gillislee got "dinged" -- and the Gators used Mack Brown on the final drive to seal the victory. "Mack did a nice job going into the game and getting the ball north and south," Muschamp said.

http://espn.go.com/blog/Colleg...rt-from-am-game

Heat cramps Gators' style in Texas


September, 8, 2012
Sep 8 - 8:30PM ET
By Michael DiRocco | ESPN.com


Texas heat is apparently much different from Florida heat.


UF's players struggled with cramps during Saturday's 20-17 victory. Eight players, mostly on defense, needed to be treated for cramps and helped off the field. That was despite the game-time temperature being 83 degrees, which was cooler than originally forcast.


"I'm not sure (why)," UF coach Will Muschamp said. "It's a drier heat here. I didn't know we would have issues with cramps."


Among the players who were affected was right tackle Chaz Green, who missed several series while he was receiving fluids via an IV.

Texas A&M fans were not happy with UF's defensive players getting treated for cramps because they thought the Gators were doing it only to slow down the Aggies' up-tempo offense. Among those who were treated on the field were linebacker Lerentee McCray and defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd. But UF's players said it was a legitimate issue.

"It wasn't humid," left guard James Wilson said. "Just a dry heat."

http://espn.go.com/blog/colleg...-style-in-texas

INJURY UPDATES
ONLY GATORS Get Out Alive


A total of 10 Florida football players went down at one time or another over the course of the contest. It was so bad, in fact, that Muschamp had to take a timeout in order to coach up a player before he headed into the game as an injury replacement.

“We lost a bunch of guys in the game. I had to take a timeout on punt return,” he said. “We were down to our third gunner at one point on punt return, which is the reason why I had to take a timeout. I wanted to make sure the young man knew what to do. I wasn’t sure he knew and in that situation I would have rather taken the timeout and make sure he knew exactly what we were supposed to do in that situation.”

Five Gators in particular had noteworthy injuries. Muschamp was not able (or chose not to) provide a lot of information after the game but he did offer some updates.


Redshirt junior Will linebacker Jelani Jenkins – Had his arm in a sling on the sidelines but apparently injured his thumb and had it casted after the game.

Senior safety Josh Evans – Got run-over near the goal line and went down immediately; got popped on the shoulder and did not return because he could not regain strength in the area.

Senior running back Mike Gillislee – Tweaked his thigh and hip early in the game and pulled up lame after his second touchdown grabbing his right groin. (Muschamp said he got “dinged” and did not provide any of that information.)

Junior cornerback Cody Riggs – Sprained his foot and should be fine.

Redshirt sophomore tackle Chaz Green – Had cramps, which he suffers from often.

http://www.onlygators.com/09/0...st-game-report/

[radbag]

evans got trucked

[DocZaius]

Regardless of whether the cramping was "legitimate," I've never heard anyone boo an injured player before.

[IHateUGAlyDawgs]

[quote=DocZaius]Regardless of whether the cramping was "legitimate," I've never heard anyone boo an injured player before.[/QUOTE]

I believe the Saints fans cheered when their QB (I think it was Bobby Joe Hebert) got hurt. Not quite booing, but same sentiment.