Published Oct 8, 2020
A&M's offense vs. Florida's defense
Mark Passwaters  •  AggieYell
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AggieYell.com begins its look at Saturday's game between No. 4 Florida and No. 21 Texas A&M (11 a.m., ESPN) with a breakdown of the matchup between the Aggie offense and the Gators defense.

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Texas A&M depth chart

QB: #11, Kellen Mond (Sr; 6-3, 217; ProFootballFocus 2020 season score of 59.9)

#13, Haynes King (Fr.; 6-3, 200; PFF score of 68.2)

RB: #28, Isaiah Spiller (So.; 6-1, 225; PFF score of 67.8)

#0, Ainias Smith, (So.; 5-10, 190; PFF score of 67.2)

FB: #43, Cagan Baldree (RS-Sr.; 6-4, 250; PFF score of 60)

TE: #85, Jalen Wydermyer (So.; 6-5, 265; PFF score of 64)

#46, Ryan Renick (RS-Sr.; 6-2, 225; PFF score of 70.2)

WR: #5, Jalen Preston (RS-So.; 6-2, 205; PFF score of 61.1)

#1, Demond Demas (Fr.; 6-3, 180; PFF score of 58.5)

SLOT: #18, Kam Brown (RS-Fr.; 6-1, 192; PFF score of 60.3)

OR #2, Chase Lane (RS-Fr.; 6, 190; PFF score of 66)

OR #7, Moose Muhammad (Fr.; 6-1, 196; n/a)

WR: #81, Caleb Chapman (RS-So.; 6-5, 195; PFF score of 53.8)

#4, Dylan Wright (RS-Fr.; 6-4, 210; n/a)


LT: #65, Dan Moore (Sr.; 6-5, 315; PFF score of 71)

#76, Chris Morris (Fr.; 6-4, 290; n/a)

LG: #55, Kenyon Green (So.; 6-4, 325; PFF score of 72.4)

#70, Josh Bankhead (Fr.; 6-5, 320; n/a)

C: #77, Ryan McCollum (RS-Sr.; 6-5, 300; PFF score of 61.3)

#52, Smart Chibuzo (Fr.; 6-4, 340; n/a)

RG: #73, Jared Hocker (Sr.; 6-5, 325; PFF score of 53.5)

#64, Layden Robinson (RS-Fr.; 6-4, 325; PFF score of 68.1)

RT: #54, Carson Green (Sr.; 6-6, 315; PFF score of 71.8)

#53, Blake Trainor (RS-Fr.; 6-7, 325; n/a)

Florida depth chart

DE: #1, Brenton Cox (RS-So.; 6-3, 250; PFF score of 88.2)

#10, Andrew Chatfield Jr. (RS-So.; 6-3, 248; PFF score of 79.4)

NT: #56, Tedarrell Slaton (Sr.; 6-4, 350; PFF score of 75)

#91, Marlon Dunlap Jr. (RS-Sr.; 6-3, 285; PFF score of 61.4)

DT: #17, Zachary Carter (RS-Jr.; 6-4, 290; PFF score of 62.7)

#9, Gervon Dexter (Fr.; 6-6, 308; PFF score of 55.4)

BUCK: #7, Jeremiah Moon (RS-Sr.; 6-5, 250; PFF score of 64.3)

OR #8, Khris Bogle (So.; 6-4, 240; PFF score of 69.6)


LB: #51, Ventrell Miller (RS-Jr.; 6-1, 230; PFF score of 58.3)

#41, James Houston IV (RS-Jr.; 6-1, 240; PFF score of 43.4)

LB: #30, Amari Burney (Jr.; 6-2, 230; PFF score of 57.4)

#11, Mohamoud Diabate (So.; 6-3, 221; PFF score of 58.8)


STAR: #3, Marco Wilson (RS-Jr.; 6, 195; PFF score of 51.8)

#2, Brad Stewart Jr. (Sr.; 6-1, 195; n/a)

CB: #23 Jaydon Hill (So.; 6, 185; PFF score of 65.4)

#12, C.J. McWilliams (RS-Sr.; 5-11, 184; PFF score of 33.2)

FS: #6 Shawn Davis (Sr.; 6, 206; PFF score of 71.9)

#22 Rashad Torrence II (Fr.; 6, 205; PFF score of 48)

SS: #13, Donovan Stiner (Sr.; 6-2, 210; PFF score of 47.8)

#0, Trey Dean III (Jr.; 6-3, 200; PFF score of 54.5)

CB: #5 Kaiir Elam (So.; 6-2, 193; PFF score of 66.2)

#25, Chester Kimbrough (So.; 5-11, 167; PFF score of 59.2)


A&M statistical leaders

Rushing: Spiller, 19 carries, 142 yards (7.5 YPC)

Smith, 15 carries, 83 yards (5.3 YPC)

Passing: Mond, 42-72 (58.3%), 507 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT

King, 1-3, 17 yards, 1 INT

Receiving: Smith, 8 catches, 150 yards, 2 TD

Wydermyer, 10 catches, 101 yards

Lane, 9 catches, 100 yards

Florida statistical leaders

Tackles: MIller, 21

Elam, 15

Stiner, 14

Tackles for loss: Miller, 3

Cox, 2.5

Sacks: Carter, 1.5

Six with 1 each

Interceptions: Dexter, 1

Passes broken up: Elam and Hill, 3

Fumble recoveries: Miller, 1


A&M by the numbers: 

Rushing offense: 149 YPG (44th nationally, 5th SEC)

Passing offense: 262 YPG (30th nationally, 6th SEC)

Total offense: 411 YPG (38th nationally, 8th SEC)

Scoring offense: 20.5 PPG (59th nationally, 10th SEC)

First downs: 42 (61st nationally, 10th SEC)

3rd down conversions: 51.9% (16th nationally, 5th SEC)

Red zone offense: 71.4% (59th nationally, 11th SEC)

Sacks allowed: 2 (5th nationally, 1st SEC)

Penalties: 15 (31st nationally, 12th SEC)

Penalty yards: 108 (23rd nationally, 12th SEC)

Team turnovers: 5 (49th nationally, 12th SEC)

Turnover +/-: -2 (60th nationally, 11th SEC)

Florida by the numbers

Rushing defense: 143.5 YPG (37th nationally, 10th SEC)

Passing defense: 327.5 YPG (68th nationally, 12th SEC)

Total defense: 471 YPG (65th nationally, 13th SEC)

Scoring defense: 29.5 PPG (43rd nationally, 9th SEC)

First downs allowed: 54 (37th nationally, 13th SEC)

3rd down conversion defense: 48.4% (57th nationally, 10th SEC)

Red zone defense: 58.3% (4th nationally, 1st SEC)

Penalties: 8 (5th nationally, 1st SEC)

Penalty yards: 84 (37th nationally, 13th SEC)

Turnovers forced: 2 (58th nationally, 10th SEC)

Turnover +/-: -1 (52nd nationally, 9th SEC)

What the Aggies want to do

Be balanced, continue to move the football but SCORE POINTS. A&M's biggest problem hasn't been moving the football, it has been completing drives. Florida's defense has been giving up a lot of yards and big plays in its first two games to Ole Miss and South Carolina and has one of the worst secondaries, statistically, in the nation. That doesn't necessarily mean A&M wants to come out and throw it all over the place; indeed, they'd probably rather have success on the ground and keep the deadly Florida offense off the field.

The Aggies have the best and most versatile trio of runners in Spiller, Smith and Mond. Even though Florida is giving up only 3.5 yards a carry, that average has been knocked down by sacks. Running backs are averaging 4.5 yards a carry so far. The offensive line needs to continue to run block well and allow the backs to pick up some decent yards on first down. Then they can work off that.

The Florida secondary has been suspect, but outside of Wydermyer, A&M's receivers haven't shown much to strike fear in the hearts of opponents. They've got to find ways to get open and keep the ball moving. The grind it out, long drive approach A&M took last weekend is probably one they'll take this Saturday -- but it will only work if they convert yards into points. Also, Mond can't turn the ball over against a Florida defense that tends to be opportunistic.

How Florida will try to counter

The Aggies have faced Todd Grantham before, when he was the defensive coordinator and Mississippi State in 2017. Not much has changed -- he's looking for huge bodies inside, fast ends and will blitz from any direction in any down and distance.

The Gators have 8 sacks, which puts them among the nation's leaders -- but nobody has more than 1.5. Grantham likes to mix up his looks in the back end and then will bring a linebacker off the edge, a safety up the middle or even a corner. He used a number of delayed blitzes against South Carolina last weekend, with the defenders waiting until Collin Hill was into his progression and looking away to make the break on him.

Florida had one of the nation's best defenses last year and racked up a ton of sacks, but has been very average (or below) so far this year. They're 68th out of 74 teams in passing yards allowed and are exactly in the middle of the pack against the rush. In other words, they're giving up a lot of yards. They're also giving up 30 points a game, which hasn't mattered yet because the offense is averaging 44.

The Gators probably won't change up much, because Grantham doesn't adjust his scheme for much of anyone. The big difference this weekend may be finding ways to cover Wydermyer, maybe bracketing him with a linebacker and the STAR, Wilson. Either way, they'll be giving up a lot of size. But odds are the Gators will attempt to pressure Mond in any way possible, gamble with man coverage against the receivers and try to take Wydermyer away. But expect them to be aggressive and test an A&M offensive line that has been noticeably better in pass blocking in the first two weeks of 2020.