Published Oct 13, 2021
Texas A&M's offense vs. Missouri's defense
Mark Passwaters  •  AggieYell
Publisher
Twitter
@mbpRivals

AggieYell.com's look at the matchup between No. 21 Texas A&M (4-2, 1-2 SEC) and Missouri (3-3, 0-2 SEC) begins with a breakdown of the Aggie offense against the Tigers defense.

The scene

Advertisement

Where: Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium, Columbia, Missouri

When: Saturday, 11 a.m. central time

TV: SEC Network

Weather: Sunny, temperatures in the 50s to low 60s

Texas A&M depth chart (spread base)

QB: #10, Zach Calzada; RS-So.; 6-4, 200

#14, Blake Bost; Fr.; 6-2, 195

#13, Haynes King; RS-Fr.; 6-3, 200

RB: #28, Isaiah Spiller; Jr.; 6-1, 225

#6, Devon Achane; So.; 5-9, 185

TE: #85, Jalen Wydermyer; Jr; 6-5, 255;

#88, Baylor Cupp; RS-So.; 6-7, 240; OR

#42, Max Wright; RS-Jr.; 6-4, 260

WR #2 Chase Lane; RS-So.; 6, 190

#5 Jalen Preston; RS-Jr.; 6-2, 210 OR

#8 Yulkeith Brown; Fr.; 5-10, 175

WR: #0, Ainias Smith; Jr.; 5-10, 190

#7, Moose Muhammad; RS-Fr.; 6-1, 195;

WR: #81, Caleb Chapman; RS-Jr.; 6-5, 200

#1, Demond Demas; RS-Fr.; 6-3, 180

#9, Hezekiah Jones; RS-Sr.; 6, 180


LT #58 Jahmir Johnson; Gr-TR; 6-5, 300

#60, Trey Zuhn; Fr.; 6-6, 315

LG: #55, Kenyon Green; Jr.; 6-4, 325

#74, Aki Ogunbiyi; RS-Fr.; 6-4, 315

#70, Josh Bankhead, RS-Fr.; 6-5, 325

C: #61 Bryce Foster; Fr.; 6-5, 325

#77 Matthew Wykoff, Fr.; 6-6, 330

RG: #64, Layden Robinson; RS-So.; 6-4, 325

#52, Smart Chibuzo; RS-Fr.; 6-4, 320 OR

#66, Jordan Spasojevic-Moko; So.; 6-5, 340

RT: #76, Rueben Fatheree; Fr.; 6-8, 320

#53, Blake Trainor; So..; 6-7, 330 OR


Missouri depth chart (4-2-5 base)

DE: #18, Trajan Jeffcoat; RS-Jr.; 6-4, 276

#15, Johnny Walker, RS-Fr.; 6-3, 233 OR

#28, Jatorian Hansford; Sr.; 6-4, 258

DT: #78, Kobie Whiteside; Gr.; 6-1, 298 OR

#6, Darius Robinson; Jr.; 6-5, 290

NT: #0, Akial Byers; Gr.; 6-3, 288

#58, Mekhi Wingo; Fr.; 6, 266 OR

#99, Realus George; RS-So.; 6-1, 278

DE: #9, Isaiah McGuire; Jr.; 6-4, 266 OR

#39, Chris Turner; Gr.; 6-3, 268

#55, Arden Walker; Fr.; 6-2, 224


MIKE: #25, Blaze Alldredge; Gr.; 6-1, 231;

#33, Chad Bailey; RS-Jr.; 6, 229

WILL: #11, Devin Nicholson; Jr.; 6-2, 221

#29, Jamie Pettway; RS-So.; 6-2, 225


CB: #8, Ish Burdine; RS-So.; 6-1, 187 OR#26, Akayleb Evans; RS-Sr.; 6-2, 198

SS: #3, Martez Manuel; 3; Jr.; 6, 208

#12, Shawn Robinson; RS-Sr.; 6-1, 223

FS: #1, Jaylon Carlies; So.; 6-3, 204 OR

#4, Jalani Williams RS-So.; 6-1, 193

#7, Stacy Brown; Jr.; 6-2, 205

CB: #24, Allie Green IV; Gr.; 6-2, 202

Nickel: #14, Kris Abrams-Draine; So.; 5-11, 177 OR

#5, Chris Shearin; RS-So.; 5-11, 189


Injury update

Texas A&M: QB Haynes King (leg) is out. The status of WR Hezekiah Jones is uncertain. WR Caleb Chapman is "day-to-day". OL Aki Ogunbiyi's status is uncertain. OL Luke Matthews is out for the year.

Missouri: CB Ennis Rakestraw (ACL) is out for the year. DL Darius Robinson (leg) is doubtful

Texas A&M statistical leaders

Passing: Calzada, 90-159 (56.7%), 1,029 yards, 8 TD, 5 INT

King, 22-35 (62.9%), 300 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT

Rushing: Spiller, 85 carries, 491 yards (5.8 YPC), 3 TD

Achane, 50 carries, 329 yards (6.6 YPC), 2 TD

Receiving: Smith, 26 catches, 285 yards (11 YPC), 4 TD

Wydermyer, 18 catches, 249 yards (13.8 YPC), 2 TD

Achane, 17 catches, 163 yards (9.6 YPC), 1 TD

 Missouri statistical leaders

Tackles: Alldredge, 45

Manuel, 39

Nicholson, 36

Tackles for loss: Alldredge, 8

McGuire, 6

Manuel and Nicholson, 4

Sacks: Alldredge, 4

McGuire, 3

Four players with 2

Interceptions: Carlies and Abrams-Draine, 2

Three players with 1

Forced fumbles: Evans, 2

Three players with 1

Fumble recoveries: Abrams-Draine and Bailey, 1


Head-to-Head by the numbers

Texas A&M's offense vs. Missouri's defense
CategoryTexas A&MMissouri

Total offense/yards allowed

376.8 YPG

497.8 YPG

Scoring offense/defense

25.3 PPG

37.5 PPG

Rushing yards/yards allowed

155.3 YPG

287.2 YPG

Passing yards/yards allowed

221.5 YPG

210.7 YPG

Third down conversion percentage/defense

41%

51.2%

Red zone conversion percentage/defense

73.7%

92.3%

Sacks allowed/sacks

13

17

Tackles for loss allowed/tackles for loss

37

39

Time of possession

28:41

29:05

Turnovers/forced

9

10

Turnover +/-

-2

+5

What A&M wants to do

Go out and push Missouri around up front and run the football. After a disastrous start to the season, the A&M offensive line has actually been good the past two weeks and more than held their own against Alabama. They can read a stat sheet -- the Tigers are undermanned and undersized up front and have given up an average of 6.1 yards per carry this season. That total includes 458 yards to Tennessee two weeks ago in an 62-28 massacre. Their other SEC opponent to date, Kentucky, ran for 333. Their only other major conference opponent, Boston College, ran for 278. You get the idea.

The Aggies have Isaiah Spiller and Devon Achane, by far the best combination of backs Mizzou has faced this year. You get the idea again.

Missouri also has a very explosive offense, so the Aggies don't want to give them too many cracks at it. In other words, it's definitely time to go back to the 2020 model: lean on the opponents up front with your big line, run the football and give Zach Calzada safe, solid options to make plays. Then, when the opportunity presents itself, hit the Tigers down the field.

Missouri's defense is pretty terrible, but they do a couple of things well. First, they force turnovers -- 10 so far. They also cause negative plays, with solid sack and tackle for loss numbers. So for A&M, the gameplan looks pretty obvious: go out and use your best weapons in the running game, chew up Missouri's defensive line and the clock and keep the offense off the field.



How Missouri may try to respond

Press the issue up front. Get aggressive and play a whole lot better.

The Tigers have been blown off the ball in each game against Power 5 opponents, and North Texas hung nearly 500 yards and 35 points on them last week. Add in the fact that Ennis Rakestraw, their best corner, is gone for the year and things don't look good.

But there's talent here. Trajan Jeffcoat was a preseason All-SEC at defensive end, and linebacker Blaze Alldredge is having a very good year. But as a unit, they've missed tackles, gotten beaten up on by inferior talent and have given up a ton of points.

So what do you do against A&M? You hope that you can force Zach Calzada to regress to his Arkansas form and not the guy who lit up Alabama. So that means mixing up looks, fronts and blitzes. Mizzou will use a 3-3-5 and a 4-2-5, and they'll blitz from a bunch of different directions. They've got to get a push against the Aggie front line, and not just in the passing game. They've got to slow down the A&M running game first and foremost, so they'll probably key their gameplan around stopping Isaiah Spiller. If they can get A&M in a tough down and distance, then they can starting coming after Calzada and see if they can force some turnovers. But if they let the Aggies run the football, it's going to be an extremely long day.