Where, when, weather and TV
Where: Kyle Field, College Station, Texas
When: 6:30 p.m. central, Saturday, Nov. 30
Weather: Temperatures in the 50s, dropping into the 40s during the game
TV: ABC (Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Holly Rowe)
No. 20 Texas A&M (8-3, 5-2 SEC) depth chart
No. 3 Texas (10-1, 6-1 SEC) depth chart
Injury updates
Texas A&M: RB Le'Veon Moss, C Mark Nabou and WR Cyrus Allen are out for the year.
RB Rueben Owens and QB Jaylen Henderson are questionable; OL Chase Bisontis is probable.
Texas: DB Derek Williams Jr. is out.
Texas A&M statistical leaders
Passing: Reed, 105-175 (60%), 1,426 yards, 12 TD, 3 INT
Weigman, 64-114 (56.1%), 819 yards, 3 TD, 5 INT
Rushing: Moss, 121 carries, 765 yards (6.3 YPC), 10 TD
Daniels, 126 carries, 640 yards (5.1 YPC), 8 TD
Reed, 93 carries, 441 yards (4.7 YPC), 6 TD
Receiving: Thomas, 31 catches, 514 yards (16.6 YPC), 6 TD
Barber, 29 catches, 325 yards (11.2 YPC), 1 TD
Walker, 24 catches, 277 yards (11.5 YPC), 2 TD
Texas statistical leaders
Tackles: Hill, 79
Taaffe, 54
Gbenda, 48
Tackles for loss: Hill, 15
Simmons, 11.5
Sorrell, 9
Sacks: Hill, 7.5
Simmons, 7
Sorell, 4.5
Interceptions: Barron and Mukuba, 4
Nine players with 1
Forced fumbles: Hill, 4
Simmons, 2
Fumble recoveries: Moore and Broughton, 2
Three players with 1
Head-to-head
What A&M wants to do
Pretty simple: play bullyball, run the ball, chew up clock and make it a four-quarter brawl.
Texas' defense has been outstanding all season, but the team that beat them -- Georgia -- just lined up and went right at them. Trevor Etienne had 87 yards on 19 carries and scored three touchdowns. And A&M brings the added element of a mobile quarterback to the party.
Reed has had his best two games passing-wise the past two weeks and he'll need to be good again this week, but the running game has to be first and foremost. You don't want to try to get into a shootout or have to throw a lot to cut into a lead. The Aggies will probably use a good bit of RPO to throw Texas off balance, but they'll need motion and misdirection too.
A&M will need another big game from Noah Thomas, who had a career effort against Auburn, and the tight ends could help in the passing game as they could force the linebackers away from the line of scrimmage. This could be a Tre Watson/Theo Ohrstrom kind of game.
But the big thing is that A&M needs to line up and take it right at Texas. They need to out-physical them. Georgia is the only team that has attempted that, and they wore Texas out in the fourth quarter. The Aggies need to be able to do the same.
How Texas may try to counter
They know as well as we do what the Aggies want to do, so they may stack the box and try to force Reed to throw. Even though A&M has improved quite a bit in the passing game the last few weeks and Reed looks more comfortable, it's still not their strong suit.
Texas likes to blitz their linebackers, and Anthony Hill has put up huge numbers in terms of sacks and tackles for loss. They're going to want to have him up in the box and attacking into the backfield.
Texas has no problem playing man coverage and they've been very good at forcing takeaways this season. Their defensive speed is outstanding and they tend to go small on the edges to increase that speed. In this case, they may be looking to blitz more to slow down the run than the pass, and they'll take their chances with Reed throwing the ball.
