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. 3 Texas (10-1, 6-1 SEC) depth chart
No. 20 Texas A&M (8-3, 5-2 SEC) depth chart
Injury update
Texas: RBs Cedric Baxter, Christian Clark and Velton Garner are all out.
QB Quinn Ewers (ankle) is probable.
Texas A&M: Nickel Tyreek Chappell is out.
Nickel Jaydon Hill and CB Will Lee are questionable.
Texas statistical leaders
Passing: Ewers, 189-278 (69%), 2,089 yards, 23 TD, 6 INT
Manning, 61-90 (67.8%), 939 yards, 9 TD, 2 INT
Rushing: Wisner, 124 carries, 626 yards (5 YPC), 3 TD
Blue, 105 carries, 555 yards (5.3 YPC), 6 TD
Receiving: Helm, 42 catches, 544 yards (13 YPC, 5 TD)
Bond, 32 catches, 510 yards (15.9 YPC), 5 TD
Golden, 36 catches, 503 yards (14 YPC), 8 TD
Texas A&M statistical leaders
Tackles: York, 65
Brooks and Williams, 42
Tackles for loss: Scourton, 14
Turner and Brooks, 5.5
York, 5
Sacks: Scourton, 5
Howell, 3
Turner and Sylla, 2
Interceptions: Mays and Ratcliffe, 3
Six players with 1
Forced fumbles: Six players with 1
Fumble recoveries: Mayes, Hill, Williams, 1
Head-to-head
What Texas wants to do
Confuse you with motion, get the ball out quickly to their speedsters and then take an occasional shot deep.
Ewers is a much more effective passer from 20 yards and in, and he has tremendous speed on the outside. So Texas throws a lot of quick passes and screens to get their receivers into space. When Ewers needs to get a first down in medium or longer situations, he tends to look for Helm, one of the nation's top tight ends.
Even though Ewers isn't overly accurate going deep, it seems like a decent idea to test corners that are either coming off an injury (Lee) or got lit up by Auburn last week. Bond and Golden, especially, are legit deep threats and A&M is coming off a bad game against quality competition.
The running game isn't great, but can be effective. The offensive line is huge and likes to get going downhill, so they run a lot of quick runs and draws up the gut. But, considering A&M's trouble with outside runs, they may look to do that as well.
One of the key factors in this game is Ewers' ankle. It did not respond well to treatment this week and he will not be 100% for this game. He does't want to move anyway, so if A&M can get him off his mark, then he's going to have some issues. It seems very possible, if not probable, that we see Arch Manning in this one as well.
How A&M may try to counter
Get going downhill. If Texas plays their normal game and throws a lot of passes at or around the line of scrimmage, this is what A&M wants. They want to be able to keep things in front of them and attack aggressively.
A&M will likely try to come after Ewers the same way they did Garrett Nussmeier, especially if he's struggling with that ankle. In spite of all the hype the Texas offensive line has gotten, they have given up more sacks than A&M's and have allowed a ton of tackles for loss.
A&M's defensive line has been poor in the last two SEC games, and they have to change that tonight. For Nic Scourton, this is a chance to make back some of the money he's lost the last three weeks. Scourton, Shemar Stewart and Cashius Howell need to provide pressure on their own, which will make things a lot more difficult for Ewers and the Texas offense. The Aggies will likely mix a lot of things up to give Texas a lot of looks to figure out.
Texas has a tendency to turn the ball over -- they've given it up 17 teams. The Aggies not only need to be aggressive, but opportunistic. If they can force a couple of Texas turnovers, then the advantage tilts well to their favor.
