WMack may be right. I like the way he thinks about that Arkansas game, but I do think they'll beat the Hogs @ aTm. However, I'm going with Bamabuzzard. I think the Mittittippi Tate Cowbells will beat them and the Barn Plainspeople will score some points on them (maybe in the 40's) and beat them.@ South Carolina - L
vs Lamar - W
vs Rice - W
@ SMU - W
vs Arkansas - W
@ Miss St - L
vs Ole Miss - W
@ Bama - L
vs La-Monroe - W
@ Auburn - L
vs Mizzou - W
vs LSU - L
7-5 is my prediction. There WILL be a drop off in QB production and their defense will still be bad.
I think we can expect A&M's offense to score points - that doesn't necessarily mean it'll be unstoppable like the previous two seasons. The defense will be the deciding factor. If the defense is decent, they can win some games many don't expect them to. The USCe game is one of those. The defense will have to slow down Dylan Thompson, the USCe WRs and Mike Davis. Not sure they can do that.I like aTm to beat South Carolina to open the season depending on the level of quarterback play. Kyle Allen has the potential to be one of the best young quarterbacks in the country, and he will have the tools on offense to give him every opportunity. They still have a great O-line, two of the best receivers in the SEC, and a better running game than people give them credit for. I don't think their offense will take much of a step back, and that will keep them in a lot of ball games. They'll be involved in more than a few shootouts this year due to their lack of defense, but I think they have the mentality to be able to pull them out. I would say they win 8-9 games and finish 4th in the SEC behind us, LSU and Auburn
Case KeenumAlso, remember that Sumlin had a record-setting QB at Houston. That kid (whose name escapes me) is the real one who got him the job at aTm.
I've watched Sumlin's teams for a few years, dating back to the Houston era, and I'm not sure that this is necessarily the case. Sumlin runs a variant of the Mike Leach / Hal Mumme "Air Raid" offense, which is actually a fairly QB-friendly offense. Manziel's antics at A&M were mostly improvised and probably made it appear that the offense puts a huge burden on the QB making plays with his legs, but this really isn't the case for what Sumlin prefers to run. Keep in mind some of the guys that Leach had at Texas Tech that threw for 4,000 yards -- guys like Hodges that wouldn't crack the three-deep at most SEC schools. Sumlin's offense is essentially the same system. I think you'll see A&M continue to be pretty productive on offense, regardless of who lines up at QB. As long as they've got speed at WR and good line play (which they should this season), they'll be hard to defend.Having A&M beat Auburn without Johnny is a pretty bold prediction. I'd love to see it but their defense will need to be worlds better. A&M is a team that needs their QB to be a real aggressive playmaker--they ask a lot more of their QB than we do. For me it all hinges on how well their QB does and if their defense can get stops. I'm predicting 7-5. I think they'll lose to Auburn and Ole Miss but beat Arkansas.
To be honest I think people are still in disbelief about mizzou and calling them a fluke team while raising up aTm because they have been a thorn in our side for two years, but the truth is that sumlin has lived and died off a freak qb( keenum and JF) his whole career and ran in to athletic defenses such as LSU,UF, and USM that have derailed his championship hopes.Mizzou is a toss up but since its at home, Ill give it to them, Missouri is a dark horse in the east, they won the east last year and have an outstanding QB in Maty Mauk stepping in. [/COLOR]
Agree with most of your summary and comments. Would love to see them beat the OBC but yeah that probably won't happen. Now, I'm not high on aTm to be honest but I don't see how they lose to the Hogs. I think Bielema will be on the hot-seat after this season easily. I do expect aTm to lose to Miss St, Auburn and possibly Mizzou. I'm thinking more like 7-5. Anything they do above that will be gravy in my view. I'm not saying Sumlin is bad but I've not seen him win without JF just yet. And -- their defense is simply terrible. They were never in contention one bit last year even with JF.<snip>
Why they'll be bad:
- ridiculously Porous defense
- can incumbent QB replace Manziel's ability to mask deficiencies in offense
Schedule prediction:
@ South Carolina - L
vs Lamar - W
vs Rice - W
@ SMU - W
vs Arkansas - L
@ Miss St - W
vs Ole Miss - W
@ Bama - L
vs La-Monroe - W
@ Auburn - W
vs Mizzou - W
vs LSU - L
<snip>
Your thoughts?