Tennessee football is looking to cap off its three-game home stand with its third straight win when it hosts Texas A&M at Neyland Stadium Saturday afternoon. The Vols are three-point favorites over the Aggies in a critical game for both teams.
Here’s three keys for Tennessee football to defeat Texas A&M.
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Maintain A Semblance Of Balance
“Line of scrimmage is going to be critical. Maintaining some sort of balance in this one,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel emphasized in his Thursday press conference.
Tennessee’s third-year head coach knows how important it’s going to be for the Vols to remain balanced against Texas A&M’s strong defense. Balance is something most offenses stride for every game. Tennessee can run the ball dominantly against some opponents and get away with not being active throwing the ball. But Texas A&M is not one of those teams.
The Aggies boast the nation’s best run defense and have forced teams to be one dimensional against them. Despite its win in College Station last week, Alabama all but had to abandon its running game as it totaled just 23 yards rushing.
Tennessee’s offense will not have enough success offensively to defeat the Aggies if they run for just 23 yards. Its passing game hasn’t shown that its strong enough to carry the offense and it’s not likely it’ll start against a lethal pass rush.
The Vols don’t have to run for 200-plus yards like they did against South Carolina but they have to stay competitive in the run game and have some semblance of success. That will maintain the balance Heupel talked about and put less pressure on Joe Milton’s right arm.
Force Texas A&M To Settle For Field Goals
Texas A&M’s offense has struggled to finish drives with touchdowns this season. The Aggies have capitalized with touchdowns on just 57% of their trips to the red zone this season— well below the 75% mark Jimbo Fisher strives for.
The issues came to a head last week when Texas A&M scored just 13 points in five trips in the red zone against Alabama.
Tennessee needs to keep the trend going by forcing the Aggies to settle for field goals when they get into scoring range. The Vols’ defense has largely been predicated on not giving up big plays and forcing opponents to sustain long drives down the field.
Texas A&M has struggled to create chunk plays since quarterback Conner Weigman’s injury. Those two factoes could lead to a multitude of red zone opportunities for the Aggies.
If Tennessee forces Texas A&M to settle for field goals at a strong rate than the Vols’ defense will have done their job.
Joe Milton Hit The Open Deep Shots
Let’s start by discussing Josh Heupel’s success coming off of open dates in his career. I’ve written and talked about it at length this week so I’ll keep the summary simple. In six seasons as a head coach, Heupel is 7-1 coming out of the open date averaging 45 points per game and scoring at least 34 points in each game.
My takeaway from that as it pertains to this game is that Heupel and his staff will have a strong offensive game plan. My bet is that Heupel will scheme at least a couple receivers open down the field for deep shots.
Milton has to hit them.
With Texas A&M’s stout front seven it’s going to be difficult for Tennessee to consistently sustain long drives against the Aggies. Not that the Vols can’t do it or won’t do it some but it’s going to be difficult for them to do it over-and-over again.
That’s why it’s so important for Tennessee to connect on passes down the field when they’re open. It’ll make life easier for the Vols’ offense against a shaky Texas A&M secondary. It’ll also force Texas A&M to respect a passing attack that’s struggled to throw the ball in the intermediate this season.
