The Texas A&M defense will have its hands full with another top-tier rushing attack this weekend.
After facing South Carolina and dynamic dual-threat quarterback LaNorris Sellers last week, the Aggies (4-5 overall and 1-5 in the SEC) will welcome No. 8 Tennessee to College Station for the first time in a decade.
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“Last week, South Carolina went into the game as the No. 1 rush offense in the SEC,” Texas A&M coach Mike Elko said. “We kind of knocked them off of that pedestal, and so now Tennessee is No. 1.”
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Leading the Volunteers’ attack is running back DeSean Bishop, who has already topped 1,000 yards through nine games.
A former walk-on, Bishop has carried the ball 196 times this year for 1,066 yards and 13 touchdowns. He is second in the SEC in rushing yards behind Missouri running back Jamal Roberts, who has only five more yards.
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Bishop ran for 1,076 yards in 13 games last season, but topped 100 yards in a game only three times. He has rushed for more than 100 yards in six games this year, including all but one of Tennessee’s conference games.
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“I feel like there’s a lot more left on the table for me to go accomplish this year,” said Bishop, who was named a semifinalist this week for the Burlsworth Trophy, which goes to the best player who started his career as a walk-on.
While Bishop has been steady and stellar, quarterback has been a less settled position throughout the year.
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True freshman and former five-star recruit Faizon Brandon started the season as Tennessee’s quarterback. But he was benched in favor of sophomore George MacIntyre against Auburn in early October. MacIntyre has remained the starter since then.
Brandon returned to the field this past week against Kentucky for a few plays, including a 29-yard run and a 24-yard touchdown pass to Mike Matthews on an end-around flip.
“Gives defenses another thing to prepare for,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said of the new package featuring Brandon at quarterback. “But those things work because of the execution, the quarterback and the 10 other guys around him, too.”
Texas A&M is preparing for each quarterback differently, safety Marcus Ratcliffe told the media Tuesday. He described MacIntyre as a good field general who commands an offense well, while Faizon is an amazing athlete.
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“Honestly, I’d prefer not to go against the dual threat, just because it allocates another number on defense,” Ratcliffe said. “Especially if you can run the ball like South Carolina, it makes it really dangerous, and we have to kind of switch up how we play defense.”
Sellers was a dynamic dual-threat quarterback, but the Aggies kept South Carolina’s running game in check for most of the game. An ankle injury limited what Sellers could do.
South Carolina had only 109 rushing yards against the Aggies, but 41 came on Sellers’ final touchdown run late in the fourth quarter, despite his injured ankle.
It’s the second straight game in which a Texas A&M opponent has rushed for 110 yards or fewer. Alabama rushed for only 68 yards in the Crimson Tide’s 31-20 victory over the Aggies in October.
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“Early on, we hadn’t played well against the run, and so we were hammering in meetings, in practice, that we need to play good against the run,” Ratcliffe said. “I think that’s why we started playing better.”
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This article originally published at Texas A&M’s run defense faces another major test against Tennessee’s DeSean Bishop.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
