This article originally appeared on September 27, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.
After playing a pass-heavy SMU team last week, Texas A&M is
preparing for a vastly different style of play against Arkansas, Aggies head
coach Kevin Sumlin said in his weekly press conference Tuesday.
The Mustangs pass the ball 70.5 percent of the time, while the
Razorbacks run 71.1 percent.
“The way they want to play the game is to line it up and run it
at you,” Sumlin said. “Then here comes the play action pass off of it.”
It is the second time in two weeks that the Aggies have had to
prepare for a different offense than the week before.
Two weeks ago, they played Alabama, which has a balanced
offense, then had to shift gears for SMU’s spread offense. Now they are
shifting from playing the spread to playing the run-heavy Razorbacks.
“We’re going from big-boy football to spread and back to big-boy
football,” Texas A&M defensive coordinator Mark Snyder said. “It’ll be
another challenge for our guys.
A key to the Aggies stopping Arkansas’ rushing attack will be
senior wide receiver-turned-linebacker Nate Askew.
Last year, in a 51-10 blowout win over the Razorbacks, Askew
made a six-yard reception, which proved to be his longest of the season.
He will be making his first career start at linebacker Saturday
in Fayetteville.
“It’s going to be interesting,” Snyder said. “Nate’s up for the
challenge. It’s a chance for him to show us that he’s become a complete player.
“Against the spread, we knew what he could do because of his
athleticism. This week, it’s going to be about his toughness.”
Snyder said that Askew and the rest of the Texas A&M defense
will try to “build a wall” to stop Arkansas running backs Jonathan Williams and
Alex Collins.
The
game is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and will air nationally on ESPN2.
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