The Mustangs take on old Southwest Conference rival Texas A&M Saturday at home. (Michael Danser/The Daily Campus)
Saturday will feature a matchup of old Southwest Conference foes with Texas A&M [TAMU] visiting SMU after the Mustangs’ first home shutout since 1983 against Stephen F. Austin [SFA].
The Aggies will be out for blood after a loss to new Southeastern Conference foe Florida, 20-17, despite a 17-7 halftime lead.
The Mustangs will enter the game 1-1 while the Aggies are 0-1 after its season opener with Louisiana Tech was postponed by Hurricane Isaac.
The Aggies look to improve upon the impressive performance by redshirt freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel, but the SMU defense comes off a 10-turnover performance against SFA and will try to hold off the young gunslinger from Kerrville, Texas.
“He can run and he makes a lot of plays. We’re going to have to contain him. He can really go,” head coach Junes Jones said.
Manziel will operate new TAMU head coach Kevin Sumlin’s “air raid” offense that he ran and had tremendous success with at Houston. Sumlin is 4-0 against Jones from his time at Houston, so the Mustangs will look to change those numbers and avenge a 46-16 loss to the Aggies in last season’s opening game.
One bright spot from last season’s game against TAMU was running back Zach Line’s performance, which was impressive considering the lopsided defeat. Line ran for 128 yards on 28 carries and had a touchdown.
“Zach is a guy we can count on each and every week to do a good job and be an effective runner and get those tough yards for us,” SMU quarterback Garrett Gilbert said.
Line will be looked at to take the pressure off Gilbert who has room to improve on his first two games as the SMU quarterback. Gilbert, a UT transfer, is looking forward to taking on his former rivals.
“I grew up watching Texas – Texas A&M. It’s going to be a lot of fun. The atmosphere is going to be great,” Gilbert said.
In last year’s matchup, the Aggies sacked the SMU quarterbacks eight times and forced two interceptions. The Aggies had eight sacks in the team’s loss against Florida.
“They’re physical, they’re big and they’re fast. They look like an SEC team,” Jones said.
Aggie defensive end Damontre Moore will need to be contained for SMU to have a chance at moving the ball and keeping it away from the TAMU offense. Moore had three sacks and 10 tackles against the Gators.
On the SMU defense, junior cornerback Kenneth Acker had a career day against SFA with two interceptions, one for a touchdown. He scored another on a blocked field goal try. His performance earned him Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week Award and he will be counted on to contain the TAMU receivers.
The SMU defense goes into the big matchup ranked 116th in the country in total defense.
For the Mustangs, forcing turnovers and controlling the clock are key to SMU getting above .500 for the first time this season and making a statement with a huge win at home.
