Under the Hood - Texas A&M Aggies
Yes, we do have a game this week and it's against the Texas A&M Aggies. Being billed as the "Contract Buyout Bowl" by Chip Brown (HT: BON), the game is a good chance for the Huskers to pick up a win. It isn't on TV, not even PPV, but I kinda wish I was going. I'd like to see for myself if the team can pick up any spark this week, any sign that they're going to play hard the rest of the season. The stats I'm listing here don't mean much to two teams who appear to have lost hope, but I'm doing them because I like to know where we are. And to be blunt, there are other Big 12 teams who aren't doing much better. And to remind myself that we're still playing football, there's still a Husker team to root for, and like them, I'm going to keep going.
At this point, Nebraska is still playing for a trip to a decent bowl. As bad as we've looked, and as bad as the stats show, that's pretty amazing. Can we do it? I guess Saturday will say a lot about where we're going.
Texas A&M's record on the season is 5-2 overall, 2-1 in the Big 12.
Here's the Aggies' 2007 schedule to date:
Sat., Sep. 1 - Texas A&M 38, Montana State 7
Sat., Sep. 8 - Texas A&M 47, Fresno State 45
Sat., Sep. 15 - Texas A&M 54, ULM 14
Thu., Sep. 20 - Miami 34, Texas A&M 17
Sat., Sep. 29 - Texas A&M 34, Baylor 10
Sat., Oct. 6 - Texas A&M 24, Oklahoma State 23
Sat., Oct. 13 - Texas Tech 35, Texas A&M 7
Average margin of victory in their wins - 19.6 points.
Average margin of victory in losses....22.5
Sagarin's ratings for the two teams?
- Texas A&M is at 48th, with a schedule ranking of 97th.
- Nebraska is at 58th, with a schedule ranking of 30th.
So how do we compare with the Aggies statistically? You're dying to know, aren't you?
| Rush YPG | Rush YPC | Rush TD | Pass YPG | Pass YPA | Pass TD | QB Rating | Total Offense | Scoring Offense |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 246 (7) | 5.31 (9) | 21 (3) | 162.57 (109) | 6.2 (92) | 6 (T-97) | 112.71 (93) | 408.57 (43) | 31.57 (42) |
| Rush YPG | Rush YPC | Rush TD | Pass YPG | Pass YPA | Pass TD | QB Rating | Total Offense | Scoring Offense |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 154.71 (64) | 3.91 (63) | 12 (T-43) | 269.71 (27) | 7.6 (30) | 12 (T-40) | 135.57 (33) | 424.43 (38) | 28.43 (38) |
The Aggies' offense resembles the Husker offense of old - rushing ranked at the top of the nation with a passing offense near the bottom.
Hard to believe that our offensive production has fallen off this badly from last season. Going into the Cotton Bowl last season, Nebraska was 9th in total offense, 25th in rushing and 17th in passing.
| Rush YPG | Rush YPA | Rush TD | Pass YPG | Pass YPA | Pass TD | Total Defense | Scoring Defense |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 135.43 (40) | 3.72 (45) | 10 (T-59) | 264.29 (99) | 8.0 (102) | 11 (T-72) | 399.71 (74) | 24 (T-45) |
| Rush YPG | Rush YPA | Rush TD | Pass YPG | Pass YPA | Pass TD | Total Defense | Scoring Defense |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 208.57 (106) | 5.05 (108) | 18 (T-114) | 248.57 (83) | 7.1 (74) | 9 (T-47) | 457.14 (104) | 31.29 (87) |
It should be noted that we're tied at 114th in giving up rushing TD's with Florida International and Louisiana-Lafayette. (Sigh).
I don't know what else to say about our defense that's worse than that.
Moving on to a simple comparison of opponents, we find.....
| Total Offense Rank | Nebraska Opponent | Total Defense Rank | -- | Total Offense Rank | Texas A&M Opponent | Total Defense Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Nevada | 97 | -- | ## | Montana State Div IAA |
## |
| 89 | Wake Forest | 46 | -- | 61 | Fresno State | 71 |
| 33 | USC | 8 | -- | 75 | Louisiana-Monroe | 103 |
| 23 | Ball State | 87 | -- | 95 | Miami | 25 |
| 99 | Iowa State | 55 | -- | 76 | Baylor | 85 |
| 5 | Missouri | 78 | -- | 12 | Oklahoma State | 82 |
| 12 | Oklahoma State | 82 | -- | 1 | Texas Tech | 39 |
| 38.71 | Average | 64.71 | -- | 53.33 | Average | 67.5 |
- Take Texas Tech out of that average for offenses and you have the Aggies playing against an average of 63.8 for offenses.
- Both teams have played against good offenses and have been destroyed. No news there.
- Both of these teams having winning records. One more win for the Aggies and they're bowl-eligible. That says a lot about the fact that both of these teams still have something to play for, it's a matter of whether or not they will.