College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Texas A&M Aggies season with what you need to know.
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– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Schedule Analysis
– Texas A&M Previews 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2019 Record: 8-5 overall, 4-4 in SEC
Head Coach: Jimbo Fisher, 3rd year, 17-9
2019 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 17
2019 CFN Final Season Formula Ranking: 52
2019 CFN Preview Ranking: 11
No one knows what’s going to happen to the 2020 college football season. We’ll take a general look at where each team stands – doing it without spring ball to go by – while crossing our fingers that we’ll all have some well-deserved fun this fall. Hoping you and yours are safe and healthy.
5. College Football News Preview 2020: Texas A&M Aggies Offense 3 Things To Know
– The offense wasn’t as consistent or as dynamic as it probably should’ve been. It was able to beat up on the weak, sputtered too much against the strong, and overall it was underwhelming, finishing 72nd in the nation overall and 62nd in scoring.
On the plus side, the offense was able to keep most games at its own pace. It ran a deliberate style that helped dominate the time of possession battle, but it also seemed to take the team out of a groove. At times, it looked like it was hard to rev up the machine.
Any improvement starts by getting more out of the line. Four starters are expected back – it’s really all five starters with interior blocker Ryan McCollum back after being hurt for most of last year – but the pass protection wasn’t nearly good enough and the ground game was just okay.
CFN in 60 Video: Texas A&M Aggies Preview
– Kellen Mond has to rise up and become a star. The veteran quarterback has been fine – he threw for almost 2,900 yards with 20 touchdowns and nine picks, and he ran for 500 yards and eight scores – but like the rest of the team, the consistency wasn’t there. Again with the O line – Mond didn’t get a whole lot of time against the better defensive fronts.
With almost no experience behind him, getting the backups some meaningful reps – most likely redshirt freshman Zach Calzada and sophomore James Foster – is a must.
Top target Jhamon Ausbon is back after catching 66 passes for 872 yards and five scores, and 6-5, 260-pound sophomore Jalen Wydermyer is a great-looking tight end, but Quartney Davis and Kendrick Rogers are gone after leaving early for the NFL – and going undrafted. It’s a deep corps, though, and it’s getting even better with superstar recruit Demond Demas about to become a big deal.
– Raise your hand if you’re a Texas A&M running back who’s not transferring. Leading rusher Isaiah Spiller is back after coming up with 946 yards and five scores, and Mond will do his part, but the next three leading rushers are all taking off to the transfer portal.
Jashaun Corbin is a Florida State Seminole as part of the five running backs taking their talents elsewhere. Some okay running back prospects are coming in, but they’re not as highly rated overall as the receivers. Speedy freshman Devon Achane will get his shot in the rotation, but 193-pound sophomore Ainias Smith will likely be the No. 2 guy early on.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Texas A&M Aggies Defense 3 Things To Know
4. College Football News Preview 2020: Texas A&M Aggies Defense 3 Things To Know
– There might be some big question marks on the offensive side, but there’s no reason the defense can’t be far, far better. Defensive coordinator Mike Elko loses DT Justin Madubuike to the Baltimore Ravens, and reserve DE Tyree Wilson is bolting for Tulsa. There’s a shot that 19 of the top 22 tacklers are going to be back in the mix for a D that finished 29th in the nation overall and allowed just 22.5 points per game.
– The pass rush has to be better. Madubuike led the team with 5.5 sacks, and the pressure built up a bit late in the season, but Tyree Johnson, Michael Clemons, and the ends have to do more. There’s plenty of recruiting talent – stealing Donell Harris away from Miami was big – and a whole lot of SEC bulk in place to hold up inside, but this has to be a more disruptive group.
– It should be a fun linebacking corps. Buddy Johnson is a good tackler in the middle – he led the way with 77 stops – and Anthony Hines can be a guided missile into the backfield from his spot on the outside. There’s depth, versatility, and a whole lot of options to play around with.
The same goes for a secondary that held up reasonably well considering it had to deal with Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Tua Tagovailoa and Jake Fromm.
The interceptions have to come – there weren’t any over the final four games, and there weren’t any multi-pick games after coming up with four in the opener against Texas State – but everyone of note is back, starting with safeties Demani Richardson and Keldrick Carter.
This is a HUGE group of defensive backs – they’re all 6-1ish or larger – and there’s more on the way with the 6-3 Antonio Johnson and 6-2 Jaylon Jones among the nation’s top defensive back recruits.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Top Texas A&M Aggies Players
College Football News Preview 2020: Top Texas A&M Aggies Players
Best Texas A&M Aggies Offensive Player
QB Kellen Mond, Sr.
Is this the year when Mond makes the big jump up into SEC greatness? Alabama will have a new starting quarterback – at least, it’s not Tua – and LSU and Georgia will have a new guy, too. Mond is one of the conference’s veteran presences, going into his fourth year as the main man, with 52 career touchdown passes, 7,379 yards, and coming off his most accurate campaign.
A runner, he has 18 career scores and 1,315 yards, saving the day in the bowl win over Oklahoma State to close out last year. That’s all well and good, but now he has to be a difference-maker in every game. The second half of the season is a bear, but the experience will be there to handle it.
2. WR Jhamon Ausbon, Sr.
3. RB Isaiah Spiller, Soph.
4. TE Jalen Wydermyer, Soph.
5. WR Demond Demas, Fr.
Best Texas A&M Aggies Defensive Player
LB Buddy Johnson, Sr.
Several Aggie defenders could arguably be in this spot, at least in terms of talent. But the 6-2, 230-pound Johnson is going to be the leader everything is worked around, coming off a team-high 77 tackles with a sack and 9.5 tackles for loss.
By A&M standards, he wasn’t a superstar recruit, and he might not do anything flashy, but he earned his stripes as a strong reserve, and worked his way into the starting spot on the inside as a junior. Tough, strong, and big, he’ll make a whole lot of plays inside the hashmarks.
2. LB Anthony Hines, Jr.
3. S Demani Richardson, Soph.
4. DE Tyree Johnson, Jr.
5. DE Demarvin Leal, Soph.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Texas A&M Aggies Keys To The Season
College Football News Preview 2020: Texas A&M Aggies Keys To The Season
Biggest Key To The Texas A&M Aggies Offense
The offensive line has to be a plus. Not to be overdramatic, but this is it. This is the season.
Head coach Jimbo Fisher’s O lines struggled at the end of his time at Florida State, and the glitch still hasn’t been fixed – you can’t just make an offensive front good right away. There’s time before the A&M schedule ramps up, but with the experience returning, the veteran front five has to be fantastic.
The players are there. Five restaurant-quality starting blockers are in place, there’s enough decent depth to be fine, and the overall style of play A&M likes to use should be enough to come up with a good rotation.
Being last in the SEC in sacks allowed and paving the way for just 159 rushing yards a game again isn’t going to do.
Biggest Key To The Texas A&M Aggies Defense
What happened to the takeaways? Jimbo Fisher’s first A&M team in 2017 generated 22 of them, but the 2018 D didn’t recover its first fumble until half the season was over and forced just three interceptions over the first ten games.
The Aggies picked off Texas State four times in the 2019 opener, and there were just enough takeaways overall to get a keep the margin within range. Recovering fumbles was still a problem – just one in the first six games, but 14 takeaways in the first nine games wasn’t that awful. And then …
Crickets. The defense failed to come up with a takeaway in the final four games of the season and was a -7 in turnover margin in the final stretch.
A&M finished next-to-last in the SEC in takeaways and at the bottom in turnover margin. There’s too much talent and experience returning for that to happen again.
Key Texas A&M Aggies Player To A Successful Season
RB Isaiah Spiller, Soph.
There’s depth at running back … sort of.
There are promising young parts just waiting to show what they can do, but with a mass loss of transfers, the running back situation is Spiller, and a whole lot of thoughts and prayers.
The 6-1, 220-pound sophomore led the team with 946 yards and ten scores, caught 29 passes, and was able to rip off 100 yards or more four times. However, he had his big games against four of the worst teams on the slate – and ran for seven yards against Georgia and nine against Auburn. This is his chance to be a workhorse.
Key Game To The Texas A&M Aggies Season
at Auburn, Oct. 17
It’s not right to take anything with A&M for granted, but it’s going to have to royally screw up to not be 6-0 going into the showdown at Auburn. This kicks off the rough second half of the year with LSU, at Alabama, and a trip to South Carolina looming.
But beat the Tigers for the first time since 2016, and the Aggies will be in everyone’s top five going into the trip to Columbia to face the Gamecocks. Win that, and there’s a week off to prepare for Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.
To be go way big, beat Auburn, and A&M might be 10-0 before going to Alabama.
– Texas A&M Aggies Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2019 Texas A&M Fun Stats
– Time of Possession: Texas A&M 33:07 – Opponents 26:53
– Fumbles: Texas A&M 19 (lost 10) – Opponents 10 (lost 4)
– Sacks: Opponents 33 for 199 yards – Texas A&M 29 for 226 yards
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Texas A&M Aggies Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
1. College Football News Preview 2020: Texas A&M Aggies Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
This slot machine is WAY overdue to payoff.
On the list of programs that should have a whole lot more to show for their efforts than they currently do, Texas A&M is at or near the top. It has superpower upside but without the results.
That’s why Jimbo Fisher was brought in a few years ago to take over, and it’s why he was given a ten-year contract. The whole idea was to build up the program into another Alabama, and then LSU went off and had the 2019 season that A&M fans have been waiting for.
The better comp for the 2020 Aggies is 2019 Minnesota. Last year’s Gophers were fine, the coaching was good, and there were plenty of nice pieces in place, but the key was a squishy-soft early schedule that led to a nice big base of wins.
Is Texas A&M as good as Alabama this year? No.
It is as good as Auburn, LSU, Georgia or Florida? Probably not.
That’s okay. The Aggies don’t have to play the Bulldogs or Gators, they get LSU at home, and eight of the first ten games are against teams that didn’t go bowling last year.
Five of the first eight games are against teams with a new head coach.
Set The Texas A&M Aggies Regular Season Win Total At … 9
Bet at BetMGM Win Total Line: 9.5
Going to Auburn and Alabama is tough, and don’t blow off how hard it might be to get through Mississippi State and South Carolina on the road.
Again, though, LSU is at home, there are seven games on the slate that have to be locks for this to be a great year – Abilene Christian, North Texas, Colorado, Arkansas (in Arlington), Ole Miss, Vanderbilt – with the dates against the Gamecocks and Commodores from the East being a relative break.
Expect a blip along the way to a 9-1 record with at Alabama and LSU to close. It’ll be late November, and it’ll all be there for the taking.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– Schedule Analysis
