Looking to Texas A&M

This game might be the most difficult to figure out. I guess that's what happens when strength goes against weakness for both teams. Baylor's passing attack against A&Ms porous secondary. Texas A&Ms excellent rushing attack against a Baylor defense that has been struggling mightily against the run in the last 3 games.

It's hard to figure which one is going to overcome the other. Will Baylor come out strong enough to get ahead by 14-17 points by the third quarter to force A&M to throw the ball more? Will A&M wear down our defense with their three-headed monster and tough offensive line? It's a tough call.

And actually I think the answer comes down to something totally unrelated to either of those things: Baylor's offensive line vs. A&Ms defensive line.

If Baylor's OL can keep A&M off of Bells back and give him time to operate, like he had in the fourth quarter last weekend, then I think Baylor will be able to move the ball down the field in a hurry and score some points. But if they are able to get some pressure on Bell and sack him, or hurry his throws and force an INT or two, then we are going to get into trouble.

A&Ms rushing attack burns so much clock that we are going to have to maximize our drives and turn them into points. If we have a three and out, we might not get the ball back for another 6 minutes or so. The good news is that our receivers and running backs, not to mention OL will be rested. The bad news is that our defensive front 6 will not be.

I'll be back later with a more detailed preview. I leave this Thursday for England, so I won't have as much stuff this week as other weeks. I'll try to get some stuff done on the plane over there, and I'll be watching on CSTV so I'll catch the game.