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Watching your favorite team score a ton points is a lot of fun. Watching your team give up just as many scores is not quite as enjoyable.
Texas A&M and West Virginia fans could both be in for an emotional roller coaster when their teams meet in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 30. Both have potent attacks led by coaches who push the limits of offense, and neither plays the type of defense needed to shut the other down.
In a conference widely known for its offenses, West Virginia struggled on defense. Texas A&M still plays like a Big 12 team, throwing it all over the field as often as possible. The Aggies’ biggest problems came with protecting the quarterback, which they did a poor job of despite relatively low sack totals for the amount of throwing they did.
Luckily for the Aggies, they won’t face much of a pass-rushing threat from the Mountaineers. WVU finished ninth of 10 teams in the Big 12 with just 19.0 sacks on the season, and only one players recorded more than 3.5 sacks.
To make matters easier, WVU is going to have a hard time defending Texas A&M’s big, physical receivers. The Mountaineers secondary has corners with decent size, but a tiny safety rotation. That’s going to spell trouble against an A&M receiving corps that features four regular rotation players over 6-foot tall, and three taller than 6-foot-4. Even Speedy Noil, the smallest receiver in rotation, stands 5-foot-11 and has the leaping ability to make him seem much taller.
WVU’s secondary has picked off just 11 passes and deflected only 38, very low numbers for a team that faced 35 pass attempts per game.
When Texas A&M’s defense takes the field, the biggest question will be whether the Aggies have anyone to cover Biletnikoff Award finalist Kevin White. The simple answer: no.
White, at 6-foot-3, will tower over Deshazor Everett, Texas A&M’s best defensive back and the player he’ll be matched up with most. With the way the Aggies have tackled all year, it’s hard to imagine anyone bringing White down in the open field. WVU also has Mario Alford, a smaller, shifty receiver who picked up 888 yards in the regular season to go along with 10 scores.
The Aggies will be about as close to looking in the mirror against West Virginia as they’ve gotten to it all season. Like the Aggies and Kevin Sumlin’s offense, Dana Holgorsen and the Mountaineers throw the ball as often as possible, running as a secondary option. They too have a stable of talented running backs that would produce more if given the opportunity. And, in giving up nearly 400 yards per game, the Mountaineers are in the middle of the pack defensively in the country, a far cry above where Texas A&M sits but still not very good.
Get ready to see some points go up on the board. And don’t expect a whole lot of defense.
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.
