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Greg McElroy breaks down Arkansas-Texas A&M and Florida-Tennessee
By Keith Farner
Published:
Greg McElroy took on 2 of the biggest matchups in the SEC this week in Arkansas against Texas A&M, and Florida at Tennessee.
He recalled that Sam Pittman’s resurgence of Arkansas makes him forget how one-sided the rivalry with the Aggies was before Pittman snapped the 9-game losing streak last year.
“Arkansas doesn’t feel like they were that bad for that long because they were pretty decent the last couple of years,” McElroy said on his “Always College Football” podcast. “How Sam Pittman and company have really adjusted how they do things and now I think matchup really well against the Aggies.”
McElroy said the A&M offense against the Arkansas defense is the matchup most people will pay attention to this week. The Aggies run the ball 61% of the time, but McElroy noted that KJ Jefferson has an underappreciated group of wide receivers.
For Arkansas, McElroy said defensive coordinator Barry Odom needs to find some answers to the defense that has several injuries in the secondary and has struggled in pass defense. About the Aggies, McElroy said it’s OK to lose games as an underdog, but they can’t lose games where A&M is a decided favorite.
For Florida and Tennessee, McElroy wonders what’s happened to the Gators’ offense, and specifically Anthony Richardson.
“If they don’t start getting more from the quarterback spot, Florida’s offense is going to struggle,” he said, and added that Richardson running the ball was a huge reason for the Utah upset.
McElroy added that mistakes have told the story in all of Florida’s games this season.
One key to watch, he said, is which team is more physical, and historically it’s been Florida, but McElroy said Tennessee has improved in that area.
“I think Tennessee gets the job done even though Florida has had their number,” he said. “I think the Gators have too many issues offensively to win a game that could be a little high scoring.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
