SEC powerhouse awaits Aggies
The USU Aggies appear to be colossal underdogs heading into this Saturday’s trip to Fayetteville to face the Arkansas Razorbacks. Ninth-year coach Houston Nutt’s team is 13-0 against current members of the WAC all-time and catches the Aggies coming off a demoralizing loss to Wyoming, 38-7.
Arkansas returns 10 starters on offense and nine on defense, the most in the country by far. Although the reigning SEC freshman of the year Darren McFadden isn’t quite 100 percent, they do have Felix Jones to replace him at running back, and Jones is no slouch. McFadden injured his toe before the season in a fight. If Darren wants to continue his fighting career, he would be wise to know that while the UFC penalizes fighters who stomp or kick a prone opponent, there is no such rule in the brutal Japanese Pride Fighting League.
At quarterback, Nutt announced earlier this week he will move incumbent starter Robert Johnson to wide receiver and start the nation’s number one incoming recruit, Mitch Mustain. Mustain committed to Arkansas very early, then reopened his recruitment, then recommitted to Arkansas after Nutt hired Mustain’s high school coach Gus Malzahn to be the new offensive coordinator. Malzahn has installed his scheme, which features more passing and gadget plays and Mustain should be very comfortable in the offense.
Defensively, there is a ton of experience on the field for Arkansas and it is a unit that is much better than the score they gave up against USC – 50-14 – would indicate. The biggest concern for USU is the Hogs coming out of the tunnel in an emotional frenzy and taking their frustrations from the USC loss out on the Ags.
It will be difficult for the Aggie offense to have success against the veteran Hog D, but on the bright side, it will be difficult for them to be less successful than they were last week, so there is nowhere to go but up. Leon Jackson III had a poor day passing against Wyoming because he was under constant pressure and his receivers were plagued by dropped passes. Getting better in these two areas would go a long way toward improving USU’s offensive performance.
Those tasks would be easier if Marcus Cross and the running game can get going early and keep Arkansas honest. Against Wyoming, Cross had only 11 carries, which was largely due to USU’s complete failure to sustain a drive.
If the Aggies are able to possess the ball for any length of time in front of Fayetteville’s 63,678 screaming fans, it will take a lot of pressure off a defense which actually performed well against Wyoming before wearing down in the second half. The Ag defense will need time to rest because Arkansas’ offensive line averages well over 300 pounds and the Aggies play a lot of small, quick defenders like linebackers Devon Hall and Daryl Fields, who are just over 200 pounds. Arkansas has led the SEC in rushing three out of the last four years.
There are a handful of factors which might lend hope to the Aggies. Arkansas has its SEC opener against Vanderbilt the next week and they might get caught overlooking a supposedly nonthreatening WAC team. Also, the Aggies should be steaming mad after being humiliated by Wyoming last week and will be out to prove they’re better than that. The Ags are 6-4 in the second game of the year in the last 10 years. Finally, Mustain has a lot going for him, but he’s still a freshman entering his first college start, and if Guy’s defense can force him into mistakes, then USU has a chance to shock the world and pull off an upset.