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Inside Texas Football
IT Roundtable: Texas vs. Texas A&M Game Predictions, Team News
Happy post Thanksgiving. This is your round table. We've got Texas A&M this weekend and we just want to get straight into it. So we're going to start with you, Eric. What are, what are the, well, what's the team vibe? What's the team news that people should know about going into this game? Well, I mean, I encourage them to watch inside the program right after this. It'll be up in about an hour or two. But yeah, I mean, it's, they're very excited, obviously. This arc's doing its best job to keep them focused and make sure they don't come out to amped up. They had a very spirited week of practice. You know, they measure how well everybody's moving and, you know, it's as fast as they've been moving all year. So to be that late in the season and to still be having a team with that much energy is a very good sign, I would say, but also a sign that they're ready for this game. You know, I think some people wondered how much the team would be up for this, given that they had never played is the rivalry still alive. So I think that the, the time off has exacerbated the rivalry, to be honest. And I think we'll see that reflected in the stands, but also in Texas's energy. Obviously, the big question everybody has is how Quinn is doing. And I know from reading inside Texas.com, which I encourage everybody to join us at. We are running a special right now. Please join us at inside Texas. You will get, well, the remainder of the week for a dollar and then 50% off the rest of the year. So please join us there. We've got all the, all the writing you can imagine from these guys and good information that is going to keep you abreast of everything that is going on. And specifically the question, Eric, is how is Quinn doing? That's, I know that you've been getting some mixed reports. Yeah, he had a good practice on Thursday based on what we heard, but he had more of a limited week earlier in the week. And, you know, obviously they're getting archery if need be, but also resting Quinn as best they can. I'll never put my name attached to this game. I don't know what to expect from quarterback play. That's why you'll see. I have a fairly close, I have a close score prediction later in the game. I just don't know what to make a quarterback play in Texas. I know they have all the other advantages and they might even have quarterback play advantage. You know, you got 30 year Quinn and a red shirt freshman. This is a good red for red shirt freshman, but still he's relatively inexperienced, but I have no idea what to make a quarterback play going into this game. And that's why I have a close prediction later. Justin, who obviously we the other the other side story that that is dominating everything is obviously recruiting. We're coming up on National Signing Day. How are you for those for the for the people that do not pay attention to this nearly as closely as you do? What, what should we be expecting on National Signing Day in terms of rank of class or maybe one or two players that you're really excited about? Oh, okay. Well, you you took that home field gift card seriously sure did, man. You really did. I love it. You turned this one into this into the curve. I think you should expect the top five class. Texas still has a couple fires. They're handling right now. Michael Terry III, Michael Jesusi. They're still going to wear on him a little bit. But honestly, it's kind of anti climatic. I think a lot of it came down in the last couple weeks with with flip targets either flipping or are taking visits to other schools. But right now we're I mean, this is relatively quiet this close to signing day. And I think, you know, start kind of prefers it that way, but I think this is a top five class. If they land Terry, that could be put up possibly at four. Auburn's going to be clamoring for that four spot to I think Ohio State LSU and Oregon are going to occupy the top three. It's going to be interesting, man. It's going to. It's going to be cool. And there's always surprises. And so that's why I think Texas beating Texas A&M would be a good little boost. But at the end of the day that this is merely going to affect the 2026s and there are a ton of those targets that are going to be in college station this weekend for the Texas game. And so at the end of the day, man, I think it's a little anti climatic, but you never know. There's always surprises. Sark always is paying attention to some late senior emails, loving the RPM from Eric for Kellen Kelly and Wiley. I think that would be a big boost to the class. But you're just going to have to tune in and come see us that for the next week and we'll keep you updated. We got a super chat here from our patriot, say, Brett Nelson and we're going to go with you here, Paul. What are you buying or selling that arch gets a few snaps in this game. I thought he was saying it was BS. It might be. I don't think there's a special arch package or anything. I think if arch goes in the game, it's because Quinn's hurt or he's ineffective. So that's going to be dependent on stuff happening in the game, but I don't think arch is coming in to run three quarterback draws and then throw a deep post. I don't think that's, I don't think that's the game plan. Ian, you like to disagree with Paul. Go ahead. Ian, you like to disagree with Paul. Any any commentary there. No, well, I'd actually love the idea or bringing in and running either a quarterback draw or a post throwing a post over the top that that would be hilarious. We've never seen a quarterback package like that. We're like, we're going to bring in our play action quarterback now. Maybe, maybe there should be the first time. I don't know, but I agree with Paul that that is unlikely and then we will see arch if Quinn is knocked out of the game for whatever reason. We are approaching that very, very important time in every young man's life where they get to predict the score of the Texas, Texas, and endgame. But before we do that, I'd love to hear from our sponsor. Hi, I want to tell you about Laura Baker. If you're looking for a new home in the 512 or even at this point, let's face it 737 area code. There's only one number to call. That's Laura Baker at 512-784-0505. As a member of the elite Andy Allen team with Keller Williams, Laura has helped Longhorns find the home of their dreams in central Texas. Just ask our resident sex symbol, Ian Boyd, who moved all the way from Michigan to Texas with Laura's help. Laura can help you find what you're looking for in the 512, the 737, or even parts of the 254 and the 210. Just, you know, give her a call at 512-784-0505. Her email is in the description as well as the rest of her contact details. She's a friend. Give her a call. Guys, it's time to dig deep a little bit and look at some of these deep stats. I think one thing that we need to understand about this A&M game is in the period that we have been off. And this is not including this year, the schedule, sorry, not the schedules, but the records have been relatively close. A&M coming in at 97-54 and Texas at 90-62. So there's been a level of parity there. But when you consider this next stat, I'm going to go to you here, Paul, because you have done the dollar per win quotient. And these are coaching buyouts. We have spent about $50.5 million on two coaches buying them out. And you know what, people make mistakes. It happens from time to time. A&M has spent $76 million on one coach, which again, I'm going to give that to A&M because they're committed to one man and one man only. But Paul, you often talk about the more money we spend on coaches, the better we are. And I'm just curious if you can explain that to the people at home. So Mike Sherman worked for free. Kevin, someone worked for free. You didn't even have that in. No, no, no, that's just, I'm talking about one person made 76. I'm trying to make this as disparate and as huge a difference as possible. Then you are over $100 million. Where did the 50 come from? Herman was 15. So the 15 is buyouts for the whole staff. So the staff buyouts for strong and. Herman, and this is coming from the daily Texan, ladies and gentlemen, a nice person. Yeah, so it's completely unreliable. This is unimpeachable. That's good. Yeah, there are a lot of cautions to giving your coaching effectively a lifetime contract. Amazingly Florida State has been the font of this, right? So Jim Beaufisher, former Florida state coach gets one at A&M. And then Florida State learns nothing from what happened to poor A&M and they give Mike Norvell a lifetime contract effectively. He goes, what is he, two and. Ten right now. Two and nine. So, very good. About to be two and ten after Florida drops drops a beating on them. So, yeah, they, that's a good way to get caught between a rock and a hard place. You probably want to not extend dudes out to like 2047 as a general rule. Well, but there are roles is he's doing really good. And I think that's a good, that was a good move. So obviously a counter to your point. They beat Bama. So to me, Oh, you is really hot right now. You guys probably should jump on that bandwagon. You know, Michigan, Michigan did not give Harbaugh a new contract after 2020. And they made him, they made him earn it and that paid big dividends for them. Really upset against kids as well. It's the look over the shoulder that does. He's about to do the dad driving thing where you just and just be reaching back. Just try to grab a knee. It's nice to know that there are people intimidated by you know, right? So, Brett Nelson and our boy that wears our open roads is asking roughly the same question. I want to thank our Jacob Woodward here. Realistically, how much new stuff could Sark and co have drawn up and or saved for this game and a potential SEC Championship game. This is something that you've kind of hinted at Ian that there may be some stuff in the tank that we haven't seen yet. What are your thoughts on that? Yeah, I think not a ton, but certainly some. There's probably stuff that they've worked on all year that they've said this could be particularly good for A&M. And we're going to sit on it all year if we can. Like, you know, just a player to maybe a particular formation and series of concepts. And there's, and then there was that by week, since the by week they played. So, Arkansas, Kentucky, right. So, I mean, there's a very good chance that they said on something that they developed over the by week. And it's the by week. Oh, yeah, Florida, which was a walk in the park because Florida was so beat up. So, I think it's very likely that they have stuff saved up, but it's going to be something like. Remember that that reverse that everybody got so excited about. Sure, to Wingo, something like that, not like a whole new offense. I don't think, but maybe particular plays that are really well designed. But once they're on film and the other team can actually scout them, then they're a little less dangerous. They might have, you know, five to 10 plays like that. And an animal will as well, which is something there's just keep in the back of your mind. I think we need to put out something about art so A&M has to prepare for both. I'm sure they already have. You know, a lot of the coaches say they run the same scheme no matter who's in. That's a pretty lame answer, because it looks a lot bigger depending on which quarterback is in there. You don't really save them but you make plays depending on what the defense shows you so A&M does different things some different things on defense that they haven't seen quite as much of writing and coverage wise. Maybe probably some blitzes and we'll have that are a little less exposed so far. You actually, as you noted in your, in your team notes today, you can tell for the Aggies that this is year one in the elko defense. They're good, but the pieces don't fit as well as they did and say like 2020 when they had a Liao and, you know, those guys. Four of their five secondary starters are transfers. Yeah. And two of their key reserves are transfers. So, Elko's in year one, Venables is in year three. Someone was asking earlier, you know, who has the better defense? And the answer is Oklahoma because it's year three and they're more inculcated in the culture and the exes and o's and all that. Elko will improve this group, but he's going to have to do it, partly through native recruiting and development, not just trying to grab some transfers and make them. Job together. Texas can get to their secondary. We're in for a good game. Yes. If they're defensive front and Elko's calls are able to protect that secondary, it's going to be a nail visor. Yeah. But they will, they will, they will pressure Texas and make them actually attack them. I don't think they're going to do everything they can to not let Texas dink and dunk and get just out athlete them in space. I think they'll try to deny that. And, but that's actually that's kind of how A&M has been playing this year anyways. So, which is probably helpful to them that that's not necessarily like a new thing to drop against Texas, like playing up tight and trying to stay shallow and downhill is, is, that's how they played against Auburn. Which is why Pieden Thorne took the top off a couple times. Well, that that play style will will also be benefited from the stadium and atmosphere too. Yeah, you can't have a really loud rock of stadium and then a passive defense that this doesn't pair. Going into the, we're about to get to our predictions. The final, the final D stat, which is something we always love to do is our admission rates just to see who is serving their community better. And again, Texas at 31.4% and A&M at 62.6%. So, if you look into the deep stats, these are, these are really leaning pretty heavy toward an A&M victory. But let's get into the predictions themselves. So, we're going to start with you, Ian. What do you expect coming out of this game and what is your prediction for the score? This is a tricky one for me because I know A&M is going to give Texas everything they have. There are a couple of concerns on the Texas side with what you've been asking Eric about with Quinn with his ankle and just Quinn in general the last few weeks. You just can't really see many ways that A&M wins other than, you know, just melt a meltdown by Texas or like, you know, fumble strip sacks, just, just plays that could go a lot of different ways and all happen to go really hard against Texas. I have it 2713 Texas. I think they have all the major advantages in this game. I just, you know, there is that caveat that it said, a rivalry game that hasn't been played in over a decade and I don't know exactly how that's going to factor in. What are your thoughts on this one Justin? I'm with the, I'm with our trusty guy, James Hayden a little bit, or Jamerson Hayden, our man. I'm a little worried here just because I feel like it means more to Texas A&M, at least on the surface. I know Texas is going to approach it the same exact way and they understand they have a lot to play for SEC Championship on the line, guaranteed in the playoff kind of stuff like that, even though Ian has convinced me that even though Texas could lose Saturday, they're still going to make the playoffs. I don't know if I'm buying that completely Ian, but I definitely like your train of thought. I think it's close. This is a field goal. This game is going to be a field goal game. This game is going to go back and forth. I think it's going to have a Texas OU vibe. I think there's going to be some intensity. I think there's going to be some urgency. Big plays are going to dictate momentum. It's going to have that. After four or five years, this game is going to go back where it was, and that's Texas winning every three or four years, winning every three out of four years. But man, it just means so much to A&M. I think it's a field goal. I think it's close. I think the blitzing, they're going to attack like they did like Georgia did. And so if Texas can hold up to that, they'll be okay. If they can get vertical, that's the biggest thing. If they're going to be, they're going to be opportunities here that they haven't had in the last three weeks to really get vertical down the field. That's going to be the biggest key. It's going to hinge on Quinn. Texas defense is the thing you can hang your head on. If Quinn is on, Texas is going to win. If Quinn is off, buddy, we've got a battle. So, Justin, coming in here is at 23 to 20 new landing on this one, Paul. I've got it. Texas 24 A&M 19, I think. Yeah. So, I could see several scenarios where A&M wins this game. I think most of them having to do it on Texas offense, self-destructing on the road. But I think Steve Sarkeesian is aware of that. I think he's going to follow the doctor's caution of first do no harm. And I think the goal for this offense should be give our defense 70 to 80 yards to defend. And if they can do that, and then take their opportunities when they do present themselves and they will present themselves. You should go read inside Texas and read our previews of this game that Ian and I wrote. Texas can have an opportunity to get some offense in and move the ball. And there are some things profiling wise that we may not fit what has exploited A&M's defense so far this year. But there's some things that we do that A&M is not faced. And I don't think they have certain characteristics or traits that match up well with that. Specifically, they're linebackers, not very good in coverage. And I think that's something Sarkeesian always looks to target when he's starting to build out his game plan early to try to take some deflate a little early momentum. There's nothing that will do that better than little eight and 12 yard chain movers to the running backs out the flat. So we will see Quinn's health and how he plays through some immobility is going to be a big part of this. The offensive line obviously has to play really well, but you know, Quinn can't be a tackling dummy on a skateboard. He's got to move the pocket a little bit and take a step to the side and help his guys out. And yeah, I think it's going to be a tight one. I think it's going to be a tough game. And I'm still thinking it points towards a Texas victory. You know, I'll see a quick note on that. One of the best ways to stop those perimeter tosses to the running backs or Isaiah Bond is really good play at corner and nickel, playing the blocks out in space. And I don't know like Oklahoma under Vinnables has always been very, very good at playing those blocks and killing those plays before they start regardless of how the linebackers are involved, because they just take away the angles by beating the blocks outside. And I don't know if that's really a name's game. They've been like a revolving door at nickel. So this game could be very simple for Texas if that's just not something that a name can figure out. Well, either nickel is questionable right now on the injury report. He's not been very good anyway, even if he does play. And interestingly, though, Ian, they've had tackling problems at safety, specifically Bryce Anderson, he misses a third of the tackles he attempts. Wow. Isn't good. I think that's a performance I could match. In fact, I could exceed that. I think I could miss half my tackles. Nice. And they're, interestingly, they've been great great and coverage their safeties, whereas their corners and nickels have been getting hit when you can single them up one on one in the passing game, but they've been good tacklers and good against the run. So a weird dichotomy there and an M secondary. You're gonna bring us home here, Eric. Yeah, I've got a pretty stupid score. I've got 24 21. I don't know why I went with 21. It's very unlikely that an M scores three red zone touchdowns and it's unlikely they would score a touchdown outside of the red zone. No, Thomas just climbs the ladder and goes and gets one. But it's more of the sentiment of a close game. I don't know what to expect from Texas, the passing attack. And so what Ian was saying about the perimeter passing, if they throw one out there that relies on Isaiah Bond block, I'm going to gouge my eyes out. They got to stop doing that. But I do think Texas, I think Texas might be able to run the ball a little bit with some quick passing in the run game. So I do think that that Sarc will be able to craft some offense. I just don't know that they're going to make the big plays. Texas usually gets in a position in a game where they can make the one play away from really blowing it out and changing the play style of the other team. Sometimes they make it, you know, against Florida and other times they don't reference Arkansas. And then those games end up being way too close for comfort. I think we're headed for one that's way too close for comfort, but I'm still going to go with Texas to pull it out. I got 24 21 should have mixed in a field goal there instead of a touchdown. But, you know, just to just to understand, I think it's going to be a close game. Everyone on the inside Texas staff is predicting a close game. Even our young James Hayden is going against Texas going with A&M, which is a bold choice for a young man and we really appreciate him making those bold choices. If you want to hear more or read more, we've got a lot of people over on Twitter right now. We would love for you to come over and join us on on YouTube. But please join us at inside Texas.com. It is a dollar for seven days and that's going to get you 50% off the first year as well. Those people on Twitter over there, we would love to you to join us because inside the program is going to go in deep and let you know all the team news prior to the game, everything that you need to know before the game gets started. Join us on this channel one hour before the game starts for our pregame show and directly as the game ends for our post game show. It's going to be a real tight one and we're really happy that you joined us. Thanks so much. [Music]
Families split. Houses Divided. A Texas A&M fan base must come out of hiding and face inevitability.