Texas A&M vs. Iowa State Preview

It’s famine to feast at Aggieland. The Aggies bounced back from a 62-14 drubbing two weeks ago by Kansas State to beat 21 st ranked Texas Tech, 52-30. Tech is now occupying A&M’s lowly position in ESPN’s Bottom 10.

Was it a fluke? That remains to be seen. Head coach Mike Sherman may find out Saturday. The Aggies play Iowa State (5-3, 2-2 Big 12) at Kyle Field in College Station. The Cyclones are on a two-game winning streak and stand as a contender for the Big 12 North crown and bowl eligibility.

The Aggies (4-3, 2-2) need two wins to be bowl eligible and their best chance at that is to beat Iowa State on Saturday.

Will the Aggies shake off the spotlight of a big win in Lubbock and win? One thing is sure. Sherman had been searching for five good men in the offensive line. He may have found them. Sherman’s O-line was the subject of Sherman’s weekly press conference. Sherman has been moving his hogs around the pen. He now may have the right line up.

“I'm not a big guy on moving offensive linemen around. I hate it. I think they need to pretty much be in one position. It's been out of necessity that we've had to find the right combination. This combination will be the combination for this week and we'll go from there. Like I said, a lot of it has to do with matchups and your guys matchup to their guys, and if your guy can block their guy. There's still a chance we could change some things around," Sherman said of the musical chairs he has had to do with his offensive line.

The O-line combo let Sherman call better plays and establish the running game, he said.

"Because we were effective in the run game we were able to have a lot more `repeat' type of runs. So we were running some of the same plays repetitively, which gave them some confidence in the game. When you struggle in the run game, sometimes you have a tendency...my tendency has been well, we will go to something different, because they've defending this play or scheme. So now you go into something different and that presents a new set of problems. The repetitiveness in the run game probably helped them gain more confidence and us get a little bit better as we got along in the ballgame. They developed more confidence in the call because they had success previously with it,” Sherman told reporters.

The Cyclones are not having problems with the O-line. They are riding the league’s top rushing offense.

"They do a great job. They have a very good offensive line. (They are) Big, powerful kids that come off the ball and hold on to the ball very well. They run with their quarterback as well as the running back. They are multi-dimensional in their running game. They block on the perimeter well and their line moves the line of scrimmage. We're going to have to get geared up and have a physical week of practice to get ready for what we anticipate to be a very good run game and effective passing game,” Sherman said.

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Linebacker/end Von Miller continues to be a national leader in sacks. The Aggies as a whole have had 21 QB sacks. They rank 11 th nationally.

The Aggies lead the series 8-1. ISU defeated the Aggies, 42-14, in 2005. That was the Cyclones’ last visit to Kyle Field.

It will be Military Appreciation Day at Kyle. Al military veterans and active duty personnel will pay half price for tickets.

The game will not be televised. Sirius Satellite Radio will broadcast the game on Channel 154. Live audio will be heard on radioaggieland.com. Live statistics are carried on aggielethics.com.

By Jay Goode
Big 12 Fans Texas A&M Correspondent

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