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No. 6 Texas A&M hosts Arkansas Saturday
By: Freddy Wander - StatFox
Published: 9/26/2014  at  5:13:00 AM
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ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS (3-1)
at TEXAS A&M AGGIES (4-0)

AT&T Stadium - Arlington, TX
Kickoff: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET
Line: Texas A&M -9, Total: 71.5

No. 6 Texas A&M looks to remain perfect through five games when it hosts Arkansas on Saturday afternoon.

Arkansas opened the year with a 45-21 loss as 17-point underdogs in Auburn, but has since gone 3-0 both SU and ATS against Nicholls State, Texas Tech and Northern Illinois. The Razorbacks dominated as 13.5-point favorites at home against NIU last week with a 52-14 victory as they totaled 427 yards and played a game with zero turnovers and just four penalties for 30 yards. Texas A&M has not missed a beat after losing Johnny Manziel to the NFL, and is 4-0 SU while going 3-1 ATS. The big victory was the season opener when it destroyed a talented South Carolina team by a score of 52-28 as a 9-point underdog. Since then the Aggies have averaged 56.3 PPG while allowing their opposition to score less than a touchdown (6.3 PPG) per game. They traveled to SMU last week as 33.5-point favorites and came away with a 58-6 win while gaining an impressive 663 total yards, including 395 yards through the air. These two programs have had some high-scoring battles over their past three meetings with each going Over the total while seeing the home team covering ATS each time. Last year, the Aggies won 45-33 on the road while forcing two turnovers and barely failing to cover the 13-point spread. Unfortunately for Texas A&M, the club is an atrocious 3-17 ATS (15%) in road games after gaining 525+ total yards in its previous contest since 1992, but the Razorbacks are a woeful 3-12 ATS (20%) after playing a home game since the start of the 2012 campaign. There are no new significant injuries for this game.

Can Texas A&M win by double-digits in this SEC showdown? For the answer, connect to College Football Best Bets for all the StatFox Experts picks throughout the 2014 regular season and bowl season. The experts went a combined 10-7 ATS (59%) last week, highlighted by StatFox Scott's 3-1 ATS mark and StatFox Gary's 2-1 ATS record.

The Razorbacks have been one of the best teams in the nation on the ground with 324.5 rushing YPG (8th in FBS) while sacrificing the passing attack (160 YPG) and piling up 48.8 PPG (3rd in nation). QB Brandon Allen (552 pass yards, 8 TD, 1 INT) has been efficient while hitting on 61% of his attempts, and has been sacked just once with 22 or fewer attempts in each of the past three games. The run game is a two-headed monster with HBs Alex Collins (490 rush yards, 5 TD) and Jonathan Williams (391 rush yards, 7 TD) dominating opposing defenses. Collins' big game came in the win over Texas Tech in which he broke 200 yards (212) and added two scores while Williams missed the last contest and had at least one score in the first three. The one wide receiver to keep an eye on in this roster is WR Keon Hatcher (196 rec. yards, 2 TD) who had his best game last week against NIU (107 yards, 1 TD). The defense for Arkansas has given up a hefty 373.3 YPG thus far, leading to 23.5 PPG, but the bulk of those points allowed came in the loss to Auburn. DL Trey Flowers (22 tackles, 1 sack) is the top player and leader on this side of the ball and hopes his unit can contain the explosive Texas A&M offense.

The Aggies have been one of the best offenses in the nation this year, gaining 612.5 YPG (2nd in FBS), 405 YPG through the air (4th in nation) and 207.5 YPG on the ground (40th in FBS), which has led to 55.3 PPG (2nd in nation). QB Kenny Hill (1,359 pass yards, 13 TD, 1 INT) is filling some big shoes in this offense, and has been outstanding with 275+ yards in three of his four games while throwing multiple scores each time. His coming-out party was in South Carolina when he was 44-for-60 (73%) with 511 yards and 3 TD (0 INT). There is no one rusher who really leads this team, as six players have already surpassed 15 attempts and 100 yards with HB Trey Williams (208 rush yards, 4 TD) leading the charge. Overall, the run game has provided 13 scores while averaging a strong 6.3 YPC. WR Malcome Kennedy (334 rec. yards, 1 TD) leads the team in yards and receptions (30) while WRs Josh Reynolds (247 rec. yards, 4 TD) and Ricky Seals-Jones (192 rec. yards, 3 TD) have been the top red-zone threats. The defense has been very impressive while allowing 11.8 PPG (8th in nation) and giving up 349.5 YPG. DB Deshazor Everett (13 tackles, 1 INT) brings experience to this side of the ball, which is absent of any major talent.


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