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The Razorbacks were embarrassed and humbled after a bad week-four loss to Mountain West San Jose State but they're now channeling all their effort into refocusing for their toughest 2019 opponent yet, Texas A&M.
Despite holding a 2-2 record, like Arkansas, the Aggies notched their two losses against the defending national champion Clemson and No.7-ranked Auburn. They only lost the two games by a combined three scores.
In his second season, Jimbo Fisher has the Aggies ranked No.23 in the nation after starting the season at No.12 in the AP Top 25. Defensive coordinator Mike Elko and his group have been particularly impressive. The Aggies are giving up just 15.5 points per game with a high of 28 points last week against Auburn.
"They have a really good scheme," Offensive coordinator Joe Craddock said Monday. "This defensive coordinator has been around a really long time. He’s called defenses for top defenses in the country for the last couple of years. They are going to be a big challenge for us."
Elko has been a defensive coordinator at Hofstra, Bowling Green, Wake Forest, Notre Dame and now A&M, boasting some stout top-50 defenses in the nation year after year. A&M plays with a 4-2-5 base defense that puts an emphasis on stopping the run and forces teams to throw vertically to move the ball.
A&M's defensive front features some scary run-stoppers and pass rushers including Justin Madubuike, Bobby Brown III, Jayden Peevy, Michael Clemons, Tyree Johnson and former 5-star true freshman DeMarvin Leal. Though the defense has only notched six sacks so far this season, their tackles for loss numbers are huge. Twenty-nine tackles for loss have helped the defense limit opponents to 111 yards per game.
The Aggie defense has also been particularly potent on third down. Opponents have converted just 14 of 52 third downs (26.9%). Of eight red zone trips, the Aggies have held opponents to seven scores with five touchdowns and two field goals.
Junior linebacker Buddy Johnson leads his group in the middle, assisted by former Rivals100 backer Anthony Hines III.
Names to know in the secondary include Rodney Elam, Debione Renfro and Myles Jones. Jones and Elam have each tallied two picks a piece.
The defense will go up against a very familiar duo in Nick Starkel and Rakeem Boyd, both of whom are former Aggies.
