TITLE: Larry Ness' 10* LEGEND Play (13-4 s/'05) REASON FOR PICK: Texas A&M took a streak of 20 consecutive non-losing seasons into Franchione's first year at College Station (2003). In his five years at this proud program, Coach Fran's best season was a 9-4 finish in 2006 (lost Holiday Bowl 45-10 to Cal to end that year!) and he had two losing years. The man he replaced, RC Slocum went 123-47-2 over seasons, with ZERO losing seasons! Mike Sherman, who spent six years as Green Bay's head coach going 57-39 with four playoff trips, took over last year with A&M finishing at 4-8. The current team is 5-5 and with Texas coming to town on Thanksgiving, the Aggies better get that important sixth win of the season Saturday vs Baylor. As for the Bears, expectations going into "Year 2" of the Art Briles era were high, with Robert Griffin at QB (15-3 ratio last season). However, Griffin was lost for the season with a knee injury in the team's third game (home to Northwestern St), with Griffin having completed 65.2 percent of his passes with a 4-0 ratio. Baylor would improve to 3-1 with a win at Kent State on October 3 but new starting QB Nick Florence doesn't have anywhere near the versatility that Griffin possessed. Baylor is 2-5 under Florence (4-6 on the season), who has completed 61.3 percent of his passes in the eight games he has played (seven starts) but has thrown just has six TDs against seven INTs on the year. He had 427 yards and three TDs in the team's 40-32 upset (Baylor was a two-TD underdog) at Missouri on November 7 but turned around and threw three iNTs in last Saturday's 47-14 loss at Texas. Baylor entered this season as the Big 12's worst team, sporting a 13-91 conference mark (.125) since 1996. Baylor's Big 12 woes are well documented. The team ended a 29-game conference losing streak in 2002 and after losing its first 37 conference road games, finally won 23-13 at Iowa St in 2005. Let's fast forward to the current season and we find that Baylor has gone 3-52 (.055) all-time in Big 12 road games. While one of those wins came just recently at Missouri, the Bears have run for 44.3 YPG (2.0 YPC) in their three big 12 road games this year, while the defense has allowed 29.7 PPG. Baylor has played at A&M every odd-year since the league's inception (1996), visiting College Station six times (this will be the 7th) while losing each game by an average score of 37.0-to-11.0 PPG! As mentioned earlier, the Aggies NEED this win to become bowl eligible and A&M is surely not expecting to upset Texas on Thanksgiving night. So how have the Aggies played at home this year? They are 4-1 SU, losing only 36-31 to Oklahoma State. The Aggies have displayed a powerhouse rushing attack in College Station this year, averaging 221.6 YPG (4.8 YPC) while scoring 40.2 PPG. In the team's four wins, those averages go up to 249.8 YPG and 42.5 PPG. QB Jerrod Johnson has been among the nation's leaders all season in total offense (currently ranks 6th at 299.7 YPG) and for the year the junior has completed 58.3 percent of his pasees with 22 TDs and just five INTs. Note that in A&M's five home games, Johnson has thrown for an average of 293.6 YPG with 15 TD passes and not a SINGLE interception. LEGEND Play on Texas A&M (10*)
Larry Ness 11/24/09 Legend
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