Kansas aside, Stephen F. Austin has nothing on the Big 12 teams Texas A&M will face later in the season. But the Lumberjacks do have, as coaches like to say, some guys that could play in the Big 12.
Three of those players -- maybe the only three -- line up in the middle of the SFA defense. Two are preseason FCS All-Americans and the third is an All-Southland Conference, so if any A&M unit was going to be tested Saturday it looked like it would be the offensive line.
Senior defensive linemen Sean Warren (6-foot, 290 pounds) and Kenneth Charles (6-3, 266) came in with multiple preseason accolades, and senior middle linebacker Jabara Williams was given the "he'll play on Sundays" tag by A&M coach Mike Sherman earlier in the week.
On Saturday, A&M ran right at the trio and any other linemen the Lumberjacks threw at the Aggie offensive line, a group that has a bright spotlight because of its inexpereince and recent history of lackluster play.
Although Sherman insisted the tapes would tell the whole story, his initial feeling was that the team ran the ball well and moved the ball fairly well in the Aggies' 48-7 victory, especially between the guards. Although the numbers won't jump out at anybody, there was one telling stat that might back Sherman's thoughts: The Aggies ran the ball on third down eight times and picked up the first down all but once.
All but one of those runs were behind junior Evan Eike, sophomore Patrick Lewis and senior Matt Allen. The three also gave Christine Michael plenty of room on his 15-yard jaunt up the middle for the first score of the night.
"Everybody put a hat on a hat and it worked out great," Allen said. "It's always fun when you have the pressure behind you to make the first down for the team and it gets done. It's important."
The Aggies ran the ball 55 times for 192 yards, nothing spectacular. But with only one designed run that went for minus yardage, A&M was rarely behind the chains.
The only thing missing on the ground was the big play. Michael's touchdown run was the longest of the night. Michael's shovel pass for 46 yards, though, started up the middle.
A&M also surrendered two sacks, one given up by freshman Luke Joeckel, who was going up against Charles and senior Rainey Sternes the entire night.
Quarterback Jerrod Johnson was pleased with the effort of the line, which made room for him to stroll in untouched for his rushing touchdown.
"They played well. They're the heart and soul of our team," Johnson said. "My hat goes off to those guys, they played well and welcomed Luke in."
Charles was responsible for the sacks, which accounted for two of his three unassisted tackles. Williams had nine tackles, but a handful were after the Aggies had moved the chains.
"We came into this game trying to make a name for ourselves running the ball, so we just did our best getting off the ball, staying low and trying to dominate the middle," Allen said. "It was a good test for our first game. They played hard, hustled, and the mike linebacker played great. He's a tough opponent."
One that gave A&M's front five a taste of what's coming at the end of the month.
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