Don't adjust your set
Whether you plan on watching Saturday’s game against Texas A&M from your seat at Sanford Stadium, or at home on your living room couch—your eyes will not be deceiving you.
The Aggies’ base offense operates out of a split-back pro set. In other words, Texas A&M will often use two running backs in the backfield at once.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said the formation Aggie head coach Jimbo Fisher employs hearkens to a different era of football, making it an alignment modern defenders have rarely seen.
“It’s like the triple option of today, when you have two backs in the backfield, because nobody knows really how to defend it anymore,” Smart said during Monday’s press conference. “(Vince) Coach Dooley is back there; he could probably tell you how to defend it, because you toss the ball and you run a sweep, and nobody knows how to handle a lead blocker.”
For Bulldog linebacker Azeez Ojulari, this will definitely be something new.
“I’ve never seen it, to be honest,” Ojulari said. “It will be different this week, for sure.”
Look for the Bulldogs to receive a full dose of what the Aggies like to do.
Last Saturday, Texas A&M rolled past South Carolina 30-6, with freshmen running back Isaiah Spiller and sophomore Codarrian Richardson rushing for 129 and 130 yards, respectively.
Each player brings a hefty load.
The 6-foot-1 Spiller comes in at 220 pounds, while Richardson weighs 240 and is hard to tackle. That makes for a tough combination to pair with quarterback Kellen Mond, a true dual threat, who needs just 83 yards passing to join Johnny Manziel as the only Aggie to pass for 7,000 yards and rush for 1,000 in a career.
The trio has been a major reason Texas A&M (7-3, 4-2) leads the SEC and ranks ninth nationally in time of possession (33.55) after setting a season-high in the category against South Carolina (41.39).
“They're very different runners, but he (Fisher) did some of the same things at FSU when he had Dalvin (Cook),” Smart said. “He uses some different plays to highlight the two backs he has. And they're running the ball more, and more efficiently—you can see how they've gotten better and better and better at running the ball every game, and it really came to fruition against South Carolina.”
Fisher said the team’s passing game has also been a beneficiary.
Mond has completed 210 of 328 passes for 2,435 yards and 18 touchdowns, while rushing for an additional 400 yards and seven scores.
“People don’t realize that you can get in split-pro, and that’s as good a formation as there is to throw the football. When your backs are catching, you’ve got a versatile tight end, two receivers, and that’s as good a formation as there is to throw the football. People don’t look at that,” Fisher said. “You can do all kinds of stuff out of this. It all derives from that, and I think, as long as you keep your roots and don’t leave them too far, you can go to the one-back, you can go to the no-huddle, or you can go to all the spread stuff. But having that as the base you teach from, sometimes when you have to go back and pull something out, it’s good.”
Smart agreed, noting the key for his defense will be to play disciplined ball.
“Now, they don't do that all the time; don't get me wrong. But when they do it, they're very efficient. He still has option plays, and it keeps people honest,” Smart said. “It keeps you from saying, I'm going to do an overload this way, or I'm going to do one of these unsound defenses to go attack the quarterback, when he runs an option play. They do a tremendous job of it.”
