AggieHuddle.com’s look at the matchup between No. 9 Texas A&M (2-0) and Kentucky (1-1) Continues with a breakdown of the Wildcats offense against the Aggie defense.

KenTucky Depth Chart

QB

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
3	Kenny Minchey	6-2/211	Sr.
10	Callum Wither	6-4/217	Gr.

RB

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
1	CJ Baxter	6-1/227	Sr.
26	Jason Patterson	5-10/204	Jr.

TE

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
81	Willie Rodriguez	6-4/249	Jr.
87	Henry Boyer	6-6/270	Gr.

WR

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
7	DJ Miller	6-3/208	So.
12	Brock Coffman	6/181	So.

WR

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
4	Nic Anderson	6-4/208	Gr.
5	Ja’Kayden Ferguson	6-2/184	So.

WR

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
6	Shane Carr	6-2/185	Jr.
19	Kenny Darby	6-1/180	Fr.

LT

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
53	Lance Heard	6-6/325	Sr.
67	Mark Robinson	6-5/328	Jr.

LG

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
73	Olaus Alinen	6-6/329	Sr.
55	Aba Selm	6-4/327	Jr.

C

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
72	Coleton Price	6-3/308	Gr.
75	Hayes Johnson	6-4/310	Jr.

RG

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
77	Tegra Tshabola	6-3/329	Gr.
57	Jordan Knox	6-2/289	Sr.

RT

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
71	Malachi Wood	6-8/329	Sr.
50	Max Anderson	6-5/311	Jr.

Injury update

TE Lincoln Watkins and OL Jay Clark are out.

Kentucky offensive statistical leaders

Passing: Minchey, 36-58 (62.1%), 447 yards, 5 TD, 1 INT

Rushing: Patterson, 22 carries, 131 yards (6 YPC)

Baxter, 20 carries, 77 yards (3.9 YPC), 2 TD

Receiving: Darby, 8 catches, 119 yards (14.9 YPC), 1 TD

Rodriguez, 12 catches, 97 yards (8.1 YPC), 1 TD

Skinner, 4 catches, 61 yards, 1 TD

Texas A&M defensive depth chart

DE

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
18	T.J. Searcy	6-5, 260	Sr.
14	Anto Saka	6-4, 255	Gr.
16	Bryce Perry-Wright	6-2, 269	Fr.

DT

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
5	DJ Hicks	6-3, 293	Sr.
99	Landon Rink	6-2, 295	So.
11	Brandon Davis-Swain	6-4, 307	Jr.

DT

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
92	CJ Mims	6-2, 312	5th
OR 94	Angelo McCullom	6-2, 317	Jr.
88	DJ Sanders	6-3, 316	So.

DE

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
10	Marco Jones	6-5, 261	So.
15	Sam M’Pemba	6-3, 257	Sr.
17	Ryan Henderson	6-3, 255	Gr.
22	Tristan Givens	6-3, 232	Fr.

LB

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
27	Daymion Sanford	6-2, 228	Sr.
OR 0	Noah Mikhail	6-2, 230	So.
25	Tamarion Watkins	6-3, 228	Fr.

LB

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
0	Noah Mikhail	6-2, 230	So.
OR 21	Ray Coney	6-2, 240	Sr.
54	Jordan Lockhart	6-1, 233	Jr.

CB

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
6	Julio Humphrey	6-1, 197	5th
20	Adonyss Currie	6, 181	So.
OR 23	Brandon Arrington	6-2, 201	Freshman

CB

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
2	Dezz Ricks	6-1, 193	Sr.
OR 9	Rickey Gibson III	6, 181	Sr.
21	Vic Singleton	5-11, 175	Fr.

NI

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
8	Jordan Shaw	5-11, 180	Sr.
19	Bravion Rogers	5-11, 186	Sr.
13	Deyjhon Pettaway	5-11, 182	So.
24	Camren Hamiel	5-11, 180	Fr.

S

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
3	Marcus Ratcliffe	6-3, 211	Sr.
13	Myles Davis	6-1, 203	Jr.
22	Tom Tom Johnson	6-1, 201	So.
15	Tylan Wilson	6-1, 204	Fr.

S

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
7	Dalton Brooks	6, 202	Sr.
4	Tawfiq Byard	6-1, 198	Sr.
28	Chance Collins	6-1, 201	Fr.

Injury update

DE Anto Saka is probable.

Texas A&M defensive Statistical leaders

Tackles: Mikhail, 13

Coney, 12

Ratcliffe and Searcy, 8

Tackles for loss: Henderson, 2

Coney and Searcy, 1.5

Sacks: Henderson and Jones, 1

Interceptions: Jones and Humphrey, 1

Forced fumbles: Four players with 1

Fumble recoveries: Four players with 1

Head to Head

Category	Kentucky offense	National/ SEC rank	Category	Texas A&M defense	National/ SEC rank
Scoring offense	31 PPG	71st/13th	Scoring defense	10 PPG	15th/3rd
Total offense	357.5 YPG	100th/ 15th	Total defense	218 YPG	16th/5th
Rushing offense	134 YPG	102nd/ 15th	Rushing defense	76 YPG	22nd/6th
Passing offense	223.5 YPG	74th/14th	Passing yards allowed	142 YPG	28th/7th
First downs	38	98th/14th	First downs allowed	20	8th/3rd
3rd down %	18.2%	134th/ 16th	3rd down defense	18.2%	8th/4th
Red zone %	100%	1st	Red zone defense	76%	22nd/6th
Turnovers	3	76th/8th	Turnovers forced	6	4th/1st
Turnover +/-	Plus-1	42nd/4th	Turnover +/-	Plus-4	9th/1st
TFL allowed	4/game	40th/4th	TFL	5.5/game	59th/12th
Sacks allowed	2/game	76th/10th	Team sacks	1/game	107th/ 18th
TOP	28:49	95th/12th	TOP	36:30	4th/2nd

What Kentucky wants to do

Get things working offensively. The Wildcats were held to 17 points by Alabama last weekend, and seven of those were on a 1-yard pick six. To say things weren’t work would be an understatement.

Will Stein was the man who made the Oregon offense hum, but he doesn’t have the same personnel right now. In fact, eight of his 11 starters on offense are transfers, so there are a lot of moving parts.

For the third straight game, the Aggies are going to face a team that wants to spread you out, get the ball out quickly most of the time and then take deep shots when it can. The running game for Kentucky has been hit or miss, and Alabama kept it largely in check. Former Texas running back CJ Baxter is the lead guy, but he’s only averaging 3.9 YPC so far.

The passing game, as mentioned, looks very similar to Arizona State’s. A lot of passes parallel to the line of scrimmage or quick hitters in the seam. The Wildcats used a lot of RPO against Alabama to try to mix things up for the Crimson Tide, but it largely didn’t work.

One thing Kenny Minchey has done so far that ASU’s Cutter Boley (his predecessor in Lexington) hasn’t is utilize the tight end in the passing game. Willie Rodriguez leads the team in receptions with 12 and Henry Boley caught a touchdown against Alabama.

The Wildcats just want to extend drives. They had one drive against Alabama that gained more than 33 yards. They were 1-14 on third down attempts, which is an automatic killer. Their third down conversion percentage is one of the absolute worst in the nation.

Kentucky just needs to get some offensive momentum somehow. They need to improve in the rushing department (2 YPC against Alabama) and give Minchey time to throw. They need to get into shorter third down situations, which is not easy against an Aggie defense that is, again, one of the nation’s best when it comes to getting off the field.

How the Aggies may try to counter

Attack on the early downs. We know the Elko playbook is to get after opponents on first down so they’re in a bad situation on third down, but that’s even more of a plan this week because of Kentucky’s inability to convert third downs so far.

The Aggies took away the running game from Arizona State after the first quarter last weekend and Minchey is not the same kind of athlete Boley is, so scrambling is not something he’s overly comfortable with. He’d rather stay in the pocket than scramble, which is music to A&M’s ears.

But what the Aggies need to do is improve on their negative plays — primarily, sacks. Minchey went down four times against Alabama, twice to blitzing linebackers, so the Aggies should have the scheme to cause trouble. They got pretty consistent pressure on Boley, but he either scrambled or bought enough time to get the ball out on passes that weren’t out of his hand very quickly. After seeing that sort of offense twice, including an effective one in ASU, the Aggies should be better prepared.

A&M may not have put up the sack numbers, but they did hold Arizona State to 20 points and only seven after halftime. If the Aggies are aggressive but smart again and tackle well, they should have a chance to cause problems for Kentucky and, hopefully, cause more turnovers.

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