Louisiana-Monroe @ Texas A&M preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 15, 2007 ) UL Monroe 14, Texas A&M 54

Kenny Hill was the toast of College Station and a worthy successor to Johnny Manziel for the first five games, but things have not been going so well of late. Hill will need to win his job all over again to earn the start on Saturday when Texas A&M hosts Louisiana-Monroe. The Aggies have dropped three straight games and were embarrassed 59-0 at Alabama before the bye week, prompting the coaching staff to reopen the quarterback competition.

Hill beat out freshman Kyle Allen for the job before the season and put up 17 touchdowns and two interceptions while guiding the team to a 5-0 start, but has thrown six picks in losing the last three games. “They’ve both gotten reps over the last week and will both continue to get reps,” Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin told reporters of Hill and Allen.“… After what’s happened, there’s really nothing off the table at that point.” The Warhawks are coming in on their own three-game slide and were pounded by a combined 79-14 in their two previous meetings against SEC teams this season.

TV: 12 p.m. ET, SEC Network. LINE: Texas A&M -32.5

ABOUT LOUISIANA-MONROE (3-4): The Warhawks sandwiched a pair of Sun Belt Conference losses around a 48-14 setback at Kentucky in their last three contests and are playing their final non-conference game of the regular season against the Aggies. Louisiana-Monroe went into the fourth quarter with an 18-7 advantage against Texas State last week before surrendering a pair of touchdowns in the final seven minutes of a 22-18 setback. “I think we wore down and we lost our discipline against an option football team,” Warhawks coach Todd Berry told reporters. “…We’ll learn from it and we’ll move forward.”

ABOUT TEXAS A&M (5-3): The Aggies had the misfortune of playing three straight top-5 teams in Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Alabama, and the cracks in the defense showed with an average of 47.3 points allowed. “Our message to the team is that this program football-wise is founded on three things: play hard, play smart, and be physical,” Sumlin told reporters. “Of which, the last couple of weeks that has not been the case and has directly contributed to us losing.” Whoever starts at quarterback on Saturday could use more help from the running game, which has totaled 85 yards in the last two games.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Texas A&M will pay tribute to the 1939 National Championship team with vintage uniforms, including a leather-like helmet.

2. Warhawks QB Pete Thomas was limited to 244 total yards in his previous two games against SEC foes LSU and Kentucky.

3. The Aggies need one win to become bowl eligible for a school-record sixth straight season.

PREDICTION: Texas A&M 55, Louisiana-Monroe 17