A&M out to sack Razorbacks' protection plans

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas is among five Football Bowl Subdivision teams that haven't allowed a sack this season. Texas A&M leads the nation with 15 sacks.

Something has to give Saturday night when the Razorbacks play the Aggies at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

"I think it's a good matchup," Arkansas junior offensive tackle Denver Kirkland said. "I'm just looking forward to see what they really have and what we really have."

Kirkland, 6-5, 340 pounds, will go against Aggies sophomore defensive end Myles Garrett, 6-5, 262, who has a national-best 5 1/2 sacks.

Razorbacks junior tackle Dan Skipper, 6-10, 331, will be matched against junior defensive end Daeshone Hall, 6-6, 250, whose four sacks are tied for sixth in the nation.

"Denver and Dan came here to play against guys like that," Arkansas offensive line coach Sam Pittman said. "We'll see what happens."

Garrett had 11 1/2 sacks last season to set an SEC freshman record. He broke the record of eight sacks in 2011 by South Carolina's Jadeveon Clowney, the No. 1 pick in 2014 NFL Draft by Houston.

"Garrett is a really, really exceptional player," Pittman said. "I think he's scary. He should be running track at A&M. The 60 sprint, he'd win that. We have a lot respect for him."

Pittman said Hall is plenty scary, too.

"Garrett and Hall are probably as good a defensive end tandem as there is in the country," Pittman said. "They have an unbelievably quick get-off."

The Aggies had nine sacks in their season-opening 38-17 victory over Arizona State.

"They were getting after the quarterback, but I think we've got some better guys up front," Kirkland said, referring to Arizona State's line. "We're going to get after them."

In Texas A&M's 44-27 victory over Nevada last week, Garrett sacked quarterback Tyler Stewart on consecutive plays midway through the fourth quarter for losses of 9 and 5 yards to end a scoring threat after the Wolf Pack had pulled to within 41-27 and recovered an onside kickoff.

"Myles Garrett is the best defensive end I've ever seen in my life," Nevada running back Don Jackson told reporters after the game. "I've never seen anything like that before.

"It's his physical stature, with his long arms and big body, combined with him just being fast."

Pittman said Texas A&M's scheme under new defensive coordinator John Chavis is designed for the inside linemen to bull rush to collapse the pocket and force the quarterback outside, where Garrett or Hall sprint up the field to meet him.

"It's a really good scheme," Pittman said. "They're not a huge blitz team. They'll blitz when you get into third down, but they really don't need to with those front four guys."

Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen said he's confident in his pass protection.

"I've got a lot of trust in my guys," Allen said. "They're going to do everything they can to protect me."

Texas A&M Coach Kevin Sumlin said having a chance to be the first team to sack Allen isn't extra motivation for Garrett, Hall or any of the other Aggies.

"You don't go in there and tell our team, 'Hey, they haven't given up a sack, we've got to get a sack,' " Sumlin said. "Our guys know what they're supposed to do.

"We've got two defensive ends that rush the passer. They want to get a sack regardless of what the stats say."

The Aggies didn't have any sacks in their 35-28 overtime victory against Arkansas last season. Garrett was credited with 3 tackles, including 1 for a 1-yard loss, as the Razorbacks rushed 47 times for 285 yards.

"I didn't do well enough," Garrett said. "I didn't play the run well enough, so I hope we change things up. Hopefully, we stop the run and shut down their offense."

If the Aggies can slow Arkansas' running game, they'll increase their chances of sacking Allen.

"It's really hard for a team to stop us when it's third and long and we've got to get to the quarterback," Texas A&M senior defensive tackle Julien Obioha said.

"We definitely have our work cut out for us," Pittman said. "We'd like to stay out of third and long, where they like to do their damage."

Arkansas offensive coordinator Dan Enos said keeping Allen from being sacked involves more than good blocking by the line.

"The offensive line's certainly doing a great job, but that's backs involved, that's the quarterback understanding that he's got to get the ball out of his hands," Enos said. "That's receivers and tight ends creating separation early in their routes so we're not holding the ball.

"Certainly this week will be our biggest challenge to date as far as a pass rush goes."

Allen said the Razorbacks can't dramatically alter their game plan despite the Aggies' ability to pile up sacks.

"There are definitely things we have to do to negate them, but we're going to do what we do," Allen said. "You can't change your game plans because of two good defensive ends."

Sports on 09/25/2015