Curator & Coach - Week 9

Curator Sam Burnham
​Game of the Week
Arkansas @ Texas A&M

Football, particularly college football, is a game of intangibles. Sure talent factors in, as does strategy. But often a game is won or lost in the mind. That’s why I’m choosing this game this week.

The Aggies come in as two touchdown favorites. On paper that makes sense. But Arkansas isn’t going to sit quietly while that happens. The Razorbacks sit at 2-2. With solid wins over Ole Miss and Mississippi State and a game they probably really won at Auburn, Arkansas is proving itself resilient in the face of the toughest schedule in the country. Honestly, they got hosed with their schedule. They pull their typical SEC West opponents and then draw Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida. They;ve got every reason to complain about this schedule. Frankly, they don’t care. That’s the attitude I see from this team and that’s why they’re in this fight even before kickoff. Every week they have been in the ballgame. That is the new culture being built in Fayetteville. 

​The Aggies have squeaked past Vandy as well as a suspect Florida team. They were blasted by Alabama. Their victories have been far from impressive. They have one solid win vs Mississippi State. This team continues to be mired in mediocrity under Jimbo Fisher. That’s not the way to beat Sam Pittman’s Razorbacks. A&M better bring their best.

So the question is, will we see the execution that A&M needs to have in order to compete? Will they justify their status as favorite in this contest?

​Time will tell.

Coach Drew Burnham
Came of the Week
Coastal Carolina @ Georgia State
​
​I’m reaching into the group of 5 for this week! The “Fun Belt” has come a long way in the last few years. 5 or so years ago they were the laughing stock of the group of 5, but with the development of Troy, the catch-up that App State has produced, the settling in of Georgia State and the sudden emergence of UL-Lafayette, the Sun Belt has become a premiere Group of 5 conference. With all of that, we look and suddenly find the quiet Coastal Carolina Chantecleers sitting at 5-0 and #20 in the coaches poll. Where did these dudes come from? 2020 is wild y’all.

Coastal Carolina hasn’t been flashy. They’re not beating people by 40 points. However, they are tremendously fun to watch. They’re gritty, they’re well coached, they play with an indisputable chip on their shoulder and they love their teammates. The O Line looks like a D2 front with the tallest coming in at 6’3. They have a 5’9 center and one lone player at 300 pounds. Giving up size to every opponent they face, that unit has played extremely hard and has shown a lot of fortitude in the last few weeks as they get the bigger men moved out of the way. I love watching that unit play and I feel like they are a microcosm of what is taking place in that locker room. Not flashy, not prototypical, just productive.

Georgia State has been a program on the rise the past 2 years. Who can forget their thumping of Tennessee last season? Coach Elliott has done a tremendous job taking that program to the next level from the solid foundation laid by coach Bill Curry who started the program. One of his biggest moves was hiring Offensive Coordinator Brad Glenn before last season. The two were friends from their days at Appalachian State where they were both on the staff that Most famously beat #5 Michigan in 2007 and rattled off 3 straight FCS National titles from ‘05 to ‘07. This season, coach Glenn’s offense is averaging 41.5 points per game and has been explosive. I have spent some time chalk talking with coach Glenn and his offensive philosophy is captivating. Much of what they do uses the QB run game to buy back and number against the defense and force 1 on 1 situations across the field. They attack every inch of the field forcing the defense to expand to cover the field while also contracting to cover run game numbers. It’s a cat and mouse game and Glenn directs it impeccably.

I look for this game to be a high scoring affair. While I see it as an opportunity for Coastal to further establish themselves, I also am not sleeping on Georgia State. As explosive as they are, anything can happen. This should be a great sleeper game this week.