Texas A&M fans have been watching the status of Jamarion Morrow and Ashton Bethel-Roman very closely in the leadup to this game against LSU, given that both missed last week's contest against Kentucky. On Wednesday and Thursday's injury reports, both Morrow and Bethel-Roman appeared as "questionable," meaning they have roughly a 50% chance to play, but Morrow was downgraded on Friday's report to "doubtful," meaning he has only a 25% chance or so to play.
That's a negative trend, obviously, so it seems pretty unlikely that we will see no. 2 out there in the Maroon and White. This was a big game for Morrow last year, one in which he scored two of his three touchdowns on the year, so it will definitely hurt to be missing him.
However, this opens the door for the Aggies to get a solid dose of the star freshman running back, KJ Edwards. This seemed to be the story last week until something happened that held Edwards out for the second half, but if he stays injury-free, it could be his breakout game in an Aggie uniform.
KJ Edwards will have to be Texas A&M's x-factor against LSU with Jamarion Morrow trending negatively
LSU has allowed a shocking 33 yards per game on the ground so far this year, so running the ball against the Tigers is not a sure thing. However, most of what has been so dominating about the Tigers' rush defense has been sack yardage; they've racked up 80 total yards in sacks through three games, meaning that, adjusting for sacks, they've allowed almost 60 yards per game on the ground.
That's still a really impressive mark, but it should also be said that, apart from Kewan Lacy (who exited the game against the Tigers with an injury), they haven't faced a running back nearly as talented as what the Aggies are bringing to town today. Add in the rushing threat that Marcel Reed poses, and A&M has a chance to bring LSU back down to earth a little bit when it comes to rush defense.
Edwards will be key in that. Where Owens has struggled to read blocks from time to time, Edwards is very decisive and lightning-quick once he gets the ball in his hands. The Aggies need to leverage that to stay ahead of the chains in this one— otherwise, it will be a very long day for this offense.
Owens is still going to be the lead back for the Aggies, and he's shown an increased level of physicality this year that has to have A&M fans pretty pleased. However, the change-up to bring in Edwards can help keep this defense for LSU off-balance— it would be great to see some two-back sets for the Aggies utilizing both Edwards and Owens (who are both, incidentally, great at catching the ball out of the backfield).
Though Aggie fans are very excited about Edwards, he's not yet quite the national name that he's going to be. This game is the chance for him to get to that status that every Aggie fan knows he will.
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