Jackie Sherrill discusses A&M/Auburn, Trevor Knight, '86 Cotton Bowl

Key quotes from Jackie Sherrill interview

“As we all know, the guys in Vegas are a lot smarter than we are, and quite frankly I don’t understand it.  Looking at the home field advantage, normally you have three points on an average team or venue.  But there are some places like LSU and A&M where you have to add seven points, and Auburn is one of them.  When you look at the game and try to analyze it and break it down, both defenses are very good.  It is going to come down to the production on the offense and especially when you look at the quarterbacks and which quarterbacks will make the third down play.

If we are able to run the football to get out of those third and longs, we will have a better chance.  When you try to break it down, you look at two teams, one in Auburn who played Clemson then played a buy.  You look at A&M who played UCLA and also had a buy.  I can them 'buys' because that is what you are doing, you are buying a win. So it comes down to which offense and which quarterback performs, and I would put my money on A&M because they have a young man who has experience.”

“You don’t have to question Trevor Knight’s ability to handle pressure.  You don’t have to question his ability to relate to the players, he is very good with the other players.  You see the confidence in him from the other players, but you see him really relate to the players.  Then you see some of the things from him in a new offense, and also getting used to the plays where he can perform.  The key for a coach is not how smart you are, the key is being able to know what your players can do, have them perform what they can do, and not ask them what they can’t do.  You look around the country, San Francisco is a good example.  Kaepernick performed really well under one coach, but he hasn’t been able to perform under two other coaches.”

“I have been impressed with the offensive line.  The kids that are playing, especially the freshmen ,that was the biggest concern.  Offensive line is more mental than physical because most of them have the physical talent to play.  But the mental part is what makes the difference.   The two hardest positions are quarterback and then the offensive line. The mental part of both of those positions are enormous."

“There is no question that 1986 Cotton Bowl is special.  Going to the Cotton Bowl after not having been there since Coach Stallings took his team there to beat Coach Bryant... Just getting there was not the total package, you had to win it.  To be able to go there and play against one of the best players to ever play college football, and also a great football team in Auburn, it was special in a lot of ways to a lot of A&M people.  Talking to Coach Bryant when I came to A&M he said, 'Jackie, you won’t have to tell anybody how good you are because the Aggies will them for you.'  Which is true. The pride that everyone has in A&M, and where you really get to express that pride is on the football field.  You go all the way back to when A&M played in the 20s and 30s, certainly the ’39 team, that is where the bragging rights really came for A&M.  But that ’86 game will always stand as one of the biggest games in A&M history.”

“One under the radar guy I have been really impressed with is the punter.  I was really concerned because you don’t really have the punters that A&M has had come along very often.  Now, you look at Shane Lechler who plays for the Texans, he has been in the league for 17 years and will probably go down as the best ever at A&M.  I have been impressed with the punter and the kicker, so whoever recruited those two kids has to take some credit.”

“The problem that both teams have, the defenses are very good and Auburn's defense has demonstrated it the same as A&M. But the problem is, which quarterback is going to win the game?  If you go through all the matchups, it comes down to where Auburn's quarterback performs.  If he plays and gives everyone a chance, we will have a hard time.”