SEC Round-up: Aggies going Between the Hedges for first time since 1980

The way Jeff Paine remembers it… He doesn’t.

Paine was a Texas A&M walk-on linebacker-turned-tight end in 1980 — the last time the Aggies played “between the hedges” at Georgia’s Sanford Stadium.

Nearly 40 years later, his memory is a little fuzzy about that game. He even said he couldn’t remember if he made the trip to Athens.

“All I remember is they kicked us around pretty good,” Paine said earlier this week. “Their band kept playing ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ because we had so many injuries.”

Paine remembered something else, too.

“Herschel Walker had an early coming-out party.”

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

D’Andre Swift is one of the SEC’s best running backs, but he doesn’t compare to Georgia legend Herschel Walker.

When the Aggies travel to face Georgia on Saturday, they face a tremendous challenge in trying to contain the Bulldogs’ star running back D’Andre Swift.

No disrespect to Swift, but he doesn’t pose as much of a challenge that Georgia’s freshman running back in 1980 did.

In the second game of that season, the Aggies couldn’t have known Walker would lead the Bulldogs to the national championship, eventually win the Heisman Trophy and be remembered as perhaps the greatest college football player of all time.

“I don’t remember any talk about him,” Paine said. “But we sure knew him after the game.”

R.C. Slocum, then the coach Tom Wilson’s defensive coordinator, knew Walker had been a highly-sought recruit out of tiny Wrightsville, Georgia.

Slocum was also aware the previous week Walker had come off the bench to score touchdown runs of 16 and 9 yards to lead the Bulldogs to a 16-15 come-from-behind victory over Tennessee.

“I remember Herschel being pretty good,” Slocum said. “He had come off the bench the week before. They brought Herschel in in the third quarter and he turned them every which way but loose.

“He won the ballgame. The next week he made his first start against us. He made the best of it, but we helped them out.”

A&M received the opening kickoff and promptly lost a fumble inside its own 10-yard line on the first series.

Georgia parlayed the turnover into a touchdown. It all went downhill from there. Georgia went on to prevail 42-0.

Walker scored 3 touchdowns, including one on a 76-yard run. The other two touchdowns were 1-yard runs. He finished with 145 rushing yards on 21 carries.

Therefore, on the other 18 carries, A&M limited him to fewer than 4 yards per carry. That’s wasn’t too bad considering what Walker did the rest of the season.

He went on rush for 1,616 yards, which was then a freshman record. He rushed for 150 yards and scored 2 touchdowns in a Sugar Bowl victory over Notre Dame. He finished third in the Heisman race, and he likely would have won if voters had not penalized him for being a freshman.

“He was a heck of a player,” Slocum recalled. “He was similar to (Texas’) Earl Campbell in size, ability to break tackles and was very fast. He was probably faster than Earl Campbell.”

Slocum will travel to Athens again this week to watch the Aggies play the Bulldogs. As a member of the College Football Playoff committee, he cannot share thoughts on how he feels A&M might fare this time.

But the Aggies have a better chance than they did 39 years ago. This A&M team is much better than the 1980 edition.

This year’s Aggies have posted seven victories. That A&M team managed just four. These Aggies average 34 points per game. The ’80 Aggies averaged 14.5. This team allows 20.3 points per game. That team allowed more than 20 points seven times in 11 games.

This Georgia team is very good. But that Georgia team had Herschel Walker.

Around the SEC

This week’s games: Texas A&M at Georgia; Arkansas at LSU; Tennessee at Missouri; Western Carolina at Alabama; Samford at Auburn; UT-Martin at Kentucky; East Tennessee State at Vanderbilt; Abilene Christian at Mississippi State.

Who’s hot: Tennessee’s recent hot streak can be credited to its defense. The Volunteers have won four of their last five games. They’ve allowed an average of 12.7 points in the four victories and have not allowed more than 21 points (in a 41-21 win over South Carolina). The Volunteers allowed less than 5 yards per play in those four victories. The defense was even solid in the 35-13 loss to Alabama. The Crimson Tide managed a season-low 373 yards and a season-low for points. Tennessee’s defense allowed Alabama just 28 points. One Alabama touchdown was scored via a 100-yard fumble return.

Who’s not: Drain. Toilet. Tubes. You name it, Missouri’s offense has gone down it. How bad is it? The Tigers have scored 27 points in the last four games combined — all losses. They’re managed less than 300 yards of total offense in each game. The Tigers have rushed for a total of 102 yards in their last two games – a 27-0 loss to Georgia and a 23-6 loss to Florida.

Keep an eye on: LSU quarterback Joe Burrow averages 368.7 passing yards per game. He’s thrown 38 touchdowns – almost 4 per game. He’s passed for 320 yards or more and thrown at least 3 touchdown passes in eight out of 10 games. Next, he plays Arkansas. Enough said.

The pressure is on: Missouri quarterback Kelly Bryant has thrown 2 touchdown passes and 3 interceptions during the Tigers’ current four-game losing streak. Consequently, Missouri has managed just 656 passing yards (164-yard average) in that span. Bryant has to be more productive for Missouri to defeat Tennessee.

Best matchup: Georgia’s running back D’Andre Swift is second in the SEC in rushing. He’s the primary threat in the Bulldogs’ offense. Texas A&M’s inside linebacker Buddy Johnson is the Aggies’ leading tackler and a key figure in A&M’s run defense, which ranked 36th in the nation. The clash physical clash between Georgia’s offensive line and A&M’s defensive front is without a doubt vital. But the outcome may hinge on whether the Aggie linebackers — Johnson in particular — can prevent Swift from breaking off huge gains. Swift has posted 31 running plays that have covered 10 yards or more. Ten have gone for 20 yards or more. A&M has been solid in run defense in its last two games, but overall the Aggies have been susceptible to allowing big plays. They’ve given up 51 runs of 10 yards or more.