No team had more success last year slowing down Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel than the LSU Tigers.
In the 24-19 win at A&M, the Tigers held Manziel to 276 passing yards and 27 on the ground. He didn't have a touchdown pass, threw three interceptions and was sacked three times.
LSU head coach Les Miles isn't sure this group of Tigers will have the same kind of success Saturday when LSU tries to derail the Heisman hopes for Manziel and the BCS hopes for the Aggies (8-2, 4-2 in SEC West).
LSU (7-3, 3-3 in SEC West) doesn't have the same defense it had last year thanks in part to having eight players drafted from that unit.
"We're a little different defense than we were," said Miles, whose team lost a host of defenders to the NFL. "We'll have to do some different things. The principles that we use will certainly be similar."
The fact Manziel will be trying to move the ball against a different LSU defense isn't lost on A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin either.
"LSU was extremely effective and a lot of those players aren't playing in this game Saturday," Sumlin said.
Manziel, of course, will be playing. That doesn't mean that the Tigers are expecting to stop the same kind of player they faced last year.
That may not be a good thing for the Tigers.
"I think the quarterback this year is certainly a much better quarterback than he was a year ago," Mile said. "He recognizes where he needs to go with the ball and it comes out of his hand very quickly. He's very accurate. When he runs, he runs to extend plays."
Miles was quick to credit an A&M offensive line anchored by Lombardi Award semifinalist Jake Matthews, a talented set of running backs and standout wide receiver Mike Evans.
But for Miles, it all comes back to Manziel.
"The improvement has been made by the quarterback," he said.
One of the ways to slow down Manziel is to keep the A&M offense off the field. Miles said that will be done with a balanced offensive game plan for his team.
"Offensively we're going to be who we've been," Miles said. "It benefits us to have balance, push the ball in the air, move vertical and intermediately. We're going to move the football and how we do it is with balance. I recognize the lure of running the football and keeping the ball on the ground and really allowing that to slow you and to be defended in a one mode of travel. That's not going to be our plan. We're going to be efficient. We're going to take shots. We're going to play LSU football."
