Tennessee Volunteers

Texas A&M might be short-handed in showdown with Vols

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:27 p.m. ET

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Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin is staying mum when it comes to updating the status of injured Aggies defensive end Myles Garrett, receivers Speedy Noil and Ricky Seals-Jones and offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor.

All four missed a win over South Carolina last week that leaves the eighth-ranked Aggies 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the Southeastern Conference. Texas A&M plays host to ninth-ranked Tennessee (5-0, 2-0) in a nationally telecast (CBS) game at 3:30 p.m. EDT Saturday at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas.

Sumlin didn't hold back when it came to praising the Vols, who scored on a Hail Mary as time ran out last week to get by Georgia 34-31 just a week after rallying from an 18-point deficit to whip Florida 38-28.

The Vols have trailed in four of their first five games and needed overtime to get by Appalachian State in their opener.

"This is a team that on paper if you don't watch it you'll say they've gotten lucky," Sumlin said of the Vols. "They haven't gotten lucky. They have a veteran quarterback (senior Joshua Dobbs) that is No. 1 in this league in points responsible for, whether he's throwing it, whether he's running it, whatever he's doing, he's the No. 1 guy creating those points in this league.

"That No. 1 gives you a chance to win these types of games. He's been through it before."

Dobbs, Sumlin continued, has played in a number of different stadiums and before big crowds, including before a college-football-record crowd of 156,990 for the Battle of Bristol against Virginia Tech at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Basically he has been through about all you can expect, plus he has quarterbacked the Vols to 11 consecutive victories, their longest winning streak since Tennessee won 14 in a row by taking the opener in 1999 after a 13-0 season in 1998.

Dobbs has rushed for 267 yards and five touchdowns and passed for 13 touchdowns, the last a launch of a 43-yard pass to the end zone to Jauan Jennings as time ran out at Georgia.

"So he's going to come in here and he's seen all this," Sumlin said. "Because of that, that creates confidence in a football team has a really good defense with high-level athletes with a lot of speed. They're one of the top special teams teams in this league. Great kickoff returns. Great speed across the field.

"When you have a team like that, you're explosive. When you combine that with a quarterback who's been there and done that and seen that, you're a confident unit.

"So we have a huge challenge this weekend."

Tennessee coach Butch Jones can make the same claim about the challenge of facing Texas A&M.

The Aggies survived an overtime scare from UCLA in the season opener but have rolled to double-digit victories since. Even without the four injured starters, they had things under control in beating South Carolina 24-13 last week.

Quarterback Trevor Knight, the Oklahoma transfer, hasn't been the most accurate of passers (54.1 percent), but he still has been a catalyst for an offense that is spewing out 521 yards rushing and passing a game.

Knight is the second-leading rusher on the team with 392 yards behind the 487 of freshman running back Trayveon Williams. Knight has scored six rushing touchdowns, the most on the team, to go with his seven touchdown passes.

"I think Trevor Knight has really changed their offense," Jones said. "He's managing their offense. He can hurt you with his arm. He can hurt you with his legs.

"They're just a complete football team."

The Aggies will be going for their first 6-0 start since the 1994 team won its first seven games before tying SMU.

This is the third consecutive season Texas A&M has started on a five-game winning streak, and the losses in October to end that success has been the subject of some talk in Aggieland. Sumlin dismissed the notion that a similar result would have any particular significance.

"If we lose this week, it's not indicative of anything," Sumlin said. "Our season's not over. We're playing good football. This team has done a great job of focusing on the little things from day to day. We've gotten great leadership from our coaching staff, assistant coaches, and internally from our team."

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