New hires by Arkansas add fuel to blooming rivalry
COLLEGE STATION — Jimbo Fisher will play the last two national champions in the first month of his first season at Texas A&M, when Clemson visits Kyle Field on Sept. 8 and the Aggies play at Alabama on Sept. 22. It’s another game tucked away late that month that’s every bit as captivating based on a more motivated opposing sideline than the Tigers and Crimson Tide can muster.
On Sept. 29, A&M will try to beat Arkansas for a seventh consecutive time with both teams in the SEC. But this time, an Aggie is running the show on the opposing sideline.
A&M has tried making LSU its SEC West “rival,” but the game against the Razorbacks is filled with storylines headed into 2018.
Facing familiar faces
For starters, Arkansas hired an Aggie to beat the Aggies, among others. And then Arkansas hired A&M’s most recent defensive coordinator with the same idea in mind.
“It’s all about timing,” new Razorbacks coach Chad Morris said of why he exited SMU. “And it’s all about fit.”
Had A&M’s deal to hire Fisher from Florida State fallen through, Morris may have fielded a call from College Station. But A&M certainly couldn’t pass on the opportunity to hire Fisher, one of only four active coaches to win a national title, while Arkansas turned to Morris and defensive coordinator John Chavis, who wasn’t retained from the staff of fired Kevin Sumlin.
“I promise you the more you get to know me, I won’t let you down,” Morris pledged to Razorbacks fans at his introductory news conference last month. “We will become the model program for all others to follow.”
It’s bold talk for a new coach in a division that includes Alabama, which has won five national championships in the past nine seasons under Nick Saban. One of Morris’s first concerns will simply be trying to beat A&M.
Make no mistake, Morris would have climbed on his hands and knees down Interstate 45 from Dallas to Kyle Field if he’d have been named Sumlin’s successor. Morris is a Texan through and through, and he coached high school football from Eustace to Lake Travis over 15 years.
When Morris, who didn’t play football for the Aggies, finished up his mathematics degree in 1992 at A&M, the Aggies were in the middle of winning three consecutive Southwest Conference titles under R.C. Slocum. Morris has great memories of A&M football.
Morris said he “grew up watching the old Southwest Conference” and that the formidable Razorbacks programs of yesteryear featured a “great mixture of players from the state of Arkansas and the state of Texas.”
“There’s no reason in the world you can’t sign 10 kids out of the state of Texas, the most dynamic and high-profile kids out of that state every year,” Morris said.
There were plenty of Aggies who recognized Morris’ love for A&M, his highly successful highschool coaching tenure and his deep ties to the state, the solid job he did as Clemson’s offensive coordinator and his time at SMU.
Those Aggies pushed hard for Morris to no avail, with the decision coming down to Fisher’s postseason success.
Chance for redemption
Speaking of motivation, Chavis arrived at A&M three years ago with the reputation as one of the nation’s top defensive coordinators, following strong stints at Tennessee and LSU. Over the past three seasons A&M has continued to falter on defense, and allowed at least 42 points on five occasions last season.
That’s why Chavis, 61, answered questions this week on whether today’s high-octane offenses have zipped past his approach to pressure defense.
“I know I can coach, I know I can recruit and I know I can motivate,” Chavis said. “When I feel like I can’t do that or somebody else feels like I can’t do that, send me off into the sunset. But it’s not time for that yet — I’ve got a lot of football left in me.”
The Aggies and Razorbacks have a lot of football ahead, too, in what’s shaping up as A&M’s true rivalry in the SEC West.