Despite improved foe, Mond confident
Under a new coach, Razorbacks surprise some with key wins
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M quarterback Kellen Mond has loads of experience against Arkansas, so it didn’t take the senior long to recognize a difference between this year’s Arkansas squad compared to those of the past three seasons.
“Their defense looks better to me,” Mond said.
He’s right, based primarily on a defensive backfield that has a nation-best 10 interceptions in four games. The No. 8 Aggies (3-1) host the Razorbacks (2-2) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Kyle Field with both teams coming off an open week.
“It’s something to always be aware of,” Mond said of Arkansas’ propensity for picking off passes this season. “But it’s nothing that scares me or concerns me. Coach ( Jimbo) Fisher does a phenomenal job of game-planning and having an idea of what type of defense they’re going to be in.
“It’s just me being able to trust my eyes and go through my progressions, and this year I’ve been able to do that a lot better.”
Mond, who started his high school career at Reagan, will face off with Arkansas quarterback Feleipe Franks for a second time in their college careers, with the previous meeting under quite different circumstances. Three years ago, Mond and the Aggies edged Franks and the Florida Ga
tors 19-17 at the Swamp in Gainesville, Fla.
While Mond got the better of Franks that day under then-A&M coach Kevin Sumlin, Franks (6-6, 228) busted off a 79-yard sprint that is the longest in history by a Florida quarterback. Now Franks, who transferred to Arkansas last winter, will make his first trip to Kyle Field.
“Feleipe Franks is a big, strong guy who can get the ball vertical — he has a cannon,” said Fisher, who coached Florida State from 2010-17. “I knew Feleipe in high school, he grew up right there below Florida State and Tallahassee at Wakulla High School. He’s strong, athletic and hard to get on the ground. He makes a lot of plays.”
A&M’s home stadium will be at 25 percent capacity because of the COVID-19 pandemic, as it has been in
the Aggies’ two previous home wins over Vanderbilt and Florida, with both games decided by five points or less.
“I just love it when everybody is against you,” Franks said of the appeal of a road game in the SEC — even one at a quarter full.
As for Arkansas, which has already won on the road at Mississippi State this season, being a doubledigit underdog (12.5 points) to the Aggies?
“I don’t believe in that stuff,” Franks said of point spreads and prognostications. “I don’t really get into the underdog stuff, to be honest with you.”
Last year, exasperated Arkansas brass fired Chad Morris after the A&M graduate failed to win a league game in his two seasons following his hire from SMU. The Razorbacks hired Georgia offensive line coach Sam Pittman to try and straighten out Morris’ mess — and ideally build SEC-style offensive and de
fensive lines.
The plan is working earlier than many expected with Arkansas already defeating Mississippi State and Mississippi this season and a narrow, controversial loss at Auburn. Pittman this week spoke in admiration of the job Fisher, hired from Florida State in December 2017, has done in his third season of building at A&M.
“They’re a physical football team on both sides of the ball,” Pittman said of the Aggies. “They’re an SEC football team. Very big, powerful and fast. … When you watch them play, you see a good, physical, SECtype football team.”
The Aggies are coming off a 28-14 victory at Mississippi State two weeks ago when they relied on the run game, primarily led by sophomore Isaiah Spiller, to grind away at the clock and the Bulldogs. More of the same is expected on Saturday after Arkansas has had an inclination for interceptions but struggled
against the run.
While the Aggies are second in the SEC against the run, the Razorbacks are 11th out of 14 teams with 102 yards per game on the ground in four contests.
“That’s something we need to get going — the run game in this game,” Franks said.
The teams played in Arlington’s AT&T Stadium from 2014-19, but are playing a lone season on campus because of the pandemic. A&M happened to be the home team this season.
The series is scheduled to shift back to the home of the Dallas Cowboys next season and then through 2024 to fulfill the remainder of the contract. A&M athletic director Ross Bjork said he’d like to get the annual SEC West meeting back on the school’s campuses for good starting in 2025.