Jimbo Fisher explains why a three-man front fits Texas A&M best right now

The Texas A&M Aggies used a three-man front against the Arkansas Razorbacks and were fairly successful in slowing down their star quarterback KJ Jefferson. That was enough to earn Texas A&M a 23-21 victory in the Southwest Classic.

Now the Aggies are in the midst of preparation for Week 4’s opponent Mississippi State. But during their Monday press conference, some reporters were still curious about Texas A&M’s defense from Saturday. One of which asked Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher why the three-man front fit Texas A&M so well last game and if it is the best lineup for them right now.

“Well, in games, we’re playing with a quarterback in which we played; in the four-man, when you pattern match routes, then your rush has become very limited,” said Fisher. “What screwed us up in the game, what didn’t match up was our spy with our rushes and how the combination had to come to flushing or pushing to be able to get there.”

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“We didn’t do a good job of in timing that up and matching the different scenarios of things in which we did to get that to happen. And with the eight-man drops; as I say, we had ways to get things we didn’t time him up right with the pressure to get where we need to go. And we’ll mix things up. We’ll be three down four down when we have to be.”

As mentioned by Fisher, the defensive scheme worked well but was not run efficiently consistently. Texas A&M was able to limit Jefferson in the passing game allowing 12 completions on 19 attempts for 171 yards. But when the Aggies’ defense left little options for him to throw down the field, Jefferson activated his second ability and scrambled to keep drives going. The Razorbacks’ quarterback finished the game with 18 carries for 105 yards. He was also responsible for all three of Arkansas’ touchdowns, two passing and one rushing, but he also had the team’s lone turnover of the night when he fumbled late in the second quarter. That fumble was scooped up by the Aggies’ defense and returned 97 yards mostly by Demani Richardson for the touchdown.

The Aggies have the versatility on defense to run almost any defensive front they want. However, in order to be successful on the field, the players must get better at executing their assignments in those schemes. If they can do that, Texas A&M can run the table and control their own destiny for getting into the College Football Playoff at the end of the season.