Rece Davis explains his pick for Tennessee vs. Texas A&M

No. 19 Tennessee will come out of their bye to host Texas A&M before the Aggies themselves go idle for a week. It should make for a quality conference matchup on Rocky Top – so much so that Rece Davis is torn between the two sides when it comes to a pick.

Davis picked between the Volunteers and A&M during the ‘College GameDay Podcast’ heading into the weekend. In the end, he did go with the home team in the Vols to come out victorious even though, as he admitted, he wouldn’t normally bet against a team like the Aggies considering what they have on the defensive line.

“I’m going Tennessee too and it goes against, sort of, a core belief,” Davis said.

“Tennessee leads the SEC in rushing. I will, if someone controls the line of scrimmage to that degree, tend to go with them. But, Texas A&M? You’re not running on them. I mean they’re the best rush defense in the SEC. They absolutely shut down Alabama from running,” explained Davis. “Not a single player has rushed for more than 60 yards against A&M this year. Tennessee has three guys who average 60 yards a game rushing.”

So, what gives? What would make Davis go against a conviction of his when it comes to picking games?

Belief says Davis. As he pointed out, this is the kind of game, both with the spread and on the road, that the Aggies have not found success in as of late.

“I feel as if Texas A&M ‘ought to win this game. I feel as if I ‘ought to pick Texas A&M. But they’re 0-6-2 ahainst the spread when the line is basically a field goal – it’s a little more than that right now, I think. And they’re 1-4 on the road since the start of last season,” Davis noted. “I still believe Jimbo Fisher to be a very good football coach. But I think he has gotten way too conservative, way too risk aversive to win a game like this.”

Texas A&M could definitely go into Knoxville and manage to keep it close enough to cover. They might even be able to leave Neyland Stadium with a win. For Davis, though, he needs the Aggies to show him because, frankly, he doesn’t have faith in them to do either in a contest like this one.

“I don’t trust them – I’ll just put it simply,” Davis stated. “I don’t trust Texas A&M to win this game so I’m going to go with Tennessee.