Saturday's matchup with Arkansas State will feature bruisers and blazers,

Arkansas State head coach ready to unleash his 'bowling ball'

By: Brad Cox

Posted: 8/29/08

Texas A&M opens the 2008 season on Saturday with a home game against 2005 Sun Belt Conference champion Arkansas State. The Red Wolves enter the year after a disappointing 2007 season that included a 0-6 record on the road and a 5-7 record overall.

The 2008 season marks the second consecutive year that ASU has opened its season against a Big 12 team. The Wolves fell to Texas 21-13 on the road to open the 2007 season.

ASU is 0-3 against A&M and has been outscored in the three meetings 32-86.

The last time the two schools met, the Aggies were breaking in head coach Dennis Franchione with a 26-11 victory to kick off the 2003 season. Coincidentally, A&M head coach Mike Sherman will also be cutting his teeth against the Wolves.

"It really doesn't matter, we're trying to worry about ourselves and control what we can control," Arkansas State head coach Steve Roberts said about facing the rookie coaching staff. "But it is a strange coincidence."

The shining star in the Wolves 2007 season was junior running back Reggie Arnold. On top of the 1,060 yards he put in the stat sheets in 2007, he also rushed for nine touchdowns. The season marked his second consecutive season rushing for at least 1,000 yards.

"I've got a lot of confidence in Reggie," Roberts said. "He's like trying to tackle a bowling ball. He's very strong. [He's] a guy who benches 440 pounds. He sees things well and has good speed."

ASU also returned its veteran quarterback junior Corey Leonard. A preseason All-Sun Belt Conference pick, Leonard threw for 2,235 yards in 2007 and added 16 passing touchdowns and five rushing touchdowns to his stats for the year.

On the other side of the line of scrimmage, the Wolves have been successful defensively in recent years, leading or ranked second in total defense in the Sun Belt Conference in the previous two seasons.

"Obviously we don't know a whole lot about Texas A&M's offensive line," Roberts said about his defense matching up with an inexperienced Aggie line. "I know that the guys we're going to stick out there initially are going to compete. Hopefully the guys that come in after them will react very well."

Wolves Head Coach Steve Roberts is entering his sixth season at the helm. Though he has posted a 31-41 record while coaching at ASU, his team's success in the classroom has been noted by receiving the Sun Belt Conference academic award four of his five seasons.

"It starts with teaching kids to invest in themselves, and making them understand their academic life here at Arkansas State is setting up the rest of their life." Roberts said. "When they learn that they're investing in themselves, sometimes you see that light come on for them."

Though it is the first time the Wolves have seen Kyle Field in five years, they have past experience playing in hostile environments. During Roberts' five years his team has played out-of-conference games at Virginia Tech, A&M, LSU, Tennessee and Texas.

"Most of our players have been in that type environment before," Roberts said when asked if his players would be prepared to play at the 80,000 seat Kyle Field. "It can be very intimidating. There's no doubts that its one of the best environments in college football."

However, Roberts said his team would not settle for moral victories when playing larger football programs.

"We go into every ballgame trying to win," said Roberts, who has posted a 0-5 record in those games. "We don't go into a game just to say we played the game. We want to go into the game prepared emotionally, mentally and physically, and do everything we can to win the game."