Texas A&M Football: How Much Will the Aggies Run the Ball Under Kevin Sumlin?

One of the biggest questions Texas A&M fans have about their football team as they make the transition into the Southeastern Conference in 2012 is, what will the Aggies offense look like? The SEC has historically been a grind-it-out league, and new coach Kevin Sumlin is known as a spread system passing coach. 

How will Sumlin adapt his offense to SEC defenses with the talent currently on the roster? Will he be able to have any success with a spread offense in such a run-centric league?

To get an idea of what the Aggies should expect from Sumlin, it is necessary to look at what he has done in his past. The 2011 Aggie offense will be used as a reference point since it was one of the better offenses in school history and was also a very balanced offense.

In 2011, the Texas A&M offense ran the ball 507 times for 2,589 yards. In 2011, Kevin Sumlin's Houston Cougars ran the ball 420 times for 2,086 yards. That works out to an average of 39 rushes per game for the Aggies and 30 rushes per game for Houston. Texas A&M averaged 5.1 yards per carry while Houston averaged 5.0 yards per carry.

In 2010, Houston averaged 33 rushing attempts per game. In 2009, they averaged 28 attempts per game. In 2008, the number was 30 attempts per game.

During his four years as the head coach at Houston, Sumlin's offenses averaged 30 rushing attempts per game.

Sumlin was the co-offensive coordinator at Oklahoma for the 2006 and 2007 seasons. In 2006, the Sooners averaged 46 rushing attempts per game. In 2007, they averaged 41 rushes per game.

In Conference USA, where the spread passing game is very prevalent, Sumlin ran the ball 30 times per game. At Oklahoma, his offense averaged 13 more carries per game.

Sumlin had running backs Adrian Peterson and Demarco Murray on the roster at Oklahoma, which may explain why he called so many more running plays.

He and offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury will do whatever it takes on offense to move the ball and score points. If that means running the ball 60 times per game, they will do that. If it means they have to pass the ball 60 times in a game, they will do that.

They will do whatever is necessary to score more points than their opponent in that particular game.

There is the argument out there that the spread offense cannot be successful against the strong defenses in the SEC. Considering the fact that Arkansas has won 21 games the past two years while running the spread in the SEC, it is not a valid argument.

Arkansas averaged 31 rushing attempts per game while going 11-2 during the 2011 season. In 2010, the Razorbacks went 10-3 and played in the Sugar Bowl while averaging 33 rushing attempts per game.

You can win games in the SEC while running the ball 30-35 times per game in a spread offense. For comparison's sake, the 2011 Alabama squad that went 12-1 and won the national title with a grind-it-out offensive approach ran the ball 39 times per game.

You can win games in the SEC by grinding it out on offense and playing defense, or by flinging it all over the lot. It all comes down to execution.

Sumlin was on Joe Tiller's staff when he took over at Purdue, and everyone scoffed at the idea that you could run a spread offense in the cold weather of the Big Ten's locales. Tiller recruited a quarterback named Drew Brees to West Lafayette, and that spread offense with Brees at the helm led the Boilermakers to a Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl.

It all comes down to good football players making big plays at the right time in ballgames. If Sumlin can find some players on offense who can execute his system, then the Aggies will be successful on offense in the SEC no matter what kind of plays they run.

With Christine Michael, Ben Malena and Trey Williams on the roster, expect the Aggies to run the ball around 35 times per game in 2012. Sumlin will lean on his running back corps more as he breaks in a new quarterback.