DALLAS – The No. 9 Texas A&M Aggies were back in the indoor facility at Highland Park High School for another physical workout to get ready for the No. 11 Oklahoma Sooners and the 77th AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic.
A&M put on the pads once again for an up-tempo practice that featured work in all three phases, position-by-position fundamentals and game simulation. Head coach Kevin Sumlin said he was pleased with his team’s attention to detail at this point with the game three days away.
“We’ve moved on to getting ready for game time,” said Sumlin. “I can’t say enough about Coach (Randy) Allen and Highland Park letting us use this facility. It’s been great for us with the weather. Moving over to Cowboys Stadium tomorrow, we’ll have a different kind of juice just being in that stadium. It’s going to help us a little bit and keep us focused.”
The Aggies (10-2, 6-2 Southeastern Conference) are definitely going to need the right mixture to be successful against an Oklahoma squad that ranked as the nation’s fifth-best passing offense and 44th-best defense through the end of the regular season. Sumlin said he has no worries about the team despite going through a season of distractions that could have created friction and kept the team from being as successful as it has been in his first season in College Station.
“These guys have handled it well,” said Sumlin. “That says a lot of about our coaching staff, but also it says a lot about our seniors and their leadership. These guys have been through the routine and I can’t say enough about how appreciative we are of our seniors. A lot of these young guys are getting the credit, but we wouldn’t have won half the games without these seniors.”
A&M headed to their headquarters hotel following practice to soak in some down time on New Year’s Day before partaking in the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic tradition of the Beef Bowl at Lawry’s The Prime Rib in Dallas.
After a good night’s rest, A&M will be up early Wednesday morning for its first practice at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. Prior to practice, Sumlin will join Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops for a formal press conference with the media at Omni Mandalay Hotel in Irving.
The 77th AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic will be held on Friday, Jan. 4 on FOX. Telecast starts at 6:30 p.m. with kickoff scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Gus Johnson will handle play-by-play duties with Charles Davis as the color analyst.
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