Sent to me from a guy at work.

12/20/10 5:55 am CST

Good morning, Tiger Fans. The LSU football team will return to practice today and will practice Tuesday and Wednesday before taking off four days for the Christmas holiday. The team will return to practice Monday, December 27 and will practice Monday through Thursday before departing for Arlington Texas on Saturday, January 1. All LSU practices for the Cotton Bowl are closed to the media. A few players are allowed to meet with the media a few times but are not allowed to talk about what goes on in practice.

LSU will be playing a very good Texas A&M team who believe they have a great chance of defeating LSU. Texas A&M is a very balanced team between the pass and the run. A&M rushed for 165 yards per game and Cyrus Gray, the team's leading rusher, averages 86 yards per game. The Aggies passed for 282 yards per game with Ryan Tannehill at quarterback. Tannehill is a converted wide receiver who has completed 130 of 199 passes for 1,434 yards. Tannehill has thrown for 11 touchdowns and has only thrown three interceptions. Jarrod Johnson opened the season as the Aggies' starting quarterback and was very productive. Johnson completed 158 of 279 passes for 1,947 yards, but did throw nine interceptions.

The game is a huge one for both teams. A&M has been down for the last few years and a win over LSU would gain a lot of respect for the Aggies. LSU head coach Les Miles and offensive coordinator Gary Crowton have come under fire this season for being inconsistent on offense. LSU will have a great chance to win the game if they can establish a passing game early in the contest. The Aggies allow 240 yards per game passing and only 117 yards per game rushing. LSU should be able to throw the ball against the Aggies' defense and that should open up the running game. As a rule, teams use the running game to open up the passing game but I think this game will be different.

Texas A&M has a solid field goal kicker in Randy Bullock who is 15 of 19 with a long of 50 yards. The Aggies have also been very productive in the redzone, 42 for 48 with 30 touchdowns and 12 field goals. Texas A&M averages 36 yards per punt which is not that good. They average 24 yards on kick returns which is pretty good and 7.1 yards on punt returns. As for time of possession, Texas A&M average 30:15 compared to 29:45 for their opponents.