Burns: Ags could prove they're a 'legit' CFP contender with win at Arkansas

Key notes from Peter Burns interview

• Week in and week out, the SEC is a flog. Looking at Texas, they go into Kentucky. Their backs are against the wall. That is not an easy game. Top to bottom, you have fanbases, programs and boosters that care about their product. With that being said, Ohio State looks legit. Indiana was fraudulent last year, but now, Curt Cignetti has the dudes. It looks right. You look at A&M’s schedule, Oklahoma’s or Florida’s. Then you look at Indiana and Ohio State’s and they don’t have a ranked game on the rest of their schedule. Their conference is not that deep.
   
• You just need to keep building on what you have with Marcel Reed. Collin Klein and Reed have gotten more comfortable each week. Early in that game against Florida, you don’t get conservative with the ball and show that you can do it too. You have to be able to stretch the field. That is the part where a lot of teams didn’t respect A&M last year. If Reed can hit one or two of those tosses a game, you can’t put eight in the box.
   
• Now, Le’Veon Moss is going to be out a bit. This is a tough test for A&M. There is a different energy from Bobby Petrino’s team had last week against Tennessee. They never lay down, and they gave Tennessee a run for its money. Now, they get Arkansas back in Fayetteville. The crowd is going to be amped. It is still not like facing Georgia or LSU, or Alabama right now. This is a perfect first road game for Mike Elko to prove that they are a college football, legit, contender.
   
• I can’t recall a team having more confidence in their quarterback in the play calling than what Alabama has with Ty Simpson. The last time I saw that was Joe Burrow and LSU in 2019. I am not saying Burrow and Simpson are the same. But I am saying that Ryan Grubb and Kalen DaBoer look at Simpson like you can do everything. “4th and 8, screw it. We are going to trust you to do it.” That type of confidence is why Alabama is so dangerous this year. They are empowering their players to make plays, and they are making them. Unlike the Auburn Tigers, who are playing scared. It is almost like what can go wrong. Those mentalities creep through. That is why I have been impressed with Elko. They are bringing the fight to you. I like Alabama in this game. There is no quarterback who is playing as good as Simpson right now.
   
• I am trying to think what would have had to happen for me to wake up one morning and see Vanderbilt being almost a field goal favorite against LSU and LSU being a top-10 team. It speaks to what Vanderbilt is or what LSU’s offense isn’t. We finally saw Garrett Nussmeier as a gunslinger. It killed him against A&M last year, but they have figured things out. This is a game that LSU looks like the part that we expected them to. I don’t think Vanderbilt has faced a defense like LSU. I think Diego Pavia won’t be able to stretch the field like they need to against the talented secondary and this Blake Baker blitzing defense.
   
• Ole Miss is learning how to win differently. But most importantly, they are winning those games. I look back at what Georgia was able to do against Tennessee and the way Gunner Stockton had success. The way they kept battling. Same as last week against Auburn as well. Now Ole Miss gets them at home. Coming off the bye week, Trinidad Chambliss looked a little lost. Teams are getting more tape on Chambliss, and they know how to defend him. If you give Kirby Smart an opportunity to have tape on you, that is why they have them as an eight-point favorite. Chambliss has not had a road start yet. That place is going to be rocking. I have Georgia on that one.