Texas A&M lineman promises 'there will be an upset' in Saturday's game at Clemson
There's nothing like a guarantee prior to a big game between ranked opponents
Joe Namath is famous for predicting that his New York Jets would upset the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, and it sure feels like Texas A&M offensive lineman Jared Hocker is attempting to do his best Namath impersonation.
The 6-foot-5, 323-pound junior guard of the No. 12 Aggies said pliantly that there "will be an upset" on Saturday afternoon when Texas A&M hits the road to face No. 1 Clemson in Death Valley.
How likely is that? If you judge likelihood of upsets by Las Vegas point spreads, not very. The Aggies opened as 19.5-point underdogs to the defending national champions according to SportsLine.
Here's video of Hocker's guarantee courtesy of Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle.
Texas A&M OL Jared Hocker said the No. 12 Aggies will beat No. 1 Clemson on Saturday: ‘There will be an upset’ pic.twitter.com/1PSpFYNL8G
— Brent Zwerneman (@BrentZwerneman) September 2, 2019
Texas A&M was solid in its first game of the 2019 season -- a 41-7 win over Texas State on Thursday night at Kyle Field. Hocker played a big role in that win, opening holes for starting running back Jashaun Corbin and No. 2 back Isaiah Spiller, both of whom topped the 100-yard mark.
Repeating the feat will be much more difficult against the Tigers, though. Despite the loss of all four starting defensive linemen from a year ago, they gave up just 3.49 yards per carry to a Georgia Tech team that had struggle passing in its first game after ditching the triple-option offense. Defensive linemen Nyles Pinckney, Xavier Thomas, KJ Henry and Tyler Davis each notched sacks in the 52-14 win over the Yellow Jackets.
We'll see if Hocker's prediction comes true when the Aggies and Tigers tee it up on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET
















