Issue date: 8/29/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: File - The Battalion Junior quarterback Stephen McGee threw for 2,295 yards and completed 62 percent of his passes in 2006. [Click to enlarge]

Despite having months to get ready for the season opener against Montana State, Texas A&M Head Football Coach Dennis Franchione said he has never been less prepared for a game.

"We are really going into this blind," Franchione said. "When you've got a team that had that much happen in the off-season and is that hard to get information on, you really don't know what to expect. You can only get so much film with a team from way up there and even with the film you don't always know what you're looking at and what you're not.

The happenings that Franchione spoke of were the discovery of six former players who were involved with drugs or murder in the past year and the firing of Head Coach Mike Kramer earlier in the summer.

The Bobcats have scrambled to prepare for the season in the meantime. They hired Rob Ash, one of the winningest active NCAA football coaches, but little is known about what schemes or gameplans the team has heading into Saturday's game.

A&M quarterback Stephen McGee said that he is not taking Montana State lightly.

"This is a proud program and they have a rich tradition," McGee said. "We are not going to overlook these guys because we don't know a lot about what we're going to see and they have played well historically against bigger schools."

McGee also spoke of the progression of his teammates. He said that sophomore running back Michael Goodson has put on weight, but still looks just as fast, and that he is going to look for junior tight end Martellus Bennett in the red zone more often.

"When we get down close, we want to ride Jorvorskie (Lane) as much as we did last year, but we will look for play actions from time to time and try to get the ball to Martellus and the receivers."

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