Thoughts from the Missouri State Game

The good news about Saturday night’s game was that I saw nothing I didn’t expect.

The bad news about Saturday night’s game was that I saw nothing I didn’t expect.

Coming into this season, I expected the Aggies to be somewhere between 8-4 and 10-2.  And while the difference between 10-2 and 8-4 seems like a long way, it could really be a total of 10 points or less where you lose or win a couple of games by 4 points or less.

It’s only one game, but I saw everything I expected coming into the season:

  • A stout defense
  • An iffy offensive line
  • Two receivers who are head and shoulders above the rest
  • No bell cow running back
  • A slightly improved Marcel Reed

Maybe it’s confirmation bias, but those points sum up what I saw on Saturday night.

This game was an Aggie Football game I’ve seen many times before.  Playing an inferior opponent, we struggle on offense in the first half.  Then we lean on them in the second half.  The result is an absolute blowout, and most people forget the first-half issues until they surface later in the season against a superior team.

I’m not saying this team can’t improve and history won’t repeat itself, but we didn’t look like an elite team on Saturday night.  This looked like an Aggie team we’ve seen under Fran, Sherman, Sumlin, and Jimbo.  Sure, not exactly, but we’ve seen that first-half struggle evaporate in the second half only to show up again late in the season.

I hope I’m wrong, but that’s what I saw on Saturday night.

I’m not saying this is a bad team.  This is a really good team.  It’s a Top 20 team, but with our schedule, I’m not sure it’s a CFP team.

We’re going to need elite level on both sides of the ball to make the CFP this season.  I didn’t see elite-level stuff on the offensive side of the ball.  

Beyond my offensive concerns, look at our schedule to see how tough it’ll be to make the CFP if we don’t improve offensively.

It’s only Week 1, but I can see us losing to LSU, Oklahoma, and Texas.  Then I think we lose to one of Bama or Tennessee.

Heck, we could lose to those five teams AND to South Carolina to go 6-6.

We’ll find out more next weekend as Arizona State is a lot better than people think.  We should win this game, but they’ll prove a much tougher test than Missouri State did.

Let’s look at some specific things about the game:

Defense:

I can’t criticize the defense at all for their performance.

Zero points, 73 total yards, and 1/10 on third downs.

It was an impressive performance, as Missouri State couldn’t do anything offensively.

One series early in the second quarter saw Missouri State running up the gut like they had discovered something.  They ripped off 6 rushes for 26 yards.

I got a little concerned Missouri State had found a weakness.

Then on 3rd and 2, we stuffed them.  They went for it on 4th and 2, and we stopped them for a one-yard loss.

A third of their yards in one series.  And when it mattered most, we stuffed them to end the drive.

I have no idea how elite this defense can be, but if it can travel, it’ll be the main reason we have any shot at the CFP.

If the offense struggles for an entire game, can this defense hold up for four quarters where we’re not just dominating time of possession?

Only time will tell.

Let’s see what they do over the next two games.

Offensive Line:

We’ll go from the strongest point to the weakest point.

On the very first offensive play of the year, the left guard or left tackle blew their assignments.  Or, we have an offensive scheme that lets defenders have free lanes inside the tackles.

Luckily, Marcel recognized it and took off running for a seven-yard gain.

It didn’t look good at all.

The rest of the way, they had a couple of false starts, allowed back-to-back sacks, and a holding call.

I get this was their first game as a unit, but this was also Missouri State.  Blown assignments and false starts shouldn’t occur.

Even worse, we really couldn’t establish the run on the ground until the second half.

I’ll give this unit credit – they came out in the second half and just dominated on the ground.  We had 76 rushing yards in the first half and then 160 yards in the second.

I have no idea how much improvement this offensive line has.  I can’t help but think it’s going to struggle at times to establish the run and keep pressure off Marcel.

It may take a massive leap, but I can’t see that right now.

I know all the Aggie talking heads rave about Adam Cushing as the offensive line coach, but I don’t see it in his time in Aggieland.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Cushing is Addazzio-level bad, but I haven’t seen any dominant play since he’s been here.

He had four guys drafted last year, so he’s had talent.  But for two seasons, his unit faltered when it mattered most in November.

For one game in his third season, his unit had MASSIVE errors in the first half against an inferior opponent.

I hope I’m wrong, but I think this will be the weakest link in 2026.  They’ll be the reason we’re not a CFP team.

We have seen the rare Aggie team where the end-of-season offensive line looked completely different.

Receiving Corps:

They didn’t have great statistical evenings, but Isiah Horton and Mario Craver looked the part when they did have touches.

Horton led the way with 4 catches for 76 yards, including a touchdown.  He had another big catch negated on offensive pass interference, where he appeared to push off.  I don’t think he really did, but he did extend his arms, which made it look like he created illegal separation.

Craver had five catches for 41 yards, including a touchdown.  He didn’t have any big plays, but he had a couple of catches where he created yards out of nothing simply because he has elite acceleration and body control.

His touchdown didn’t come across as anything amazing, but Marcel threaded a ball Craver caught in traffic at the one-yard line.  He was hit right after catching the ball, but he didn’t go down or backward.  He just moved backward across the goal line.

He reminds me so much of Achane but in receiver form.  He’s slight of stature, but has elite-level acceleration and body control.  In addition, he can absorb contact and keep gaining yards.  

We have to figure out a way to get Craver the ball in space more.

After Horton and Craver, I’m not sure what else we have.  Bethel-Roman was nonexistent.  Although Terry Bussey was our third leading receiver, I didn’t think he looked next level like he had been talked about in the summer camp.  

He had three catches for 34 yards.  He and Marcel couldn’t quite connect on an open touchdown.  I put half on Bussey and half on Reed.  Reed led him a little too much, but it’s possible Bussey could have caught it with a little better adjustment.

In addition to that missed play, there was an isolated pass to Bussey in the end zone.  Reed had Bussey in single coverage and let the ball fly on a pretty decent pass.  Bussey didn’t get any separation and didn’t seem to really see the ball.  Bussey never made any kind of play on the ball.

Elite receivers see that ball early and position themselves to win man-on-man coverage, especially against inferior competition.

I know Bussey scored on a 10-yard jet sweep, which was really nice.  Then he got stuffed for no yards the next time he took the ball on a jet sweep.  Such a yin and yang on the exact same play call.

Maybe Bussey keeps developing, but all I can say is my ears have heard much more about him than my eyes have seen.

I think Bussey is a fourth receiver in a gadget-style role at best.

He seems to have the same problem Kendrick Rogers had – He’s not very good at catching the ball when going downfield.  They’re different-style receivers, but from what I’ve seen of both, they’re not great downfield receivers.  Rogers loved catching the ball fully facing the quarterback, and Bussey seems to do much better catching the ball around the line of scrimmage.

Not trying to slam Bussey, but I can only judge what my eyes see in games because I’m not at practice.

A couple of the young guys, Kelshaun Johnson and Aaron Gregory, had some nice catches.  It wouldn’t shock me if they start taking snaps from Bussey.

My biggest hope is that Bethel-Roman finds his late-season magic and becomes the third amigo to Horton and Craver.  We’ll need him if we have any hope of making the CFP.

While this isn’t a terrible receiving group, I don’t think it’s elite.  It’s nowhere near what we’ve seen at LSU, Alabama, and Ohio State in the last decade.

Running Backs:

As for running back, I didn’t see a lot.  I thought Owens looked the best he’s looked since his time at A&M.  He was running way more decisively than I’ve ever seen him.  He wasn’t dancing around and was just running forward, even gaining yards after initial contact.

I don’t think he’s a bell cow back by any stretch, but he does appear to be more evolved as a runner.  He’s more decisive getting upfield rather than dancing around hoping he can break a big run.

I think Owens could be a great complementary back.

The problem is, I didn’t see anyone we can complement him with.  There is someone with promise, but I’ll get to him in a little bit.

Jamarion Morrow is supposed to be our backup running back, but like Terry Bussey, my ears have heard way more than my eyes have seen from a production standpoint.  He rushed eight times for 29 yards, which averages to 3.6 yards per carry.  He had a long of eight yards.

Against Missouri State.


Conversely, Owens rushed 17 times for 77 yards, averaging 4.5 yards per carry, with a long of 15.

Those are our top two running backs against Missouri State.  I don’t know how much of it was our offensive line, but it doesn’t give me the warm fuzzies.

I know Elko is loyal to his guys, but I have no idea why he didn’t go get a veteran running back out of the portal for this season.

There was one glimmer of light, and that was KJ Edwards.  He had five carries for 44 yards, including a long of 13 yards.  Most importantly, he LOOKED different.  He looked like he had more explosion than any other running back.

Carsyn Baker also had some nice runs, gaining 52 yards on seven carries.  He didn’t look explosive like Edwards, but he was productive.

Edwards averaged 8.8 yards a carry, and Baker averaged 7.4 yards a carry.  I know much of that was against a worn-down Missouri State defense, but you have to like seeing production when given the opportunity.

I’m not totally ready to give up on Morrow just yet, but it wouldn’t bother me if Edwards and Baker started getting more touches.

No matter what you think about Owens, he’s going to have to be an integral part of our offense this season.  I’m hoping he actually takes a step forward even if it doesn’t look like he’ll ever be a bell cow back.

But Elko should have gone portaling for an experienced running back.

Marcel Reed:

I’m going to try and not spend a ton of time on Reed.  I think a lot of opinions are made up on him either way.

Before I go any further on Reed, let’s stop with the “Marcel Reed” chant at Kyle.  If, the day after Thanksgiving, Reed is living up to his words of beating Texas, it can be fired up.  Until then, I don’t want to hear it.

I also don’t want to see the horns down on the jumbotron when we’re not playing Texas, but I know I’ll never win that battle.  We don’t want to be called little brother, but we act like little brother.

I digress…

I thought Reed looked better from a mechanical standpoint.  I thought his decision-making was better than last year.  He had some passes I don’t think he would have made last season.

Specifically, he threw some darts rolling to his left.  I don’t recall him doing that last season.  He also had some touch passes to guys where they had some touch rather than bullets.  One was to Owens on a checkdown, and the other I think was to Craver out in the flats.  Both guys were able to catch the ball and immediately transfer to a running back with no missed stride.

Marcel just looks like he’s advanced as a passer. Maybe not enough to win a Heisman on his own, but I did see progression from last season.

He still missed some guys and also had at least one interception go through a Missouri State defender’s hands.

He ran REALLY well.  He rushed five times for 36 yards, so he averaged a little over 7 yards a carry.  Most of those were his decision to run due to pressure, and they were the right decision.

I still believe Reed has elite pocket awareness.  That might be hindering his downfield vision, but he recognizes immediate pressure really well.

I’d rather have that than some guy looking downfield with no idea of what’s about to hammer him.

We’ve heard all offseason how Reed has cleaned up his game and is protecting the ball.  I’m not totally sure that’s accurate based on what I saw on Saturday night.  

He’s definitely improved mechanically, but it’s really hard to judge his improved decision-making against a team like Missouri State.

We’ll find out a lot more when Reed takes on Arizona State and Kentucky.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again because I still believe it – Marcel Reed is not going to win you a national championship.  If the other pieces of the team are in place, you can win a national championship with Marcel Reed.

It’s as simple as that with him as a quarterback.

I just don’t think we have the other pieces, with the offensive line issues and then true talent and depth with our running backs and receivers.

Only time will tell if I’m right.

I hope I’m wrong and we’re headed to the CFP while Kyle Field is chanting, “Marcel Reed.”  

Holmon Wiggins:

I’m going to give Holmon Wiggins an incomplete for this game.  That’s not because I didn’t like what I saw from him.

It just means this completely felt like a dress rehearsal where he was trying to run as many different plays as possible.  I think he wanted to see what plays looked like against a non-scrimmage defense.

There was never any kind of rhythm to what we were doing, and it was really like, “Let’s run this play and see what happens.”  In the end, we just out-athleted them, and that’s okay.  Along the way, enough offensive plays were made to put 48 points on the board.

It could have been much worse, where we struggled offensively through the whole game.

The one positive I did like was moving Reed in the pocket on rollouts.  I’ve already talked about it, but I thought Reed looked remarkably well throwing passes while rolling left.  That’s not a natural thing, and if Reed can continue to do that, it’ll make defending him much harder.

The one thing I didn’t see from Wiggins that I have to think he has in his pocket is route combinations.  This is where two receivers run off the line in the same space before making the breaks to hopefully confuse the defense.

It seemed we ran a lot of individual routes.  I think that’s fine, as you don’t want to give those route combos away while seeing what receivers can create separation on their own.

Obviously we need to see a lot more from Wiggins, but I think he did fine in his first dress rehearsal.

Mike Elko:

As for Elko, I didn’t like what I saw offensively in the first half.  I know we have an OC and position coaches that are responsible for the details, but this offensive unit, and especially the offensive line, was not prepared.  Some of that has to fall on the head coach.

I know we’re going to blame first-game jitters and the line never playing together, but this was Missouri State at Kyle Field at night.  We had three weeks of training camp and our offensive line blew an assignment on the first play.  They false-started twice and gave up back-to-back sacks.

Against Missouri State in a night game at Kyle Field.  It doesn’t get any easier from here.

Elite teams come out of the blocks executing and not fumbling their way around because of nerves, or they’re not used to playing with each other against someone from another team.

As for why things looked different in the second half, he gave his “zen” answer of all the work that was done in the off-season.  It’s the same speech he gave after the South Carolina game.

The reality is we went to base-level blocking schemes and moved Missouri State off the ball until they were ground into a pulp.  That’s fine for that game, but it’s not going to work week in and week out in the SEC.  And now we have one more SEC game than before.

In my nitpicking way, I thought the timeout on 4th down when we were about to receive the punt in the second half was dumbfounding.  I haven’t seen where anyone asked him why it was called, so we have the answer.

It was likely called because we didn’t have the right personnel on the field, or we saw something from Missouri State we weren’t expecting.

Not having the right personnel, which is a major preparation error, or the staff saw something from the Missouri State alignment they didn’t like.  If the latter was the case, I would have let it ride to see if the return unit could have figured it out.

It wouldn’t have hurt us in the grand scheme.

I personally thought a timeout there was a little lazy, but that’s just me.  You need to operate with a feeling that a second-half timeout is like a gold bar.  You’re not going to give it away if there’s not a serious gain for using it.

I know I’m being critical and nitpicking Elko, but I’m looking through a lens of wanting to make the CFP.  We need to be elite and not just above average.

I will give Elko credit in that he’s so far been a great roster builder.   I think he might be a better general manager than a head coach, but only time will tell.  I hope I’m wrong and he’s an elite head coach.

The good news in getting this far is you’ve wasted a large amount of time reading one person’s ramblings about the first game for the 2026 Aggie Football team.

That just means we’re closer to this Saturday, when we get to see one more piece of the 2026 Aggie Football puzzle.

BTHO Arizona State.

P.S. – I’ve mentioned it, but this is going to be a great test for us.  ASU doesn’t stack up with us talent-wise, but their head coach is excellent.  This will be a wonderful test right before we start SEC play.  I hope we pass it…

SPONSOR

The 2026 Aggie Football season is once again brought to you by Old Smokey. It’s the lifetime disposable grill that’s been manufactured just North of Downtown Houston since 1950. When you need an affordable and reliable grill, Old Smokey is for you.

Should Aggies Be Concerned About Marcel Reed?

Short answer: Maybe.

More definitive answer: Marcel Reed absolutely has an interception problem.

Before I go any further, I want to say this: I like Marcel Reed. He’s a dynamic quarterback with a ton of physical ability.  He’s never going to do the things that Johnny Manziel did, but he can do a lot of great things.

He’s physically gifted.  He’s not some limited game manager just trying to keep the offense on the field.  He’s got escapability and an absolute cannon for an arm.  The physical tools are there.

His best trait as a quarterback is his pocket awareness.  His ability to sense pressure and move into space if it’s available is as good as it gets.  It’s a great building block.

However, he has to cut down on his interceptions if the Aggies have any hope of returning to the CFP.

I knew he threw a fair amount of interceptions, but I didn’t realize how bad it was until I started sifting through some stats.

I started my exercise to see how much K.C. Concepcion and Mario Craver meant to the Aggie offense last season.  I also wanted to see what LeVeon Moss meant from a touchdown standpoint.  

I’ll post that data at the end, but I want to focus on what I uncovered with Reed and his interceptions.

In conducting my analysis, I removed all games against non-Power 4 schools that Reed has played.  I wanted to see what Reed’s stats looked like against opponents that matter—no stat padding against cupcakes.

That set off the first alarm.

I knew Marcel Reed threw 25 touchdowns and 12 interceptions last season.  That’s less than 50% of interceptions to touchdowns.  It’s right on the line, but it’s still slightly less.  The great Bill Parcells had a belief that you couldn’t win big games with a quarterback who had worse than a 50% interception-to-touchdown ratio.

So Marcel was right below Bill Parcells’ acceptable standards for a quarterback.

What I didn’t realize was that 10 of those touchdowns came against UTSA, Utah St, and Samford.

Strip out those 10 touchdowns, and now Reed has 15 touchdowns to 12 interceptions against Power 4 opponents.  That’s an 80% interception-to-touchdown ratio.  That’s not good at all.

I’ll compare that number to other quarterbacks later, but I want to keep going with Marcel and his interceptions.

That ratio surprised me, so I went back and looked at his 2024 numbers against Power 4 opponents.  In that season, he threw 11 touchdowns and 5 interceptions, right under the 50% ratio.

Four of those touchdowns came against Florida and Arkansas when he was filling in for the injured Conner Weigman.  Take those four touchdowns away, and he’s at 7 touchdowns and 5 interceptions once taking over as the full-time starter.  That’s right around 70%.

I know it’s nitpicking to take away those four touchdowns against Florida and Arkansas, as he did start those games.  However, there’s something to be said for looking at someone’s stats when a defense is prepared for them.

So I’ll stick with 70% interception-to-touchdown ratio as the clear starter.

As I looked at the game-by-game stats, I noticed something additionally concerning.

Since taking on the clear starting role as Aggie quarterback, Marcel Reed has started in 14 games.  He’s thrown an interception in 12 of those games.  I’m not going to give a “WHOOP!” to that number 12 because that means he’s thrown an interception in 86% of his games against Power 4 opponents after becoming the clear starting quarterback for the Fightin’ Texas Aggie.

You can spin that however you want, but that number gives me a large amount of concern.

If you look at his 2025 games, he threw interceptions in 8 of his 10 games against Power 4 opponents, so even stripping away the 2024 data, he’s still at 80%.

I don’t know if Bill Parcells had a metric based on the percentage of games in which a quarterback threw an interception, but my feeble brain says throwing interceptions in 86% of your games is not good.

Combine that 86% with his 80% interception-to-touchdown ratio, and you have to be concerned.  If he were throwing five touchdowns a game, I wouldn’t be concerned that he’s thrown an interception in 86% of those starts.

He’s not throwing five touchdowns a game, though. He’s not even throwing four touchdowns a game.

He only threw three touchdowns in two games last season.  No four- or five-touchdown games through the air.  At least not against Power 4 opponents.

He’s above the 50% interception-to-touchdown ratio and throws an interception in every four of five games.  These are not good numbers.

At the end of the day, it’s about scoring points and limiting your opponents’ ability to score points.  These numbers indicate Marcel Reed isn’t throwing enough touchdowns and is giving opponents more opportunities to score.

2025 Interceptions:

Someone posted a video on Twitter of Reed’s 12 interceptions.  I watched all 12, and 11 were on Reed, not his receiver.

Even more concerning, four of his interceptions were thrown to defenders in the end zone.  We all know about the Miami interception that cost us an opportunity to go to overtime.

He also threw interceptions in the end zone against Florida, LSU, and South Carolina.  He also threw an interception at the goal line against Texas.

So five of his 12 interceptions cost his team a chance at points, as they were all in field goal range when the ball was snapped.

In watching all his interceptions, there wasn’t a clear pattern as to why.  On some, it was just a bad throw.  That was the Miami pass.  He just underthrew his receiver.

On others, it was a bad read, and he shouldn’t have thrown it, as no one was open or double-covered.  On others, it seems he just flat-out lost a defender who was standing there in zone coverage. Likely because he was so locked on his receiver from the snap.

There’s no clear pattern for the mistake he’s making when throwing these interceptions. That concerns me a bit because I believe one obvious pattern would be easier to correct.

Is There Any Hope???

Despite this analysis, there’s some hope for Marcel Reed.

My first hope is that Holmon Wiggins is our new offensive coordinator.  In his time at Bama, he was around high-level quarterback play.  I understand he wasn’t the actual OC, but I’m hoping he took away what good quarterback play is.

This chart shows you the interception-to-touchdown ratio of those Alabama quarterbacks when Wiggins was there.

Bryce Young won the Heisman in 2021, which is why it’s highlighted. 2020 Mac Jones won the National Championship with an absolute fleet of receivers. I also included 2024 Jalen Milroe, as that’s what things looked like after Saban and his crew were gone. Milroe regressed massively after Saban left.

I have no clue what kind of OC Holmon Wiggins is, but he’s at least been directly adjacent to high-level quarterback play during his time at Bama.

I do know I’d rather roll the dice on Wiggins as OC than bring in Collin Klein for a third season. Klein wasn’t a terrible OC, but he definitely had his limitations. I’m hoping we send Kansas State a big box of Tiff’s Treats at the end of the 2026 football season.

In addition to that Holmon Wiggins data, the Seattle Seahawks just won a Super Bowl with Sam Darnold.  Sure, Seattle won with mostly defense, but Darnold had a massive interception problem early in his NFL career.

Darnold had a 56% interception-to-touchdown ratio last season. That’s just above the 50% mark, but in his first four seasons, he had a 96% ratio.

If Sam Darnold can improve his ratio and win a Super Bowl, there’s no reason why Marcel Reed can’t as well. I’m not talking about a Super Bowl and Reed getting the Aggies back to the CFP.

I hope Mike Elko and every coach associated with Marcel Reed’s throwing are doing everything they can to bring that percentage down. The Aggies have got to get Reed to throw fewer interceptions to touchdowns.

If not, our 2026 schedule will cost us a game or two.  Reed can’t keep throwing interceptions as he has and expect the Aggies to get back to the CFP.

Elko’s Ride or Die:

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – Regardless of what happens with Marcel Reed this season, Mike Elko is taking a huge risk on him. In two consecutive seasons, Elko has had no backup for Reed. Sure, there are guys on the roster that can play the position, but none of them have any real experience.

If something were to happen to Reed, there is absolutely nothing behind him. Brady Hart is currently running second team, and he’s supposed to be a true freshman. He has a year of experience at A&M, but he’s 18 years old and will be 18 all season. Trevor Lawrence won a national championship as an 18-year-old, but I don’t think Brady Hart is Trevor Lawrence.

I get it’s tough to bring in a backup quarterback in this portal era, but Elko has chosen to just let things ride with Reed for two consecutive seasons now. There’s nobody at all pushing Reed or ready to jump in if Reed doesn’t improve.

We’ll have to wait to find out how smart Elko is.

You can stop reading right here, but if you want to nerd out and see a lot of random data, feel free to continue.

Here are the returning SEC starters for the 2026 season. These numbers reflect their stats against Power 4 opponents, as I wanted to compare apples to apples. I included Sam Leavitt’s Arizona State numbers just for reference.

As you can see, there’s a clear delineation between Stockton, Manning, and Chambliss. Reed is right there with Sellers and a bit better than Mateer, which surprised me. I didn’t realize Mateer was as bad last season in interceptions and touchdowns. I think it’s further proof that OU and A&M are on very similar trajectories.

The next group is a super random grouping. The last Aggie starter to have an interception problem was Ryan Tannehill. He got a little worse in his last season, but not much. Most people forget, or don’t realize, that his interception problem in the 2011 Texas game is why we have Johnny Manziel. Tannehill threw a Pick-six and then had another interception that led to a Texas field goal, so he gave them 10 points.

Without those 10 points, Texas wouldn’t have won that game, and Mike Sherman would have kept his job. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

I grouped Jayden Daniels here because I’ve always been hopeful that Marcel Reed could become a Jayden Daniels-type player. Daniels was never an interception machine, but he definitely made a massive leap in his final LSU season when he won the Heisman, which is why that season is highlighted.

Here’s the list of starting quarterbacks in the last two CFP Championships. With the exception of Fernando Mendoza, they weren’t exceptional in the interception-to-touchdown ratio department. Everyone other than Mendoza was in the 30% to 40% range.

So Reed doesn’t have to become truly elite in his ratio, but he definitely has to cut his interceptions. Or throw a lot more touchdowns.

Mendoza obviously won the Heisman in 2025, which is why he’s highlighted. I also put Mendoza and Beck’s previous season for reference. They both improved their ratio a lot while leading their teams to the CFP Championship.

Another somewhat random grouping: Joe Burrow and Caleb Williams, who also won the Heisman Trophy. Burrow made a pretty massive leap in touchdowns thrown while decreasing his interceptions by one. He basically quadrupled his touchdowns while keeping his interceptions the same. Just an insane leap. Obviously, he won the National Championship and the Heisman that 2019 season. Just an all-time season for a quarterback.

Caleb Williams didn’t improve his ratio by a ton but threw almost twice as many touchdowns as the season before.

Here are the other recent National Championship-winning quarterbacks that haven’t been referenced. McCarthy was real stingy with the ball thanks to his offensive line and running game. Bennett was pretty good but not elite, at around 24% in both of his two National Championship seasons. That’s what a smothering defense will do for you.

Final grouping of quarterbacks as it pertains to interceptions and touchdowns. These are all of the other 2025 CFP quarterbacks not already mentioned. The one exception is Josh Hoover. I included him because Curt Cignetti hand-picked him to start at Indiana in 2026. I remember Sonny Dykes throwing shade at Hoover about all of his interceptions. Cignetti responded that he didn’t care because he wouldn’t have that problem at Indiana. Say what you want about Cignetti, but he’s confident.

I didn’t include the non-Power 4 CFP participants because they were charity cases and didn’t belong. I’m only looking at Power 4 quarterbacks and their games against Power 4 opponents.

Nothing really interesting about their percentages, other than that they are all under 50%. Ty Simpson was elite at avoiding turnovers, but it didn’t matter against Indiana, as he was under constant pressure and threw for only 67 yards. But he didn’t turn the ball over.

Marcel Reed and John Mateer were the only Power 4 CFP participants to have over 50% interceptions-to-touchdowns on the season against Power 4 opponents. They were also the only two teams to host Power 4 opponents in the first round and lost. Kind of ironic, if you ask me.

Now back to pure Aggie content. All of these charts are against Power 4 opponents.

Here are Marcel Reed’s game logs for 2025 and 2024. I’ve discussed this, but feel free to take a look for yourself. His season completion attempts and yards per attempt are pretty close in 2024 and 2025.

Here are the team’s per-game offensive stats in 2025. I knew it in my head, but it’s amazing to see how our offense just fell off the map against Texas and Miami. Other than Auburn, we had no real issues getting in the end zone for the first eight Power 4 games on the schedule.

Was it coaching or talent? Or both? Hopefully Mike Elko did a deep dive to figure out why.

This is the chart I originally set out to analyze before I started looking at Reed’s interceptions in more detail. To no surprise, Concepcion and Craver accounted for over half of our receiving yards against Power 4 opponents. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – What does the 2025 Aggie Football season look like without those two transfers? Credit to Elko and his staff for identifying those guys and getting them to campus.

I also am not surprised that Concepcion accounted for 1/3 of our receiving touchdowns against Power 4 opponents. What I’m most surprised at is that Craver only had one touchdown while Bethel-Roman and Boerkircher outpaced him.

Craver didn’t catch a single touchdown after that remarkable touchdown catch against Notre Dame. I know he’s a small guy, but I thought he busted off a couple of long touchdown catches after Notre Dame. He had some big catches, which is obvious by his yards, but nothing to the end zone. That’s a bit concerning heading into the 2026 season.

In addition to Craver not catching a touchdown pass after Notre Dame, his receiving yards slowed down considerably. If you look at his receiving yards against Power 4 opponents, Craver got 30% in the Notre Dame game. He had 207 yards in that game and 681 yards in total against the other nine Power 4 games. That’s just north of 50 yards per game the rest of the way.

I’m a big fan of Mario Craver, but we’ll need more production from him in Power 4 games. Hopefully Wiggins has a plan to use him like Alabama did with Jaylen Waddle.

Terry Bussey is the talk of training camp, but he’s gonna have to take a massive leap as he didn’t do much at all in 2025. Just like in 2024.

Isiah Horton is a different type of receiver than Concepcion, but Concepcion is a lot to replace. I hope he’s up to the challenge, as we’re going to need him.

Here’s the running game breakdown by player.

The most surprising thing to me is how much Ruben Owens was part of the rushing offense. It makes sense because Moss missed half the season against Power 4 opponents, but it’s still interesting that Owens made up almost 1/3 of our rushing attack. I don’t know why I was expecting less.

I was also surprised to see Owens lead the team in yards per attempt. He didn’t seem that productive.

Reed checks in with about 20%, which is a bit more than Moss. Once again, Moss did all of this in half the games as everyone else. This stat sheet proves how valuable Moss was.

What’s also interesting from this stat sheet is how much E.J. Smith contributed in Moss’ absence. I railed on E.J. Smith in 2024, but I do think he was our best running back down the stretch in 2025. I think he should have gotten more carries. Especially near the goal line.

Another interesting thing about this stat sheet is how unproductive Jamarion Morrow was in 2025. He had the lowest yards per carry against Power 4 opponents. Morrow reminds me a lot of Bussey. Everyone raves about their ability and what they do in practice, but their production in games that matter is just not there.

Sure, it can change, but at some point, all this practice hype has to carry over into games.

That’s the end of my nerd analysis.

All I can say is I sure hope Wiggins and Reed can produce MUCH better than Klein and Reed when it matters most. That’s in November and December. I’m tired of Aggie Football teams stumbling when everything is on the line.

We need to actually finish like Mike Elko talks about. Because we haven’t done it in two seasons under his watch.

Ramblings on the 2026 Aggies

As the Aggies head into the 2026 season, there is a lot of positivity surrounding the team.  Coming off a CFP appearance, they remain a CFP potential team in most analysts’ minds.

The Aggies have a roster to compete for the CFP.  I don’t know if they will.

Elko has done a nice job of adding key pieces to the roster, especially on defense.  I think there’s a good chance our defense will be better than last year.  Which I hope is true because our defense had a few games where they weren’t great at all.

The offense has a lot of question marks from a team standpoint.  The individual components look pretty good, but none of the offensive line has ever played together.

There’s just no real idea of how well these offensive components will mesh.  Football is the most team-oriented sport.  You can guess all you want, but you never know until live bullets fly how 11 guys play together.

There is one massive thing that very few people are talking about – Holmon Wiggins.  I’ll get to him in more detail later, but the Aggie offense will be led by an OC that has never called plays at any level.

Predicting how well the Aggies will do in 2026 is beyond me.

There is not one data point that says how good Holmon Wiggins will be.

It’s all a guess.

I do know that since the dawn of the CFP (going back to 2014), only one team has made the CFP with an OC that has never called plays before.

That was in 2019 when Joe Brady was involved with the LSU Tigers.  How much he was involved with actually calling plays is unknown.  Steve Emsinger, the seasoned OC, was with him.  Brady wasn’t alone in devising game plans and calling plays.

In addition, Brady had Joe Burrow and an absolute fleet of receivers.

Joe Brady hasn’t lit the world on fire since that year, so there’s reason to believe Brady was just a part of a magical collection of talent and not the main driver.

I’ve never heard or read that it was all Joe Brady that season.  No doubt Brady contributed, but I think it’s reasonable to wonder just how much he contributed based on his work since that season.

He’s done well enough to get the Bills head coaching job, but he was also fired after two seasons in Carolina as their OC.

Either way, Joe Brady is the only OC of any sort never to call plays and make the CFP in his first year.

Maybe Holmon Wiggins is the next Joe Brady.  

History says it’s really rare.

That’s not a knock on Wiggins.  It’s just rare for someone to be super successful in their first go at anything.

I bet Wiggins has some success.  He’s coached in some big programs and has the horses.  I don’t know how he’s gonna handle late-game pressure or a defensive coordinator that’s got him completely confused on what he’s seeing.

How is he gonna handle that stretch of Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, OU, and Texas when it matters most?

Expertise usually comes with experience.

Something tells me there’s gonna be a lot of learning on the job at the expense of the Aggie offense from time to time.

What that means, record-wise, I have no idea.

We could go 6-6, or we could go undefeated.

Nobody else knows either, despite what they say.  It’s all a bunch of guessing and burning time on the air or in articles.

Onto more specific ramblings.

Mike Elko, the Head Coach

Beyond the question about Wiggins, I still have questions about Mike Elko, the head coach.

Despite what some people think, he hasn’t set the world on fire as a head coach.  He’s been good, but he’s not been anywhere near elite.

I know people talk about what he did at Duke, but his greatest success came with Riley Leonard.  Leonard helped Notre Dame to the national championship game.

Riley Leonard was a damn good college quarterback.

Elko was 9-4 in his first season and then 7-5 in his second season at Duke.

Conversely, Manny Diaz was 9-4 in his first season and 7-5 in his second season.  So the same records after the end of their second regular season.

Diaz snuck into the ACC Championship game thanks to some wild tiebreaker rules and won the thing against Virginia for Duke’s first ACC Championship since 1962.

Diaz also won their bowl game last season, finishing with a 9-5 record.

Based on records and championships, Manny Diaz had more success in his first two years than Mike Elko at Duke.

I use that as a reference point that Mike Elko’s work at Duke, while solid, is not amazing.

At A&M, he went 8-5 in his first year, losing the final four games against Power 5 opponents.  Not a good look.

In his second year, he went 11-0, then lost his final two games against Texas and Miami.

11-2 with a berth in the CFP is a really good season, but losing those final two games is tough for me to ignore, especially when you compound them with the final four games lost in the 2024 season.

He preaches and preaches finishing, but he’s not even come close to finishing in his two seasons at A&M.

He has one signature win at A&M, and that’s the win in South Bend in 2025.  Amazing win, but we don’t win that thing without Concepcion and Craver.  Sure, Elko gets credit for bringing those two guys in, but I chalk up his one signature win more to talent than to coaching.

You can call the 2025 win in Baton Rouge a signature win, but if you’re being objective, that LSU team was hot garbage.

Great and fun win emptying Tiger Stadium, but it’s not a signature win in my book.

Right now, I’d lump Elko in the same bucket as Dan Lanning and Brent Venables—great defensive coaches who haven’t quite found their head coaching ability with similar resources.

With all of this, I don’t want Mike Elko fired.  Not even close.  I want a statue of Mike Elko outside Kyle Field when a long and illustrious career in Aggieland is done.

I don’t want to do what we’ve done with countless head coaches before him.  Spin ourselves up into thinking he’s the next coming of Bear Bryant, Gene Stallings, or Jackie Sherrill.

I want those with power to hold him accountable before it’s too late, like we did with previous coaches.  The man is making $11 million a year.

I think it’s only fair those above him make it known what those shortcomings are.  While doing so, make sure he has every available resource to overcome his shortcomings.

It starts with finishing.

I also get how hard it is to win it all.

I bet most folks don’t realize there are only four active college football coaches with a national championship.

Dabo Swinney, Kirby Smart, Ryan Day, and Curt Cignetti.

Dabo has coached 17 full seasons.  He needed Venables as his DC and two really great college quarterbacks.

Kirby has coached 10 full seasons.  He finally won his in his seventh season thanks to a gutsy quarterback and suffocating defense.

It took Day six seasons to win his.  He needed two of the best coordinators to unlock that loaded roster he’d finally been stacking for years.

Cignetti did it in his second year.  He’s got some secret sauce nobody has figured out, other than it seems like he stacked his roster with a ton of older players. There’s more there, as he has a unique way of practicing and game-planning.

National championships don’t grow on trees.  It takes a lot of luck, but you have to put yourself in position to win one year after year.

We’ll find out in 2026 if Elko is positioning himself to win it all as a head coach.

Gameday Coach

Mike Elko has done really well at assembling personnel in his almost three years in Aggieland.  Jimbo didn’t leave him much thanks to that 2022 recruiting class.

He basically had to overhaul more than half his roster.

He’s done really well at roster building in his time here.  From my standpoint, he’s improved his roster each year he’s been here.

He’s also doing lights out in high school recruiting right now.  We’ll see if that talent develops and stays on campus, but I can’t question his recruiting at all.  

He’s getting talent to campus, as evident by the latest NFL draft.

Where I can question Mike Elko is in his game-day coaching.

He’s been about average.  As previously mentioned, he’s had one signature victory, and that was thanks mostly to Concepcion and Craver.  The Aggies won that game by the hair of our chinny chin chin.

He gets credit for that South Carolina game, but holy cow, what a disaster that was about to be.

We were closer to losing to Notre Dame and South Carolina than we were to beating Texas and Miami.

What does a 9-4 season look like with losing the last three games against Power 4 opponents, including the bowl game?

We weren’t far from that.

I’m fine with giving him the 11-2 record, but when you really look at the 2025 season, it was three tough games and an amazing comeback against South Carolina where we should have never been in that situation.

Auburn, Mississippi State, Florida, Arkansas, LSU, and Missouri weren’t really all that great.  Four of those six teams have new coaches heading into 2026.

Coaches get fired because their team is terrible.

I think Mike Elko’s greatest issue as a game-day coach is his offensive awareness.  I don’t know for a fact, but it seems to me he’s hands off on his coordinator calling plays.

I think he gives his offensive coordinator some guidance during the week, but during the game I think he’s spectating just like everyone else.

I say that because of two things:

  1. There have been multiple calls in games where I don’t know how a head coach lets the play happen.  I know it’s easy to armchair quarterback, but even in the moment, the 4th and goal at the one-yard line against Texas in 2024 was a boneheaded call.  The deep ball to Concepcion on 3rd and 2 in the second series of the second half against Texas in 2025 just should not have happened.  As both of those plays developed, I was floored that those calls happened.  I get that a head coach can’t and shouldn’t provide feedback on every play, but in key situations, he’d better be guiding his OC.  There are some other plays, but those two are by far the most egregious.
  2. Elko never talks in specifics about offensive plays after games.  Maybe it’s by design for some reason, but I think it’s because he doesn’t know the offensive game plan up and down and can’t assess in real time what’s occurring.  In his first game ever, he had to yell at someone to tell his OC to run the ball at the end of the game.  That’s not a head coach in lockstep with his OC.

Going one step further, look at the 2024 LSU game.  He didn’t pull Conner Weigman until it was painfully obvious in the second half.  Every person in that stadium knew Weigman couldn’t do it that night. It wasn’t a proactive move.  It was a completely reactive move.

He had no choice when he made the move.  

If it weren’t for Garrett Nussmeier throwing three interceptions in the second half, we don’t win that game.

Sure, Reed deserves some credit for the win, but LSU completely botched that game.  They threw three interceptions in the second half, giving us favorable field position and their complete inability to defend a zone read.

Elko was getting whipped at home by a marginal LSU team.  He should have made the move sooner.  Reed should have come in to start the second half.

Furthermore, in two seasons, he hasn’t/doesn’t have a competent backup for Marcel Reed.

Lots of people complain about Reed’s performances against Texas and Miami, but what if Reed doesn’t come back into the Texas game in the second quarter?

We’ve got no offense in that Texas game because Elko didn’t have an adequate backup.

Who’s backing up Reed in 2026?  Sure, there’s some young talent, but there’s not really anyone backing up Reed.  At least not anyone with real experience.

Meanwhile, the four teams that played for the national championship the last two seasons have done so with senior transfer quarterbacks.

The two seasons before that, the four teams were led by senior quarterbacks as well.

Right or wrong, he doesn’t seem concerned with his quarterback situation.

The hiring of Collin Klein as offensive coordinator was a mistake.  While Klein wasn’t terrible, his offense was very milquetoast.  Yes, milquetoast.

Klein relied on a power running game and effective tight ends.  When he didn’t have those, he didn’t have much.

Klein utilized Concepcion and Craver, but when defenses took those toys away with no Moss, that offense just sputtered around.

Elko just stood there and watched.

When he had to replace Klein, he tried to hire Brennan Marion, but Marion decided taking the same job at Colorado was a better opportunity.

There’s a belief Marion takes over from Coach Prime, but if I’m Elko, I’m selling the guy: you win at A&M, and you’ll find a much better head coaching gig than Colorado.

When Marion chose Colorado, Elko met with five other OC candidates and then promoted Wiggins.

Why wasn’t Wiggins the guy all along?

Maybe I’m wrong, but I think Elko is really clueless when it comes to the offensive side of the ball.

He can run my defense any day of the week, but as head coach you have to offer some guidance to the offense in real time.

At least you should for $11 million a year.

Weaknesses

I’ve obviously talked about some of Mike Elko’s weaknesses, but I want to bullet point the ones that stick out in my mind.

  • For two seasons in a row, he hasn’t finished.  Even worse, he’s controlled his own destiny to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game and completely sputtered.
  • He hired Jay Bateman for his defensive coordinator with no accountability.  It was so bad that Elko had to take over the reins of the defense for the 2025 season.  After Bateman, he just promoted from within and appears to have the same role going forward.
  • The hiring of Collin Klein is questionable.  He didn’t appear to be on the hot seat at A&M. I believe KSU’s hiring of Klein forced Elko to make a move he wouldn’t have made on his own.  Klein wasn’t a great hire, and the Aggies lucked out by him going home.
  • He has one signature win in two seasons at A&M.  He’s beaten a bunch of teams he should have beaten and lost to the teams he should have lost to.  He’s not found a way to beat better teams except at Notre Dame.  He’s really just kind of treading water.
  • In two seasons, he has no viable backup quarterback, nor has he brought in another quarterback to truly push a quarterback that is questionable from a development standpoint.  He’s just gonna ride Marcel Reed for two seasons.  It’s not the worst strategy, but it’s questionable.
  • In two games, Steve Sarkisian has owned his defense.  With Lane Kiffin in Baton Rouge, I have some concerns about Elko’s ability to handle Sark’s and Kiffin’s offenses.

It’s not a terribly long list of negatives, but there’s enough to keep me from thinking Mike Elko is not without reproach.

Like I said before, I in no way want Mike Elko fired.  I want it to be okay to question or have doubts.

I don’t know that I would have given him a four-million-dollar-a-year raise and extended years, but I understand we got scared, as we did with Jimbo.

I get agents run college football because ADs and other school leaders won’t stand up to them.  I would have waited until after the season before making any decision about Elko’s contract.

Elko wants to go to Penn State after two years at A&M and a berth in the CFP?  Good luck.  We’ll pay you when your coaching on the field outperforms your contract.  $7 million a year is plenty for a coach to live on.

We’ll use the extra $4 million for staff and NIL, which will help you win.  When you win a national championship, we’ll pay you the really big bucks.

I couldn’t help but think that in the first half of the South Carolina game, the timing of Elko’s extension was a disaster.

I hope it turns out differently, but right now, it looks like Mike Elko is like a handful of other college coaches.  They need a key coordinator opposite their strength and a great senior quarterback either from within the program or via transfer.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t see a great Gameday coach on the Aggie sideline right now.

It doesn’t mean he can’t get there.  He needs to realize his offensive shortcomings and continue to evolve.

Let’s talk about some other things for the 2026 season.

Holmon Wiggins

I’ve talked about Wiggins a little already.

I have ZERO idea what to think of him as an offensive coordinator.

I would much rather roll the dice on him than bring Klein back for another season.  Klein’s ceiling was crystal clear. I do feel we dodged a bullet there even if Wiggins is a complete failure.

At least we tried something rather than having yet another year of a milquetoast offense.  Yes, milquetoast.

I do think there’s some promise here due to his time in Tuscaloosa and him being a receivers coach.

He was a running back in college, so he’s been an offensive guy for all of his football life.

He worked two seasons under Steve Sarkisian at Bama, which is a massive positive.  Sark is really a brilliant play designer.  I hope Wiggins took a lot of notes under Sark.

Wiggins spent two seasons under Bill O’Brien, which I see as a massive negative.  Just kidding.  O’Brien is a decent offensive mind, but far from as brilliant as Sark.

He spent one season under Tommy Rees, which was the year Jalen Milroe took Bama to the Rose Bowl.

He obviously spent two seasons under Collin Klein, which I hope he forgot anything he may have learned.

He also spent some time under Justin Fuente at Memphis and Va Tech.

There you go.  You know as much about Holman Wiggins as I and mostly everyone else does.

What little I watched of the Spring Game, it was mostly RPOs.  I’m fine with that as I don’t want to showcase anything unique in a meaningless scrimmage.

I hope each week he has a notebook of scribbled plays that are unique and nobody has seen before.

Hopefully, Wiggins is the next Joe Brady at least from a collegiate standpoint.

I have no clue, and neither does anyone else.

Offensive Line

The offensive line is easier to guess on.

Elko did a really nice job of bringing in talented guys.

It will all come down to whether Adam Cushing can get this unit to play as one and the players avoid injuries.

I’m a little torn on Cushing as a coach.  I know he gets high praise, and I do think he is a good coach.

I have to pause a bit on him as I watched our offensive line struggle so much against Texas and Miami last season.  Those games were really bad from an offensive line standpoint.  Especially pass blocking.

I get Texas and Miami have talent and good coaching, but man, that offensive line really struggled in those two games.

All four guys that left got drafted, so the NFL thinks it was a talented unit.  But they struggled in those two games.

The health issue of this unit in 2026 is more important than the coaching, especially with Tyree Adams.  He’s not made it through a full season.  You need your anchor left tackle to last all season.

This unit will be fine due to experience, but you never know.

If they don’t mesh or suffer injuries, it won’t matter what kind of play caller Wiggins is.

This offense will sputter.

Marcel Reed

When it comes to Marcel Reed, I’m torn.  I see the positives and the obvious negatives.

He was a guy that could have created his own invite to the Heisman had he shown out against Texas.  He obviously didn’t, and we go into 2026 with questions surrounding his play.

While he’s not a big guy, he’s physically talented.  He’s not Johnny Manziel, but he’s got some wiggle.  He struggles with accuracy at times, but he’s got a pretty decent arm.

He obviously makes some bone-headed decisions, especially in the end zone.  I know I’m hard on Klein, but man, how do you let that keep happening?

I get you can’t just run the ball near the goal line, but how can Reed be so blind to defenders in that space?  Was there no coaching to help avoid that?  It was a consistent problem all season, and it never went away.

It ultimately cost us a chance to send the Miami game to overtime.

As for Reed’s skill set, my hope is he makes a Jayden Daniels-type jump in 2026.  They’re somewhat similar quarterbacks, but Daniels was an elite runner.  Hopefully, Reed has added some more explosiveness to his running game in the offseason.

Don’t get me wrong.  Reed is a great runner.  He’s just not as elusive or explosive as the greats.  He can certainly wiggle and make people miss, but he often gets corralled or caught pretty quickly.  The great ones don’t get corralled or caught.

Reed’s strongest attribute is his ability to move in the pocket and buy time.  He’s got really good pocket awareness and knows where to move to buy time.

Like most quarterbacks, the more time Reed has to throw, the better he is.  Reed doesn’t need a super clean pocket and needs some space to move to.  He’ll move to it if it’s there.

That’s why he struggled so badly against Texas and Miami.  There was no space for him to move to.  I think that hurt his game more than anything.  The space he’d become accustomed to was gone.

He couldn’t buy time to find his receivers as the defensive secondary broke down.

All in all, Reed is a quarterback you can win a national championship with.  He’s just not going to win you a national championship like a Vince Young or Cam Newton.

Hopefully Wiggins develops him more than Klein did.

The Schedule

The 2026 Aggie Football schedule looks pretty daunting.  Welcome to the SEC.

Last year’s schedule looked daunting as well, but then it wasn’t.

It won’t happen, but I do think every game is winnable.  Not even close to easy wins, but there’s not a team on that schedule I believe is an automatic loss as I’ve believed in past seasons.

Bama and LSU aren’t who they used to be, but they’re still tough places to play.

The South Carolina game will be a lot tougher than most people think.  Beamer has been struggling as a head coach, but he’s got a pretty good team, and we’ve struggled in Columbia.

I want to think we don’t have issues with Arizona State, Kentucky, and Arkansas at Kyle, but you never know.

I have no clue what to think with Tennessee.  It seemed Heupel had that program humming two years ago, but they’ve cooled off a bit since then.

The parallels with us and OU rarely get discussed, but both programs are on similar trajectories heading into the 2026 season.  That game could mean a lot or nothing at all.

And then Texas comes to town.  I can’t help but think this will be Elko’s toughest test in 2026.  Sark has owned Elko in his first two seasons.

You can believe Arch Manning is over hyped, but the dude developed big time as last season went on.  I think he’s poised for a massive 2026 season.

Not saying we can’t beat Texas, but Elko has his work cut out to not only get a win against Texas, but also finish the regular season on a high note.

If his coaching isn’t up to it, it’s going to be another sour taste at the end.

Either way, I’m excited and ready for the 2026 season.

It’s cliché to say, but I do think the 2026 season will be the biggest of Elko’s career.

We’ll find out if the 2025 season was a building block or a blip.

Those who came before him always took a step back after a big season.

They fell backward and not forward.

I hope Elko is different.  I want him to get that statue outside of Kyle Field.

SPONSOR

The 2026 Aggie Football season will once again be brought to you by Old Smokey. It’s the lifetime disposable grill that’s been manufactured just North of Downtown Houston since 1950. When you need an affordable and reliable grill, Old Smokey is for you.

The Aggies are in the Playoffs

The Committee:

I’m not going to waste a lot of time on the committee. They did what they did.

I think the committee had three parameters for ranking teams:

  1. What’s a team’s overall record?
  2. When did they last lose?
  3. What are we eating?

I’m not kidding.  They were totally winging it and guessing.

They shook it up a bit on their final ranking, leaving Ohio State above Georgia and Tech. They also finally put Miami above Notre Dame.

They could have easily dropped Ohio State a couple of notches, but they held firm; they believe Indiana and Ohio State are the clear two best teams in the country.

We shall see.

They also did some mental gymnastics to avoid punishing Alabama for its loss to Georgia in the conference championship game while punishing BYU.

It really didn’t matter for BYU, but, interestingly, they dropped a spot while Alabama didn’t.

Just a lot of circular logic through the entire selection process.  That’s what you get with a bunch of administrators.

They never explained their reasoning for ranking Oregon, Ole Miss, and A&M in their respective spots. They just said they saw no reason to move them this week. I get that part, but I never saw an explanation for why in the first place.

I think it’s reasonable to put the Aggies at 5. I think it’s somewhat possible to put the Aggies at four, but with Tech winning a 12th game, it’s a tough sell.

You’re talking about one-loss teams, including Tech.  I’m good with Tech at four since they won a 12th game, but the rankings of A&M, Ole Miss, and Oregon seem to be based solely on when they lost.

Definitely seems like metrics weren’t used.

The difference between being ranked 5, 6, and 7 seems pretty drastic, considering 5 and 6 get to play Tulane and James Madison.

In my mind, the 5 seed is the best in the entire bracket.  I actually mean the seeds above 1 through 4.

You didn’t play a conference championship game and get to host James Madison at home. Then you get to play Tech in Miami.

That’s not to totally diss Tech, but I do think Tech is the team with a bye that has the most questions.  They’re absolutely who I’d want to be paired with for the second round.

I’d rather face Tech than the winner of Bama-Oklahoma.

I don’t think Oregon wins it all, but I do think it’s a great position to be in to go on a run.

As for the 6 and 7 seeds, I actually like the 7 more. Especially since Notre Dame got pushed out.

The 6 has the easier path in the first round by far, but I don’t want to face Georgia in the second round.

Sure, Ohio State is an outstanding team, but I don’t think we match up well with Georgia.  I’d rather take my chances with Ohio State than Georgia in the second round.

I’d trade taking on Miami at home in the first round and then heading to the Cotton to take on Ohio State rather than face Georgia in the Sugar Bowl after a cake game at home in the first round.

That’s our initial draw, and it’s doable.

Sure, you can argue the committee is a group of morons. And you’d be right.

However, there’s no point in arguing about the committee anymore.

The Aggies are hosting a game at Kyle Field, so it’s time to focus on that.

Miami:

I did not want to face Notre Dame. I know we beat them on the road earlier this season, but I did not want to play them again.

They’re a bad match-up for the Aggies.  That’s not to say the Aggies couldn’t beat Notre Dame. The Aggies absolutely could beat Notre Dame at Kyle.

I don’t like their running game against us, and I believe CJ Carr is a better quarterback than when we played them. They were going to be a problem for many teams.

Don’t have to worry about that now. I hate that they screwed the Pop-Tarts in the Pop-Tarts Bowl because they got their feelings hurt. They were set to face BYU. Those are the two teams that got screwed by G5 teams, which would have been a fantastic game to watch.

Bunch of babies.

Back to Miami.

I think Miami is a better match-up for us.

Vegas agrees with me, as we would have been a Pick ‘Em against Notre Dame.  We’re a 3 to 4.5 favorite against Miami, depending on where you like to wager.

That’s not a massive difference, but I’ll take whatever gain we can get.

Miami is a damn good football team, so that it won’t be easy.

For me, there are two things I like about the Miami matchup:

  1. Carson Beck
  2. Mario Cristobal

Carson Beck is a talented quarterback, but he’s not mobile at all. Mario Cristobal is a decent enough coach, but he absolutely vapor locks at times.

I hope that when it’s all said and done, Elko can confuse and frustrate Carson Beck much like he’s done with other stationary quarterbacks this season.

What scares me the most about Miami is its defensive front. They have some dudes along the defensive line and linebacker.

The best of the bunch is Rueben Bain, Jr. The dude is a load.  He’s a potential number one overall pick in the NFL draft.  He’s that good.

They’ve got a couple of other defensive linemen who are going to play on Sundays, along with a linebacker.

Their front on defense is no doubt the best part of their team.  They’re going to be tough to handle.  They’ll be every bit as good as the Texas defensive front was against us.

That doesn’t mean we can’t beat Miami, since our offense struggled so much against Texas’ defense. It just means we need to take a different approach.  I’ll address that in a bit.

From an offensive standpoint, Miami has a pretty good offense.  They’ve got a good running game along with a good passing game, and Carson Beck can be effective.

They’re not super explosive, but they’ll break off a few big plays here and there.

I think Carson Beck can be confused.  If Elko can get back to his blitzing ways, I think we can stall out the Miami offense enough.

It won’t be easy, but it can be done.

We’re not shutting this offense down, though.

So How do the Aggies Advance?

First off, Mike Elko needs to realize he’s playing with house money. The Aggies aren’t even supposed to be here based on pre-season predictions.

As we’ve seen against the best two teams on our schedule in Notre Dame and Texas, there are still holes in this defense.  A couple of other teams kind of exposed it as well.

Elko might not want to admit it, but he needs to. Our defense has holes. It doesn’t mean our defense can’t be effective, but it’s going to take being aggressive and taking some risks.

We’re going to need to live by the blitz and die by the blitz.

I went back and looked at some defensive plays in the second half against Texas. It was worse than what I remembered. For some reason, Elko ran a base defense with four down linemen and at times abandoned the line of scrimmage with his linebackers. Those were the runs where Arch Manning just took off.

I’m not worried about Carson Beck just taking off, but we can’t apply pressure with four down linemen. I thought Elko learned that lesson last year.

We need to bring disguised pressure from linebackers and the secondary.

We also ran a bunch of zones that we didn’t execute correctly, and Arch picked apart.

Why Elko abandoned what got us to 11 wins, I have no idea.

Bring pressure with man coverage. Stress the Miami offense and don’t let them get comfortable.

He needs to learn from the Texas game and return to a confusing, aggressive defense.

Offensively, Elko needs to realize this is a passing-first, running-second offense.  I get that everyone wants to establish the run, and it makes sense.  If you can establish the run, then that’s absolutely what you should do.

However, establishing the run in reality can be difficult.

Especially in the playoffs. Especially when your offensive line isn’t dominating, and your most dynamic offensive players are your two receivers.

I love Le’Veon Moss and hope he’s back healthy for the playoffs. He needs to complement the passing game and not be the primary offensive focus.

I still want Moss with double-digit carries, but I don’t want him forced to carry it 20 times because we want to shorten the game.

We also need to work on shortening Reed’s decision-making. If the pass downfield isn’t open, then check down to the tight end or running back. Or take off running yourself. And start sliding more rather than taking a hit.

I want aggressive deep balls to Craver like the first play against Florida. I want more bubble screens for Concepcion and Craver. I want jet sweeps, or at least the threat of them.

I want the Miami defense stretched wide and deep.

I do not want to battle Miami or anyone else in the playoffs in the box. We will lose those games. Our offensive line is good but not great.

And that mindset needs to advance beyond Miami.

Elko needs to plan for the offense to score 30 points or more in each game. Scoring in the 20s ain’t gonna cut it.

I honestly believe we can have the most explosive offense in the playoffs.  We need to play like it.

I fear Elko will want to challenge teams in the box. I get it.  He’s a defensive guy who wants to establish an identity of owning the trenches. It makes sense if you have the personnel. The Texas game showed us we do not have the personnel to win games like he wants us to.

I hope that the Texas game was a wake-up call for Elko regarding the realities of this team’s talent.  If Elko thinks he can run the same offense and defense he did against Texas and beat Miami, he’s a fool.

Creating a team that can win in the trenches is a great long-term goal, I agree with. However, that ain’t the 2025 Fightin’ Texas Aggies.

Our strength is our two dynamic receivers and our ability to confuse a stationary quarterback with a variety of blitzes.  I’m not talking pass blitzes either.  I’m talking about showing pressure throughout the game that confuses the offensive line and quarterback.

If Elko deviates from that, we will lose a football game, and our season will be done.

Instead of Run the Damn Ball, Elko needs to Roll the Damn Dice.

Collin Klein Conundrum:

I have no clue if Collin Klein should call plays.

Part of me thinks he should move on, but then I don’t know who would call the plays. I don’t believe we have anyone on staff with experience calling plays.

So that’s a conundrum.

I think Klein has tendencies that can be exposed, and if he has another job he’s focused on, it’s not gonna help things.

I know there’s talk of Wiggins taking over the OC job. If that’s the case, cut Klein loose and let Wiggins call plays.

If Wiggins isn’t ready to call plays, you see what Klein can do with two jobs. I don’t know what other options the Aggies have.

I wouldn’t say I’ve totally soured on Klein, but I think we saw a lot of Klein’s tendencies appear down the stretch. I don’t know if that was a directive from Elko trying to win games in the trenches with basic offenses, but it wasn’t working.

We need a creative and unpredictable play caller if we’re going to make a run in the playoffs.

If Klein can’t handle it because he’s focused on his new gig, then let’s roll the dice on Wiggins.

We’re already playing with house money being in the playoffs.

Special Teams:

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this because I’ve already covered it enough.

If Elko hasn’t allocated more time to special teams over the last week, he’s ignoring a glaring issue.

I’m not talking about just kicking field goals.  I’m talking about punt protection and everything else in special teams.

It’s a glaring weakness that needs to be addressed.

It’s obvious, but will he do it?

So Who Wins the Whole Thing?

I wish I had a better feeling for the Aggies making noise.  I don’t know if I trust Elko to roll the dice.  I hope I’m wrong.

There are two halves of football in our last two games that frighten me—the first half against South Carolina and the second half against Texas. We were closer to being out of the playoffs than anyone wants to remember.

With that, here is my bold and somewhat crazy prediction for the Playoffs:

I think Oregon, Ole Miss, A&M, and Bama win the first round.

Despite my concerns, I do think Elko can outsmart Cristobal at home.

I think Tech, Bama, Georgia, and Ohio State win the second round.

I think Bama and Georgia advance to the Championship Game, with Georgia winning it all.

I know that’s bold picking Bama to go that far, but I think they’re still a good team.  I think they spend the next two weeks getting healthy and back to what made them a good team in the middle of the year.

I do think it’s Georgia’s year to win it all.

We’ll have to see how it plays out.

No matter what, I just hope Elko Rolls the Damn Dice.

BTHO Miami.

Sponsor Message:

Remember our unofficial sponsors, Nice Ash, for your Fightin’ Texas Aggie stogies, and Old Smokey, for all your grilling needs!

Click each image to visit the website.

30 Minutes of Failure

On Friday night at DKR, the Aggies came out of halftime with a 10-3 lead and received the ball.

When the final seconds ticked off the clock, the Aggies lost 27-17.

Sure, the Aggies will still make the College Football Playoff and maybe even host a playoff game, but the list of what the Aggies let slip away in 30 minutes is quite extensive.

Let’s take a look:

  1. A chance to beat your rival in their stadium – Failed
  2. A chance to make the SEC Championship Game – Failed
  3. A chance to make the first conference championship game since 1998 – Failed
  4. A chance to clinch a CFP bye – Failed
  5. A chance to quiet all the doubters over the quality of your wins – Failed
  6. A chance to make sure your rival had no claim for the CFP – Failed
  7. A chance to change the narrative the Aggie Football team can’t close out the regular season – Failed
  8. A chance to show things are different in the Elko Era – Failed
  9. A chance to send Marcel Reed to New York for the Heisman – Failed

For the second year in a row, Steve Sarkisian pulled down Mike Elko’s pants.

To make it even worse, Elko had the halftime lead and the better team.

It didn’t matter as the Longhorns outscored the Aggies 24-7 in the second half.

The Aggies fell flat on their ass.  There’s no other way to state it.  It’s not the collapse we’ve seen over the entire month of November in previous seasons, but it was a collapse in which so much disappeared when it was up to the Aggies to seize it.

The Aggies looked lost and lacking confidence.

A perfect regular season evaporated in 30 minutes.

It’s not the same old Aggie joke because we’re 11-1 and headed to the CFP, but it was a MASSIVE disappointment by Elko and his charges.

Sure, there’s an opportunity to erase this memory and make it moot, but the Aggies dug themselves a big hole because they couldn’t close out a rival in 30 minutes.

Elko has talked about finishing the entire season. That didn’t happen.

Let’s talk about the game.

The Offense:

The Aggies had 337 yards of offense, so statistically, it doesn’t look bad.

However, there was minimal rhythm to get those yards.

I don’t know if it was a Collin Klein issue, a Marcel Reed issue, or somewhere in between, but those two couldn’t get in sync all night.

The yards didn’t come easy. Marcel sat in the pocket for much of the night, uncertain of where he should go with the ball. I would have hoped that, in the 12th game against a team that had been carved up in previous weeks, Klein and Reed would have had some effective plays.

It felt like much of what we’ve seen from Klein before, where he’s just picking plays, hoping something will work.

It was especially true in the second half, when the offense just sputtered. The only exception was the touchdown drive that was set up by a Concepcion punt return and bailed out by a Texas face mask.

Other than that, our offense struggled badly in the second half.

On the first possession of the second half, we gained only 2 yards. We burned 49 seconds to get two yards in three plays before punting.

The DUMBEST play of the game was on the second possession of the second half.

On the second possession of the second half, we had 3rd-and-2. We decide to go deep to Concepcion. We did have Concepcion in man coverage with no safety help, so there’s some sense to why we ran that play.

I don’t know if Klein called that or if Reed audibled into it, but it was a STUPID decision. I don’t care if Concepcion was in man coverage with no safety help.

We had a 4-point lead and needed to build some momentum. We didn’t need to take a massive shot downfield. We needed to get the first down and keep the chains moving.

I go back to wondering if Elko gives Klein guidance on the series.  He should have told Klein in that moment to focus on the first down. We didn’t need to take a massive shot there.

We failed to get the first down and punted. Texas then scored on the next possession to take the lead thanks to busted coverage.

At that point, the game was close to being over.

To make matters worse, we also botched our next offensive series badly.

We got stuffed on 3rd-and-1. We decided to go for it on 4th and 1, which I agreed with, but we made a substitution with 11 seconds on the play clock. That allowed Texas to make a substitution, which, of course, they slow-played because they have a right to.

If you’re subbing on offense with less than 15 minutes on the play clock, the defense is going to take their sweet time subbing in their plays. They have that right, and the refs are not going to rush them.

There was no way for the Aggies to snap the ball with time on the play clock. So the Aggies had to take a timeout. Just terrible clock management

To me, that shows a head coach and an offensive coordinator who aren’t on the same page. Either Elko wasn’t clear in going for it, or Klein couldn’t decide on a play.

Either way, it’s a bad look.

To make matters worse, we false-started on the way out of the timeout. That made it 4th-and-6, so we had to punt. We burned a timeout due solely to poor coaching and gained nothing from it.

If that third-and-two decision on the previous series didn’t kill all momentum, that late substitution, followed by the timeout and false start, all but sealed it.

The Longhorns scored on the next possession to go up 20-10.  

Game. Over.

While I’m piling on coaching decisions, let’s talk about the next offensive possession.

We had three plays for three yards each, so we had a fourth-and-one on our 38-yard line.

Reed goes under center like the Aggies are going to run a play, but it becomes clear pretty quickly that we’re just trying to draw Texas offsides. They don’t bite, and we’re forced to take a delay of the game.

We move back to our 33 to punt the ball.  

We had the wind at our back, and Tyler White nailed a 55-yard punt, so it didn’t hurt us.

It just reeked more of a head coach and offensive coordinator who had no faith they could move the ball on offense or stop the ball on defense.

They were trying gimmicks to get Texas to make a mistake. I didn’t like it because it showed a lack of confidence in the offense to come back.

Overall, I felt like Klein couldn’t decide what he wanted to do in the second half.

We had the two three-and-outs on the first two possessions, but on the third, it seemed Klein wanted to establish the run. We had three straight runs for positive yards, even getting a first down, but then EJ Smith got stuffed on the third and one.

We botched the fourth-and-one substitution, then had a false start. So we punted, and Texas went up 20-10.

At that point, we couldn’t try to establish the run because we were playing catch-up.

It just seemed like Klein had no real plan for what the Texas defense was doing.  He couldn’t decide whether to be conservative or aggressive.

Meanwhile, the defense was just getting torched, so that started to dictate what the offense had to do.

Beyond Klein’s confused offensive plan for this game, a few other things of note for the offense.

I railed on him last year, but EJ Smith looks like a completely different player. I think he’s our best running back right now and probably should have gotten more carries, especially with Owens seeming to struggle with the turf.

I don’t know if it would have made a difference with our defensive struggles, but I have to give EJ Smith credit.  He’s been highly effective in limited action since Moss went down.

As for the offensive line, I was way up in the upper deck so that I couldn’t make out numbers for sure, but it looked like we were still rotating guys. I don’t think that’s helping develop a rhythm for our offense. We need to stick with our best five guys and roll with them.

In the end, our defense was the biggest culprit in our loss, but I can’t help but feel that a different, more confident offensive attack would have helped.

I know Reed threw some bad interceptions on our last two possessions, but I don’t think they really mattered. They definitely hurt any comeback, but Reed and Klein were so off in this game that they were never going to get dialed in to score enough points to come back.

I wanted to come into the game pressing the gas with Craver and Concepcion (“The Toys”), but Klein really didn’t have any plans for big plays for them.

They wound up with 10 catches on 15 targets for 101 yards. So they averaged 10 yards a catch, with neither having a catch over 20 yards.  So they were pretty effective on every catch.

I get that you can’t run the entire offense through those two guys, but I sure would have made a bigger effort to get them more looks.

They’re far and away the most prominent difference makers we have on offense. Lean on those guys.

In a game like this, you make a concerted effort to get your playmakers the ball.

I know a lot of people want to establish the run, but with our offensive line and running backs against the Texas defense, that was going to be tough sledding. Sometimes, you can’t just establish the run.

So make a concerted effort to get the ball to your playmakers. If they’re being double-covered, I bet a tight end will be open to chew up a few yards. Or take off on a scramble.

It just seemed like a foolish game plan considering the Texas defense and no Le’Veon Moss.

The Defense:

As frustrating as it was watching the offense sputter, watching the defense get gashed in the second half was devastating.

Elko’s calling card for most of his career has been second-half adjustments to his defense and shutting down an offense.

That didn’t happen on Friday night.

The Longhorns scored on four of six possessions in the second half. To make matters worse, it was three touchdowns and one field goal—24 points on four possessions.

Even if we hold them to 10 points in the second half, we win. We couldn’t even do that.

Elko’s defense looked absolutely lost for much of the second half.

We couldn’t get any pressure on Arch, and when we did, he just scrambled up the middle where there was no defender.

It seemed like we went to a basic zone with a four-man rush.  Texas just picked it apart through the air or exploited it on the ground.

I didn’t see many exotic blitzes in this game, unlike in prior games. Seems like we were more focused on defending the pass than applying pressure. Especially in the second half.

Defenders couldn’t anticipate plays losing gap integrity or getting caught up by blocks not even intended for them.

Texas rolled up 295 yards of offense in the second half.  That’s compared to their 102 yards in the first half.

25% of their yards came in the first half and 75% in the second half.

The defense just fell apart in the second half.

There were brain farts and missed assignments all over the place.

I can’t explain it. It wasn’t just a few busted plays here and there. It was one busted play or missed assignment after another. There was no scheme to counter the Longhorns’ approach.

Cashius Howell was a non-factor. He may have cost himself a fair amount of money on Friday night.

For most of the second half, the defensive line and linebackers seemed to be out of sync. And all it takes is one guy to blow his assignment or get taken out of position for the offense to chew up yards.

Our safety play was atrocious, leaving receivers completely uncovered.

Because Kirby Smart has the blueprint to stop the Texas offense, I personally think Sark exposed something about this defense.  

Coming into the season and especially after the Notre Dame game, I felt this was not a defense filled with elite talent.  There are some NFL draft picks, but there are not a ton of upperclassmen who will play on Sundays.

Sark exploiting this defense confirms that to me.  It’s not a defense totally devoid of talent, but there are holes that can be attacked.

That’s not a massive knock on this unit, as what they’ve done this season has been admirable. They shut down a bunch of offenses with good coaching and heart.

However, when they faced an offense with strong talent and coaching, their overall lack of talent was exposed.

In my mind, Texas reminded us of our concerns after the Notre Dame game.  

Elko had no answer for his defense getting exploited—just like last year against Sark.

I’m not sounding a massive alarm because it’s still a pretty good defense, but this is not an elite defense.

But against an offense with talent, this defense will struggle.  That Texas offense seems to be coming around.  Especially at home where they’ve scored lots of points.

I’ll do a piece next week after our playoff spot is known and we know our path to the national championship, but we need to face reality: this defense has issues for the playoffs.

Still Have a Chance to Change the Narrative:

The 2025 Aggies season has been a massive success.  I’m not complaining at all about being 11-1 and a lock for the CFP.

However, Mike Elko had a unique opportunity in front of him. He needed 30 minutes to finish, like he’s been preaching since last season.

That’s not totally out the window, but it’s not unfair to wonder how far along we really are.

Fortunately, Mike Elko still has the opportunity to change the narrative about where Aggie Football is.  I think he needs to win at least two games and reach the Semi-Finals.

Sure, I want the Aggies to win it all, but at a minimum, I want to be one of the last four teams standing in college football.

I want the memory of the second half of the Texas game to be wiped clean. I think it’ll take two wins to do that.

If not, there will be lingering questions about whether things have really changed in Aggieland.  

Or did we get a fortunate schedule?

To do that, Elko will have to roll the dice.  He’s going to need Klein to dial up the offense and get creative and aggressive with his defense.

Trying to establish the run while using a conservative defense won’t work.

Collin Klein is going to have to get back to playing creatively, which seems to have gone away since the LSU game.

It’s almost like Klein came up with a batch of new plays in the off-season and ran out of them in the LSU game.

We’re gonna need a creative Klein and an aggressive Elko to advance a couple of rounds in the playoffs and change the narrative that Aggie Football can’t close things out late in the season.

Quick Thoughts on Next Season:

I know we still have the CFP, but the high school signing day is this week, and the Transfer Portal opens soon.

This is the new era of college football. Your reward for being good is that you have to do twice the work, focusing on the current year and the following year.

Right now, my big fear is that this season is just Elko’s “blip” year, like we saw with every coach since Fran—2004 with Fran, 2010 with Sherman, 2012 with Sumlin, and 2020 with Jimbo.

It turns out we got a very favorable schedule this year, and next year’s is MUCH more challenging.

I’m not saying this is a blip year, but I have concerns after the South Carolina and Texas games.

Let’s look at our last four halves of football:

30-3 – South Carolina
28-0 – Aggies
10-3 – Aggies
24-7 – Texas

I know that’s a small sample set, but it does give me pause, depending on what happens in the CFP.

I know it’s a little obvious, but Elko must keep stacking talent through high school signings and the Transfer Portal.

We’re going to lose pretty much all of our offensive line. I don’t know if we have enough offensive linemen on campus. We certainly don’t have the experience.  It’s going to be key to find some offensive linemen transfers. That has to be done starting now.

We need improved safety as well. You can never have enough talented defensive linemen, so let’s add some of those guys, too.

There are holes on this team, and I hope Elko has spent this week focusing on roster building since we don’t have an official opponent.

I obviously don’t want Elko fired and don’t want to sound super negative about what happened in Austin last Friday. That game showed me this program isn’t quite where we want it to be.

That’s okay because it’s only Elko’s second season. I don’t want a sense of complacency.  There’s still a lot to build to get to the level of other programs.

Lane Kiffin Circus:

Speaking of other programs, LSU got a lot better over the weekend.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone, but Lane Kiffin completely botched his departure from Ole Miss on his way to LSU. He foolishly thought he could take the LSU job and continue to coach Ole Miss. LSU and Ole Miss ARE DIRECT RIVALS IN THE SEC!!!

THEY PLAY EACH OTHER EVERY SEASON!!!!

There is no way in the world Ole Miss could let Kiffin coach their team after taking the LSU job. I can’t even process how Kiffin thought this was possible.

This isn’t good for Texas A&M. Kiffin is a complete moron when it comes to public perception, but the dude can coach football.

I can’t see him failing at LSU. LSU has too many resources, and he’s too good a coach. Short of a personal failure, he’s going to have a lot of success at LSU.

I want him to fail, but I just can’t see that happening when you remove all the emotion from the fact that he’s a big idiot from a human standpoint.

I firmly believe that LSU is the best program in the country at winning national championships.  Their access to Louisiana talent and their status as the only major program in the state are advantages no other school in this country has.

LSU has another gear when it comes to winning football games. I mean, they’ll let a booster embezzle funds from a children’s hospital and never bat an eye.  That’s a real commitment to winning.

Les Miles and Ed Orgeron won titles there.  They’re idiots as head coaches. They really are. They won because they were able to stack talent.

Kiffin can coach, and now he’s going to stack talent.

So now we have an established Texas program on our schedule every year, and we will also have a strong LSU program. Welcome to the SEC.

There is no time to be complacent.

Sponsor Message:

Remember our unofficial sponsors, Nice Ash, for your Fightin’ Texas Aggie stogies, and Old Smokey, for all your grilling needs!

Click each image to visit the website.

Can the Aggies Beat the Horns?

I got tied up last week and didn’t get a chance to blog about the South Carolina game.

I don’t really know what else to write other than – “It was the worst of halves, it was the best of halves.”

Seriously. We did everything we could in the first half to shoot ourselves in the foot—just mistake after mistake.

And then in the second half, we did everything damn near perfect save for that stupid play call on third down at the goal line.

Despite that stupidity, we still managed to hold on and win.

I can’t explain it. I wish I could offer you some great insight into how or why it happened, but I can’t. Other than to say this is an inconsistent football team, which we’ve seen all year.

Somehow, they find a way to win, and that’s all that matters.

If there is one main takeaway from the South Carolina game, I hope that in the future, Elko and Klein realize we need to punch the gas more on offense.

Especially with the games we have left.  That’s the Texas game, and then whatever postseason games.

At some point in the second half of the LSU game, they felt like the Aggies could control the game on the ground going forward.

Go for a more ground attack than an air attack.

It worked against Missouri, but it was failing against South Carolina in the first half.

I know ball control is tempting, especially for a defensive coach, but we’re gonna have to stress the defense every which way we can.

From here on out, I want to see an offense that stresses the defense across the entire field, even if it means some three-and-outs. We have the talent, so take the shots.

Texas Game:

As for the Texas game, I’m torn on what’s going to go down.

Maybe it’s my Battered Aggie Syndrome, but in the back of my mind, I can’t get rid of two things:

  1. It’s tough to go undefeated.
  2. Rivalry games are crazy.

I do think A&M walks into DKR with a better team, but Texas is still a formidable opponent.

Sure, we can point to their loss in Florida and the close games against Kentucky and Mississippi State.

Obviously, Georgia had their way with them in the second half.

But at the same time, they handled Vandy and Arkansas. Sure, the Vandy score was close at the end, but it was the equivalent of our Arkansas game. Vandy was never a real threat to win that game.

They kept Arkansas at bay in the first half and then put them away in the second half.

I know the Texas offensive line has struggled to protect Arch at times. At the same time, our defense should have crushed the South Carolina offensive line, but we didn’t do a thing for an entire half from a pressure standpoint.  

So one can rationalize all they want about how this match-up is going to go. As of this writing, the Aggies are a 2.5-point favorite. That says the Aggies are a slightly better team even on the road.

I have a feeling it’s going to be a close game.

I personally think it’s going to come down to three Ts to win:

  1. The Toys
  2. Tight Ends
  3. Turnovers

The Toys:

I’ve referred to Concepcion and Craver as the toys since the Notre Dame game. While I’d love to see the same performance as Notre Dame for these two, I don’t see that happening. They get too much attention now.

I don’t see them putting up a combined 300 receiving yards between the two of them.

That doesn’t mean they can’t bust off 4-5 big plays that either score points directly or lead to the Aggies scoring points.  

The Tight Ends:

While the other receivers, not named Concepcion and Craver, have stepped up their game, I think using the tight ends will be really important to keep the Longhorn defense honest.

Marcel is going to have to recognize it is okay to hit these guys to move the chains rather than focus on the big play downfield.

Now, if you’ve got man coverage with Concepcion or Craver, by all means attack that. However, if you have safeties playing back, then take what’s underneath and keep moving the ball down the field.

No need to get greedy.

Especially near the end zone.

Turnovers:

This is totally obvious, but something that hasn’t been talked about is how sloppy Reed has been with the ball since the LSU game.

He had an awful interception in the end zone against LSU, and then again against South Carolina.  

Sure, he’s bailed himself out of these situations, but that’s a fire that’s gonna burn you at some point.

If Reed continues to turn the ball over, this is likely the game where it finally burns him.

I know those are all pretty obvious points, but most of sports are pretty obvious.  Just do better than the other team, and you’ll win most of your games.

Might as well add a fourth T – Tackling.

Texas likes to do a lot of short passes and get yards after the catch. Our secondary has had a few issues making initial tackles this season, and that can’t happen on Friday night.

Don’t let Texas get additional yards after contact.

So do those four Ts and the Aggies win this game without much issue.

I know, it’s obvious.

Random Thoughts:

Get ready for Texas to score some points. I have little doubt that Sark will have 4-5 plays that take advantage of the Aggies being overaggressive on defense.

Especially, the tendency for our defensive ends to not properly seal the edge or be too aggressive on backside pursuit of the ball.

I think Texas scores 17-20 points in this game.  Not a problem, as the Aggies should certainly score more.

I’m not too terribly worried about the cutbacks on the ground that destroyed us last year. Not saying Texas won’t break off some runs on cutbacks, but they flat-out gashed us last season on simple cutbacks by their running backs.

We’re better at defending those cutbacks this year than we were last year.

As for our offensive line, I defended rotating guys after the Missouri game when Reed-Adams got hurt, but I’m over that. I felt it was good to have everyone cross-trained and gain experience for the betterment of the offensive line.

For whatever reason, we went with the same offensive line group against South Carolina that we ended with in Missouri.

It was Fatheree, Bisontis, Zuhn, Nabou, and Crownover to start against Missouri.  That’s going from left tackle to right tackle. I can’t remember precisely when Reed-Adams came in against South Carolina, but he sat out the first three or four series.

That grouping of Fatheree, Bisontis, Zuhn, Nabou, and Crownover showed up against Samford, and we weren’t super clean as Reed got some pressure he shouldn’t have.

From this point going forward, I want to see Zuhn, Bisontis, Nabou, Reed-Adams, and Crownover. Barring an injury and a close game, I want those five guys in those five positions.

That’s clearly our best combination of offensive linemen. I want to see that grouping of offensive linemen the rest of the way.  

No need to tinker otherwise.

As for Arch Manning, I don’t think he’s a bad quarterback.

His challenges are no different than any other quarterback. When he doesn’t have time to throw, he struggles.

I’m not saying he should win the Heisman, but he’s not as bad as people make him out to be.

The media is a funny thing.  They’ll build someone up. Then they’ll take a big dump on that player when that player doesn’t live up to the hype they themselves created.

Arch isn’t going to make plays out of nothing, but if he has time, he can run Sark’s offense.

The Aggies have to make sure he doesn’t have time.

No different than any other quarterback.

Sark’s Schedule Sadness:

One thing that gives me a great deal of hope is Steve Sarkisian complaining about having to play an SEC game the week before this one, while A&M played a weak opponent in Samford.

I hope what Sark is really worried about is Mike Elko having extra time to draw up and install more of his exotic blitzes.

Sounds like a coach already making excuses. Hopefully, Sark knows he’s got a big challenge, and the schedule is making that challenge worse.

I don’t care.

Here’s the deal, Sark. The SEC has been set up like this forever. The SEC starts conference games before other conferences.

You came over from the Big 12, where non-conference games were all front-loaded.

You were playing Sam Houston for your fourth game while we were playing Auburn this season. It ain’t our fault, and it ain’t no conspiracy.

It’s due to your conference move.

Stop complaining to the media and tell your Athletic Director to schedule like everyone else.

Or maybe focus on coaching your team instead of making excuses in advance.

Speaking of Schedules:

I’m also tired of people saying the Aggies haven’t played anyone.  I’ll freely admit the teams we played have been disappointments, but we started the season with three teams in the Top 10 and two more in the Top 15.

We beat Notre Dame on the road. We emptied Tiger Stadium. We helped get Billy Napier and Hugh Freeze fired.

Maybe we get caught with our pants down in Austin, the SEC Championship, or the CFP.

Our schedule looked as tough as anyone in the country to start the season.  It’s not our fault we’ve exceeded expectations while others have fallen off.

All we can do is win the next two games and prove we’re one of the four best teams in the country going into the playoffs.

We do that, and nobody can say a damn thing about our schedule.

Special Teams Scares:

One thing that scares me about this game and every game from here on out is our special teams.

Short of KC Concepcion’s God given talent, I don’t have a lot of faith in our special teams right now.

Sure, the fake punt against Missouri was awesome, but there’s nothing else that gives me great confidence about our special teams.

I have a bad feeling it’s going to be our special teams that costs us our first loss of the season.

I’m not sure it’s in Austin, but it sure feels like if there’s a loss for the 2025 season, it’ll be because of special teams.

With all of that, I think this is somewhat of a coin flip game.  If the Aggies protect the ball, then they win. If not, Texas wins.

It’ll come down to one of the basic tenets of football.

Protecting the football.

You read all of that to get that fundamental analysis.  

Sometimes it really is that simple.

BTHO tu

Sponsor Message:

Remember our unofficial sponsors, Nice Ash, for your Fightin’ Texas Aggie stogies, and Old Smokey, for all your grilling needs!

Click each image to visit the website.

Thoughts on the Missouri Game

Ho Hum Dominating Win:

It’s kind of crazy how quickly we’ve become spoiled with this season. Most Aggies I’ve talked to loved the win. However, they found it a little boring because it took the offense a bit to get going, and Missouri never challenged us.

We just went 9-0 with a road win over a ranked opponent, and we want more.

I understand it, but it’s just amazing how quickly a fan’s perspective can change based on how the season is going.

Obviously, the fake punt fired everyone up, but for the most part, that game felt like we were playing with our food.

And we were. Even though Missouri ripped off a 40-yard run on their first play, and it took us until our third possession to score, it never felt like the Aggies were going to lose.

We walked in the better team and just punched and danced around a bit. Then we landed some punches that actually mattered.

When we did, it was pretty clear we’d win the fight and just had to let things play out over four quarters.

We’ve been a second-half team pretty much all season. When we got the fumble return late in the second quarter and then scored to go up 14-0 at halftime, it seemed like the game was over.

And it was.

It was clear Mike Elko knew he had the better team walking into the game. He and his staff had a game plan that wasn’t flashy, but was likely to get a win.

No need to get cute. Just get the win.

When it was all said and done, the Aggies had a 21-point win in a road game against a ranked opponent in the SEC.

If that’s enough to get the blood flowing, then you’ve quickly become spoiled as an Aggie Football fan.

10-Win Season:

With this win and Samford left on the schedule, the Aggies all but clinched a 10-win regular season.

Hopefully, it’s more, but it’s been since 2012 that the Aggies have won 10 regular-season games.

I think the Aggies win 12 regular-season games, but let’s not underestimate already locking up 10 regular-season wins.

It’s a massive accomplishment.

I’d wager that if you’d told Aggie fans before the season they could lock up a 10-2 regular season record in 2025, 97% of Aggie fans would have signed up for it. That would have been an extremely successful season before the first snap.

Yet here we are after nine games, and that’s the absolute floor for what could happen.

Pretty damn amazing.

Spoiled indeed.

Clinched the College Football Playoff:

The other thing we did beyond clinching a 10-game regular season was clinching a spot in the College Football Playoff.

I suppose there’s a chance we don’t make the College Football Playoff if we lose to South Carolina and Texas, but I don’t see that happening.

To be clear, I don’t see us losing to both of those schools, but even if we do, I think we’re still in the CFP at 10-2.

The ACC and Big 12 are looking like they’ll get one team in. I think the Big 10 is going to struggle to get more than three teams in.

We’re definitely in with a win over South Carolina, but I think we’d make it at 10-2.

Big step for the Aggie football program.

Collin Klein:

I have to keep giving massive props to Collin Klein.

I still can’t believe he’s the same offensive coordinator from last season. I know that having a seasoned offensive line, with the addition of Concepcion and Craver, is a big reason for the difference. However, he’s still owed massive compliments for using those tools properly.

His game plan for this game was a little “vanilla,” but it was highly effective.

That was a pretty good defense the Aggies faced, and they wound up with 406 yards of total offense.

I pulled Dalton Brooks’ 48 rushing yards, since that was more special teams than offense.

That’s an impressive number for the Aggie offense against the Missouri defense.

What makes it even more impressive is that we never took any big shots on offense.

There was no need to because of what our defense was doing to their offense. Just keep throwing measured punches, and at some point, there will be some big punches that land.

Two particular punches that landed were the 48-yard touchdown reception by Concepcion and the 57-yard touchdown run by Rueben Owens.

While it looked like we were vanilla on offense, we really weren’t.

Klein called a great game, being really balanced between runs and passes, and most importantly, making the Missouri defense defend the entire width of the field with receiver screens and short crossing routes.

We had nine different players targeted for passes, so Missouri couldn’t focus on just a few guys to defend.

There was no need to run Marcel Reed, as all he needed to do was hand the ball off and hit passes.

Speaking of Reed, he was 20 of 29, which is just shy of 70%. It felt like he was a little less accurate than that, but he was really effective through the air.

I thought Klein did a nice job, with the needed wrinkles, to stress a good Missouri defense.

One more thing about the offense – massive credit to E.J. Smith. I was very critical of him last year, but, like Klein, he looks like a totally different runner this season. He’s been a great complement to Owens while Moss has been out.

Speaking of Moss, we’re dominating defenses without him. Going to be nice when we get him back.

Offensive Line:

This is not being critical of the offensive line, but more trying to figure out what’s going on.

We’ve been doing some random rotations this season, which I haven’t fully understood. It’s starting to make a little more sense.

I’m generally one who believes you find your five best guys and roll.

However, I haven’t seen a massive decline with any specific set of guys. I think it’s been all about getting some rest and experience while providing some flexibility.

It obviously provided some insurance on Saturday when Reed-Adams went out.

Trey Zuhn slid down to center with Fatheree taking his spot and Nabou moving out to the right guard spot.

It sounds like Reed-Adams could have come back in, but there wasn’t a need to with the offensive line doing fine—no need to risk Reed-Adams getting injured any further.

In theory, I like the lineup of Fatheree, Bistontis, Zuhn, Reed-Adams, and Crownover. I don’t know if it’s the most effective, but I think it’s the most talented.

We’re 9-0 and moving the ball while protecting Reed. I’ll leave this up to the coaches and trust their judgment.

The Toys:

While they weren’t the only difference in the game, Concepcion and Craver are still proving to be the biggest difference makers for this offense as a whole.

Their numbers are down from earlier in the season, but it’s clear the opposing defense is targeting them.

Even being targeted, they’re still a threat to take any play to the house.

We saw it with Concepcion’s touchdown catch, but Craver also had a 23-yard reception.

These guys stress the defense just by being on the field. You let one of these guys slip, and it’s a quick score.

Craver could have had a touchdown on a screen pass, but the offensive line was slow to get out in front of him. It was the same play we ran to Concepcion, but we didn’t quite have the timing right. Craver slowed down to let his guys escort him, but the lineman couldn’t get there, and Craver was corralled before he could get sprung.

Curious if we made any adjustments, which is what sprung Concepcion on the same play.

These two guys are just amazing, and that’s why the Aggies will make a run in the postseason.

Opponent’s Offense Defending the Aggie Defense:

While the Aggie defense wasn’t perfect on Saturday as they gave up 219 rushing yards to Missouri’s running backs, this Aggie defense continues to apply massive pressure.

Some of this is due to our offensive ability, which allows us to take more chances on defense, but much of it is due to Mike Elko.

Mike Elko is a master of creating and implementing blitzes.

The Missouri coach alluded to some specifics after the game. Summarizing what he said, it’s complicated to figure out where the pressure is coming from. You think you know what’s coming, but then it’s a different blitz than you’ve seen before.

What you’ve seen on film is not what you’re seeing in your game.

Elko is running unique blitzes every week. Elko is basically an offensive coordinator creating unique plays for his defense every week.

You’re seeing the results of the pressure, but there’s something else its having an effect on it.

Offenses are now having to choose to spend more time on blitz detection or working on their offensive game plan during the week of practice.

Opposing offenses are basically forced to become their own defensive units, trying to figure out where the defensive pressure will come from. The Aggie defense isn’t just loading up the box and bringing the house.

The Aggie defense is a master of disguising where the pressure is coming from.

That’s forcing offenses to decide whether to spend more time on blitz detection or on their weekly game plan.

It would be nice if the Aggie defense could do a better job against the run, but it’s hard to argue with what’s working.

Mike Elko is making the opposing offensive unit play some level of defense against his pressure-packed attack.

Once again, just adding more stress to the opposing team.

Albert Regis:

Special shout-out to Albert Regis. I saw he got his 100th tackle as an Aggie defender.

This dude is getting a little more attention this season, but he’s been a key part of this defense for the last three years.

I know Taurean York gets a lot of attention as being the heart and soul of the defense, but Albert Regis deserves just as much.

I’m not sure how much of an NFL career Regis is going to have, but the dude’s heart and motor have been dialed to maximum in his time in an Aggie uniform.

Dude is going to be a lot to replace next season, so let’s continue to enjoy him for the rest of the season.

Atlanta Conundrum:

I’ve heard some Aggies wonder if it’s in the Aggies’ best interest to go to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game.

I don’t see any negatives.

For the Aggies to get to Atlanta, they’re going to have to go 12-0. I’ve messed with the various scenarios, and if the Aggies lose to South Carolina or Texas, they likely won’t make Atlanta.

Bama, Georgia, Ole Miss, and likely even Texas would go to Atlanta if they all have one SEC loss, along with the Aggies.

There are three scenarios where the Aggies would go to Atlanta with one loss. Two involve Texas or Georgia being the other one-loss team.

We would need Bama to lose to OU and Auburn, and then Ole Miss to lose one of Florida or Mississippi State, to make those two scenarios happen.

Then we would play the winner of Georgia and Texas after losing to Texas.

There’s one other scenario where we play OU, as we’d be the only one-loss team, and OU would be the highest-ranked two-loss team.

That scenario is improbable.

So it’s unlikely the Aggies will make Atlanta with one loss.

I say win out the regular season to go to Atlanta.

Just go 12-0.

I do think that if the Aggies go 12-0 and get to Atlanta, they’ll get a first-round bye.

The CFP has changed, with the highest-ranked teams getting byes and conference championships no longer mattering for byes.

So a 12-1 Aggie team with an SEC Championship loss likely gets a first-round bye.

I also think that if the Aggies go 11-1, they’ll host a first-round playoff game if they miss Atlanta. They won’t get a bye, but they’d likely host a playoff game.

So, pick the one you want:
1) 12-0 with a trip to Atlanta and a CFP bye.
2) 11-1 with no Atlanta, but a first-round CFP game at Kyle.

Give me 12-0 with a chance to win the SEC Championship game all day long.

As cool as being at Kyle for a CFP game would be, I’d rather have one less CFP game, even if it means an extra game in Atlanta.

Let’s just BTHO South Carolina and keep the momentum rolling.

We’ll let the chips fall where they may.

Sponsor Message:

Remember our unofficial sponsors, Nice Ash, for your Fightin’ Texas Aggie stogies, and Old Smokey, for all your grilling needs!

Click each image to visit the website.

What’s Left for the Aggies?

So it’s been over a week since the Aggies beat LSU.

I took some time off from blogging to think more about that win.

Some of it was due to Battered Aggie Syndrome, and some was due to cautious optimism.

I loved every minute of the second half of that LSU game. My problem is that’s precisely what happened last season. We were down at half and stormed back in the second half to beat LSU.

Then, we lost to South Carolina, Auburn, Texas, and USC in the bowl game. In the South Carolina and Texas games, we were pushed around badly.

I’ve spent the last week wondering if we’re about to see the same thing in front of us. Or is this year different from all the November collapses from previous seasons?

I do think it’s different.

This team is different from last year’s and previous teams, dating back to 2020.

We’ve got a seasoned quarterback who seems to be improving each week.  We’ve got a very seasoned offensive line that is doing a good job protecting that quarterback and creating running lanes for a talented group of running backs.

We’re even missing our best running back and still cranking out yards.

We’ve got two dynamic difference makers at receiver.

We’ve got a defense that has hiccups from time to time but can flat out bring pressure and, more often than not, shut down an offense.

Especially if they get them to third and six or longer.

I think the defense is only getting better as the young guys gain more experience.

I do think this team is different than every Aggie team we’ve seen since the 2020 season.

With one more win against our three SEC opponents, we will have punched our ticket to the College Football Playoff.

At worst, our record will be 10-2, which is good enough for the playoffs.

We still control our destiny to go to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game. We even have a slight margin of error: We could lose a game and still make Atlanta. That will all depend on how things shake out for the other SEC teams, who have one loss or less right now.

I’ll get to that later.

We’re sitting real pretty right now.

So now I’m just gonna ramble a little bit.

LSU Game Takeaways:

I have two big takeaways from that LSU game:

  1. The Aggies still have not played a perfect game this season.
  2. That was a REALLY poorly coached LSU team.

The first one excites me, and the second one concerns me.

The Aggies shot themselves in the foot in the first half. Marcel Reed had a really bad interception in the end zone and an unfortunate interception on a tipped ball.

Dezz Ricks committed a really stupid penalty after a third-down stop, which resulted in LSU scoring a touchdown when they should have punted.

We also had another blocked punt near our end zone, which luckily resulted in a safety for LSU instead of a touchdown.

Despite all of that, the Aggies were only down by four at halftime.

Then the Aggies straightened it out and dominated a poorly coached LSU team.

Most people don’t realize this, but the Aggies only attempted three passes in the second half. They decided to confuse the LSU defense with all kinds of looks and run the ball down their throats.

The Aggies used the running game and help from special teams returns to outscore LSU 35-0 in the second half. LSU got a late garbage touchdown, but the Aggies essentially put a 35-0 beatdown on LSU in the second half.

LSU didn’t know what to do. They were lost and clueless. Their defense was running themselves out of plays. Their offense couldn’t respond to being down because the A&M defense unleashed pressure everywhere.

The Aggies had seven total sacks on the night. Garrett Nussmeier couldn’t get comfortable, and the LSU offensive line couldn’t figure out where the pressure was coming from, thanks to the Aggies’ defense disguising who was coming.

It was total domination on both sides of the ball in the second half.

And yet it still wasn’t close to a perfect game.

As much as I am concerned that A&M beat a massively overrated team, I hope this Aggie team will get better.

We’ll find out over the next three and hopefully four SEC games.

Coaching:

I was very critical of Elko and Klein coming into this season.

Specifically, I believed Elko wasn’t involved in the actual game.  I felt Elko was just watching the game with his headset on, yelling at referees, and nothing more.

I felt Klein lacked creativity in his play designs. They were basically some semblance of the same plays over and over again, making it easy for the defense to defend.

Boy, what a difference a year has made.

We heard in the off-season that Elko would be more involved with calling the defense.  That’s been obvious, as our defensive third-down conversion is one of the best in the country.  That’s been an Elko calling card for his defensive coordinator career.

Other than the Notre Dame and Arkansas games, we’ve seen our defense clamp down in the second half, another hallmark of an Elko-led defense.

Effective halftime adjustments.

I have no clue why he was so hands-off on the defense last season. He seems to be fine handling the head coaching duties and helping call defensive plays this season.

I hope he continues to do it, as it seems to have made a massive difference on defense this season.

As for the offense and Collin Klein, I know he got two new toys in Concepcion and Craver. I also know he has a more seasoned line and quarterback.

However, his play design has been COMPLETELY different this season compared to last season. Maybe it’s because he felt he lacked the talent last season and was forced to be conservative.

This offense is night and day from last season. I can’t believe it’s the same coordinator from last season.

The pre-snap motion is more complex this season, and most importantly, the use of jet sweeps is confusing defenses on how to defend us at the line of scrimmage.

Defenses can’t just focus on between the tackles when defending the run. They have to worry about guys in motion getting the ball and getting outside.

I know we tried it with Bussey a few times last year, and it rarely worked, but it’s highly effective this year. Maybe it’s just the talent of Concepcion and Craver running the ball.

The routes we’re running are very complementary and getting guys open.

Again, maybe it’s just having the talent to do these things effectively, but I have to credit Klein for running an explosive offense.

While our defense has been sporadic, our offense has been the most consistent unit so far this season, especially since the Florida game.

I also have to credit Elko for letting Klein mash the gas with his offense. Many defensive head coaches would tell their offensive coordinator to be a little more conservative, but it’s clear Elko is letting Klein try to score as much as possible.

I think it also allows Elko to be a little more aggressive in his defensive play calling when we’ve got a lead.

Elko said something really interesting about the Arkansas game. Arkansas never had the ball in the second half, when they could have tied or taken the lead.

They were always playing two scores down. I think that’s why Elko kept the pressure up, hoping for that knockout punch rather than moving to a more conservative defense.

We’ll see what happens the rest of the way. I think Elko and Klein have adapted this season to definitely get us in the College Football Playoff. There’s also a good chance we’ll be in Atlanta on the first Saturday in December.

College Football Playoff Poll:

The first CFP poll comes out on Tuesday night, and there’s zero doubt the Aggies will be in the top four. I’m curious where they land, as they could even be in the top one or two.

I think Ohio State and Indiana will be number one and two, simply because they have been more consistent in their winning.

We can debate their competition all we want, but they’ve looked better winning than the Aggies in all of their games.

The Aggies have plenty of opportunity to polish their resume and overcome one of, if not both of, those teams.

Let’s keep winning and let our play speak for itself the rest of the way.  It’s too early to worry about what a collection of idiots thinks about specific rankings.

Winning will take care of itself.

How Likely is Atlanta?

I’m not gonna lie. I’m a little concerned about getting to Atlanta.

Sure, some of its BAS. However, much of it is because chaos is the usual rule of order for college football in November.

It’s tough to go undefeated, and you’re actually better off getting in a loss early on.

How far away does the Bama loss against FSU look right now? Ironically enough, how far away does LSU’s win over Clemson that first week look now?

Bama fans were contemplating firing their coach, and LSU was making plans for Miami in January.

Now, each team has flipped its view from that first week. LSU fired its coach, and Bama is looking at Miami in January.

Things can change in a hurry in college football.

Obviously, if we win out, we’ll be in Atlanta and probably get a bye week in the playoffs. At worst, we’ll be hosting a playoff game at Kyle as a very high seed.

If we lose a game, it will depend on who we lose it against.

Right now, Bama and the Aggies have no losses, while Ole Miss, Georgia, and Texas have one loss each.

Georgia and Texas are going to eliminate one of themselves in two weeks.

I think Ole Miss wins out.  Georgia wins out in the SEC if it gets by Texas. I don’t think Georgia loses to Mississippi State.  That’ll leave at least two teams with one loss.

I think Bama wins out, but OU and maybe even LSU could trip them up.  Either way, they have a margin for error like the Aggies.  

I’ve looked at the SEC Championship game tie-breaker rules, and I get tired head. It’s a six-step process that will likely come down to common opponents and records.

It will be an absolute mess if three or four teams have one loss.

It’s best if the Aggies win out and avoid trying to figure out who goes based on various opponents’ records and match-ups.

I do think the Aggies can win out, but two things concern me:

  1. The previously mentioned November chaos.
  2. The Aggies haven’t played a stinker of a game yet. They haven’t played a perfect game, but haven’t played a stinker, which is why they’re undefeated.

Maybe there’s no stinker game this season. The history of sports says there could be, which bothers me more than anything right now.

Mizzou doesn’t scare me as much with their starting QB out. South Carolina doesn’t scare me either, and I think having an early game at Kyle benefits us.

I have no clue what to think about Texas.  They’ve finally got their offense in gear over the last five quarters. I don’t know if that’s sustainable against a defense that can bring pressure.

We’ll learn a lot in two weeks when they go to Athens.

I want to look forward, but I just can’t.

Let’s get through Mizzou and South Carolina.

Then we can look at the map to Atlanta.

Sponsor Message:

Remember our unofficial sponsors, Nice Ash, for your Fightin’ Texas Aggie stogies, and Old Smokey, for all your grilling needs!

Click on each image for the website.

Thoughts from the Arkansas Game

I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that, even after leaving Jerry World, an Aggie versus Razorback game wouldn’t be very “exciting.”

It turns out wild games can happen in Fayetteville just like in Arlington. I never doubted an Aggie win on Saturday night, but we only knew for sure when Arkansas tried an onside kick with a few seconds left on the clock.

The series with the Razorbacks has been exciting since we joined the SEC.

I have two main sets of takeaways from that game.

Set 1:

  1. That Arkansas defense is really bad. I do think the Aggie offense is pretty good but man that Arkansas defense is bad.
  2. Taylen Green might be the best quarterback in the SEC. He’s what LeNorris Sellers is supposed to be. He’s certainly the best running quarterback in the SEC. Kid is good even if Arkansas’ record doesn’t show it.

Set 2:

Despite being 7-0, the Aggies still haven’t done two things.

  1. Played a perfect game.
  2. Played a stinker of a game.

I’m not sure what to make of the fact in seven games the Aggies have played seven imperfect games and found a way to win. It’s a remarkable accomplishment and says a lot about the players and staff.

Above all else, they’re winning and that’s what matters when it’s all said and done.

My hope is there’s still improvement and not regression. However, maybe this team is just one of those teams that can’t help but make mistakes yet still find a way to win.

I’m not complaining that we’re 7-0. I just would have liked a couple of games where it was clear from the start the other team stood no chance of winning.

It looked that way early on when the Aggies took a 21-6 lead scoring touchdowns on their first three possession while the Aggie defense kept the Arkansas offense out of the end zone on their first three possessions.

Since it was Arkansas, I should have known it would swing the other way. We’ve somehow always found a way to beat Arkansas since joining the SEC, but we’ve never made it easy.

Don’t know why I expected different on Saturday night.

Offense:

The offense on Saturday night was like a kid playing with their food. They seemed bored but knew what they had and could do.

They had no real issues against the Arkansas defense and pretty much imposed their will most of the game.

They had a few series where they struggled, but for the most part, the Aggies moved up and down the field on a bad Arkansas defense.

Look no more than the three fourth down conversions in the game. The Aggies only needed a yard on each of them but they had no real issues other than EJ Smith getting popped right at the line of scrimmage but he kept moving and got the conversion.

Other defenses might have stopped us but not this Arkansas defense.

Marcel Reed was really efficient for most of the game only missing a few balls. This was probably his best game passing yet.

Reuben Owens didn’t have a dominant effort but he was very productive. EJ Smith had a great night backing up Owens.

The receiving corps all got involved thanks to the Arkie defense focusing on Craver and Concepcion. They especially seemed to focus on Craver.

Speaking of Craver, he’s starting to remind me of a Devon Achane type player. He’s so small and effortless you don’t realize how easily he picks up yards. We all know Craver is fast but the dude runs through contact much better than you would think for his size. He doesn’t go down easily and keeps fighting for yards.

He’s become the focus of defenses. I’d love to find a way to get him the ball more even if it’s at the line of scrimmage or shorter routes. I love Concepcion, but Craver is the biggest weapon on this offense.

He’s a true threat for a big play anytime he touches the ball.

Concepcion is the ultimate possession receiver. The dude runs fantastic routes and sets up his defender really well. His touchdown catch was a perfect example of that. His defender didn’t know which way he was going to break coming off the line. After Concepcion set him up and made his move, he was wide open and Reed hit him.

We won on Saturday night because of a total offensive effort but these two guys remain the reason this offense looks so much different than last year.

Shout out to Bethel-Roman who had two great catches including a touchdown on perfectly thrown balls by Reed.

I thought the offensive line continued to look really good. Not dominant by any stretch but they’re doing just fine. Reed continues to have a great idea of where pressure is coming from and moving away from it.

Reed and the offensive line are working really well together to keep the defense from getting sacks.

I thought Klein called a really good game. He had enough wrinkles and knew how to straight up attack the Arkie defense. It helped he had the better players on his side of the ball, but he deserves credit for taking advantage of it in a smart way.

My only beef with him is he’s gone real conservative at the end of the first half in some games this season.

He did it again on Saturday night.

I don’t know if that’s an Elko directive, but we’ve had a few series right before the end of the first half where it looks like the only goal is to burn clock and punt.

They’re hoping the defense gives them a first down but they’re not running any plays that have a real chance of catching the defense by surprise.

An easy three and out for the defense.

That three and out led to an Arkansas touchdown right before the half changing the momentum of the game.

Still, it’s hard to complain about an offense that put up 45 points and should have had seven more if not for a ticky tack holding call.

Keep doing what you’re doing.

Defense:

Arkansas came out on their first series of the game just moving down the field on the Aggie defense. Once they got near the goal line, the Aggie defense bowed up and held Arkansas to a field goal.

They kept Arkansas from converting a fourth down at midfield on the second series and then another field goal on the third series.

Things were looking good but then the wheels fell off the Aggie defense.

Arkansas would score two touchdowns on consecutive drives right before the end of the half to make it 21-20.

In the second half, the Aggie defense gave up three touchdowns in five possessions to the Arkansas offense.

The Aggie defense reverted back to its form from the first three games. They were in the wrong position and struggled to get ball carriers down on first contact.

In defense of the Aggies, that’s a pretty good Arkie offense and we all know Petrino can dial up plays.

Still, the Aggie defense is better than that.

At least I hope.

The biggest problem in my mind was the amount of pressure the Aggies were bringing. I get why they were doing it because of how our offense was playing. It looked like Elko was looking for the knock out punch but it never landed.

It came close a couple of times but Arkansas would rip off a big run or pass to gain back the yards they lost.

Live by the blitz, die by the blitz.

Our decision to attack on defense left our second level completely exposed. Once Arkansas got the ball beyond the line of scrimmage either by running or passing, there were very few Aggie defenders so Arkansas was ripping off big gains.

Look no further than 4th and 5 from the Arkansas 12 yard line with less than three minutes left in the game. The Aggies brought pressure from their left side but they didn’t keep an edge on their right side. Green was able to slip around that edge and had nothing but open field in front of him.

With a running quarterback like Green, you can never let him have the edge or he’ll burn you. Especially in that situation. A fourth down stop there ends the game.

We got aggressive and got burned.

That’s some on the players, but that’s a lot on coaching for not drilling into to the edge player opposite the pressure side to stay home and don’t get sucked inside.

Once a guy like Green has cleared the edge, he’s going to burn you with his feet.

We did a great job applying pressure all night as we had 34 pressures and four sacks on a very mobile quarterback. Green never got fully comfortable in the pocket.

But still, the burns were really bad.

I don’t really fault the game plan in trying to land the knockout punch, but at the same time, there has to be criticism when the other team scores 42 points including five touchdowns.

Seemed pretty clear Elko was looking for a big turnover or stop but credit to Arkansas for not fully succumbing to the Aggie pressure.

Not one defensive player stood out to me on Saturday as everyone had issues at one point or another. Howell failed to seal the edge a couple times and the linebackers were often out of position.

The secondary did okay but they seemed pretty confused in their coverage at times.

Hopefully, both the staff and players learned from this effort. I’m not sure we’ll see another offense like Arkansas unless we face Alabama in the SEC Championship game.

If we do face another dynamic offense, I hope we either dial the pressure back a bit or execute it flawlessly.

We can’t do what we did in Fayetteville from a defensive standpoint and expect to win again.

Looking Forward:

It’s obvious the Aggies can win out. Every team left on this schedule is very beatable based on what we’ve seen from the teams this season.

That doesn’t mean the Aggies will. Big difference between “they can do it” and “they will do it.”

It’s not my Battered Aggie Syndrome either. It’s the simple fact playing in the SEC is a grind. Especially, on the road. Even more at night.

We’ve got night games in Baton Rouge and Austin.

I do think the Aggies are going to have to be perfect to get to Atlanta. I don’t think Alabama or Georgia lose another game the rest of the way.

They’re both playing really good ball. Especially Alabama. They’re hands down the best team in the SEC right now. Likely the country. That Florida State loss is a LONG time ago.

I think Alabama will remain undefeated and walk into the SEC Championship game.

If the Aggies lose a game, I’m not sure how the tiebreaker with Georgia would work.

I don’t want to find out. Just win out and make it a moot point on figuring out who has whatever tiebreaker according to the seven page SEC tie breaker document.

We lose two games and there’s no Atlanta.

Before thinking that far, we have to do something we’ve never done since joining the SEC – win in Baton Rouge.

Based on how the two teams are playing, I think it’s entirely possible the Aggies get that milestone on Saturday night. I’m not saying they will, but there’s a reason we’re a slight favorite even Baton Rouge. We’re playing better football right now even if it’s imperfect.

As for the rest of the schedule; I’d like to think the floor is 10-2.

If you had told me before the season started we would go 10-2, I would have been ecstatic.

However, after being where we are and the current state of the Aggies and the remaining teams, it would be a massive disappointment.

If we somehow go the dreaded 8-4 losing the final four SEC games, we need to disband the football program all together.

I’m dead serious. Quit wasting money on a football program that’s CLEARLY destined for mediocracy. Send the money we usually waste on Aggie Football to Special Olympics. Those athletes would be more deserving.

I don’t think 8-4 happens, but this is Aggie Football we’re talking about.

We can temper expectations all we want, but the reality is there’s not an Aggie fan anywhere that’s not filled with hope right now.

And I don’t mean some hope. I mean lots of hope. We’re sitting here like General Sherman looking at a map to Atlanta.

We’ve been waiting for this.

As much as I want to talk more about what could happen over the next five games, I can’t.

Seven games has shown us that we’re a really good football team with some imperfections. We’re better than most of the teams in college football but we’re certainly not infallible.

Maybe we find that gear that puts us closer to perfection. Maybe we don’t.

There’s no way to tell other than one thing – let’s win in Baton Rouge on Saturday night and then worry about what comes after that.

BTHO LSU

Sponsor Message:

Remember our unofficial sponsors, Nice Ash, for your Fightin’ Texas Aggie stogies, and Old Smokey, for all your grilling needs!

Click on each image for the website.

Thoughts from the Florida Game

This is another fairly quick write-up this week, mainly because there’s not much to complain about, which I’m not complaining about.

My biggest question about the game that won’t be answered is why Billy Napier left the track meet game in the first quarter. Florida had two beautiful drives, during which they scored touchdowns, making the game 14-14.

Texas A&M scored a touchdown on their third possession to go up 21-14, and then Florida took their fourth possession but suffered a three-and-out, having to punt.

It was that moment when the game’s style changed. Both sides seemed to want to slow it down for whatever reason. It went from a Big 12 shootout game to a traditional SEC game over who could win the line of scrimmage.

It seemed like Napier did it first, and Elko was happy to follow suit.

I don’t get why Napier did it. His only chance of beating A&M on the road was to get into a track meet game. He has the horses with Lagway and his receivers, which were shown on their two touchdown drives.

It seemed like Napier thought he could switch gears and grind out a victory like he did against Texas the prior week.

He was wrong because the Aggie defense continued to shine and basically shut down the Florida offense for the rest of the game.

The Florida offense had 150 yards on those two touchdown drives. They had 169 yards the rest of the game. When Napier decided to tap on the brakes of his offense, the Aggie defense just pushed back.

This is the third consecutive game in which the Aggie defense has stepped up and exerted its will against an SEC opponent. Florida scored 14 points in the first quarter and three points the rest of the game.

Meanwhile, thanks to that 21-14 lead and the Aggie defense stepping up, the Aggie offense slowed things down and looked to wear down the Florida offense. It mostly worked as the Aggies pulled away in the fourth quarter.

The big dagger was the 50-yard drive, during which the Aggies ran 12 plays with only one pass. The other 11 plays were runs, during which the Aggies chewed up eight minutes of clock and put the game away.

Florida wasn’t likely winning that game, but that 50-yard drive made any chance of a comeback obsolete.

I was very critical of Elko after last season’s late collapse, but I have to give the man credit—halfway through this season, this team looks completely different from last season. It really does.

This was by far the Aggies’ most complete game so far, but it was far from perfect. Marcel Reed threw a terrible interception in the second half, and the Aggie defense was driven on for two drives in the first quarter.

But at the end of the day, the Aggies beat a very talented Florida team. That wasn’t an easy win, but the Aggies made it look fairly easy.

I’m optimistic because the Aggies have yet to play a perfect game. They have yet to play a stinker of a game, but we’re winning while overcoming mistakes. That’s the sign of a good football team.

Here are some random things from the game.

Marcel Reed:

Marcel Reed is not getting enough credit for the quality of football he’s playing.

Sure, he’s a little erratic throwing the ball sometimes, but the dude is playing excellent football. He started off the game completing his first eight passes for 160 yards. That included an absolute money throw to Mario Craver that covered 60 yards in the air, if not more.

That throw set the tone for the game and let Florida know we were prepared to respond to anything they could do on the night.

Reed was a little erratic the rest of the game, going 8 for 18, including that interception, but he was pretty good at keeping the Aggies out of trouble.

The best part of Reed’s games is his pocket awareness. The offensive line gives Reed plenty of time to throw, but Reed’s ability to sense pressure to move and reset is outstanding.

Reed will have to continue to adapt, as it’s clear that teams will try to remove Concepcion and Craver from the picture. A little more on that later.

Defensive Third Downs:

During Mike Elko’s time as a defensive coordinator in Aggieland, he was really good at getting off the field on third downs.

We weren’t that great last season, and the first three games this season. Since the SEC play, Mike Elko’s calling card has been back. On Saturday night, the Gators went one for ten on third downs. Florida attempted to convert one fourth down and wasn’t successful.

SEC teams are 2 for 33 on third downs and 0 for 3 on fourth downs.

That is crazy. I don’t know if the Aggies can keep that up, especially on the road. Still, Elko and the defense are doing a tremendous job of anticipating what the opposing offense wants to do or setting them up for difficult conversion distances.

Daymion Sanford:

Sanford led the team in tackles and once again was all over the field making the plays.

I’m not sure it’s a coincidence that the defense has looked different with him starting and playing meaningful minutes.

The defense has definitely worked together to improve from the first three games, but he’s an obvious variable.

I know Scooby is healthy, and you hate to see guys lose their starting spot and playing time due to an injury. However, you can’t take Sanford off the field with the way he’s playing.

York has also been better in the last three games than in the first three games.

Maybe it’s just the competition, but there’s definitely something to Sanford bringing a different element to this defense.

Offensive Line:

The offensive line shuffling continued on Saturday night. I don’t know what’s happening, but Elko and Cushing are still trying to figure out who the best five guys are.

I think they believe it’s Fatheree and Crownover at tackle with Zuhn at center.

I say that because the center is getting the most rotation.

I’m good with trying it because Zuhn is likely an interior lineman at the next level. Crownover has definitely improved, and if we can get Fatheree anywhere near his freshman level of play, this will be a better offensive line.

They’re doing a decent job right now, but there’s room for improvement.

Penalties:

Technically, the Aggies had three penalties for 30 yards called on them Saturday night. In reality, they didn’t have any penalties called on them.

The first was a delay of game, during which the offense was clearly trying to get the Florida defense to jump offsides. The five-yard penalty meant nothing.

The second penalty was the excessive celebration penalty after the fumble recovery in the fourth quarter. That was the final dagger for Florida’s chance to win, so the game was over.

And the final penalty was on Florida’s final drive when they had zero chance of winning.

I don’t expect the Aggies to play penalty-free football every game, but it was great to see after what happened against Auburn and Mississippi State.

If the Aggies can play mostly penalty-free football, they’ll likely advance to Atlanta and the CFP.

The lack of penalties is far and away the most significant development from this game.

Punt penalty:

In the second quarter, Florida punted a ball that went 66 yards and wound up at the Aggie 18-yard line. On the play, Florida was called for a facemask.

A&M had the option of taking the ball at the Aggie 33-yard line or pushing the Gators back to their 7-yard line and punting again.

Elko correctly pushed Florida back and made them punt again. The second punt went 36 yards to the Florida 43-yard line. That gained the Aggies 24 yards.

I feel like Elko would have just taken the ball at the 33-yard line last season.

It’s minor, but I’m glad to see Elko fully aware and making wise decisions rather than just being conservative.

Third Receiver:

It’s obvious that teams are scheming to slow down Concepcion and Craver. Those two guys are seeing double and bracketed coverage, which will leave someone else open, so someone needs to step up.

I’d love it if Terry Bussey finally took that step, but I just don’t know. He and Bethel-Roman had zero receptions on Saturday night despite playing a good portion of the evening.

We’re halfway through the season, with opportunity knocking, and these guys have yet to produce anything meaningful.

The tight ends had a good night, catching eight balls for 88 yards. That’s a great night for them. Maybe they’ll be the guys to step up with the focus on Concepcion and Craver.

If the Aggies can find someone to take advantage of the defense’s focus on Concepcion and Craver, this offense would reach the next level.

Running Back:

We lost Le’veon Moss on Saturday night for a few games.

As you saw on his touchdown run, he’s head and shoulders above our other running backs. That doesn’t mean our other running backs are bad; it’s just a statement of how good Moss is.

Owens struggled up the middle on Saturday night, but he didn’t have any runs for losses to his credit. Up the middle is not his strength, but he can at least grind out some yards. He’s just not going to create yards after contact like Moss can.

I’m cautiously excited about Jamarion Morrow. He’s a true freshman but looks to have some real talent. He’s really compact and strong.

If he grows up quickly, the Aggie offense can keep rolling.

Everyone close to the program thinks Morrow can be an absolute stud. I hope he proves them correct.

Overall:

It’s hard to question much from this game. Sure, a few things could have been better, but the Aggies played their most complete game of the season by a large margin.

It shows serious improvement at the halfway mark.

Looking Forward:

We have two really tough road games the next two weeks.  

We travel to Fayetteville, where Bobby Petrino will make his first home appearance as the Arkansas head coach. The team and fans will be fired up for this game.

Don’t let their 2-4 record fool you. They’re two late fumbles away from being 4-2 and potentially 5-1 as they only lost to Tennessee by three points last week.

After Fayetteville, we travel to Baton Rouge for a night game. I don’t need to waste words on the challenge that will be.

Let’s see what happens in Fayetteville before we get too far ahead of ourselves for what could be for the rest of the season.

I like what I’m seeing, but we’ve got six games left, and they’ll be the most challenging five games of the season, other than the Notre Dame game.

Let’s hope this is a different Aggie team than we’ve seen in the past.