Month: October 2020

Thoughts From the Florida Game

What a win for the Fightin’ Texas Aggies on Saturday. What. A. Win.

I won’t say that’s a statement win just yet. There are still 7 games left and the wheels could fall off of this season. It’s certainly a game that will shut the Jimbo detractors up for at least a month. Hopefully it does it for eternity where we look back at this game as the day Jimbo made the definitive statement the Aggies have officially arrived.

I’ve been saying this for a while – one of the most important things Jimbo can do to Make Aggie Football Great Again is make Kyle Field a true home field advantage. Kevin Sumlin was terrible at it. For whatever reason Sumlin seemed to win his big games on the road and completely spit the bit at Kyle Field. If the Aggies are truly going to return to a perennial Top 10 team they must win at Kyle Field way more than they lose. Kyle Field must be a definitive home field advantage.

Jimbo Fisher is now 7-2 in SEC games at Kyle Field. The two losses are against Alabama and Auburn last season so they’re not terrible losses. I like the trend so far and hope he can keep it up. If I had to choose one of beating Bama in Tuscaloosa or Florida at Kyle I’d take beating Florida at Kyle all day long this season.

I don’t think people understand the importance of making Kyle Field a true home field advantage. Other than recruiting and developing talent it’s the most important thing Jimbo Fisher can do to sustain long term success as the Aggie head coach.

On Saturday it was a home field advantage without doubt. Dan Mullen commented on it but it’s impressive in the era of COVID for Kyle Field to help decide the outcome of the game. That’s a testament to not only the students but the way the team fought back. The students feed off the team and vice versa. If the team didn’t kept fighting against the Florida Gators then the students aren’t yelling as loud. If the students aren’t yelling, the defense might not have a found the will to make a much needed stop on Florida’s final drive. It’s a beneficial relationship that needs both giving it their all. That was certainly on display Saturday.

Before I get to the specific units everyone needs to remember the Aggies weren’t even close to playing a perfect game. They had some stupid penalties which could have ended Florida scoring drives. Jimbo and his staff had coaching brain farts. Our running backs put the ball on the ground a couple of times with one of those almost costing us the game. We also got burned repeatedly through the air.

Other than the late fumble I think Florida played almost a perfect game yet still lost. That is thanks to the 12^th Man, the talent on this team, and the resiliency by the coaching staff to keep pushing forward to a win.

This whole team can still improve which is a good sign. They have yet to play their best game where the defense and offense are taking care of the opposition.

Hopefully they’re still developing to that point. There’s not a game on this schedule they can’t win. They can also lose 2 to 3 games if they don’t stay focused. Hopefully this team understands there’s still work to do and they haven’t yet arrived.

They’re close but they’re not there yet.

Let’s get to the units:

Offense:

I’m starting with the side that played almost a perfect game. Take away the two fumbles and there’s not much more you can ask of this unit. This is the offense Jimbo has been working towards and it finally clicked. Hopefully it keeps clicking.

Offensive Line:

I’ve been the most critical of these guys over the last two seasons. What they did on Saturday was nothing short of remarkable. They ground down the Florida defense and imposed their will when it mattered most. Florida might not be as talented as Alabama or Georgia defensively but they’re damn good. They’ve got some legit talent in their Front 7 and the Aggie offensive line imposed their will.

I can’t say enough good things about these guys from Saturday. They weren’t perfect but they were the key to this victory. If we didn’t run the ball like we did on Saturday we never have a chance to win this game. We ran the ball because the offensive line took care of the Florida front 7. It was impressive.

From a pass blocking standpoint they gave Kellen enough time to throw. They’re not dominant like the 2012 offensive line who gave Johnny time to make sammiches in the pocket but they gave Kellen a pocket he could step up in. Kellen and this line were pretty in sync where he had a pocket and knew when he needed to step up to buy a little more time. They worked well together on Saturday.

The unsung heroes of this line are the running backs and tight ends. They’ve done a tremendous job in either picking up blitzes or chipping at the line of scrimmage before going into their routes. They do a tremendous job of helping slow down the defensive pressure so the offensive line is not overwhelmed. Everyone seems to know their assignments and can read the defense. This has changed drastically how this unit is performing from last season. Last season they were often lost on who and how to block.

I sure hope these guys can keep this up because I’d love nothing more than to eat a big plate of crow at the end of this season. I’ll happily eat a little bit right now as I didn’t think they had Saturday’s game in them. I’m very happy to be wrong about these guys so far. Keep it up, fellas.

Kellen Mond:

This was the Kellen Mond Jimbo has been building. Like the offensive line I’m shocked to see it and glad I’m wrong. He played his best game in an Aggie uniform by far. I don’t know if he can keep this up but maybe this is the confidence boost he’s been needing.

He was 25 for 35 for 338 yards with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. That’s not perfect but it’s DAMN good. We’ll take that stat line from Kellen Mond every damn game. I don’t know if he can repeat this the rest of the season but I don’t know why he can’t either.

We’ll just have to see.

If I have one complaint it’s his lack of running ability. He took off on a couple runs but didn’t gain many yards because he doesn’t have enough shake. He’s got good straight line speed but he needs some space to get a couple strides going. He’s certainly not an elusive runner which may explain his desire to stay in the pocket rather than take off.

If he can keep passing like he did on Saturday we won’t need his running ability.

Running Back:

Isaiah Spiller was a complete stud on Saturday. You can’t say enough about this guy. He rushed for 174 yards on 27 carries to average 6.4 yards per carry. His longest run was for 23 yards so that means he was just grinding out yards finding holes and getting yards after contact. He didn’t get most of his yards on a few long carries. The dude was taking the rock and finding space and making defenders pay for contact. He put the ball on the ground once early in the game but he tightened up when it mattered most. It was a remarkable effort.

He didn’t have a signature run so his performance might not seem that impressive. It was impressive. He had a will and he just kept moving the ball forward. I’m not sure how good he can be but we’re talking about a guy playing in his 16^th game as a true sophomore. He’s still young and seems to get better every game. Keep on keeping on, Isaiah.

Early in the game I was a little frustrated at Jimbo for not using Ainias Smith more from a running standpoint. Jimbo was right and I was wrong. He leaned on Isaiah and it paid off. There’s a reason I get paid nothing to write this blog and Jimbo pulls in a cool $7.5 million a year. I’m fine with it.

If Spiller and the offensive line can repeat Saturday it’s going to do wonders for this team.

Wide Receiver:

Holy hell. We finally completed not one but TWO deep balls to a wide receiver in SEC play. For one game Jimbo showed us he knows how to use a receiver on a deep route.

Caleb Chapman had the game of his young Aggie career catching 9 balls for 151 yards and 2 touchdowns. He saved the best for last catching a beautiful 51-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 38 late in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, he tore is ACL on that play and is out for the rest of the season. Hopefully there’s some guys on the roster that can pick up where Caleb left off.

I don’t think it’s coincidence we had our best game on the ground in the same game we hit two deep balls. Those two things work together causing a defense to defend the entire field. It’s all a balancing act.

As for the other receivers they were pretty productive as well. Jimbo really stuck with Chapman, Ainias, Wydermyer, and Chase Lane for the whole game. There weren’t a lot of substitutions at receiver.

Each of those guys caught 4-5 balls for around 50 yards each. That’s solid when you can equally spread out 3 guys for ~15 completions and 150 yards between them. That keeps the defense having to defend the whole field and can’t key in on any single person. It’s also a strong statement to Mond he was either reading the defense well or he was just spreading the ball around making plays to keep the defense honest.

I like what I’ve seen out of these guys. I certainly like this unit better than last season’s unit but we need to keep developing. We need someone to step up for Chapman in a big way. Hopefully it’s time for Demas to finally step in and live up to his promise. If it’s not Demas I hope it’s someone else. We need the deep threat.

Overall:

I don’t see a reason why this offense can’t come close to replicating this performance every game. They’ve actually done it all three games this season. Against Florida they just didn’t make the mistakes they did against Vandy and Bama as it relates to turnovers and dropped passes. It’s that simple. Don’t make mistakes and this offense can win games for this team.

Defense:

This defense is much better than they showed on Saturday which gives me some hope. Dan Mullen is an outstanding coach with an outstanding quarterback. They had a great game plan for our defense. They were really balanced and used a lot of mid level crossing routes and running backs out of the backfield to sustain drives.

It seemed we were pretty committed to shutting down the running game along with not letting Kyle Pitts beat us. It was a sound strategy by Mike Elko but Dan Mullen utilized other weapons to keep drives going down the field. I’m not sure we’ll see an offense better prepared for this defense for the rest of the season except when we play Ole Miss and Auburn.

We missed a lot of tackles on Saturday which his really unlike this defense. I’m really hoping it was related to Dan Mullen’s scheme where our guys were just a tick slow diagnosing plays. Tackling is physical but it’s also a little mental. When you’ve diagnosed the play and in the right position it’s a lot easier to make tackles.

My biggest concern for this defense is not having a repeat of when we beat Tennessee at home in 2016. They missed a ton of tackles in that game and had to be bailed out by the offense. The John Chavis lead defenses never seemed to be the same after that game. It’s not a big concern I have with Elko but it is something to be mindful of. This team is capable of tackling better and they need to get back to it in coming games.

Defensive Line:

This unit is a little boring but I still believe they’re as solid as they come. They’re still looking for that dominant playmaker but the way Leal and Clemons flash at times I have some hope. Tyree Johnson is getting more playing time which I think is a good thing to keep guys fresher so they can flash

It would be nice for one of these guys to break out and start playing like Daylon Mack, Demontre Moore, Justin Madibuike, or even half of what Myles Garrett was. We need someone who on a play can just decimate the offensive line and get a sack or big tackle for a loss. I’m thinking DeMarvin Leal is the most likely as he’s still a true sophomore learning his role on this defense. He’s just so versatile right now playing all over the defensive line. Once the positions become second nature to him I think you’re going to start seeing this guy dominate offensive lines like those names I mentioned.

Now that we’re beyond Alabama and Florida I’m wondering if Donnell Harris starts getting some snaps to see if he has the raw pass rush talent most people seem to think he has. If we can add true edge pressure in passing situations it’ll be a major boost for this defense and their struggles to get off the field on third downs.

This unit plays a little boring but make no mistake they’re the core of this defensive unit. This unit allows Elko to focus on the other areas that need help.

Linebacker:

These guys are much like the defensive line. They’re solid without being flashy and dominant. Buddy Johnson lead the team in tackles which shouldn’t be a surprise. Aaron Hansford has looked good as has Andre White Jr. We certainly need to upgrade the overall talent with this unit but these guys are really serviceable for now.

If there’s one complaint it’s Buddy Johnson really struggles covering running backs out of the backfield. Alabama was successful doing it and Florida continued it. He’s not terrible at recognizing it but he’s just a step behind covering it because he’s built to be a run stopper and not cover running backs. I think getting Erick Young back and not having a defense focused on defending Alabama’s receivers or a guy like Kyle Pitts will help Buddy. If not, Buddy is going to continue to see situations where he’s responsible for a running back flaring out of the backfield which is a bad mis-match for us.

I’m curious if Antonio Doyle will start getting snaps like Donnell Harris. He’s a true freshman as well with All SEC talent. Hopefully he can add some depth and talent to the team this year as it’s still needed.

Secondary:

Dan Mullen doesn’t have the same weapons as Alabama but he does have an accurate quarterback who makes smart decisions. Florida had 8 receivers catch 23 passes for 312 yards and 4 touchdowns. We did a really good job limiting Kyle Pitts but I think it opened up Trask to just find the open guy which he did most of the game.

The worst performer of the day for this unit was Leon O’Neal. For all the good things he did in the first two games he didn’t do it in this game. He had two REALLY stupid personal fouls. He also got picked on for three touchdowns. One was to Kyle Pitts which isn’t a terrible thing to have happen but the other two it seemed like Florida knew they could fool O’Neal in coverage and took advantage. He let his emotions get the best of him and that can’t happen. Hopefully Jimbo and Elko can get him settled down and let him play to his talent. We don’t need this guy regressing as he’s a key component of this defense if his head is screwed on correctly.

As for the rest of the secondary they were all equal offenders it seems. Florida simply did a good job of flooding the secondary with a lot of crossing routes. Since we can’t generate a pass rush Kyle Trask simply had time to find the guy our secondary wasn’t covering. It’s not a huge knock on our defense but just more of a masterful job by Mullen and Trask attacking our secondary in a smart way.

Demani Richardson is still the heart and soul of this unit. Jaylon Jones does seem to be getting better every game. It’ll be nice to get Erick Young back at some point this season. The talent is there to improve.

Overall:

I still believe in Mike Elko and this defensive unit. I think we simply have seen them against a REALLY good offensive team in Alabama and a very good offensive mind and quarterback in Mullen and Trask. This unit is going to get tested on Saturday against Mike Leach but I think they’ll be fine. Leach got his surprise game against LSU and defenses have an idea of how to defend his Air Raid. The team that scares me the most right now is Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss team as they’re putting up points against everyone they’ve played.

Let’s get past Mississippi State first and then we’ll let the rest of the season play out. There’s still plenty of time to improve the young talent on this defense.

Looking Forward:

At this point I think this is a 7-3 football team at worst. That’s a HUGE improvement from the first two games.

I don’t expect us to win out even though it’s possible. We still play in the SEC and this is a pretty inexperienced team with a very inconsistent quarterback. I really expect us to go 6-1 finishing up at 8-2. That will likely put as the second-best team in the SEC West. While I’d love to go 9-1, if you’d told me after the first two games we’d wind up 8-2 I would have asked how to nail that record down. I’m not going to get greedy from a record standpoint just yet.

This is a good football team. We saw that on Saturday and have seen glimpses against Vandy and Bama. We just don’t know how consistent they can be.

We’ll just have to see how the season plays out. It sure looks a lot different this week than it did this time last week. Fine by me.

Make Aggie Football Great Again.

#MAFGA

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Thoughts on the Alabama Game

This week’s write up won’t be as long as normal. This Texas A&M team was never beating Alabama. Sure, there was technically a chance but Alabama is still immensely talented coming off a 2 loss season. All Nick Saban does after a 2 loss season is win a national championship. There’s a good chance this Alabama team doesn’t lose a game all year. Texas A&M losing to Bama on Saturday will be like 13 other teams this season.

Still, you wish the Aggies could have been more competitive. There was a fleeting moment when the score was 14-14 and it looked like the Aggies might compete. Saban quickly squashed that. Going into halftime the game was pretty much done.

Defense:

Normally I start with the offense but I’m going to start with the defense this week. I’m not going to do unit breakdowns like I normally do either.

Nick Saban and his staff did an outstanding job of understating the strength and weakness of the Aggie defense. As we know it’s a strong unit up front but suspect to the pass. It’s better against the pass than in years past but it’s still got a ways to go. There are still holes in this secondary.

Alabama basically used the run to not only set up the pass but set up deep balls. It was a marvelous job of coaching. For the most part the Aggie defense bottled up the run. Bama rushed 28 times for 109 yards and two scores. That’s a little under 3.9 yards per carry. That’s not a dominant effort for the Aggies but Alabama has a solid offensive line and an NFL caliber running back in Najee Harris. Their longest run was 16 yards and Harris himself never ran for more than 6 yards on a single carry. That’s a decent enough job by our defense up front.

The Bama offense annihilated the Aggie team with deep balls. Bama did a tremendous job of attacking the weakest people in the secondary. They went after Myles Jones, Devin Morris, Jaylen Jones, and Keldrick Carper. Jaylen Jones has plenty of talent but he’s a true freshman playing in his second game. He wasn’t ready for the talent Alabama has.

Bama had three touchdown passes of 78, 87, and 63 yards. Each time they just isolated one of their speed burners on a vulnerable Aggie secondary member and Mac Jones hit them in stride. Credit to Bama for a great game plan and executing.

I thought the defensive line and linebackers did a pretty good job. They gave the Bama offensive line a lot of trouble for much of the game. The defensive line had a nice tip and catch interception that could have swayed the game but it didn’t matter in the end. The linebackers executed most of their assignments but were just playing more talented guys. Individually, Michael Clemons continues to look like a guy that can create pressure by himself. There’s certainly some positives for the defense other than the deep touchdowns.

If there’s one gripe I have about this game it’s the lack of blitzes. I think we blitzed once and that resulted in one of the long touchdown passes. Maybe Elko was afraid they would get burned again. Maybe he felt his defensive line was doing a decent enough job getting pressure. Maybe he though it wouldn’t matter. He was probably right. More blitzes wouldn’t have mattered but it would have been nice to see the attempt jus to see what could happen.

While the defense wasn’t without fault in this game the reality is A&M was never winning this game. Bama is just too talented from a team standpoint as a whole and didn’t make mistakes. You can’t do anything defensively if you can’t force Bama into making mistakes. Lick your wounds and move on to Florida.

Offense:

Offensive Line:

I must give these guys credit as they seem to have developed beyond last season. They’re still not that great but they’re a little more serviceable than last year. Since A&M played from behind most of the game we really couldn’t focus on the running game to see if we could truly get it going.

When it comes to pass blocking they’re doing a better job of engaging defenders. In years past they would flat out miss defenders. These guys are getting pushed back but at least they’re slowing the opposing defense down just a little bit. They still struggle with blitzes though.

This unit still has issues but for now I’m going to leave them alone. They’ve improved to a degree. They are who they are. They’re not going to establish the run against strong SEC defenses. All you can hope for is for them to give the quarterback some time to throw by engaging the defender while getting pushed back.

I’m dead serious. Simply engaging the defender rather than miss the defender straight up is an improvement for this unit. It’s the little things.

Running Backs:

Spiller couldn’t really get going despite 11 attempts for 25 yards. Really not much to write about here. The running game was just never going to be in a factor with the way this game played out. It takes a while to establish the run against a team like Bama and you can’t do that playing behind the whole game.

Hopefully the run game materializes the rest of the season. I do see some positives with Spiller and Smith getting hand offs.

Wide Receivers:

Ainias Smith became the first non-tight end to have a touchdown reception over 40 yards in SEC play during Jimbo’s tenure. That was done solely on his athleticism. He’s a hybrid receiver/running back so we still have no true wide receiver score a touchdown over 40 yards in the SEC over the past three seasons. Meanwhile Bama had three long touchdown passes in one game.

Just once I’d love to see an Aggie receiver running deep due to busted coverage and get hit it in stride for a touchdown. I’d be even happier if it was because the receiver is just so talented they can blow by coverage by themselves. It still hasn’t happened under Jimbo’s watch. Deep balls remain elusive for this offensive unit when another SEC team is on the schedule.

Ainias Smith was our best receiver on the day catching six balls for 123 yards and two touchdowns. The dude is a baller. Wydermyer was our next best pass catcher with 8 receptions for 82 yards. He almost added an amazing catch on the sidelines but couldn’t hold on. It was good to see him come back after a bad performance against Vandy.

Chase Lane was targeted 11 times but only caught 6 balls for 62 yards. Some of the passes were uncatchable but at the same time he’s not regularly getting open. The rest of the unit was basically the same. Jalen Preston was targeted 5 times and only caught two balls for 27 yards. He was the target of the interception returned for a touchdown and did nothing to fight for the ball or chase the defender down.

My biggest gripe with this unit for guys not named Smith and Wydermyer is they don’t fight for the ball. They just don’t adjust and go after balls. They basically only catch balls if they’re open and it’s a catchable ball. Other than that, they’re not making much effort.

Demas saw some snaps and the stat sheet shows he was targeted once. I guess Jimbo is bringing him along slowly but this dude needs to see snaps. The other true freshman in Price and Muhammed ought to start seeing snaps as well. I like this unit better than last year’s unit but it’s not by much at this point. We need to find some guys that will fight for the football.

We’ve got issues with the offensive line and quarterback but these guys aren’t helping either. At some point we need a true receiver to step up and be a threat the defense must worry about. It’s not there right now.

Quarterback:

For the first time in Jimbo’s time at A&M I get to talk about two quarterbacks in a game. I feel like Lawrence in Office Space with a million dollars.

Kellen Mond did what Kellen Mond does. He made some decent passes but he also missed a bunch of passes. His receivers dropped a couple balls they should have caught. Statistically he didn’t look bad. He was 25 of 44 for 318 yards with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. The interception was a back breaker as it was a Pick 6 that took the score from 21-14 to 28-14 midway through the second half. The Aggies would never stand a chance after that play.

A completion percentage of 56% isn’t terrible against Bama but it’s the way Mond does it. He’ll throw a beautiful ball at times and an ugly pass the next. He’s terribly inconsistent. The offense never gained any true momentum. He simply failed to make plays in the game much like he did all last season against better opponents. He did nothing to put the team on his shoulders. He’s a senior and it’s disappointing to watch.

If you stuck around for the whole game you saw Haynes King take the reins for the final offensive drive. I wasn’t totally surprised to see King take the field over Calzada. He’s a true freshman but I think his skill set is better served for what this team needs. Calzada has a cannon but that doesn’t really help if the offensive line can’t block and receivers can’t get open. King offers mobility.

King didn’t look that great passing but his running was outstanding. I understand the game was out of reach and Bama was playing a couple backups but King was decisive in running the ball. That’s what this offense needs. A quarterback that WILL run. Mond has the ability but just chooses not to.

King’s final play was an interception in the end zone but I don’t have a problem with it. He had single coverage with Chase Lane and put the ball where Chase Lane could make a play on it. Lane didn’t and the Bama defender did. At some point you must take chances as a quarterback. Especially with this team.

King doesn’t appear to have the arm that Mond or Calzada has but if he’s smart and accurate it’s more valuable. Completions matter more than style.

It was a small sample set but I like what I saw out of King. He appears to have some moxie and you need moxie at quarterback. You need someone who’s willing to show the team he’s willing to take chances to make plays. Mond should have developed that by now.

Special Teams:

Seth Small missed what should have been an easy field goal. Our kick and punt returners fair caught everything. None of it mattered.

Looking Forward:

I was shocked Jimbo put in King. That was a HUGE sign he’s looking for something different. Even if he didn’t want Mond in on that last series he could have put in Calzada. That’s the safe play and minimizes controversy.

Calzada has been in this program since January of 2019. That’s almost two seasons. Jimbo decided to put in the guy who was playing at Longview High School this time last season. No offense to Longview but it’s a far cry from Longview High School to Tuscaloosa, Alabama in less than 12 months.

I think it’s pretty telling for what Jimbo sees playing out at quarterback the rest of the season. I still believe Mond was the best option at quarterback for the last two seasons. Starkel wasn’t the guy two seasons ago and Calzada didn’t get the back up reps against Bama on Saturday he wasn’t ready last season.

I do think it’s obvious Jimbo put Kellen Mond on notice. If you’re going to continue to do the same things you’re not going to take snaps. I’m totally good with that.

I also think by going with King that Jimbo has a better grasp of the offensive issues than we give him credit for.

My personal belief is that Mond will start against Florida and struggle. Florida will be up by two touchdowns at half. King will start the second half and we’ll never look back. We won’t beat Florida but I think King will do enough to hold on to the starting job. King won’t be without his struggles as he’ll make plenty of mistakes but it’s time for a youth movement with Aggie football.

I’m just a little shocked Jimbo is willing to go to it so soon. It’s good to see though as it’s warranted.

It’s time for a youth movement on the offensive side of Aggie football. Jimbo’s recruited the talent so it’s time for them to all grow up together. I’d much rather go 5-5 with the younger more talented guys gaining real experience. I think we could pull off 7 wins if we do it sooner than later.

It’ll be a sacrifice worth making. Let’s Make Aggie Football Great Again.