Month: September 2024

Thoughts from the Arkansas Game

I absolutely love an Aggie win, especially when it’s over Arkansas. Love it or hate it, the Arkansas series in Jerry World, since we entered the SEC, has been WILD.

I mean WILD.

Somehow and someway, the Aggies have been on the winning side of 10 of the 11 Arkansas games played in JerryWorld. It’s been dicey at times, but we keep pulling out victories in this series. I can’t imagine being an Arkansas fan going into this game. Especially afterwards. Just totally deflating.

With all of that, I will sound like a wet blanket. Despite the win, none of my concerns for the rest of this season changed.

Arkansas isn’t a bad team, but they’re not very good. They didn’t really test the Aggies at all.

This game really reminds me of last year’s game. Arkansas took a few shots early on, but then our defensive line harassed their quarterback so much that he never got comfortable. With this loss, I don’t think Arkansas will go bowling this season.

I feel like we just beat a 5 win team. It’s hard to know if that translates to anything positive for the rest of the season.

I hope I’m wrong, but our next game is set up like Alabama last year. They came to Kyle after we beat Arkansas with a fantastic performance from our defensive line. Alabama slowed down our pass rush and exposed our secondary, walking out of Kyle with a win.

Luther Burden against our secondary frightens me. He’s not a superstar receiver, but as we saw with Isiah Bond last season, it doesn’t take a superstar receiver to have a great day against the Aggie secondary.

We’ll worry about that on Saturday, but let’s talk more about Arkansas.

I’m still not sure about Mike Elko. I wanted more out of this Aggie team against Arkansas, but we played just well enough to win. It was very Jimboesque in my mind. I keep waiting for something to happen that will differentiate Elko from Jimbo, but I haven’t seen it.

My two biggest issues were Arkansas’s fake punt execution and our walking off the field at the end of the first half.

The fake punt by Arkansas was simply wonderful coaching by Arkansas and TERRIBLE coaching by Texas A&M. It technically wasn’t a fake. Still, in their film, Arkansas picked up a tendency that our punt return team released to block downfield before the ball was kicked. That’s lazy coaching on A&M’s part. Incredibly lazy. You must ensure the ball is gone before turning your back and heading downfield.

Even worse, one of our guys stayed engaged with an Arkansas player while the punter with the ball ran right by him. Just lazy, lazy special teams. Remind you of anyone?

Don’t forget the blocked punt against Bowling Green last week. For the second week in a row, we had a special teams snafu that could have changed the outcome of the game. I’m not sure what’s going on with our special teams, but it’s pretty clear opponents have picked up weaknesses on film. That’s on our coaching staff.

At the end of the first half, Elko raised the white flag rather than take a chance on scoring. I get it was 3rd and 19 on our 43-yard line, but we could have easily run another play. You never know. Walking off the field in that moment is the sign of a coach who has little to no confidence in his offense.

It was tied 14-14. Elko felt there were more negatives than positives that could happen by snapping the ball. Remind you of anyone?

I’m not saying Elko is a defensive Jimbo, but after five games, things look more similar than different. I’m ready for things to be different than they used to be.

Offense:

I won’t spend much time on this offense because it’s not worth it. Five games in, Colin Klein looks like an absolutely horrible hire.

I’ll admit there are some flashes of excitement, like our third touchdown, but most of Klein’s play calls are unimaginative and becoming increasingly predictable.

We had 14 possessions in this game.

Three possessions resulted in touchdowns.
Two possessions ended the half and game.
NINE possessions resulted in punts.

Do you notice anything? We didn’t attempt a single field goal in this game. In ten possessions, we couldn’t even maneuver the ball into field goal range once. That’s a MASSIVE concern in my mind. I don’t like kicking field goals, but I like kicking field goals more than punting.

We could not consistently move the ball on a very average Arkansas defense.

Our first touchdown was an excellent move by Noah Thomas to juke his defender and then was able to outrun the other defenders to the end zone. The pass itself was less than 20 yards in the air.

Our second touchdown was thanks to an amazing play by our defense, which gave the offense the ball at the ten-yard line. It was a total gift from the defense. It was nice that the offense converted it, but they didn’t do anything to move it there.

Our third touchdown was a nice 75-yard drive, but 46 yards were gained on three straight carries by Le’Veon Moss. Moss basically carried the offense on his shoulders for three plays, running over and through the Arkansas defense. The touchdown pass to Tre Watson was a beautiful play but plays like that were few and far between.

Other than that drive, there was a lot of sputtering around by our offense. Just absolutely uninspiring offensive football. An average Arkansas defense shut us down.

I have ZERO confidence this offense can come back from a deficit of 14 points or more. A two touchdown deficit and we’re cooked I think.

The receivers aren’t getting consistent separation, running backs not named Moss aren’t cranking out yards, and Marcell Reed struggles to throw a pass longer than 10 yards. You really only have to defend this team in a 20-yard box.

Like his predecessor, Elko is running an offense that he hopes doesn’t make mistakes and can somehow put up one more point than his defense allows.

Maybe it turns out differently this time, but insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, hoping for a different result.

As for the quarterback situation, here is my take: Conner clearly isn’t healthy. He hasn’t suited up the last two games and, according to most reports, isn’t taking any practice snaps. Or if he is taking practice snaps, they’re minimal.

He’s clearly hurt.

Until he’s fully healthy and Reed struggles or stumbles, you won’t see Conner under center.

I believe that Reed will start against Missouri, and things will be reassessed during the bye week.

I don’t have a preference on who plays quarterback. At this point, I have no idea who the best quarterback is for this system. I’d say it doesn’t matter. The whole scheme is a MUCH more significant issue than who’s under center.

We focus on the quarterback because it’s the most obvious position, but Elko and Klein’s decisions are much bigger concerns than who’s under center.

Defense:

I can’t fault the defense for how they played on Saturday. The front four were completely disruptive and got Taylen Green out of rhythm. Green’s stat line doesn’t look bad; he completed 23 passes in 41 attempts for 279 yards. That’s not a bad day passing.

We’d certainly take that from a quarterback right now.

However, when it mattered, Green had to avoid pressure and never completed a big pass other than on the third play of the game, when he connected for the 75-yard touchdown. He was worried about avoiding pressure over finding open guys.

The defensive front four brought pressure the whole game. It was the main reason the Aggies walked out of JerryWorld for the final time with a win. Without their effort, I’m not sure the Aggies win.

The absolute play of the game was Shermar Stewart forcing the fumble on the 10-yard line. Somehow, Arkansas didn’t touch him, and he ran wide open to the backfield, where he took out the running back and quarterback—two guys at the same time. It was a beautiful play.

I don’t think we would have won without that play. It allowed us to tie the game, which swung the momentum from Arkansas to A&M. It was that big.

Nic Scourton only had two sacks, but he spent much of the game chasing Green out of the pocket. He was a force.

The unsung hero of the front four is Albert Regis. He doesn’t have the physical talent of the other three, but his motor and effort are unreal. He never slows down when he’s in.

Much like last year, my fear is that this Arkansas game is the most disruptive game of the year from our defensive front, and we won’t have the same results in another game. We’ll spend the rest of the season wondering where the pressure we saw in the Arkansas game went.

Beyond the defensive line, the rest of the defense played well enough. Our linebackers did fine, but I’m still slightly concerned about them against better teams. Scooby Williams can be quite disruptive at times, as he loves crashing the line of scrimmage.

Lee and Ricks seem like an upgrade over last year’s corners, but I’m still concerned about their ability to cover big-play receivers. We’ll find out this weekend when Luther Burden comes to town.

I liked what Elko and Bateman did as the game wore on. They seemed to adjust and bring additional pressure at the right time and in the right place. That did seem to be missing in the previous four games, where some of our blitzes weren’t getting there. They worked virtually every time against Arkansas after the first quarter.

Arkansas rushed 30 times for 100 yards, the longest for 25 yards. One run for 25 yards and an average of 2.6 yards on the other 29 carries. It’s a significant improvement over what we saw against Bowling Green and Notre Dame.

I still have questions about this defense, but I can’t fault anything they did on Saturday. They’re far and away the reason we won the game.

Looking Forward:

I’m excited about Missouri coming to town. We are essentially getting another shot at Notre Dame, a Top 10 ranked team that’s probably ranked a little higher than it should be. I do think Missouri is better than Notre Dame, but not by a large margin.

Missouri is the better team, but we’re completely capable of beating them.

I hate the 11 a.m. start time at Kyle Field, but it’s part of all the TV money we get.

If we’re going to be better than 8-4 this season, we must win this game. I think Missouri is the most likely win of the big games left at Kyle this season. I worry about LSU and Texas’ passing attacks. I don’t think our sputtering offense can win a shootout.

Elko needs to advise Klein to work up some wrinkles to win this game. The standard Run Pass Option or Zone Read that he’s running will not work. That Arkansas defense clearly knew the keys we were looking for and shut us down for the most part.

Something has to be different about our offense this Saturday.

If not, there will be a lot of disappointed Aggies around 3:00 on Saturday afternoon.

You know, just like it used to be.

Quarter Season Assessment

Not sure where to begin with that Bowling Green game. On one hand, we dominated Bowling Green from a defensive standpoint in the first half. Then, like in Gainesville, we came out in cruise control and got bit in the second half.

Three real games this season. We’ve given up two touchdowns in the second half while not giving up any touchdowns in the first half in each of them. Three games certainly feels like a trend.

This game felt a lot like the Notre Dame game to me. It was a night game at Kyle Field that wasn’t truly decided until the end. No team was ever really comfortable until their final possession.

The only real difference between Bowling Green and Notre Dame, other than the talent of the two teams, was the Aggie offense did just a little bit more than in the Notre Dame game to secure the win.

Still, by most accounts, the Aggie faithful felt highly disappointed after a night game at Kyle Field for the second time this season. Two games and two disappointments even if one resulted in a win. That’s not the way things are supposed to be for night games at Kyle Field.

Aggie fans want a change. They want to walk out of Kyle Field confident about the team they saw on the field. What a difference a week makes.

We’re a quarter of the way through this season and I’m still not sure what to think of this Aggie team. I wanted the hope that was found after the Florida game to continue building. The Bowling Green game simply reminded me of the concerns I had coming into the season.

The reality is this isn’t a truly talented football team. It doesn’t mean it’s a bad football team. It’s simply not an elite level college football team in 2024.

Talent Concerns:

Let’s take a look at each group compared to the 2023 squad:

Quarterback:
I honestly can’t grade this because there’s so many variables due to injury and games under center. Marcell Reed could develop with each game or he can regress because defenses learn how to defend him. Conner could get healthy and take back the starting job. He could be gone all season due to Reed’s play or his own health. I’m going to call this a push simply because it’s more of the same. We haven’t the foggiest idea what we truly have at quarterback right now.

Running Back:
Despite the loss of Rueben Owens; Moss, Daniels, and Smith have been serviceable. They’re certainly not carrying this team as they’re not a homerun threat every time they touch ball. They’re the least of the worries on offense though. They’re grinding out yards as best they can. I call this a slight advantage.

Offensive Line:
Last year’s unit was so bad that everyone is now enamored with the 2024 Aggie offensive line. It’s absolutely better but I’m still not sure how great it is. It’s far from the 2012 and 2020 offensive lines in my mind. How much better this unit is than last year’s remains to be seen. I’ll just call this unit some degree of better and hope it can improve even more.

Wide Receiver:
Oh boy. Through four games this unit is definitely worse than last year. We miss a playmaker like Ainias in a big way. Maybe Reed and these guys just need to get on the same page. A quarter of the season in, and this unit looks like a non factor for moving the ball and scoring points. This unit is definitely worse than last years.

Sure, there’s been a few good receptions but they’re few and far between. We need a lot more production out of this unit if we’re going to have a great season.

We need better receivers but how do you recruit better receivers if the current receivers you have aren’t producing? What kind of receiver recruit wants to come here? They want a productive passing game. That hasn’t happend in College Station for a while.

I felt like Elko really missed on getting a great receiver in the portal. Isiah Bond seemed like the obvious choice after hiring is position coach from Bama but he wound up in Austin. That made no sense to me why he didn’t land in College Station. Is the perception that bad or did Elko and Wiggins not pursue him or miss out on him?

I’m not saying Bond would have dramatically changed the outlook for this team but there’s no way Elko and Wiggins could have thought he wouldn’t be a positive addition to the wide receiver room. Bond would have absolutely been a positive addition to the wide receiver unit.

Whatever happens this season, Mike Elko needs to address our wide receiver situation in the absolute worst way. This position has been stuck in neutral since Jimbo arrived in 2018 and it’s time to figure out a way to put it in gear.

Defensive Line:
I think a lot of people would say this unit is better than last years. I don’t know if I would go that far. Last year’s defensive line was pretty elite. I don’t think this unit is worse than last years but it’s different. We don’t have the run stopper like we had with MacKinnley Jackson but Albert Regis is doing a damn fine job. Shermar Turner is doing a damn fine job taking over Walter Nolen’s spot. Scourton and Stewart are doing just fine on the edge. I’m going to call this one a push. That’s not a bad thing. It’s actually a good thing they’re similar to last year’s unit.

I don’t really care about the lack of sacks with this unit. If you’re watching the game you know what this unit is doing. Quarterbacks aren’t setting up shop in the pocket and it’s clear offenses are doing everything they can to slow this unit down. I attribute the lack of sacks to the respect offenses are paying this unit and the lack of plays by the other parts of the defense.

Linebacker:
I was worried we would miss Edge Cooper and I feel we do. I think York is struggling being the main guy offenses can focus on. He’s a smart player but he’s not nearly as physical as Cooper. Offenses seem to be able to take him out of plays where Cooper was much tougher to take out.

Besides York, it’s a rotation of mostly Scooby Williams and Daymion Sanford. They’ve been okay, but like York, they can be taken out of plays. I’m afraid this unit is going to get exposed by the better SEC teams on our schedule. This unit is definitely worse than last year.

Secondary:
My greatest fear for the 2024 Aggie football team is this unit has not been tested. Which means it may not have been fully exposed. I think we’re slightly better than last year but this unit was so bad last year that’s not saying much. This unit has blown coverage at times and seems to struggle to tackle on broken running plays. I’m going to call this unit incomplete but I think we find out a lot on Saturday.

Bobby Petrino has tried to be very balanced with his quarterback this season but against Oklahoma State he aired it out. I think he’s going to take some big swings early in the game so this unit better be up for the challenge. If not, it’s going to be a long game and season for the Aggies.

As a whole, I think this team is about the same as last year just in different ways. Oline is improved while wide receiver and linebacker are worse.

Last year was a 7-5 team for reference.

One more thing on talent while we’re here.

How many NFL draft picks do you think are currently on this roster? I mean absolutely certain NFL draft picks? I count three in the Shermar Brothers and Nic Scourton.

There’s certainly some other guys that could get drafted, but if I had to wager money on guys right now, those are the only three I’m wagering on.

Season Outlook:

Here’s my breakdown of remaining games:

No doubt – New Mexico State
Should wins – Arkansas, Mississippi State, and Auburn
Tough wins – Missouri, LSU, and South Carolina
Longshot right now – Texas

I feel like there’s 8 wins in there and maybe even 9, but this coaching staff is going to have to pull their heads out of their rear ends and realize the Jimbo style of coaching ain’t gonna work. They need to admit this isn’t an overly talented team and start taking some chances on offense. At least start desiging creative plays instead of just trying to establish the running game in hopes the passing game follows it.

They need to figure out how to get their defense to play smart football for 4 quarters and not give up second half plays because their players were in the wrong position to defend the play. They need to admit there’s holes in the linebacker group when it comes to defending the run and holes in the secondary for defending passes.

If you didn’t know Mike Elko and a whole new staff were on the sidelines, you’d think this was another Jimbo season but with motion from the offense. There’s nothing new with this staff four games in.

We’re going to find out a lot this weekend in Arlington. You better believe Pittman and Petrino smell blood to salvage their season. They need an A&M win to get to six wins and go bowling this season.

They need to beat one of the currently ranked teams on their schedule to go bowling. We’re the lowest rated of those teams. When you look at their remaining games, we’re the most obvious sixth win.

They’re going to stress the Aggies and we won’t win if we don’t change our approach.

If we lose this weekend, we’ve dug a massive hole for the 2024 season.

We win and we’ll have taken the best punch from someone smelling blood and can feel much better about the rest of the season.

One game at a time.

Coaching Concerns:

I love Mike Elko as a person. I don’t know about him as a head coach though.

If you ask any Aggie why they love the Elko hire there’s three main things:

1) He was a wonderful defensive coordinator under Jimbo.
2) He elevated Duke as their head coach.
3) He gets A&M.

Only one of those three things actually matters to being a great head coach and that’s his time at Duke. He was 8-4 in his first season and 7-5 in his second season so he actually regressed in his two years. I know he lost Leonard but we can’t give Elko a pass on his losing his QB when Jimbo had the same issue.
The reality is his time at Duke was pretty good but it wasn’t amazing or elite. Doesn’t mean he can’t become amazing or elite but we certainly haven’t seen it.

I’m in no way calling for the firing of Elko. Not even close. He’s our head coach for at least four seasons due to financial reasons. Plus, we’re not like some other programs who change their head coach at the drop of a hat. Elko will get plenty of time to prove himself as the Aggie head coach.

I hope the light comes on for him as a head coach and he finally elevates the Aggie program to a level we haven’t seen since the late 80s and early 90s.

Yes, it’s really been that long.

My greatest fear with Elko right now is he’s some version of Wade Phillips. A lovable person with an amazing mind for defense including exotic blitzes. However, he’s just missing something as a head coach.

I’m not saying he’s another Wade Phillips. His head coaching tenure is too short to really know. I’m just saying there could be some similarities if Elko doesn’t flip a switch as a head coach. Two seasons at Duke and four games at A&M aren’t trending well if you’re truly being objective and looking under the hood a bit.

He’s responsible for the hiring of Klein and Bateman. Right now, neither hire looks that great.

Klein is running a VERY vanilla offense. What does this offense look like without Reed’s mobility? It’s very possible we’re 2-2 and maybe even 1-3.

It’s a stagnant offense if not for Reed’s legs. And don’t give me everyone is getting used to it. What was the point of the off season if it takes actual games to get used to it? I do understand it takes time so you’re going to see some hiccups from time to time. However, there is NOTHING we’ve seen from this Klein offense. It’s a vanilla offense that has no wrinkles or urgency.

It’s not the same, but the end result is a Jimbo style offense. But with motion. The on field performance is all that matters. It’s not there four games in.

I get Elko wants to win with defense because he’s a defensive coach. The reality is this defense might not be as good as Elko thinks. We have played four pretty bad offenses. We’ve got a couple more in Mississippi State and Auburn thank goodness.

However, I don’t think this defense can hold up to the stresses that Missouri, LSU, South Carolina, and Texas will put on it. If our offense isn’t ready to swing back then we’re going to lose those games.
My greatest fear right now is Petrino pulls something out of the hat this weekend and by the time we get to Auburn in November, Freeze has found a quarterback that doesn’t turn the ball over.

If that happens, there’s a chance we don’t go bowling and recruiting is going to take a massive hit.
If Elko can’t see that and get Klein to start designing and calling plays with some creativity and urgency; then this Aggie team could be in big trouble.

I hope he’s aware after four games that 8-4 is very possible. However, it’s nowhere near a lock and it’s going to take some adapting from the first four games. If he’s stubborn like his predecessor and keeps trying the same thing, it’s going to be a long season.

We’ll find out a lot over the next two weeks with Arkansas and Missouri. Both winnable games if this coaching staff is willing to admit reality and take come chances. If not, they’re both losable.
We know the talent on this team. The wins and losses will come down to coaching the rest of the way.

The Elephant in the Room:

While talking about the talent issues, there’s a main culprit that everyone has forgotten about or doesn’t want to remember.

The greatest recruiting class in the history of college football. That’s right. The vaunted 2022 recruiting class.

The 30 guys that were supposed to elevate this program to a sure national championship. They would be in their third year in the program. It’s not a stretch to think half of our starters this season should be from that class.

Care to guess how that class went?

7 guys have started this season. Only 5 are currently starting due to the injuries to Weigman and Nabou. Shermar Stewart, Le’Veon Moss, Theo Ohrstrom, Bryce Anderson, and Noah Thomas. That’s it.

There are seven other guys still rostered. I think only Brownlow-Dindy and Donovan Green of this group stand any chance of starting at any point in the future. I know Green’s injury knocked him back quite a bit, but there are five guys from that class still rostered who will likely never see meaningful minutes for the Aggies.

The 16 others are gone pecans. Over half the 30 guys in that vaunted class are no longer on the roster.
Third season and half the class has vaporized for whatever reason.

That’s where the talent drain happened. I get it’s a new era with NIL and the transfer portal but that’s pretty pitiful. A class of elite prospects mostly wiped out with little to show for it from the transfer portal.

OUCH!!!!

What a massive failure that class was. Not just on the field but financially. That class is a massive reason Jimbo got his big extension. We couldn’t let Jimbo go to LSU and have that class dissipate. I get the why.

Everybody just looked at the stars and not under the hood. I’ll admit I looked at the stars like everyone else, but I don’t get paid to look under the hood when offering contracts to coaches. I was just being an excited fan hoping things were finally turning for Aggie Football.

That class is THE biggest reason we’re in the shape we’re in for the 2024 season. We don’t have the talent that elite college football teams have. It never materialized and we never even came close to replacing it.

We can pretend we have the talent of elite programs, but that would be foolish. I certainly agree we have more talent than a lot of college football teams, but I’m ready for Texas A&M to be elite. I’m tired of this cycle we seem to be stuck in other than an outlier season every now and then.

To become elite will require creative and aggressive coaching. Doing the same thing the previous staff did but with a defensive mindset is not going to work.

NIL is no longer an advantage for us. Everyone else in the SEC has money too. We can’t tout that advantage anymore. Sure, we can still spend with the best of them but it’s not a unique advantage.

We need WINS!!!!

WINS is what will make the difference in recruiting and building the program to an elite level. We can’t keep selling we have great resources and it’s only a matter of time story. I’m tired of Groundhog Day.

WINS will come with great coaching. That’s on Elko on his staff. We need WINS now more than ever.

I sure hope a light went off in Elko’s head at Kyle Field on Saturday night.

If not, I’m afraid it’s gonna be just like it use to be.

Florida Fodder

This is a tough game to truly analyze for a few reasons:

1) It was more of a 3 period game than a 2 half game. It’s not a big deal, but definitely didn’t have the flow of a normal game. Not sure if that had any effect on either team but it felt like it did.

2) Florida was horribly coached. Billy Napier is firmly on the hot seat and he decided to rotate his quarterbacks on a regular schedule. It was clear Graham Mertz was the better quarterback on his series. Why Napier kept trotting out D.J. Lagway and not ride Mertz in the second half is beyond me. And I’m a massive D.J. Lagway fan. I wanted him to come to A&M and do think he’s going to be a great college quarterback somewhere. In my mind, Napier certainly didn’t seem to be coaching to win this game. Mertz gave him the best option to win in the second half and he didn’t seem to care or be aware.

3) Florida was missing their best receiver. I have no idea if he would have made any difference but I certainly would have preferred to be tested at full strength.

4) I think this Florida team is completely beaten down. Two weeks ago, they were embarrassed by Miami, and A&M came in and controlled the game from the start. They certainly didn’t seem to put up much of a fight, especially in the second half.

With all of that being said, Texas A&M’s win was EXCELLENT. I expected a little more from Florida, but I’m not going to downplay A&M’s effort and execution in this game.

Texas A&M was far from perfect on Saturday. Yet, they controlled Florida the entire game in their house. There’s no way to minimize that.

A&M cleans up their mistakes and they can beat anyone on their schedule. They’ll need to play a perfect game against a couple of teams or near perfect game against the others but what I saw on Saturday gives me some hope this team and coaching staff can improve as the season goes on.

I certainly wasn’t feeling great after the first two games. Really, just since Notre Dame because McNeese showed us absolutely nothing they were so bad.

Three weeks into the season, I think it’s obvious the easiest wins for A&M are Florida (duh), Arkansas, and Mississippi State. I think Florida might be the most talented of those three but the worst coached. Just a terrible showing from the Gator coaching staff on Saturday.

I feel much better about A&M going at least 6-6 this season and think 8-4 is a real possibility. I wouldn’t even put 10-2 out of reach based on what I saw on Saturday. 10-2 is still a pretty big reach but I do think it’s possible.

College football is crazy, so things can change in a week’s time. Just ask a host of teams from last Saturday.

Wins in the SEC don’t come easy, so there’s no easy win. If you’re not ready to perform, you’re going to get a loss.

With that, here’s how I would rate the coaching staff on A&M’s wins and losses for the rest of the season:

5 wins or less – Terrible
6-6 – Below average
7-5 – Average
8-4 – Good
9-3 – Really good
10-2 – Great
11-1 – Amazing

I’m not going to guess where those wins and losses come from but that’s my current scale for grading this coaching staff. My expectation at this point is 8-4 but I’m all for it being better than that.

We’ll find out a lot more in the next three games.

Let’s talk about some specifics of the game and the most obvious question first:

• I don’t know how Marcel Reed isn’t the clear and obvious starting quarterback. I had questions about him during the McNeese State game but what he did on Saturday was impressive. I have no idea if he can keep this up as we saw what happened to Jaylon Henderson last season. He had an amazing first start against Mississippi State. Then struggled against LSU, got hurt on the first play of the Texas Bowl, and then lost his backup job to Reed ove the spring and summer. The list of quarterbacks who’s first start was their best start (see Kenny Trill) is long, but you have to find out if Reed is for real. Until Reed has any level of struggles, he should be the starting quarterback with no questions asked. I don’t care what Elko says during the week. I only care how he manages his quarterbacks for the next couple of games. Reed needs to start and play the large majority of the snaps against Bowling Green assuming he’s having similar success. You have to ride the hot hand and Reed is hot.

• As for Reed’s specific play, he was terrific. He wasn’t perfect in his decision making but he was really damn good most of the night. I knew he could run like a deer and has a great arm but was really impressed with his accuracy. He obviously had some big plays with wide open guys but his passes were on the mark. We’ve seen plenty of quarterbacks miss wide open guys but Reed made the passes when the big play was there.

• The play of the offensive line was also impressive. Even if the Florida defense was mailing it in. Rolling up 310 yards of rushing is impressive. Our backs certainly deserve some credit, but most of the credit is due to our offensive line controlling the line of scrimmage and opening holes. The most impressive thing without a doubt was the 99 yard drive in the rain in the second quarter. That drive alone broke what little will the Florida defense had. The offensive line deserves massive kudos for their play in this game.

• Crownover and Fatheree were rotating at right tackle early in the game but it looked like Fatheree took most of the snaps in the second half. Not sure if that means he’s won the job or something was wrong with Crownover but I’d love to see someone take over that job. I could be wrong on that and their snaps were equal, but it seemed like a I saw Fatheree more in the second half.

• T.J. Callahan looked really good at center. I’m big on him because he seems to play with a mean streak. It bit him on that 99 yard drive with his personal foul, but he got bailed out thanks to a targeting call. I don’t think Callahan will be a big drop off if he has to play center full time for us.

• Thanks to some creative play calling and routes, we finally saw some receivers running wide open against a Power 5 opponent. I can’t tell you how long I’ve been waiting on that. Some of it was the offensive line giving Reed time and Reed’s ability to extend the play, but it was nice to see.

• The first two games felt like the same old plodding Jimbo offense. This offense felt different than those first two games from the start. No doubt Reed’s athletic ability opened up some things, but the play calling in this game felt a little more forceful. The most obvious was the big TD pass to Cyrus Allen after the Florida score in the second half. I assumed we were going to run the ball most of that series. So did Florida, but Klein called a motion route out of the backfield that completely leveraged their safety cheating to the run. Reed read it perfectly and made a great pass to Allen who utilized the space to find the end zone. It was the perfect play call and execution. If Florida had any thoughts of making a comeback, that play put those thoughts to bed. Just a wonderful play in that moment.

• We only had 178 yards passing but we leveraged the running game perfectly to create two big passing touchdowns. I believe we’re going to need to leverage the passing game more as the season wears on, but I have no issue running down the throat of a team with no will and using the passing game to make sure they’re put away.

• I think you’ll see teams focus more on Reeds ability to run which is fine. I believe we can leverage that via the passing game. There’s nothing more dangerous than a quarterback in the pocket that can pull the ball down and run like a deer when the middle of the field is open. I believe that’s going to open up our passing game as linebackers and safeties have to watch for Reed taking off but we’ll see.

• Defensively, that was a tough game to analyze with the extended breaks. They were dominant in the first and second quarters and then kind of had some issues in the second half. I think this defense would have looked different had we not had that long break between the 1st and 2nd quarter. They seemed to come out a little flat in the second half because the game seemed in hand. We also appeared to rotate a few more of the backups in the second half so I think that was a factor as well.

• I think the most impressive thing I’ve seen from this defense is the adaptation to the fact the defensive line is not going to get pressure on the quarterback by themselves. That’s a tall order for four guys to beat five guys. Instead of just repeatedly hoping it happens, Elko and Bateman are using a 5th defensive lineman as a true edge rusher along with well timed and disguised blitzes to get pressure. It’s clear our defensive line can be disruptive, but it’s also clear that offensive lines are going to do their best to not let it be disruptive. When that happens, you have to be creative in getting pressure. I see that happening. The use of Cashius Howell and Rylan Kennedy has been really good. They’re technically defensive ends but they’ve been used as edge rushers on passing downs like linebackers. They’ve been really effective.

• We need to get used to Nick Scourton getting held to a degree. I saw several times where Scourton would make an inside move and the tackle would just kind of swallow him up with a hug. It’s not an obvious hold but it’s a hold. The refs weren’t calling it so Florida kept doing it. I was actually impressed with the technique Florida was using and don’t blame them for doing it. You can bet other teams are going to try the same thing until it gets flagged.

• I still have questions about this defense’s ability to defend the pass because they haven’t truly been tested, but their plan and execution for shutting down Florida was impressive. At least in the first half. I still think Arkansas is a going to be a good test of this passing defense, but I feel much better about this unit after watching them shut down Florida for a half.

• I think Elko and Bateman’s intention of applying pressure will also help this pass defense. D.J. Durkin had a terrible knack of relying only on the front four to bring pressure. You can’t do that if it’s not working. You have to bring pressure from other areas and it seems Elko and Bateman recognize that. A comfortable quarterback is a dangerous quarterback so you can’t let him get comfortable.

• An offense that can actually score points will be a big factor in how this defenses plays. Being up a few points or having an offense with the ability to respond to a big play is a massive advantage for a defensive. You can play much more aggressive knowing the offense can pick up your slack. Aggressive defenses are better defenses. We saw that on Saturday.

It’s amazing a how a single win can change your outlook on the season. The establishment of hope is an amazing thing. We have hope again.

There’s no way to truly know what this win means for the rest of our nine games. Hopefully, it’s a launch point like 2020, but we could also look back and realize Florida is a beat down team with terrible coaching. No matter what, this win is INFINITELY better than a loss.

That much is for sure.

Even more than just a win, was the play of an offense that finally showed the ability to make plays. There’s no way to know if this is sustainable. All we can do is wait until our next test against Arkansas to know if this was a blip or a trend.

I have hope it’s a trend.

Musings from McNeese

This game’s write-up will have a little more rambling and musing than a structured one.

I’m not sure what I saw on Saturday, so it’s hard to fully diagnose that game. McNeese is a bad football team—a very bad football team.

It was nice to see A&M dominate McNeese, but I’m not sure what positives there are to the game. Sure, dominating is better than struggling against McNeese, but that was a glorified scrimmage against a much inferior opponent. There’s just not a lot of good that can come from playing a game like this.

In addition to not gaining anything by playing McNeese, Some Directional Illinois beat Notre Dame in its stadium.

So, I still don’t know what the hell to think about the 2024 Aggies. The concerns remain, and the Notre Dame loss only compounds them.

Can’t even really call the Notre Dame loss a “good” loss anymore. We got beat at home by a team that got beat at home by Some Directional Illinois the following week. Those mental gymnastics rationalizing a Notre Dame loss seem to be out the window right now.

As for the McNeese game:

• Good to see Conner get back on track. I know it was just McNeese, but seeing him go 11/14 for 125 yards and two scores was nice. He missed a few passes, but he was really on the mark for the part of the game he played. I have no idea if it translates to a tougher defense but it’s sure better than him struggling against a team like McNeese.

• I thought it was moronic he got pulled when he did. He had a chance to run a 2-minute drill before the end of the first half. Then, come out for a series or two after the half to see how he responds after sitting for a bit. I understand getting Reed some snaps, but I thought Conner should have received all the snaps a couple of series into the third quarter.

• As for Marcell Reed, it’s pretty clear Conner is the unquestioned starter. I love Reed’s athleticism, but he went 5 for 11 for 71 yards. Against McNeese.

• I’m still not sold on this offensive line. It’s certainly improved from last season, but Crownover and Fatheree split time in the first half. I don’t like that at all. Our starting line needs to be set. That tells me there’s still uncertainty on who the right tackle should be. That’s a liability that will likely haunt us at some point this season.

• I’m also still worried about this line as a whole. They’re going to get tested this season, and I hope they respond. Just because they’re better than last season’s version doesn’t mean they’re a really good unit.

• I thought Moss and Daniels looked good. I still don’t think they’re elite-level backs, but I do think they will be fine for the 2024 Aggies.

• Cyrus Allen and Noah Thomas had some nice catches. We had a Moose sighting, but who knows if it will last. I think there’s some decent talent at receiver, but I’m unsure about the scheme and coaching. I expected a lot more two games in.

• If I didn’t know Elko and a new staff were running this offense, I’d think it’s still a Jimbo offense but with motion. I know it’s only two games in, but I don’t see anything different or special about this offense. It still looks like a slow, plodding offense with no creativity or wrinkles.

• Defensively, it’s really hard to judge this squad during that game. I believe McNeese was playing their backup quarterback, as their starting quarterback was banged up.

• We did have a couple of nice interceptions, but then again, it was McNeese.

• Overall, there seemed to be a dramatic difference in the quality of play when the second and third teams entered the third game. This doesn’t speak well to our depth.

Looking forward:

• Nothing changed my mind that 8-4 is the ceiling for this team. Unless there’s a dramatic change on offense, we’ll find ourselves on the short side of at least three more games. That’s not going to be a good season. We need some sort of urgency to show things are different.

• We’ll find out a lot more this weekend against Florida. Florida isn’t a good team, but they’re wounded. That scares me a bit. I’m also a little worried that pulling our starters early in the game will return and bite us in Florida. I understand the value of getting the backups some playing time, but I also want to know if our starters are prepared for 4 quarters of football. I’m not saying we’ll lose to Florida, but I don’t see it as an easy win. I hope I’m wrong and the Aggies stomp in The Swamp.

• I’m a little concerned about the Arkansas game. I know they lost to an Oklahoma State team that’s probably overrated, but Bobby Petrino will try to take advantage of our defense. I’m still not totally sold on our defense. There’s some definite talent along the starting defensive line, but I’m not sure how elite it is. I think we might be pretty susceptible to a good running team. Our linebackers and corners might struggle to defend the pass, so we’ll need our defensive line to pressure them. I know that sounds obvious, but Arkansas will tell us a lot. Bobby Petrino will find and try to attack the weaknesses.

• There’s no way to project much beyond the Florida and Arkansas games right now. Let’s see what happens in The Swamp this Saturday before we spend more time deciding more about the 2024 Aggies. It’s just not worth our time and effort right now.

Thoughts from the Notre Dame Game

Hello darkness, our old Aggie friend
I’m writing another blog about disappointment yet again

I hate to say I saw this loss coming, but if you read my pre-season ramblings, I certainly knew it was possible.

You can read those here – https://rcwouldhavegonefor2.com/2024/08/28/ramblings-and-musings-for-the-2024-aggies/

This wasn’t a horrible loss by any stretch, but to say it was disappointing is an understatement.

The Aggie football team had most of college football watching to see if they could make a statement. Aggie fans everywhere were full of hope, hoping to see a sign that things would be different.

There was no statement and indeed no sign. This was just another Aggie team with a chance to take a massive leap in the hierarchy of college football. But like so many times before, that step simply slipped away.

Same thing, different season. Great seasons appear to be an anomaly and not a standard.

A fan base that yearns for more respect in college football with a football program that rarely delivers. Expectations and reality are completely out of whack.

Sure, the Aggies can still salvage this season, but what was on display on Saturday night suggests that this team will struggle to reach eight wins.

Notre Dame is a really good football team, but it’s not elite. It’s a storied program with a schedule that only tests them in 2-3 games. The rest of the way, Florida State and USC are their only ranked opponents. They likely punched their ticket to the College Football Playoff with that win last night because they’re probably going 10-2 this season, and they’re Notre Dame.

Even though they’re likely headed to the CFP, they were totally beatable. There will be some talk that might be the best defense A&M plays all season. That may be, but the Aggie offense was utterly inept against it.

I’m not even sure that’ll be one of the best three defenses we face all year. It’s certainly a defense that’s been elevated by its schedule.

I think the lack of offense was more due to the Aggie offense being completely inept than the Notre Dame defense being stifling. That’s a good Notre Dame defense, but that Aggie offense was MISERABLE.

I will put more structure into this blog rather than my ramblings and musings like last time.

Coaching:

I don’t hate the Elko hire, but I’ve always questioned if Mike Elko is an elite head coach.

What he did at Duke was impressive as he certainly elevated their football program, but it’s not like he put Duke football on a different level. They were 8-4 and 7-5 in his two seasons.

He had some nice wins over those two years, but he also had some disappointing losses they could have won, most notably Notre Dame and North Carolina last season.

What would Aggie fans have thought of the hire if he hadn’t been the Aggie defensive coordinator?

We love hiring coaches that “get A&M,” but I don’t know if that’s the best criteria.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t have hired Elko and I’m certainly not saying he should be fired. It’s not even close to that at all. We need to simply look at Mike Elko for what games he’s been a head coach and what they have shown us.

Mike Elko will be our head coach for a few seasons, but nothing in his sample set shows he’s an elite-level head coach. Elite-level head coaching was not on display on Saturday night.

I hope I’m wrong, but I can only go on actual results. Those results aren’t elite right now.

I think most people have seen the video clip of Elko waving the white flag on the final drive and yelling at whoever was on the head set with Colin Klein to run the ball. He was more spirited than that, but Elko was not happy with Klein’s play-calling.

I’m not worried about the emotion. I love the emotion.

I’m worried about our head coach and offensive coordinator not being on the same page even if it appeared to be a meaningless drive.

Throughout the game, Elko was on the sidelines with a headset. I assume he has direct contact with his offensive coordinator. I hope he has regular conversations with his offensive coordinator during the game.

We can argue about Elko waving the white flag on the final drive, but at that moment, why did the offensive coordinator not know what his head coach wanted to do? Or was Klein acting in defiance of what his head coach wanted to do?

Maybe it was just a misunderstanding, but it’s a flag to me about how Elko handles the offensive side of the ball. I know Elko is a defensive coach, and I don’t want him calling the offensive plays. I ABSOLUTELY want him to give feedback and guidance to his offensive coordinator throughout the game, though.

That’s his job as head coach and should make the offensive coordinator’s job easier. This way, Klien can focus more on calling plays rather than spending time thinking through what direction he wants to call plays.

An elite-level head coach offers his coordinators guidance. His job is to watch the entire game, offer feedback on what’s happening, and give guidance on where to go.

I’ll get to the offense in a bit, but I hope what happened at the end was a misunderstanding and not a sign that Klein is operating the offense in a complete vacuum.

Mike Elko had a chance to make a statement on Saturday night and he didn’t. We knew the game was likely going to be an ugly offensive game. The Aggies as a whole looked really unprepared for that game. Especially on offense

I get that the coaching staff and a large part of the roster are new, but they’ve had plenty of time to prepare and look more crisp.

We certainly didn’t see elite coaching on Saturday night.

I suppose we can only go up from here, but we need to get there quickly. Mike Elko furthered the perception that the Texas A&M football team is not prepared to take that next step and make a statement. It looks like more of the same.

That will hurt our recruiting in a horrible way if it doesn’t turn around.

Mike Elko needs to win now in a huge way. sooner than later.

Offense:

Play calling:

Before I get to the obvious concern about the offense, I have to talk about the play calling.

This looked like a Jimbo Fisher called offense but with new and improved motion! Like when a crappy beer updates its can. It’s the same crappy beer, but there’s new vibrant colors on the can!

In all seriousness, there did not appear to be a comprehensive plan for this offense. It looked like a random selection of plays based on the play before it. Nothing was being set up, and it didn’t seem like this offense had any real idea of how to attack Notre Dame’s defense.

This offense looked slow, plodding, and not crisp at all. It looked like the last six years of Aggie Football.

I saw ZERO wrinkles that surprised Notre Dame. It was a straightforward offense that Notre Dame could defend.

To be fair, the quarterback play was not helping at all, but there didn’t appear to be any adapting to how the quarterback was playing.

It was like, “Oh shit. That play didn’t work. Try this one. Dang. That didn’t work either. Try this one. Crap. Okay, punt the ball, and we’ll see if we can figure out something for the next series.”

Just a bunch of haphazard plays that had no apparent rhyme or reason. If Jimbo Fisher was watching this game, he was nodding in agreement at the futility of this offense.

Just like he would have called, but with new and improved motion!

Quarterback:

First off, I don’t care that Conner threw up during the game. Sure, it’s not ideal your starting quarterback threw up during a big game. However, he’s not the first player to throw up during a game, and he won’t be the last.

I saw Elko say it was a puke and rally. That’s exactly right. It’s no big deal he threw up. I don’t really care about it.

I do care about Conner’s total lack of accuracy. He threw some really bad passes all night.

Completing 12 of 30 passes for 100 yards with two interceptions with no touchdowns shows an issue with accuracy. Visually, some of his misses were really bad.

He looked like a pitcher who couldn’t throw strikes with his fastball. Instead of trying different pitches for strikes, he just kept humming fastballs, hoping the accuracy would find its way. It never did.

Early in the game, he made two throws to the running backs, but he just gunned the ball too far in front of them. Neither running back had a chance to catch the ball. Those should be pretty high-percentage completions.

On one of his interceptions, he completely missed Noah Thomas high, which wound up in the hands of the defense back. Noah had no chance at catching the ball even though he launched himself into the air. The ball still sailed over his hands. Conner completely missed him.

Conner didn’t have a super clean pocket, but it wasn’t like he was super pressured all night long, running for his life. He had time.

He was also staring down receivers like he’d already decided where the ball was going before the snap. Primarily to Cyrus Allen on quick throws.

That’s okay to do from time to time but it looked more like he couldn’t process the defense in real time. He was just going to a guy he hoped would be open based on pre-snap reads.

I have no idea what the issue was on Saturday night, but a game from his past has scared me.

Last week, I wrote that Conner played four full games against a Power 5 opponent. In those four games, he either threw for over 300 yards or under 200.

I was looking at those games as half-full glasses. The two games in which he threw for over 300 yards were the reality, not the games in which he threw for under 200 yards.

The game that scared me the most, which I didn’t talk about, is the 2022 Auburn game.

In that game, the Aggie offense had to punt on its first 10 possessions. We never even got into field goal range on our first 10 possessions. Ten possessions and 10 punts to start the game—that’s the definition of inept.

Auburn had a decent defense, but it wasn’t super elite. However, the Aggie offense was so inept that it couldn’t move the ball inside field goal range on 10 straight possessions to open the game.

That’s the famous game where Moose was suspended for wanting to wear sleeves.

We finally got a field goal attempt on our 11th possession, but that was because of a defensive interception in Auburn territory. On that 11th possession, we didn’t even get a first down. The offense went three and out, only kicking a field goal thanks to the field position the defense secured.

The definition of inept.

In that game, Conner was 14 of 36 for 121 yards. That’s less than a 40% completion rate.

After that game, I remember thinking, “A great quarterback somehow finds ways to make plays.” Conner certainly didn’t make plays that game, but I chalked it up to stupid Jimbo because of the Moose suspension. It seemed like the perfect comedy of ineptness Jimbo was proving to be good at.

I never put any of it at Conner’s feet. Maybe I should have. Maybe Conner struggles against better defenses.

Ironically, the next season, he got hurt against Auburn on the last offensive play of the first half. In that game, he was 8 of 14 for 70 yards. I remember watching that game and thinking he was struggling. Then he got hurt, and I just chalked it up to not getting a chance to play a full game. He would have lit it up in the second half.

It’s crazy to think the game against Notre Dame is a definitive game. However, if you look at his five and a half games against Power 5 opponents, the glass is definitely half empty. There might even be a leak.

He’s undoubtedly feast or famine at this point.

I’m not giving up on Conner, but he’s no longer getting a blind pass when the Aggie passing game struggles. The data suggests there’s a good chance he’s part of the problem.

I hope he turns it around, but the trend right now is a massive red flag.

Insane to think the guy everyone assumed would be the savior of Aggie football isn’t that savior.

Welcome to Aggie football.

Offensive Line:

The offensive line has been everyone’s biggest concern coming into this season.

However, most folks blamed it on Steve Addazio; everything would be fine.

Welp, Steve Addazio was nowhere near Kyle Field on Saturday night, and the offensive line still struggled.

Last week, I discussed the shuffling as a specific concern. Well, that happened on Saturday night. Some of it was due to Mark Nabou’s apparent injury, but even before he got hurt, they were shuffling people.

You can’t do that. As a coaching staff, you must decide on the five guys you think are the best unit and let it roll.

That’s apparently what Notre Dame did. I wasn’t explicitly watching their line, but they appear to have stuck with the five guys they deemed the starters for the last two weeks. They were young and inexperienced, but they were more effective than the Aggie offensive line.

The Aggie offensive line wasn’t horrible on Saturday night, but it seemed like a microcosm of the entire Aggie offense philosophy, which has no clear plan or identity.

Sometimes, they looked okay, and other times, they struggled to pass protect or blow Notre Dame off the ball. They certainly did not have an identity of what they wanted to do to the Notre Dame defense, which caused a lot of confusion and uncertainty at times.

I believe that’s mostly tied to confusion and uncertainty about who’s playing where.

Head Coach Mike Elko needs to instruct his offensive coordinator and offensive line coach to pick the best five guys for what they want to do and stick with them. There should be no more mixing and matching.

Not during the game and not during practice.

These are the starting five for at least the next four games. Let’s see if we can finally build cohesion on the offensive line.

Running Back:

Running back was exactly what I thought it would be. Decent enough, but nothing spectacular. Moss led the way with 20 carries for 72 yards and a touchdown.

My biggest beef with Moss was that midway through the fourth quarter, we had a third-and-9. Conner hit him on a short pass out of the backfield, and Moss stepped out one yard shy of the stick. He didn’t even fight for the extra yard to get the first down.

This is your feature back?

Middle of the 4th quarter in a tie game where conversions and possession matter and your lead back isn’t fighting for a first down?

In my mind, that’s more about coaching than Moss. He needs to be aware of what’s on the line and fight for it.

It’s more of an example of an offensive that has no clue about its identity. And that’s on coaching.

Daniels showed he still has his burst, and E.J. Smith looks like a nice change of pace.

I’ve said this unit won’t carry the team, and I still believe it. They do look serviceable, but the offensive line needs to be identified to help these guys.

Wide Receiver:

I was concerned about this unit coming into the season, but I saw nothing from them. I know Notre Dame has a good defense, and Conner struggled with his accuracy, but these guys did nothing to get open.

We had 12 completions for 100 yards. Our longest completion was for 18 yards to a tight end.

Remember when I said I’m tired of tight ends leading any portion of our receiving unit? Well, I’m still tired of it.

We never once tried a deep ball in a man-coverage situation. Motion is supposed to expose the defensive coverage, and we never once went for a big play.

We never tested the safeties and linebackers on seam routes down the middle of the field.

Is that a mark on the players or is it a lack of confidence by the offensive coaching staff with their personnel? I know Conner was bad but he never had a truly wide-open receiver down the field he completely whiffed on.

All of Conner’s misses were in traffic. Our receivers were not getting open either due to a lack of talent or poorly designed routes. Maybe both.

Like the running backs, I don’t expect much from this unit, but I was hoping for something different beyond their pre-snap motion.

Noah Thomas was in the slot most of the night. Maybe my assessment is wrong, but I feel he’s our most talented receiver. He needs to be on the outside looking for man coverage down the field. We need to see if he can be a guy that defenses have to account for on the outside.

We can put to bed whatever hope we had of Moose turning into a player under a different coaching staff.

New coaching staff and the same missing Moose.

Let’s move on.

Moose ain’t ever getting loose.

Defense:

Defensive Line:

The defensive line was expected to be the best unit of this Aggie team, and they certainly lived up to those expectations.

They were, far and away, the best unit of the Aggies on Saturday night.

They didn’t register any sacks, but that’s because Notre Dame smartly used the run and quick passes, so we never had a chance to tee off on Riley Leonard. They certainly applied pressure on passing plays.

The only thing I can say about this unit is a concern for defending the run. It’s not a massive knock but I think they’re so focused on just being disruptive they lose gap integrity on obvious running situations.

Notre Dame rolled up 214 yards on 34 carries. That’s an almost 6 yard per carry average. That was the difference in the game. There were two big touchdown runs but those tend to happen when a team is committed to leaning on the defensive line for much of the game.

I’m curious if better offensive lines will have even more success running the ball against this defense. Obviously, our inept offense allowed Notre Dame to stay committed to the run, but if there’s an apparent weakness on this defensive line, it’s defending the run.

One of the night’s biggest surprises for me was the play of Cashius Howell and Rylan Kennedy. I thought they looked outstanding in the snaps they got.

We knew our starters would be good, but it’s nice to see some apparent depth and talent to give those starters a break.

Linebacker:

I thought our linebackers were okay but not dominant. I know York blames himself for the missed tackle on the long touchdown run, but there were a lot of missed tackles on that run.

We rotated a lot of guys at the linebacker position all night so it was kind of tough for me to judge how they all performed.

I’m against mixing and matching the offensive line, but I’m okay with mixing and matching the linebackers based on what we expect the opponent to do coming into the game and what we see during the game.

Other than York, we’ve got three guys whose in-game ability we’re not really sure about, so it may take a little time to develop.

I think this unit’s whole existence this season will be spent cleaning up what the defensive line misses.

So, no matter who and how they play, they have to get better at tackling and staying in position.

Secondary:

This unit didn’t get tested thanks to A&M’s inept offense and Notre Dame’s smart offensive plan.

Notre Dame threw for 158 yards on 18 completions with a long pass of 20 yards.

I don’t think we can really judge this unit from this game.

Like I’m curious what an experienced offensive line that’s committed to the run will do against our defensive line, I’m also curious what a pass-happy offense will do against this secondary.

I still fear our corners are a liability, and an effective pass-happy team can light this secondary up.

I hope I’m wrong, but Notre Dame was definitely not an effective pass-happy team that put this secondary to the test.

Looking Forward:

I have no idea if A&M will rebound from this loss. I’d like to think we will, but I have no clue.

I know the 2012 team lost to Florida in their first game, but that loss felt different, and that team was totally different. It had loads of talent on offense and a ton of seniors on defense.

I remember seeing some flashes from Johnny that game. We certainly didn’t see flashes from Conner on Saturday night. I honestly don’t know how a quarterback can have that bad of a game and completely turn it around. It’s possible, but it’s going to be a massive concern right now.

I know the 2020 team struggled in its first game against Vandy, got soundly beaten by Bama, and then turned it around against Florida, never losing the rest of the way.

That team was also different in its third year with Jimbo. It had a senior offensive line with an experienced senior quarterback. It also had two really good running backs, Isiah Spiller and some guy named Devon Achane.

This 2024 team looks more like the other years that aren’t 2012 and 2020.

We’ll learn more about this team in two weeks against a very beatable Florida team. But it’s an SEC game on the road, which I don’t need to tell you about our current losing streak in those games.

I’m also slightly concerned about facing an actual Bobby Petrino offense in Arlington. We’ll learn more about them this week as they take on Oklahoma State, but Arkansas may not be an obvious win.

We have four games before Missouri comes to town, and that will be a much tougher game than people expect.

While Notre Dame might be one of the best defenses we face all season, I also think their offense will be one of the worst we see all season—at least of the SEC teams left on our schedule.

Our defense is going to face much bigger tests.

I still contend this feels like an 8-4 season. With the loss, we skew to the 6-6 side, not the 10-2 side.

We had an amazing night. Kyle Field was flat out rocking, and we could have made a statement. We did what Aggie Football has done in forever: We stubbed our toe.

It doesn’t mean our season is lost, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be concerned.

We just have to wait until September 14th to see another data point for this team.