Month: October 2025

Thoughts from the Arkansas Game

I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that, even after leaving Jerry World, an Aggie versus Razorback game wouldn’t be very “exciting.”

It turns out wild games can happen in Fayetteville just like in Arlington. I never doubted an Aggie win on Saturday night, but we only knew for sure when Arkansas tried an onside kick with a few seconds left on the clock.

The series with the Razorbacks has been exciting since we joined the SEC.

I have two main sets of takeaways from that game.

Set 1:

  1. That Arkansas defense is really bad. I do think the Aggie offense is pretty good but man that Arkansas defense is bad.
  2. Taylen Green might be the best quarterback in the SEC. He’s what LeNorris Sellers is supposed to be. He’s certainly the best running quarterback in the SEC. Kid is good even if Arkansas’ record doesn’t show it.

Set 2:

Despite being 7-0, the Aggies still haven’t done two things.

  1. Played a perfect game.
  2. Played a stinker of a game.

I’m not sure what to make of the fact in seven games the Aggies have played seven imperfect games and found a way to win. It’s a remarkable accomplishment and says a lot about the players and staff.

Above all else, they’re winning and that’s what matters when it’s all said and done.

My hope is there’s still improvement and not regression. However, maybe this team is just one of those teams that can’t help but make mistakes yet still find a way to win.

I’m not complaining that we’re 7-0. I just would have liked a couple of games where it was clear from the start the other team stood no chance of winning.

It looked that way early on when the Aggies took a 21-6 lead scoring touchdowns on their first three possession while the Aggie defense kept the Arkansas offense out of the end zone on their first three possessions.

Since it was Arkansas, I should have known it would swing the other way. We’ve somehow always found a way to beat Arkansas since joining the SEC, but we’ve never made it easy.

Don’t know why I expected different on Saturday night.

Offense:

The offense on Saturday night was like a kid playing with their food. They seemed bored but knew what they had and could do.

They had no real issues against the Arkansas defense and pretty much imposed their will most of the game.

They had a few series where they struggled, but for the most part, the Aggies moved up and down the field on a bad Arkansas defense.

Look no more than the three fourth down conversions in the game. The Aggies only needed a yard on each of them but they had no real issues other than EJ Smith getting popped right at the line of scrimmage but he kept moving and got the conversion.

Other defenses might have stopped us but not this Arkansas defense.

Marcel Reed was really efficient for most of the game only missing a few balls. This was probably his best game passing yet.

Reuben Owens didn’t have a dominant effort but he was very productive. EJ Smith had a great night backing up Owens.

The receiving corps all got involved thanks to the Arkie defense focusing on Craver and Concepcion. They especially seemed to focus on Craver.

Speaking of Craver, he’s starting to remind me of a Devon Achane type player. He’s so small and effortless you don’t realize how easily he picks up yards. We all know Craver is fast but the dude runs through contact much better than you would think for his size. He doesn’t go down easily and keeps fighting for yards.

He’s become the focus of defenses. I’d love to find a way to get him the ball more even if it’s at the line of scrimmage or shorter routes. I love Concepcion, but Craver is the biggest weapon on this offense.

He’s a true threat for a big play anytime he touches the ball.

Concepcion is the ultimate possession receiver. The dude runs fantastic routes and sets up his defender really well. His touchdown catch was a perfect example of that. His defender didn’t know which way he was going to break coming off the line. After Concepcion set him up and made his move, he was wide open and Reed hit him.

We won on Saturday night because of a total offensive effort but these two guys remain the reason this offense looks so much different than last year.

Shout out to Bethel-Roman who had two great catches including a touchdown on perfectly thrown balls by Reed.

I thought the offensive line continued to look really good. Not dominant by any stretch but they’re doing just fine. Reed continues to have a great idea of where pressure is coming from and moving away from it.

Reed and the offensive line are working really well together to keep the defense from getting sacks.

I thought Klein called a really good game. He had enough wrinkles and knew how to straight up attack the Arkie defense. It helped he had the better players on his side of the ball, but he deserves credit for taking advantage of it in a smart way.

My only beef with him is he’s gone real conservative at the end of the first half in some games this season.

He did it again on Saturday night.

I don’t know if that’s an Elko directive, but we’ve had a few series right before the end of the first half where it looks like the only goal is to burn clock and punt.

They’re hoping the defense gives them a first down but they’re not running any plays that have a real chance of catching the defense by surprise.

An easy three and out for the defense.

That three and out led to an Arkansas touchdown right before the half changing the momentum of the game.

Still, it’s hard to complain about an offense that put up 45 points and should have had seven more if not for a ticky tack holding call.

Keep doing what you’re doing.

Defense:

Arkansas came out on their first series of the game just moving down the field on the Aggie defense. Once they got near the goal line, the Aggie defense bowed up and held Arkansas to a field goal.

They kept Arkansas from converting a fourth down at midfield on the second series and then another field goal on the third series.

Things were looking good but then the wheels fell off the Aggie defense.

Arkansas would score two touchdowns on consecutive drives right before the end of the half to make it 21-20.

In the second half, the Aggie defense gave up three touchdowns in five possessions to the Arkansas offense.

The Aggie defense reverted back to its form from the first three games. They were in the wrong position and struggled to get ball carriers down on first contact.

In defense of the Aggies, that’s a pretty good Arkie offense and we all know Petrino can dial up plays.

Still, the Aggie defense is better than that.

At least I hope.

The biggest problem in my mind was the amount of pressure the Aggies were bringing. I get why they were doing it because of how our offense was playing. It looked like Elko was looking for the knock out punch but it never landed.

It came close a couple of times but Arkansas would rip off a big run or pass to gain back the yards they lost.

Live by the blitz, die by the blitz.

Our decision to attack on defense left our second level completely exposed. Once Arkansas got the ball beyond the line of scrimmage either by running or passing, there were very few Aggie defenders so Arkansas was ripping off big gains.

Look no further than 4th and 5 from the Arkansas 12 yard line with less than three minutes left in the game. The Aggies brought pressure from their left side but they didn’t keep an edge on their right side. Green was able to slip around that edge and had nothing but open field in front of him.

With a running quarterback like Green, you can never let him have the edge or he’ll burn you. Especially in that situation. A fourth down stop there ends the game.

We got aggressive and got burned.

That’s some on the players, but that’s a lot on coaching for not drilling into to the edge player opposite the pressure side to stay home and don’t get sucked inside.

Once a guy like Green has cleared the edge, he’s going to burn you with his feet.

We did a great job applying pressure all night as we had 34 pressures and four sacks on a very mobile quarterback. Green never got fully comfortable in the pocket.

But still, the burns were really bad.

I don’t really fault the game plan in trying to land the knockout punch, but at the same time, there has to be criticism when the other team scores 42 points including five touchdowns.

Seemed pretty clear Elko was looking for a big turnover or stop but credit to Arkansas for not fully succumbing to the Aggie pressure.

Not one defensive player stood out to me on Saturday as everyone had issues at one point or another. Howell failed to seal the edge a couple times and the linebackers were often out of position.

The secondary did okay but they seemed pretty confused in their coverage at times.

Hopefully, both the staff and players learned from this effort. I’m not sure we’ll see another offense like Arkansas unless we face Alabama in the SEC Championship game.

If we do face another dynamic offense, I hope we either dial the pressure back a bit or execute it flawlessly.

We can’t do what we did in Fayetteville from a defensive standpoint and expect to win again.

Looking Forward:

It’s obvious the Aggies can win out. Every team left on this schedule is very beatable based on what we’ve seen from the teams this season.

That doesn’t mean the Aggies will. Big difference between “they can do it” and “they will do it.”

It’s not my Battered Aggie Syndrome either. It’s the simple fact playing in the SEC is a grind. Especially, on the road. Even more at night.

We’ve got night games in Baton Rouge and Austin.

I do think the Aggies are going to have to be perfect to get to Atlanta. I don’t think Alabama or Georgia lose another game the rest of the way.

They’re both playing really good ball. Especially Alabama. They’re hands down the best team in the SEC right now. Likely the country. That Florida State loss is a LONG time ago.

I think Alabama will remain undefeated and walk into the SEC Championship game.

If the Aggies lose a game, I’m not sure how the tiebreaker with Georgia would work.

I don’t want to find out. Just win out and make it a moot point on figuring out who has whatever tiebreaker according to the seven page SEC tie breaker document.

We lose two games and there’s no Atlanta.

Before thinking that far, we have to do something we’ve never done since joining the SEC – win in Baton Rouge.

Based on how the two teams are playing, I think it’s entirely possible the Aggies get that milestone on Saturday night. I’m not saying they will, but there’s a reason we’re a slight favorite even Baton Rouge. We’re playing better football right now even if it’s imperfect.

As for the rest of the schedule; I’d like to think the floor is 10-2.

If you had told me before the season started we would go 10-2, I would have been ecstatic.

However, after being where we are and the current state of the Aggies and the remaining teams, it would be a massive disappointment.

If we somehow go the dreaded 8-4 losing the final four SEC games, we need to disband the football program all together.

I’m dead serious. Quit wasting money on a football program that’s CLEARLY destined for mediocracy. Send the money we usually waste on Aggie Football to Special Olympics. Those athletes would be more deserving.

I don’t think 8-4 happens, but this is Aggie Football we’re talking about.

We can temper expectations all we want, but the reality is there’s not an Aggie fan anywhere that’s not filled with hope right now.

And I don’t mean some hope. I mean lots of hope. We’re sitting here like General Sherman looking at a map to Atlanta.

We’ve been waiting for this.

As much as I want to talk more about what could happen over the next five games, I can’t.

Seven games has shown us that we’re a really good football team with some imperfections. We’re better than most of the teams in college football but we’re certainly not infallible.

Maybe we find that gear that puts us closer to perfection. Maybe we don’t.

There’s no way to tell other than one thing – let’s win in Baton Rouge on Saturday night and then worry about what comes after that.

BTHO LSU

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Thoughts from the Florida Game

This is another fairly quick write-up this week, mainly because there’s not much to complain about, which I’m not complaining about.

My biggest question about the game that won’t be answered is why Billy Napier left the track meet game in the first quarter. Florida had two beautiful drives, during which they scored touchdowns, making the game 14-14.

Texas A&M scored a touchdown on their third possession to go up 21-14, and then Florida took their fourth possession but suffered a three-and-out, having to punt.

It was that moment when the game’s style changed. Both sides seemed to want to slow it down for whatever reason. It went from a Big 12 shootout game to a traditional SEC game over who could win the line of scrimmage.

It seemed like Napier did it first, and Elko was happy to follow suit.

I don’t get why Napier did it. His only chance of beating A&M on the road was to get into a track meet game. He has the horses with Lagway and his receivers, which were shown on their two touchdown drives.

It seemed like Napier thought he could switch gears and grind out a victory like he did against Texas the prior week.

He was wrong because the Aggie defense continued to shine and basically shut down the Florida offense for the rest of the game.

The Florida offense had 150 yards on those two touchdown drives. They had 169 yards the rest of the game. When Napier decided to tap on the brakes of his offense, the Aggie defense just pushed back.

This is the third consecutive game in which the Aggie defense has stepped up and exerted its will against an SEC opponent. Florida scored 14 points in the first quarter and three points the rest of the game.

Meanwhile, thanks to that 21-14 lead and the Aggie defense stepping up, the Aggie offense slowed things down and looked to wear down the Florida offense. It mostly worked as the Aggies pulled away in the fourth quarter.

The big dagger was the 50-yard drive, during which the Aggies ran 12 plays with only one pass. The other 11 plays were runs, during which the Aggies chewed up eight minutes of clock and put the game away.

Florida wasn’t likely winning that game, but that 50-yard drive made any chance of a comeback obsolete.

I was very critical of Elko after last season’s late collapse, but I have to give the man credit—halfway through this season, this team looks completely different from last season. It really does.

This was by far the Aggies’ most complete game so far, but it was far from perfect. Marcel Reed threw a terrible interception in the second half, and the Aggie defense was driven on for two drives in the first quarter.

But at the end of the day, the Aggies beat a very talented Florida team. That wasn’t an easy win, but the Aggies made it look fairly easy.

I’m optimistic because the Aggies have yet to play a perfect game. They have yet to play a stinker of a game, but we’re winning while overcoming mistakes. That’s the sign of a good football team.

Here are some random things from the game.

Marcel Reed:

Marcel Reed is not getting enough credit for the quality of football he’s playing.

Sure, he’s a little erratic throwing the ball sometimes, but the dude is playing excellent football. He started off the game completing his first eight passes for 160 yards. That included an absolute money throw to Mario Craver that covered 60 yards in the air, if not more.

That throw set the tone for the game and let Florida know we were prepared to respond to anything they could do on the night.

Reed was a little erratic the rest of the game, going 8 for 18, including that interception, but he was pretty good at keeping the Aggies out of trouble.

The best part of Reed’s games is his pocket awareness. The offensive line gives Reed plenty of time to throw, but Reed’s ability to sense pressure to move and reset is outstanding.

Reed will have to continue to adapt, as it’s clear that teams will try to remove Concepcion and Craver from the picture. A little more on that later.

Defensive Third Downs:

During Mike Elko’s time as a defensive coordinator in Aggieland, he was really good at getting off the field on third downs.

We weren’t that great last season, and the first three games this season. Since the SEC play, Mike Elko’s calling card has been back. On Saturday night, the Gators went one for ten on third downs. Florida attempted to convert one fourth down and wasn’t successful.

SEC teams are 2 for 33 on third downs and 0 for 3 on fourth downs.

That is crazy. I don’t know if the Aggies can keep that up, especially on the road. Still, Elko and the defense are doing a tremendous job of anticipating what the opposing offense wants to do or setting them up for difficult conversion distances.

Daymion Sanford:

Sanford led the team in tackles and once again was all over the field making the plays.

I’m not sure it’s a coincidence that the defense has looked different with him starting and playing meaningful minutes.

The defense has definitely worked together to improve from the first three games, but he’s an obvious variable.

I know Scooby is healthy, and you hate to see guys lose their starting spot and playing time due to an injury. However, you can’t take Sanford off the field with the way he’s playing.

York has also been better in the last three games than in the first three games.

Maybe it’s just the competition, but there’s definitely something to Sanford bringing a different element to this defense.

Offensive Line:

The offensive line shuffling continued on Saturday night. I don’t know what’s happening, but Elko and Cushing are still trying to figure out who the best five guys are.

I think they believe it’s Fatheree and Crownover at tackle with Zuhn at center.

I say that because the center is getting the most rotation.

I’m good with trying it because Zuhn is likely an interior lineman at the next level. Crownover has definitely improved, and if we can get Fatheree anywhere near his freshman level of play, this will be a better offensive line.

They’re doing a decent job right now, but there’s room for improvement.

Penalties:

Technically, the Aggies had three penalties for 30 yards called on them Saturday night. In reality, they didn’t have any penalties called on them.

The first was a delay of game, during which the offense was clearly trying to get the Florida defense to jump offsides. The five-yard penalty meant nothing.

The second penalty was the excessive celebration penalty after the fumble recovery in the fourth quarter. That was the final dagger for Florida’s chance to win, so the game was over.

And the final penalty was on Florida’s final drive when they had zero chance of winning.

I don’t expect the Aggies to play penalty-free football every game, but it was great to see after what happened against Auburn and Mississippi State.

If the Aggies can play mostly penalty-free football, they’ll likely advance to Atlanta and the CFP.

The lack of penalties is far and away the most significant development from this game.

Punt penalty:

In the second quarter, Florida punted a ball that went 66 yards and wound up at the Aggie 18-yard line. On the play, Florida was called for a facemask.

A&M had the option of taking the ball at the Aggie 33-yard line or pushing the Gators back to their 7-yard line and punting again.

Elko correctly pushed Florida back and made them punt again. The second punt went 36 yards to the Florida 43-yard line. That gained the Aggies 24 yards.

I feel like Elko would have just taken the ball at the 33-yard line last season.

It’s minor, but I’m glad to see Elko fully aware and making wise decisions rather than just being conservative.

Third Receiver:

It’s obvious that teams are scheming to slow down Concepcion and Craver. Those two guys are seeing double and bracketed coverage, which will leave someone else open, so someone needs to step up.

I’d love it if Terry Bussey finally took that step, but I just don’t know. He and Bethel-Roman had zero receptions on Saturday night despite playing a good portion of the evening.

We’re halfway through the season, with opportunity knocking, and these guys have yet to produce anything meaningful.

The tight ends had a good night, catching eight balls for 88 yards. That’s a great night for them. Maybe they’ll be the guys to step up with the focus on Concepcion and Craver.

If the Aggies can find someone to take advantage of the defense’s focus on Concepcion and Craver, this offense would reach the next level.

Running Back:

We lost Le’veon Moss on Saturday night for a few games.

As you saw on his touchdown run, he’s head and shoulders above our other running backs. That doesn’t mean our other running backs are bad; it’s just a statement of how good Moss is.

Owens struggled up the middle on Saturday night, but he didn’t have any runs for losses to his credit. Up the middle is not his strength, but he can at least grind out some yards. He’s just not going to create yards after contact like Moss can.

I’m cautiously excited about Jamarion Morrow. He’s a true freshman but looks to have some real talent. He’s really compact and strong.

If he grows up quickly, the Aggie offense can keep rolling.

Everyone close to the program thinks Morrow can be an absolute stud. I hope he proves them correct.

Overall:

It’s hard to question much from this game. Sure, a few things could have been better, but the Aggies played their most complete game of the season by a large margin.

It shows serious improvement at the halfway mark.

Looking Forward:

We have two really tough road games the next two weeks.  

We travel to Fayetteville, where Bobby Petrino will make his first home appearance as the Arkansas head coach. The team and fans will be fired up for this game.

Don’t let their 2-4 record fool you. They’re two late fumbles away from being 4-2 and potentially 5-1 as they only lost to Tennessee by three points last week.

After Fayetteville, we travel to Baton Rouge for a night game. I don’t need to waste words on the challenge that will be.

Let’s see what happens in Fayetteville before we get too far ahead of ourselves for what could be for the rest of the season.

I like what I’m seeing, but we’ve got six games left, and they’ll be the most challenging five games of the season, other than the Notre Dame game.

Let’s hope this is a different Aggie team than we’ve seen in the past.

Thoughts from the Mississippi State Game

I’m not really sure where to begin on this game.

The end result was dominating, but the Aggies took three quarters to get there, at least from an offensive standpoint. The defense dominated the whole game just like the week before.

Five games into the season, the Aggies are 5-0, but haven’t even come close to playing a perfect game. That’s good and bad.

The offense carried the team for most of the first three games, but the defense has carried it for the last two games. I didn’t see the defense doing a 180 after the bye week, but I’m glad to see it.  

We’ve been Jekyll and Hyde five games into the season.

Before I go any further, I must say that that was a well-coached Mississippi State team. They’re short on talent, but the Mississippi State coaching staff did everything they could to give their team a chance to win. The problem was that they didn’t have the horses.

To make matters worse, they didn’t have their two starting tackles against us. They came in with lesser talent, and then, to make matters worse, they didn’t even have all of their talent.

What I saw from the Mississippi State coaching staff was light-years ahead of what I saw from the Auburn coaching staff. Coaching absolutely matters.

For three quarters, Mississippi State kept it to a two-score game.

Ultimately, the Aggies wore down the Bulldogs and walked out with an impressive score.

Three things stand out to me from this game:

1) The overall effort of the Aggie defense
2) The running game
3) Concepcion and Craver are difference makers

I won’t break down each unit on both sides of the ball as I usually do; instead, I’ll focus on those three things.

Much of what I would write about this game would be a duplicate of last week. It’s basically the same game as Auburn, except Miss State had a little more offense, and our offense finally landed big punches in the fourth quarter.

The Defense:

For the second straight week, the Aggie defense just dominated their opponent.

The Aggie defense held the Bulldog offense to 219 total yards, 44 of which came on a perfect touchdown pass. The Aggies also kept that number down thanks to four sacks and five tackles for losses. Those nine plays removed 49 yards from the Bulldogs’ offensive ledger.

This was a duplicate effort from the previous week against Auburn, where guys were flying around making plays. York and Sanford led the defense at linebacker. The defensive line was disruptive yet again.

Cashius Howell took advantage of their backup tackles, amassing three sacks.

Mississippi State converted one third down on 10 tries. They didn’t try a fourth-down conversion.

It was yet another dominant performance by the Aggie defense.

I have no clue if this type of defensive play is sustainable. We might have played the two worst offenses on our schedule.

Either way, it’s great to see the Aggie defense dial it up when the competition is inferior. At worst, at least this Aggie defense knows and understands how to play dominating defense.

We’ll find out on Saturday if this defense is sustainable when Florida comes to town.

I’ll take a coaching staff getting a defense ready to take care of an inferior offense over some other performances we’ve seen in the past.

This type of defensive performance is why we hired Mike Elko. Kudos to him and his staff for dialing up the defensive play when it looked like a significant question mark in the season’s first three games.

The Running Game:

The offensive line was inconsistent yet again.

They had their penalties and then obviously got stuffed at the goal line.

Real quick—I’m torn about the decision-making there. We went up the gut four plays in a row and only gained one yard when we needed two. It’s insanity to keep trying the same thing repeatedly with no results. At the same time, at some point, you hope your offense can will its way to gaining a yard when it’s genuinely needed.

I’d rather try it in a game like this where you have a good chance of overcoming getting stopped in that moment.

If we see something like this again this season in a close game against an equal opponent, I’ll scream to the heavens. I hope Elko and Klein saw that as a serious warning sign.

Back to the overall running game discussion – Le’veon Moss was in and out of the game yet again.

Reuben Owens stepped up in a big way, rushing 21 times for 143 yards. It goes without saying that he looked the best he’s looked in an Aggie uniform. He showed a lot of confidence and burst.

In addition to Owens, you had Craver with two rushes for 35 yards, including a touchdown. Reed rushed 6 times for 34 yards, including a touchdown. Jamarion Morrow had a nice rush of 23 yards. Concepcion had two rushes for 22 yards.

And Boerkircher converted another third-and-short for a first down. Maybe he should get goal-line carries…

It took a bit to get the running game going, but I’m glad our offensive line could lean on the Mississippi State defense and open up holes. We averaged 5.5 yards a carry, which is a solid number.

You can’t fault 300 yards of rushing. That’s how you impose your will. Even if it took us three quarters to do it. At least it happened.

We had almost twice the possession time as Mississippi State. Which is why things looked like they did in the fourth quarter.

Concepcion and Craver:

There’s a decent chance we win this game if these two guys aren’t on our team.

However, with them on our team, this game became a no-doubter in the fourth quarter.

These two dude are absolute difference makers.  

The stat sheet from this game doesn’t show their importance in receiving yards, but their presence changes how a defense has to defend us.

They “only” had 141 yards of receiving, with Concepcion having 80 yards and Craver having 61 yards. Concepcion had two touchdowns through the air, and Craver had a 42-yard reception in addition to his two carries and score on the ground.

It doesn’t seem like much compared to some of their games, but the dudes produced yet again.

They’re being focused on by defenses and still producing.

Having these guys on the field can be credited with many of those 300 yards of rushing. They’re a nightmare for defenses to worry about, so they can’t focus on shutting down the run.

These guys are flat-out dudes and continue to change the trajectory for the 2025 Aggie Football season.

They continue to be my team MVPs for the season, and it’s not even close.

I can keep going on, but you’ve got eyes and watch the games.

Don’t be griping about the Transfer Portal when we’ve got these two guys on our roster.

Looking Forward:

I still feel like we’ve got a couple of losses on our schedule somewhere. I don’t know when, but we will have a game or two where nothing clicks.

I can’t point to it on the schedule right now because everyone on our schedule has serious question marks. That includes LSU and Texas, which I thought were sure losses coming into the season.

We can still lose those games, but I am much more confident that we can win them.

For now, I want to get through Florida and Arkansas to go to Baton Rouge 7-0.

As much as I want to look forward to Atlanta and the College Football Playoff, I just can’t.

Let’s BTHO Florida and worry about Arkansas after that.

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Thoughts from the Auburn Game

Last Saturday was a real head-scratcher of a game. It should have been a much bigger win, but it wasn’t.

A lot of Aggies ended the game wondering what it meant.

As someone who walked into the season very skeptical of this Aggie program, I saw many positives.

I’m well aware of the negatives, but there were more positives than negatives. That’s assuming this coaching staff and team can continue developing and improving each week.

In looking back, two things stood out to me:

1) Despite a few slight moments of worry in the game, the Aggies controlled the game from start to finish.
2) The defense had everything to do with that. They flat-out owned the Auburn offense the entire game.

The Aggie offense had a fair amount of self-inflicted issues, which caused this game to be closer on the scoreboard than on the field. We missed 6 points on missed field goals. We had a touchdown called back, having to settle for a field goal. That’s 10 points right there.

26-10 would feel much different than 16-10.

Take away the interception, which was essentially a Pick-6, and you’re talking about a potential 10-point swing since we were in field goal range.

That would have made the game 29-3.

I say that with some level of confidence because the defense was just so damn good on Saturday.

Not factoring in Auburn’s touchdown because that was on the Aggie offense, Auburn only attempted one field goal. That was thanks to a perfect pass that Will Lee might have intercepted, and then a personal foul by Albert Regis. Even on that drive, Auburn never got inside the 10-yard line. That was Auburn’s only trip inside the red zone the entire game.

The Aggie defense was that dominant on Saturday.

I’m sure you’ve seen the stats: Auburn didn’t convert a third or fourth down on Saturday. In addition, Auburn got 1 yard of offense in the fourth quarter.

Defensive domination.

Coaching:

I was critical of Elko and Klein coming into the season, but I can’t fault them for what they’ve done this season. They’ve not been perfect, but they seem more aware of their talent and this season’s competition.

I’ll address the 3rd and 1 playcall that resulted in the Pick-6. I disagree with it, but I don’t hate it. I get what Klein was trying to do. He was trying to be unpredictable.

Reed took a bad snap and threw a high pass that Bussey couldn’t bring in. It bounced favorably to Auburn, and the worst thing could have happened. It was at minimum a 7-point swing, but likely a 10-point swing or even a 14-point swing.

Klein was a little erratic this game, but I believe he was trying to stay balanced and not rely on one aspect of the offense. I actually get that. I’ve mentioned this before, but the Aggies will need to rely on the pass to beat teams.

Reed needs to develop a better rapport with his receivers and there’s only one way to do that – actually doing it in games.

I like that Klein is trying to continue developing the passing game. We won’t be able to rely solely on the running or passing game if we want to make Atlanta and the CFP. I wish he’d get better at sequencing plays, but I like what he’s doing this season much more than last.

Take away a couple of those offensive line penalties, and this offense would have looked entirely different on Saturday. Klein felt like a boxer who landed the first big punch, staggering the opponent, and then spent the rest of the game trying to land the final knockout punch. He almost had it with the Craver touchdown, but it got called back with a ticky-tack call.

Let’s see what he does against Mississippi State.

The defensive coaching was perfection. It really was. I can’t complain about one thing from the defensive effort on Saturday.

I didn’t see that defensive effort coming at all, but above everything else, it gives me hope this Aggie team can finally get to Atlanta and the CFP. The Auburn offense is pretty bad. Their offensive line and Jackson Arnold are terrible, but credit to Elko and company for coming up with the perfect scheme and getting the players to execute it. That’s often easier said than done.

Let’s get to the sides of the ball.

Offense:

I’ve talked about Klein, but the offense looked good enough. They weren’t even really good, which is encouraging, assuming they continue learning and developing.

Running Back:

Le’veon Moss had another solid day toting the rock. The dude carried 21 times for 140 yards and a score. That’s 6.6 yards a carry. The guy is the most underrated back in the country at this point. I have complete faith in him.

Reuben Owens looks like he’s starting to find his groove. He only had three carries, but he had 52 yards. Amari Daniels had a very serviceable day, carrying the ball 12 times for 42 yards while picking up blitzes.

This group continues to live up to its promise.

Offensive Line:

This unit is solely responsible for our offensive struggles. For all the good they did at times, their penalties flat-out held this offense back.

This unit’s actual play is still inconsistent. They’re really good at times and then struggle at other times. Reed was sacked four times, which is partially a testament to how much pressure Auburn brought most of the game, but also how much this line can still improve.

We will continue to see teams bring pressure and try to exploit this line.

I’m okay with this group, but they still have a lot of room for improvement. That’s even beyond all the penalties.

Wide Receiver:

Auburn made a conscious effort not to let Mario Craver have a big play. Not a terrible move. Craver still had four catches for 34 yards. He should have had five catches for 56 yards and a touchdown. You already know that.

Meanwhile, KC Concepcion had a productive day catching seven passes for 113 yards.

Craver and Concepcion didn’t have quite the impact they had in the Notre Dame game, but they certainly contributed to the production.

Niblack had a nice catch-and-run. This was a great catch as he was going across the middle and anticipated the contact. He kept his arms extended and brought them in right away, avoiding the contact to get quite a few yards after the catch.  A lot of guys would have short armed that ball and not caught it.

My only complaints about the receivers are Bussey and Bethel-roman. Bethel-roman seems to struggle to adjust to and catch balls. Two passes to him weren’t great, but he made zero adjustments to the ball. He basically runs his route. If the ball doesn’t hit him in stride, he won’t adjust and catch it.

Bussey seems to struggle with fluid routes and getting separation from the defender. I’d really like to see these guys develop. They could make an explosive offense even more explosive.

Quarterback:

Marcel Reed had a much better day than most people realize. He was an efficient 15 for 22 for 207 yards, which is an almost 70% completion rate. That has to be one of his most efficient days as a quarterback.

He won’t win the Heisman this season, but I see him continuing to develop the rest of the season. I’m hopeful there’s more to come from Reed.

Defense:

I’m going to talk about this group as a whole.

First, my apologies to Will Lee and Taurean York. I was critical of their play in the Notre Dame game, but they absolutely stepped up in this game.

York may have had the best game of his Aggie career. The dude was all over the field. His play anticipation was off the charts in this game.

Will Lee and Dez Ricks all but shut down Auburn’s receivers. Auburn has a great set of receivers. They only had 125 yards of receiving, with one pass going for 37 yards. Will Lee had perfect position on the receiver, to the point that a case could be made that he intercepted the ball.

Cam Coleman is one of the best receivers in the nation, but he was totally shut down, only catching four balls for 18 yards. His longest reception was for five yards. I can’t say enough good things about what Ricks and Lee did on Saturday.

I’m shocked at Ricks’ development, but I’m not complaining—massive kudos to him for what he’s done.

I talked about York already, but Daymion Sanford had another great game. I don’t know what to do when Scooby comes back, but it’s a good problem to have.

The defensive line had far and away its best game of the season. I liked what I saw from the defensive tackles in the Notre Dame game, and they continued to be disruptive against Auburn.  

The defensive ends did a great job of setting edges and not letting Auburn get outside. Auburn’s offensive line contributed to some of the performance, but seeing the defensive line take advantage of an inferior group was great.

The safeties looked great—especially Marcus Ratcliffe.

It was just a great effort by the entire defense. I don’t know how replicable it is because, as mentioned, the Auburn offensive line and Jackson Arnold are pretty bad.  

However, seeing them do so well is encouraging, as they didn’t have any lapses throughout the game.

You’re imparting your will when you hold the opponent to 1 yard in the fourth quarter.

Kudos to Elko and everyone else involved with the defense.

Looking Forward:

After Notre Dame and Auburn, there’s no doubt in my mind that A&M can beat everyone left on its schedule. That’s partially because of how this A&M team is playing and how the remaining teams have played. They all look beatable.

The Aggies won’t run the table, but if this team can keep doing what it’s doing and continue to develop, it will win a lot more games than it loses.

I’ll move the floor to 9-3 for this team and put the overall record at 10-2.

I need to see more from this team, along with LSU, Missouri, and Texas, before I get too confident about the 11 or even 12-win category.

We should be 7-0 when we head to Baton Rouge. After watching this team against Notre Dame and Auburn; wins over Mississippi State, Florida, and Arkansas seem probable.

They can absolutely lose any of those games if they get too confident and have a brain fart.

I’d like to see a perfect game in which they absolutely annihilate an opponent. I’m starting to get bought in on this team, but I’m going to hold back to see what happens in the next three games.

Let’s take it one game at a time and BTHO Mississippi State.

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