I didn’t get a chance to write up my thoughts on the Bama game due to traveling back from the game and then taking Spring Break the week after.  I had started on a write up for both the Bama and New Mexico St. game last week but the World Series got in the way and I never finished.  My apologies.  You get what you pay for…

As for the loss against MSU that starts at the top with Coach Sumlin.  This team was not prepared and focused at all.  They kicked off to us and we knocked the ball around on the ground before picking it up.  It was a 6 yard return to the 9 yard line.  Lack of focus by Keith Ford.  We then punted on our first offensive possession after only one first down with two incompletions.  Their first play was a 72 yard touchdown that mimicked what South Carolina did against us.  Lack of focus by the entire defense.  They kick off to us and we boot the ball around on the ground returning it 5 yards to the 13.  Lack of focus by Justin Evans.  We then go three and out with an incompletion on 3^rd down.  Lack of focus.  If it hadn’t been for a GREAT play by Nick Harvey intercepting the ball in the end zone then MSU would have scored on their first three possessions while we would have punted on our first three possessions.  No offense to MSU but Texas A&M was the more talented team on the field and they simply whipped our ass on the first three possessions because they were focused and wanted it more.  Plain and simple.  That’s on our head coach.

Kevin Sumlin did not have this Aggie team ready.  While Clemson, Michigan, Washington, Ohio State, and Louisville beat their conference opponents by 40 points or more the Texas Aggies got beat by Mississippi State.  That’s right, 40 points or more.  Every other team in contention for the College Football Playoff not named Bama or Texas A&M flat out throttled their opponent making a statement they flat out belonged.  Kevin Sumlin took his team to Starkville like it was a family vacation with some football mixed in.  Nobody on that field wanted to be there and that starts at the top.  Basically what Kevin Sumlin did was walk up to every Aggie fan and took off their maroon colored glasses.  He then dropped them on the ground and stomped on them with his foot.  The $5 million dollar man thought his team and his staff were good enough to sleep walk through this game.  He was wrong.  Dead wrong.

I didn’t think this would be a loss due to the proverbial “trap game” but I can’t say I was totally shocked as some signs have been there since the South Carolina game.  I truly thought this team and staff was different but in the end this is the same thing that’s plagued Sumlin the last 4 years.  Everything is too predictable and there’s no sense of urgency from the staff.  Sumlin just assumes what worked for the first half will work for the second half.  I really don’t think he truly watches film to see if teams are picking up tendencies on both sides of the ball.  It’s clear the opposing staffs are finding those tendencies and weaknesses.  Sumlin is pretty damn good at the first half but he’s TERRIBLE at the second half.  I mean flat out terrible.  He’s got two games to correct that as both Ole Miss and LSU can beat us if MSU can.

Offense:

This is what I wrote last week before the World Series got in the way:

Against New Mexico St. Mazzone ran some wrinkles with new formations and plays we haven’t seen but we weren’t crisp with them at all.  It seemed early on we were trying to work the ball to Speedy but it didn’t do much.  We had a nice deep post route by Reynolds but that play probably doesn’t work against a top defense like Bama or LSU. 

All in all I’m not sure what Mazzone is trying to do at this point.  He didn’t do wrinkles against Bama but then had his biggest bag of them all year against New Mexico St.  Did he realize after the Bama game the offense had become too predictable?  Did he not think he needed wrinkles against Bama and when he watched the film the light just came on?  I have no clue what’s in his head right now.  I’m a bit worried about him going forward.  I don’t think he’s Spav 2.0 but I do think he’s been too reliant on the zone read for most of the season and his play creation hasn’t impressed me so far.  We’ve struggled on offense against Tennessee, Bama, and for the most part New Mexico St.  Is the magic we had against Auburn and Arkansas in the second half of those games gone? 

I’ve also said it all season we haven’t been able to string drives together at all this season.  That’s the part that scares me the most for the rest of the season is our offense has become too predictable and reliant upon the zone read.  For us to go 11-1 and win our bowl game Mazzone needs to get a little creative and most importantly have the offense execute on that creativity.

I promise I wrote that last week and never published it.  I wouldn’t have expected a loss to MSU even writing that but to see our offense continue to struggle trying to run the same plays is not surprising at all.  It’s crystal clear defenses have figured out our tendencies and know how to attack them.  I know we lost Knight but even before he went out he was only 5 of 14 and all five of those completions came on one series.  The definition of inconsistent.  Knight had some decent runs but both Ford and Williams combined had 19 carries for 61 yards with neither guy having a carry over 9 yards.  No offense to MSU’s defense but you expect MUCH better from those two considering what they’ve been able to do against other defenses.  What’s interesting is most of those yards came on first downs as on 3^rd and short we rarely converted as MSU stuffed us.  No doubt MSU figured out our running patterns on 3^rd down and attacked.  Predictable offense is the only explanation.

The most frustrating thing to me in this game was the use Ford and Trayveon.  We started out with Ford which I was fine with but we kept trying to get him around the corner and he’s not designed like that.  It reminded me a lot of Spav trying to get Carson around the corner.  Ford is a North and South runner and we were running stretch plays with him.  We brought in Trayveon on the 4^th series which I agreed with as I felt we needed more of him because he’s a big play threat but they basically shut him down.  It was clear it wasn’t a running back issue and it was all about MSU had figured out our running scheme and shut it down.  After the half I felt Trayveon should have been used between the 20s and then use Ford in the red zone.  Trayveon had a nice 9 yard run around the edge in the red zone but on 2^nd and 1 at the 5 yard line he was stuffed.  At that point I would have subbed out Ford and told Mazzone he’s calling two running plays there.  Instead Mazzone calls a roll out for Hubenak and he got sacked for a four yard loss.  We then missed the field goal.  I know Sumlin doesn’t like butting in on his coordinators but in the red zone in situations like that I think the head coach needs to give some guidance on what he wants.  We were down 28-14 after our defense forced a three and out on MSU’s opening second half possession.  I absolutely would have run the ball twice to see if I could gain all of the momentum in that game.  Instead we go with an inexperienced QB rolling out and get a sack.  I wouldn’t have put my backup QB in that situation with a guy like Ford and 2 downs to get 1 yard on the 5 yard line.  Really reminded me of the Mizzou game 2 years ago when we left Brandon Williams in rather than put in Tra Carson on the goal line.  I just think in key situations like that a head coach has to step in and make some calls on his own.  Especially when a coordinated appears to need some guidance.

As for Mazzone the thing that scared me the most from this game is until he had to do something different he tried to call the exact same game as if Trevor was in there.  No offense to Hubes but he doesn’t have the athleticism of Knight to run the zone read.  Hubenak is a quick read vertical passer.  He’s the exact opposite of Knight in many regards.  But yet there was Mazzone calling running plays for Hubenak.  On Hubenak’s first series there was a 3^rd and 7 and a QB draw was called.  Hubes got 6 yards as he doesn’t have the athleticism of Knight and the MSU defense crashed hard on him before he got the first down.  It was a great call for Knight as Knight would have scorched them  but a questionable call for Hubes.  Case in point Hubes had 7 runs for 2 yards and Knight had 5 runs for 54 yards.  That’s a huge difference.  Some of those might have been sacks or pressure runs but Hubenak did have a couple of zone reads I believe.  It wasn’t until we were forced to pass did Mazzone let Hubes throw vertical.  When we did that Hubes actually had some decent passes and got us back in the game.

As for receiver Kirk and Reynolds were tremendous.  In fact without those two being future NFL guys this teams has it’s doors blown off.  So basically two guys carried this offense to a “respectable” score if you eliminate it was between the supposed #4 team in the country who had only lost to Bama and a 2 win MSU team that didn’t have an SEC win to their name.  The worst showing by a receiver in my book was once again Speedy Noil who somehow caught a first down pass but inexplicably looked away and happened to look back right before the ball got to him past the stick.  The dude just doesn’t have focus.  Amazing talent but no focus.  What the hell he was doing looking away I haven’t a clue.  Speedy wound up with 3 catches for 36 yards which is decent but I still say Tabuyo should be in for Speedy at this point.  RSJ is someone Hubes should have been targeting but he caught zero balls all day.  It’s just kind of maddening how it appears Mazzone doesn’t understand his personnel against that week’s defense and just randomly calls plays based on his system.

Mazzone is not Spav but he’s not far off at this point.  Unless things change dramatically over the two final SEC games I’m not sure we’ll ever win big with Mazzone at the helm of our offense.  He’s a system guy based on the zone read with no creativity.  I hear Mazzone has a three year contract so there’s no way he doesn’t come back next season but Sumlin really needs to do an objective review of how things were handled this season.  Maybe Kiffin will have a play calling camp he can attend next summer.  At worst go hire Sarkisian away from Saban to be a consultant for Mazzone.  I just don’t have a great feeling about Mazzone right now.  This could be Sumlin’s Les Miles situation where Les could never objectively evaluate Cam Cameron’s offensive ability.

Defense:

While the defense gets the brunt of the complaints for this game for good reason I have to say one thing – outside of the drive where MSU scored to go up 35-21 the defense played well enough in the second half for this team to win.  The defense held MSU scoreless on their first 5 possessions of the second half.  Sure one was a missed field goal and there was an interception in the end zone but for 5 possessions the defense kept MSU off the board in the second half.  Our offense was playing with ZERO urgency or wrinkles in the second half and our defense had made some adjustments to shut down an MSU team that had scored 28 points on them in the first half.  It was a crappy performance as a whole but I have to give the defense credit for putting forth a valiant effort in the second half until the back breaking drive by MSU when they went up 35-21.  Even after we scored to take the game to 35-28 but missed the onside kick the defense held on a three and out to force MSU to punt.  Outside of that 74 yard drive the defense only gave up 122 yards on the other 6 possessions in the second half.  The overall performance was bad but I feel like the defense makes adjustments when they need to.  But the 14 play drive that gained 73 yards and burned 7:34 was a back breaker so the defense didn’t respond when it needed to most.  That was the drive after we had closed the score 28-21 and there was 10 minutes left in the 4^th quarter.  At the end of that drive the score was 35-21 and there was only 3 minutes left.  Sorry defense but that’s the definition of not responding.  A great half was erased by that single drive.  Couple that with the 28 points in the first half and there’s really no positives.

The worst part about this defense was no doubt the failure by the defensive ends not named Hall or Myles failing to keep containment on the zone read and crashing inside only to see the QB pull the ball and run around the end.  It’s maddening how the backup ends can’t realize they’re being exposed to the zone read and shouldn’t crash down.  When you’re a defensive end and you’re not getting blocked something is up.  You’re being set up.  Hold your damn ground.  Time and time again our defensive ends crash down which means the QB pulls it and heads around the end.  This has been happening since South Carolina.  Terry Price needs to get that cleaned up THIS WEEK as there’s NO EXCUSE for that repeatedly happening.

In addition to our defensive ends blowing the zone read our linebackers are running themselves out of position.  This looks like last year but amazingly we haven’t had any injuries so there’s no excuse for the starters regressing.  There’s not one linebacker I feel good about right now.  I thought Washington was taking that step to be a really solid linebacker but that’s not the case right now.  None of these linebackers inspire any confidence and that’s on Chavis.  He needs to get that cleaned up.

Our defensive tackles seemed to be out of position as well.  They’re definitely not playing as well as they were early in the season.  It seems as if offensive coordinators have figured out how our defensive tackles like to attack and let them go that way while they scheme to that.  It’s a novel concept for an offensive coordinator to do that.  The defensive tackles were supposed to be a real strength of this defense and right now it’s not happening.

The secondary played decent.  Evans and Watts led the team in tackles which honestly I’m not too wild about considering how much teams are running on us.  I know they’re a strength but you don’t really want safeties leading the team in tackling.  Our corners came in 3^rd and 4^th with tackles which is even worse.  They were getting picked on and MSU’s QB had some really great passes but they only completed 18 passes which is the total tackles Harvey and Capers-Smith had so that means they were having to make tackles on running plays.  MSU rushed the ball 58 times and our starting corners and safeties lead the team in tackles.  That.  Ain’t.  Good.  Our linebackers and defensive ends should be leading the team in tackles when there’s 58 rushing attempts and 18 completions.  Speaking of tackling I don’t know what’s happened but this defense was REALLY good at tackling through the Arkansas game but that’s gone now.  I’d heard that for the Tennessee game there was a focus on getting turnovers as opposed to wrapping up and bringing down the ball carrier but that needs to change right now for sure.  This defense needs to get back to the basics of tackling as they’re gonna need it against LSU for sure.

As for pass defense as bad as Nick Harvey has been against the pass in the Arkansas game he’s really improved during the season.  He’s not a shutdown corner but he’s playing MUCH better.  Priest Willis was out for this game and they picked on Capers-Smith quite a bit.  I actually thought the pass coverage was pretty decent as a whole.  So as tackling has regressed I think our pass coverage has improved.  There’s a positive.  I’d rather have outstanding tackling though.

As a whole this defense needs to get back to the basics of tackling and I think that will fix a lot of the issues.  The backup defensive ends need to stay home and keep contain.  I know Chavis loves to blitz and fill the gaps with his linebackers but I’m thinking against some running teams he either needs to change up his blitz scheme or leave linebackers at home more.  I think offensive coordinators have picked up on his blitz scheme and running their guys where they know the defenders won’t be.  There’s no excuse for MSU rushing 58 times for 365 yards which is a 6.3 yard per carry.  Take away Fitzgerald’s 74 yard run to start the game and they still averaged over 5 yards per carry.  Considering outside of Myles Garrett being hurt there’s no excuse for the defensive line and linebackers to give up those yards.  Chief needs to get this corrected pronto as we’re about to face two teams in Ole Miss and LSU that are going to try and replicate what teams have done against us on the ground.  I have faith Chief can get it done but let’s see it first.

Special Teams:

According to the athletic department website Jeff Banks is our special teams and tight ends coach.  Based on what I’ve seen of our special teams and tight ends I’m honestly not sure if he does anything.  If it wasn’t for Christian Kirk’s straight athleticism this special teams unit would be ATROCIOUS.  Outside of Kirk I can’t think of anything redeeming about our special teams.  Not a damn one.  Can you?  Our punter is WILDLY inconsistent and our place kicker isn’t much better.  Do these guys just work on their own and go out when the situation dictates?  Does Banks even know their name or does he just holler “PUNTER” and “KICKER” when the situation arises?

I’ve already talked about the booting the ball around on the first two kickoffs but there was another moment when our upback caught the ball out of bounds around the 20.  Thank goodness he was out of bounds but he was damn close to being in bounds.  I can’t think of a single reason he should have attempted to catch that ball.  I swear he caught that ball completely clueless of where he was and the ramifications of if he caught that ball in bounds.  I say that because against Tennessee I think we had one of our guys pick up a kick off that was about to go out of bounds and returned it.  There’s no excuse for that.

I had ZERO faith we would get the onside kick.  I mean none.  And sure enough it was an ordinary run of the mill onside kick.  Our kicker kicked it too deep and we had no shot of recovering it even with MSU muffing it and putting it on the ground.  I don’t think that was by design.  I think our special teams just suck that much and there’s ZERO focus on them.  None.  We’re just going through the motions on special teams because the rules of the game require it.

When MSU had to punt the ball after the onside kick failed it looked like we had a return set up.  They were kicking the ball from our 44 yard line.  There was 35 seconds left and we had no timeouts.  I love Kirk but there was virtually ZERO chance he returns the ball in that situation because of how sort the field was.  So there we are with 35 seconds left and being punted to on a short field with no time outs and we have a return set up.  A FREAKING return set up.  Fine if you want to leave Kirk back there but line up the other 10 guys and go for a freaking jail break in hopes of blocking it.  Does Sumlin even watch football games?  Did he not see the Michigan and Michigan State game last year where a jail break blocked punt was Michigan State’s saving grace for making the playoffs?  That boggled my mind we had a damn return on rather than an all-out jail break to block the punt.  How could he not see our only hope to win that game was a blocked punt and hopefully a return.  Do we even have an all-out jail break block attempt in the playbook?  I’m not totally familiar with all the college rules but I think that’s allowed.

I still don’t like Evans and Ford returning kicks.  Love the toughness those guys bring on the field in their regular positions but they don’t have the burst and top end speed to break one to the house.  It’s just not going to happen with either of those guys so why are they back there?  Does Banks think the kick return blocking is so bad he wants “bruisers” returning the kicks?  I haven’t the foggiest what Banks thinks but I know our special teams is horrible and WAY more likely to cost us a game than win one for us except for Christian Kirk’s natural talent.  And Banks only other job is to coach tight ends so it’s not like that’s a distraction for special teams.  I mean our tight ends don’t do anything either so what does Banks do all day?  Who knows but Sumlin needs to show him the bricks at the end of this season in my mind.  Based on what we’ve seen in his tenure he brings NOTHING to the table.  I mean nothing at all.  Hit the bricks kid.

 

As for what happens the rest of the season I don’t know.  With Kelly out for Ole Miss I’d like to think we win that game which will put as at 9-3 at worst.  Sumlin survives that without a doubt.  At this point I don’t see how this team beats LSU unless changes are made.  It’s the same feeling I had going into last year’s bowl game.  If Sumlin isn’t willing to make some pretty dramatic changes we’re going to get beat by LSU and wind up 9-3 and 3^rd or 4^th in the West.  I’d LOVE for us to go 10-2 and win our bowl game.  It’s entirely possible but I’m not sure Sumlin has that in him.  He had 11-1 in front of him and let Mississippi State derail that right away.  At worst we could have been 11-1 and playing the B12 Champ or their runner up in the Sugar Bowl.  Even better we could have been in the College Football Playoff.  I suppose at 10-2 we could still make the Sugar Bowl but it sure as hell won’t feel the same thanks to this loss.  However, with enough time an 11-2 record with a Sugar Bowl victory will make us forget all about this loss so that’s what I’m hoping for.

I’d love to know how Sumlin was after that game.  I’m sure he was his “cool” normal self but he should have been absolutely pissed off.  I would have pulled a Jimmy Johnson and said nobody talks on the plane home and if anyone did they’re running gasers.  I’m not kidding.  Okay, maybe I am because honestly Sumlin should have had these guys ready so he’s the one that shouldn’t have said a damn thing on the flight home.  Something has to change in Sumlin and quick.  Some say the loss is okay because Sumlin is ahead of schedule and this team is doing better than most predicted.  I’m sorry but how does a “schedule” apply to Sumlin in his fifth year and who are “most” of these people?  We were 7-1 and ranked 4^th in the College Football Playoff.  We had a REALLY strong chance of winning out and likely would have stayed in the College Football Playoff as someone is likely going to lose had A&M won out cementing our spot.  That’s all that matters.  Kevin Sumlin had everything in front of him and he spit the bit.  He didn’t see this coming and let Dan Mullen clown him.  Credit to Mississippi State as they absolutely earned that win.  Kevin Sumlin should totally have avoided that though.  This is all on Kevin Sumlin.

We need the season to play out but if we go 8-4 losing to Ole Miss and LSU at home I’d strongly consider firing Sumlin.  That will be the 4^th year in a row he collapsed as a coach down the stretch.  It would be a tough pill to fire him based on where we were at one point this season but it’s been that way the previous three seasons under his watch.  We just collapsed a little later than normal but the trend is obvious.  Eat the $15 million and go get someone else like Les Miles, Tom Herman, or Chad Morris.  8-4 in the style it happened yet again is just not acceptable.  The data points will be too many to truly indicate Sumlin is anything but that kind of coach.  Sure, he could catch lightening in the bottle one season but it’ll be pretty rare.  I’ve said all along next year is going to be worse than this year so this is the season we needed to make it happen.  If Sumlin spit the bit for the 4^th time in 5 years I don’t really want to see it a 5^th year in a row.  It’s a little too early to say that but I don’t think anyone is going to feel good closing out our season losing our last 4 SEC games and that what will happen if he can’t beat one of Ole Miss or LSU.  That’s gonna be a bitter taste just like Mike Sherman’s last year.

I really hope Sumlin wins on Saturday and keeps winning as I don’t really want to replace him.  He has his work cut out for him with Knight out for the regular season but he gets paid the big bucks to figure out how to win.  With Kelly out for Ole Miss we could and should absolutely beat them.  We’ll worry about anything beyond Saturday next week.

This game was a real head scratcher as I have no idea what to make of it.  Coming off our biggest win of the year and 3 VERY good wins over good teams a letdown game was bound to happen.  It’s a bit concerning as you want to play perfect and mistake free football every game but outside of Alabama very few teams do.   South Carolina is not very good and I think more than anything we played to the level of our competition after beating two pretty good SEC West teams on the “road.”

I would like to have a lot more momentum going into Tennessee.  I still feel confident we beat Tennessee being back at Kyle and a lot of excitement but I’m just not sure.  Let’s just get to the breakdown on each side of the ball.  This will be lighter than normal mainly because I wasn’t at the game watching with the same focus I normally do as I had an eye on the Tenn/UGA game to get an idea of what to expect on Saturday.

Offense:

Inconsistent Trevor Knight showed his head again and I don’t think it’s a coincidence inconsistent Noel Mazzone showed himself again.  As much as I get on Knight I think he’s a product of his playcalling.  Maybe it’s Mazzone trying some different things against weaker competition to see if he can create a bigger playbook.  We didn’t appear to want to establish the run early like we did against Auburn and to an extent Arkansas.  We seemed to have run a lot more passes than runs early in the game.  The end result was very balanced with 40 passes and 39 runs but the first half seemed to be a want to establish the pass and not worry so much with the running game that worked so well against Auburn and Arkansas.

Specifically it seemed like we were hell bent on getting Christian Kirk the ball.  I have nothing against Kirk but we kept running those short passes to him over and over again.  He had 12 receptions for 61 yards which you expect better of him if he’s going to catch the ball 12 times.  I’m not saying Kirk should have done better this game but it seems he’s better served across the middle than quick passes to the outside.  Don’t get me wrong Kirk was pretty productive doing what he did on Saturday as he set up a lot of 2^nd and “reasonable” downs but we didn’t seem to capitalize on it.  It’s like Mazzone knew Kirk could get 4-6 yards on those first downs but then really didn’t have a true answer for second down.  Just kind of sporadic in how he called plays never really setting anything up.

Josh Reynolds had 3 catches for 29 yards and long of 17.  I’m sorry but that’s terrible.  And that’s not on Josh.  I’ve said it all season but Josh Reynolds is the best receiver on our team.  While we were working the ball on purpose to Kirk I’m guessing Reynolds had man coverage.  I think we took a shot or two his way downfield but Reynolds really needs to be more than a deep threat.   Knight really needs to be getting comfortable with Reynolds on a regular basis.  I just don’t get why Mazzone doesn’t really use the best receiver on our team.  Jeremy Tabuyo had the best game of his Aggie career with an amazing one handed catch on a 3^rd down and ending with 4 receptions for 89 yards.  He filled in great for RSJ to the point I’m wondering if he shouldn’t be splitting snaps with RSJ.  Either way not to discount Kirk but I hope Mazzone plans on utilizing all of his receivers going forward.  That was the biggest negative from the offensive performance.  If you’re going to be balanced between the run and pass then be balanced in who and how you’re passing the ball.

The offensive line did a fine job for the most part.  It seemed South Carolina was bringing a lot of pressure and trying to confuse the offensive line which worked at times but for the most part the offensive line held their own from a pass protection standpoint.  In the run game in the second half we started to exert our will.  For whatever reason Mazzone doesn’t want to establish the run game in the first half but when we’ve needed it in the second half against it’s been there against Auburn, Arkansas, and South Carolina.  Maybe it’s by design since it’s worked but I think this line can open up in the run game in the first half if Mazzone tried.  This is a really young line at center and guard but damn they look good considering their youth.  Definitely the best line in the last three years.  I didn’t see any high snaps so credit to Jim Turner for the work he’s done with this line all season.

As for running back what more is there to say about Trayveon Williams?  The dude is a true freshman and he’s easily our best running back.  The dude just has something.  He’s got great vision, moves, speed, and power.  He’s not necessarily in the upper echelon of SEC backs but damn he’s playing lights out right now so I’m not going to complain one bit about him.  Dude is a stud and I’m glad he’s on our team.  Keith Ford got hurt and James White came in and looked pretty good so that gives us three serviceable backs when they’re healthy.  I used to think Ford was the best back of the three but it’s clear Trayveon is the best back.  His vision is what sets him apart.  He knows when to be patient and he knows when to go.  That’s a very underrated in a back.

As for Knight this was game 1 and 2 Trevor Knight.  He was inconsistent in the pocket responding to pressure and inconsistent in passing.  He made some damn good throws on the first couple of drives mainly the one rolling to his left where he dropped it into I forget which receiver.  It was an awesome throw.  But then as the game wore on he got worse.  Maybe he felt pressure in the pocket but he’s got to be confident and smart with the ball.  Running wise he looked great.  He’s REALLY an underrated runner in my book.  I really feel comfortable with him running and why I’d rather see him the tuck the ball and head upfield if he sees a seam or feels any kind of pressure that frazzles him.  The moment he feels pressure that’s bothering him while he’s looking for a receiver he just needs to tuck and run or get rid of the ball immediately.  He just tends to make bad decisions when he gets the least amount of pressure and still trying to pass.

Overall I’m okay with what this offense did during the game.  I’d rather have seen them dominate South Carolina more but the line was physical and held their own.  When push came to shove in the second half they did what they had to do to score.  I love the fact this offense seems to get better in the second half but would love a little more scoring in the first half.  We’ve basically been tied with UCLA, Arkansas, and South Carolina at half when we could have been leading all of those games.  Auburn we were only up by 6 points and could have been up by more.  At some point I would love to see this offense play 4 quarters of football.  It doesn’t even have to be 4 quarters of domination.  Just 4 quarters of mistake free, moving the ball, and scoring points on the majority of drives.  Maybe Tennessee is the week we do it.

The Wrecking Crew:

In typical Aggie fan fashion most want to focus on the negatives on this game but there was a TON of positives.  On the first play of the game South Carolina ripped off a 75 yard touchdown run.  No doubt that’s a negative but South Carolina wouldn’t score a touchdown the rest of the game.  And on that run realize they ran right where Myles Garrett would normally be.  Does that play work if Myles Garrett is starting?  I’m kind of thinking not.  Also on that play the defense looked a little lethargic so maybe that woke them up.  Let’s assume that play doesn’t happen and South Carolina goes three and out.  All of a sudden the end result is South Carolina has around 300 yards of offense and only 6 points with no touchdowns given up.  Would you nod in acknowledgment if Maximus asked if you were entertained with those results???  I think so.

A couple other key stats is South Carolina was 3 of 14 on third downs.  That’s a little better than 20%.  I’ll take that all day long against any opponent.  In addition we had 3 sacks, 10 tackle for losses, and 5 quarterback hurries.  Maximus once again asks if you’re not entertained.  Please tell me you’re nodding your head you were in fact entertained by the Wrecking Crew this weekend.  Yeah there’s still some things that need improving but 90% of this defense is better than any defense we’ve seen since the Silver Fox R.C. Slocum was wearing the number one headset.  Maximus is going to slaughter all of you if you don’t start showing some appreciation for what’s going on defensively this season.  It ain’t gonna look the same next year.

As for individual units I have to start with the defensive tackles.  These guys just do work all damn game long.  They don’t get a lot of the stats and press but all these guys do is consume the interior of the offensive line freeing up the linebackers and defensive ends to do their thing.  Seriously.  With our rotation of defensive tackles we basically have 2 guys consuming three offensive linemen on every play.  That’s making a HUGE difference for our linebackers in making plays.  That’s giving them gaps to go through to meet ball carriers or apply pressure to the quarterback.  In the past we had guards consuming our average linebackers and it was ugly for our defense.  So while our ends, linebackers, and safeties are making plays it’s all because of the work being done by our rotation of defensive tackles.  These guys are the unsung heroes of the Wrecking Crew.  As for the rest of the defensive line Dae Dae Hall got off to a slow start but he started showing he can survive without Myles.  The other DEs just did okay so next year we’re really going to miss Hall and Myles which is saying water is wet.  No doubt this game is different with the presence of Myles so don’t discount that when you’re bagging on the Crew this game as a key member was out.

As for linebackers Shaan Washington probably had his best game ever.  I never really tracked him but he was flat out making plays.  It was definitely the most productive day from a single Aggie linebacker I can recall this season.  Actually since 2012.  Alaka looked good as did Claude George.  Don’t recall a lot from Richard Moore like against Arkie or Tyrel Dodson at all.  Did Dodson even travel?  I don’t recall him at all.  Either way it was probably the best day by our main two linebackers in Washington and Alaka with a solid effort from George.  I like the depth that Moore and Dodson have provided all season but with the production Washington, Alaka, and George had this game I’ll take what they gave us and not worry about the others for now since they’ve provided depth in the past when needed.  Maybe Chavis is just seeing some separation with Washington and Alaka so they’re seeing the field more.

At safety I have to start with Watts again because of his interception.  The dude just has a nose for getting the ball.  The moment that ball was tipped in the air he had an idea where it was going and went for it and got it.  That can’t be coached.  That’s just a function of the game being slower for him than it is for others where he’s able to anticipate things happening and acting when he sees it.  Evans looked fine but I do have a knock on him on the first play for a TD.  His angles were all over the place and his effort didn’t look like normal Evans.  That’s a pretty high standard but I think like others on the defense they weren’t totally amped up and South Carolina snuck up on them for that play.  I think that woke everyone up and Watts and Evans did what they do the rest of the game.

As for cornerback, well, we ain’t so strong there.  Nick Harvey has shown he’s about to be picked on A LOT going into the meat of our schedule so get ready.  Our only hope is that he doesn’t give up the big play by keeping receivers in front of him at all times.  He also needs to learn that if he’s beyond 15 yards and burned that a pass interference penalty is only 15 yards.  If he doesn’t have position to make sure he grabs at least one arm and holds it down.  No jersey.  All arm and hold.  I’m not kidding here.  This defense has shown we can hold our own in the red zone so if you’re on an island and burned and feel the ball coming then grab the receivers arm at the wrist and pull it down.  Totally serious here.  Priest Willis doesn’t look much better but it’s clear Harvey is the weakest of our corners and he’s going to be picked on.  First step in having a problem is admitting you have a problem.  I hope Chief and Terry Joseph are very honest in how they handle our cornerback situation.

Overall though this defense isn’t perfect I can’t fault them at all.  They’ve been the most consistent unit on our team.  It’s not even close.  Sure they have some gafs here and there but show me a defense in college football that doesn’t with the teams we’ve played.  Seriously.  Show me.  Have you seen the Big 12 play defense?  </insert giggle>  Outside of Prairie View who scored ZERO points we’ve played some decent teams and our defense has played their asses off the entire game.  If this defense isn’t good enough there’s no pleasing you and I’m telling you next season is going to be worse.  This is a special unit and it’s the ONLY reason we’re looking at a 9 to 11 win season.  Last year’s defense wasn’t even close to being this good.  It’s not perfect and we’ll likely never see a perfect defense again.  This might be as good as it gets for a few seasons.  So enjoy this damn Wrecking Crew.  If I hear you bitching then I’m gonna unleash Maximus to sword your ass for not being entertained.  I won’t regret you having a sword stuck in you in the least.  You had it coming for being so damn hard to please.

Special Teams:

As for special teams I’m still no impressed with the units as a whole.  We don’t seem all that well coached.  The fake punt was nothing special and we totally fell for it.  I’ve always felt a team that falls for a fake punt like that is just lazy and going through the motions.  There’s no pride in the unit itself.  If I’m Sumlin I honestly tell Kirk to fair catch every ball and for the punt return team to just avoid a game changing moment.  We don’t really get any pressure on the punter so not sure if we have a game plan or we just go out through the motions because special teams are required.  It definitely doesn’t appear to be a focus for us as I’ve not seen anything that makes me feel we have something up our sleeve or really prepared.

Individually LaCamera was 1 of 2 missing a field goal he hit dead straight down the hash but since the hash is outside the post he missed it.  Tripuka did a fine job punting averaging almost 45 yards on 5 punts with a long of 50.  Evans had some decent kickoff returns but I’m still confused why he’s back there returning kicks.  I know Speedy wasn’t there but should Evans really be out there returning kicks?  Is there no one else?  Kirk returned two punts for 12 and 8 yards so nothing spectacular but he didn’t turn it over.  All in all our special teams are just meh and I see them as having the chance to be a negative every game over a positive.

 

As for going forward I’m still leaving this as a 9 win team.  I think we beat Tennessee this weekend but still not sure what to think of Ole Miss and LSU.  Ole Miss can play offense and I have no clue on their defense.  LSU seems to be fired up and Eddie O is coaching for his dream job so I don’t put anything past him at this point.  I think those are both winnable games but let’s get past Tennessee this weekend first and see what happens when Ole Miss plays their next three games against Arkansas, LSU, and Auburn.  One week at a time.

As for Tennessee this game is going to come down to one thing – TURNOVERS!!!  Tennessee has been the amazing beneficiary of turnovers this season.  Against Va Tech they got 5 and if UGA doesn’t fumble in the end zone late in the game those two hail marys never happen.  Sure, some can point to the fact Tennessee has confidence they can win any game and they’re a team of destiny but let’s face it Tennessee has been the benefactor of some real luck to be undefeated.  They’re creating their luck to a degree but they’re also living on borrowed time in my book.  If I’m Sumlin and Mazzone I stress BALL PROTECTION all week.  This means no forced passes, no high snaps, or anything else that could give Tennessee the ball for them to capitalize on as they will.  I’m not kidding.  If we don’t turn the ball over we win this game.  I want Mazzone to go back to what worked in the Auburn and Arkansas game.  Establish the damn run and work downfield and not outside.  I’m fine with the bubble screens to Kirk on occasion to make sure the defense respects that but let’s lean on our running backs and use Josh Reynolds more than just a deep threat.  We’re the better team but this game will come down to coaching and protecting the ball.  If Mazzone sticks with what works and we protect the ball we can win this game easily.  Maybe even a repeat of the Arkansas game.

Defensively we have to get pressure on Dobbs.  He’s not a very good passer so we need to duplicate what we did against UCLA and Arkansas.  I don’t think he’s as good of a passer as Rosen or Allen so we need to get to him early and often.  That’s what this defense is best at so let’s pin our ears back and go.  He won’t have the same results Rosen and Allen had against us if we get pressure on him.  They’re running game doesn’t really scare me so get after Dobbs and you can beat this team easily.  They’re living on borrowed time in my book and we need to be the team to end this team of destiny crap like they’re the next 2013 Auburn team.  We had the chance to prove 2013 Auburn wasn’t all that great at Kyle at missed the opportunity.  We don’t need to let that happen again with 2016 Tennessee.  We’ve got Gameday on campus and a national audience on CBS with the undertone we’re going to Bama next.  This is our game to win if Mazzone goes back to what has worked from a play calling standpoint, we protect the ball, and the Wrecking Crew brings pressure.  The blueprint is there and it’s not hard.  Just be smart and execute.

I’m not going to make a prediction other than to say if we don’t turn the ball over at all we win walking away.  If we win the turnover battle we likely win a close game and if we lose the turnover battle we lose the game.  It’s really that simple.  PROTECT.  THE.  FOOTBALL.

THE WRECKING CREW IS BACK!!!!  If you don’t believe that statement then please take your Gig thumb and shove it up your rear or retract it and never extend it for the rest of the season.  There’s just no pleasing you.  Yes, they gave up 24 points (7 off a turnover) and almost 500 yards of offense but that Wrecking Crew played their asses off on Saturday night.  Three goal line stands, pressure on Austin Allen all night, and Armani Watts’ strip as Arkansas was about to score.  While our offense struggled for the first half, the Wrecking Crew made sure Arkansas could never get in front too far that we couldn’t get back.  I’ll get in more detail on the defense later but if you watched that game and didn’t think the defense deserves the Wrecking Crew name then I don’t know what to tell you as the Southwest Conference style of football ain’t coming back.  Speaking of Austin Allen, major props to that guy.  He was a 66% passer on the night and threw no interceptions while getting pummeled by the Wrecking Crew.  I mean just pummeled.  He just kept coming back for more and I was impressed.

As for the game itself we haven’t had a game that enjoyable since Johnny and Mike Evans.  We had a slug fest for three quarters and then right towards the end of the third quarter we had an amazing goal line stand on the 6 inch line.   On the second play of getting the ball back we hit Reynolds for a 92 yard TD pass and then we start walking away at that point.  For three quarters you’re on the edge of your seat as it goes back and forth and then your team starts walking away in the 4^th quarter so you can take it all in and just enjoy it.  It was a real fight for most of the game but your team kept responding and then walked away with it comfortably when it was all said and done.  Mix in some awesome defense and big plays on offense and I don’t think it gets any more enjoyable than that in my book.  I mixed in some chocolate cake and Shiner Bocks always within reach and Fightin’ Texas Aggie Football just doesn’t get any better than it did on Saturday night in my book.

Offense:

I’m starting this offensive analysis off with someone else other than our quarterback.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again but Josh Reynolds is the most underrated receiver in the country.  He doesn’t have the flash or size of other receivers but he produces more than anyone else.  We all know about the 92 yard touchdown catch but the guy had three other clutch catches on the night and I really think it was his involvement in the passing game that got our offense going.  The most notable was Knight scrambling hard to his right and Reynolds went back for the ball and made a hard catch right on the sideline to get a first down.  He’s not just a deep threat but he works all over the field and is really the most sure handed guy we have.  Nobody nationally talks about him and even most Aggies focus on RSJ and Kirk but Josh Reynolds is a damn stud and we’re going to miss him next year.

The next guy I want to talk about is Trayveon Williams.  This time last year he was playing high school football and right now he’s gashing SEC defenses.  The way he’s doing it is impressive.  He’s doing it with a mix of moves, power, and speed.  He’s really a complete back right now and he’s a true freshman.  Keith Ford is not chopped liver and also had nice runs on Saturday night but Williams is the guy with momentum right now.  He’s been the better of the two backs in the second half the last two games so credit to Mazzone for riding the hotter hand and putting teams away.  I know a certain offensive coordinator that would stick with a regular rotation rather than riding the hot hand late in the game.  Also love that Trayveon and Trevor give the double Gigs when they score.  It’s the little things that make me smile.

As for Knight he once again played a REALLY solid game.  A lot of Aggies thought he was struggling really badly in the first half but I thought he did fine all things considered.  He didn’t look his best but if Christian Kirk catches the balls that hit in him in the hands that first half looks totally different as does Knight.  Knight was once again a slightly better than 50% passer but what I like is he’s getting better as the game wears on.  Sure, I’d like for him to start out stronger but I like the fact that he and Mazzone seem to work together to get on the same page as the game wears on.  Knight is still not a great QB from a passing standpoint but he didn’t turn the ball over and made his best passes in the second half.  If we can get him to start out stronger he could honestly be the best quarterback we’ve had in two decades not named Johnny Manziel.

Where Knight is really excelling is the running game.  This includes his actual runs but most importantly his decision making on the zone read.  I’m not a huge fan of the zone read but when you have a guy like Knight that’s reading it well and making the right decision then I’m all for it.  Knight was making great reads on it all night.  On his second touchdown right at the end of the first half he made an outstanding read.  Arkansas didn’t have a true middle linebacker and had two guys inside but off the center.  Nobody on the Arkansas defense was over the center at the second level.  At the snap the inside backers broke outside to cover leaving the middle wide open.  Knight immediately saw it, tucked the ball, found the seam at the line and off he went.  Just outstanding recognition by him and one of the big plays of the game as it brought us back to even at 17 going into half with us getting the ball in the second half.  That was a real momentum boost knowing the game was back to zero at half.  He’s got some improvement to make as a passer but I’m not gonna get on him because he made some great decisions on Saturday night and we ran away from Arkansas when it was all said and done.

High snaps.  I forgot to write about the high snaps at Auburn last week.  It was REALLY common against Auburn that I thought they would be gone against Arkansas.  Not the case.  Once again we had lots of high snaps and Knight was doing his best to come down with the ball.  I thought McCoy would have gotten that cleaned up but he didn’t and it cost us.  On our first possession of the second half we have our best drive all night long and it fell apart at the goal line thanks to a high snap.  I don’t know what’s going on and why it’s consistently happening but snaps for a center have to be second nature.  Something is going on with McCoy and Jim Turner has to get that fixed pronto or we could see it hurt us again.

As for the rest of the offensive line there’s not much more you can ask for.  We rushed for 366 yards and 37 carries averaging 9.9 yards per carry.  We only gave up one sack to go along with those yards so Knight had time to make decisions all night.  Outside of the snaps there’s not really anything to fault this offensive line for on Saturday night.  It took a little bit to get things going but I’m fine with an offensive line that gets better as the game wears on.  What’s probably the most impressive thing about Saturday night is this Arkansas defensive line is different than Auburn’s in that Arkansas’ defensive line is smaller and quicker.  In back to back weeks our line has handled two different styles of defensive lines.  We obviously did better against Arkansas but it’s good to see our offensive line can make adjustments against different styles.

As for the other receivers not named Reynolds I was glad to see Christian Kirk finally respond in the second half as his first half was just terrible.  He botched a punt and then dropped two balls that he normally catches.  RSJ had a nice catch for 47 yards that helped establish some offensive momentum.  Would like to see him more involved as he’s just a size mis-match but glad he had some involvement.  Hopefully his injury isn’t too bad as even if he’s not producing as much as he can he’s a mis-match issue that defenses have to account for.  It would be nice to get Speedy involved but he doesn’t seem to be doing anything to warrant it from a receiving standpoint.  We went deep to him a couple of times in the first half but he just doesn’t seem to get any separation.  They all did a tremendous job blocking which helped our running game.  Love receivers that understand the importance of blocking when the ball isn’t going through the air.

As a whole we were outstanding on third downs compared to previous games at 8 of 12.  I’ll take 67% third down conversions in any game.  On Red Zone trips we were 1 of 3 with one failure resulting from a missed field goal and the other was the fumble from the high snap.  Time of Possession was pretty bad only having the ball for 20 of 60 minutes but I’m torn on who’s fault that is.  In the first half we didn’t sustain drives but in the second half we did.  The defense did a nice job of getting off the field on third downs in the first half but in the second half they let Arkansas convert a lot of third downs so some of that time of possession is on the defense for not getting off the field on third downs.  We’ll place equal blame on the offense and defense for time of possession this game.  Most importantly though we scored 45 points to their 24 and that’s what matters.

The only negative of this offense from this game other than the high snaps and turnovers is it would be nice to see this offense get going much sooner in the game.  Maybe it’s just a case of wearing the defense down along with Mazzone and Knight figuring out what works best.  However, it would be nice to get a bigger cushion early on to see what the defense can really do knowing a team has to be more aggressive.  Then again, based on our defense’s performance which I’ll touch on next maybe we’re better off sand bagging making an offense think they can keep focusing on the run which is our greatest strength as a defense.  I doubt that’s the reason for the early struggles but it might have worked in our favor so far.

The Wrecking Crew:

That’s right, the Wrecking Crew.  I wish we didn’t give up almost 500 yards and 24 points but if you watched that game you know that defense played their asses off when they were out on the field.  7 of those points came off of Kirk’s muffed punt so what does that game look like if that didn’t happen?  Arkansas ripped off a 50ish yard TD run and a couple other long runs and that’s what they’re built for.  That was bound to happen.  So the Wrecking Crew wasn’t perfect but I’ll take that effort and end results any day.  There are some areas of improvement that I think Chief will focus on going forward.

You can’t ask more of the defensive line from what you saw on Saturday night.  Arkansas is big and built to run.  They want to lean on a defense until they break.  Our defensive line never even cracked much less broke.  The interesting thing about their performance is nobody truly stood out the entire game.  It was a complete effort by everyone on that defensive line.  Myles Garrett didn’t wreck shop like he has the other three games but it was clear Arkansas wasn’t going to let him.  They didn’t let the left tackle live on an island against him keeping someone else to help and rolled to the right most of the game.  Garrett never got a chance to tee off.  He got loose a couple of times but the QB wasn’t sitting there in the pocket like with other teams.  Credit to Arkansas for not letting Myles Garrett but Myles did make plays getting a fumble recovery and having a couple tackles for a loss including the goal line on runs to his side.

The best play by Myles Garrett was the 4^th and goal in the second half.  Arkansas ran a sweep to his side which was the wide side and they were so worried about Myles they didn’t account for Armani Watts at all.  This allowed Watts a clean shot at the ball carrier and he made a great tackle for a loss.  Arkansas foolishly thought they could reach block Garrett with the left tackle but he couldn’t get there in time so the upback had to engage Garrett instead of Watts.  Just by Myles being Myles and the fact that the interior of our defensive line wasn’t budging made Arkansas run a play they couldn’t execute.

I encourage you to watch the play here.  https://youtu.be/9ALhb5Ivrsc?t=625

Go ahead and maximize the screen for the full effect.  The best is the Arkansas girl giving the Arkie coaching staff the business for being so stupid calling that play against the Wrecking Crew.  She knew EXACTLY what we were gonna do them Ags!

The most amazing thing about this play is Nick Harvey.  He had some bad plays on the night but he played this one perfectly.  Follow the ball carrier but watch the Aggie defender in the end zone tailing him.  If Watts doesn’t make the play then Harvey is actually in position to make a play as well but he never got the chance because Watts just made the play dead.  That’s just outstanding recognition by the ENTIRE defense to diagnose the play and let playmakers make plays.  If Watts somehow misses then Harvey gets a shot and if Harvey doesn’t get him Myles had freed himself from his normal hold so he was about to make a play as well.  Hell, even Zaycoven from the nose tackle position was in pursuit and had angled off to the goal line rather than pursue from behind so outstanding job by him to take an angle.  There was absolutely no way Arkansas was scoring on that play.  No way.  Not to discount the efforts on 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd down as those were more impressive from a physical standpoint but the play diagnosis by our defense on that 4^th down was amazing.  Arkansas thought they could surprise us but in watching that replay I’m convinced there is NO way Arkansas scores there even if Watts misses his tackle.  Harvey or Myles would have got him.  Amazing work by the Wrecking Crew as that stand saved the game and when Knight hit Reynolds two players we were like Usain Bolt at the 60 meter mark and Arkansas wasn’t catching us.

The defensive tackles didn’t have a lot of stats but they were doing work all night consuming double teams by Arkansas’ big linemen.  What they did on the goal line stands was phenomenal.  The tackles were the key in Arkansas not being able to establish their normal inside runs and forcing outside runs where we had support from Myles, our linebackers, and safeties.  They ripped off some long inside runs but thanks to the work of the defensive tackles they were stalemated all night preventing them from ever establishing the inside run.  Daeshon Hall had a massive hit on Austin Allen that created a big fumble in the 4^th quarter.  I’ve said it before and as every game passes it’s proven there’s no doubt this defensive front is one of if not the best in the country.  Enjoy these guys because it doesn’t get much better than this.  This is a special group.

The linebackers were outstanding all night as well.  Not one really sticks out which is okay because that means they’re all interchangeable and doing their job.  Alaka, Washington, Moore, George, Dodson, and even 12^th Man Gillaspia are contributing which is a FAR cry from last year where we couldn’t even find one linebacker to really contribute.  They were out of position a couple of times but the majority of the time they’re in the right spot and making plays.  Really impressed with this group as they don’t have a dominating guy in the rotation but they’re all contributing and not making mistakes very often.  I’ll take what these guys are continuing to do.  This is like the 2012 linebacking group but we actually have depth and a little more athleticism.  George and Washington are seniors so there’s hope beyond this season unlike 2012 when we lost all three and had a significant dropoff in 2013.  Yes, I’m looking ahead at this group as we’ve not had linebacking depth in some time.

I won’t spend long on our safeties as they’re just flat out studs.  Seriously.  Best group in the country.  Watts had probably the two biggest plays on defense with the goal line 4^th down stop in the 3^rd quarter but his most amazing play was stripping the ball at the goal line in the 2^nd quarter.  Arkansas would have gone up 17-7 at that point.  We then took the ball and kicked a field goal to tie it at 10.  If Armani doesn’t strip that ball who knows how that game would have turned out.  We would have had to really crawl back.  He did the same thing at Ole Miss last year when we turned the ball over in our own territory.  A couple plays later Watts strips the ball keeping Ole Miss from scoring which would have put the game further out of reach.  Of course we had Spav last year and couldn’t respond so we lost that game but glad this year we took advantage of Watts being a flat out baller.  Evans didn’t do anything that stood out like Watts but he was his usual self as was Donovan Wilson.

Now to the weak link of the defense and why Arkansas had so many yards.  Arkansas was able to throw for 371 yards with Austin Allen completing 67% of his passes.  Most of those yards came against our corners Nick Harvey and Priest Wilis.  They weren’t exactly terrible but they weren’t good by any stretch.  The Arkansas receivers were getting enough separation and Allen was flat out hitting the mark.  Our corners were at least in the area code so they weren’t totally burned.  They just let the Arkie receivers get position and they made the catches.  We also had some pass interference penalties that led to our goal line stands.  Since the Wrecking Crew held their ground those penalties ultimately didn’t burn us.  Now, I will say some of the pass interference calls were questionable as our corners weren’t exactly mauling the receivers on the calls.  They just looked worse than they actually were.  Chavis has some work to do with these guys as I’m afraid Arkansas just showed a blueprint how to beat A&M.   Now in our defense we were so focused on shutting down Arkansas’ run that we left our passing defense susceptible to a degree.  We won’t see an offensive line with the blocking scheme like Arkansas the rest of the year so I think we’ll be able to get to the quarterback where we just couldn’t do it against Arkansas.   I also think Donovan Wilson will play a bigger part in our pass defense against certain offenses that aren’t so run oriented.

Overall the most frustrating part of our defense was the inability to get off the field on third downs in the second half.  Arkansas was 9 of 16 but many of those were on 3^rd and 6 are longer.  Getting off the field on 3^rd and 6 or longer had been the calling card of this defense but I can think of at least 5 conversions of 3^rd and 6 or longer where Arkansas passed for a first down.  We were getting pressure on Allen so he was getting hammered but the dude was delivering the ball right before getting hit and delivering the ball on the mark.  Maybe this was just an anomaly so we’ll see as we progress through the year but the lack of coverage is no doubt the most alarming thing from this game.

One last thing on people questioning the Wrecking Crew is this defense was on the field for 40 minutes this game and played 23 more snaps than our offense.  Everyone seems to think it was Arkansas’ defense that tired late in the game as we started pounding on them but that’s not really the case.  Arkansas’ defense played 20 less minutes and 23 less snaps than the Wrecking Crew.  It should have been our defense that was tired and not theirs based on that data.  However, what really happened is the Wrecking Crew never gave up and our offense finally got going and mentally beat an Arkansas defense that had no answers at times.  The Arkansas defense flat out quit despite playing half the time as The Wrecking Crew.  They weren’t tired.  Look at the points and yards if you want but don’t underestimate the effort and heart the Wrecking Crew played with on Saturday night.  Time and time again they made plays to keep Arkansas from getting up too big and once our offense finally got on track in the second half it was domination time.  The Wrecking Crew is the reason we’re sitting at 4-0 while our offense still figures it out a tad.  Don’t call them the Wrecking Crew if you want but just remember what I said you can do with your Gig thumb the rest of the season.

Special Teams:

Not a whole lot here other than LaCamera missed a 36 yarder that he has to hit.  Kirk bobbled the first punt return which set Arkansas up for a score inside our red zone.  Speedy had a great kickoff return of 42 yards but just kind of stepped out of bounds for no real reason.  Moorehead needs to work with him as I’d love to see the kid throw a juke or something but he appears uninterested in contact as he did the same thing last week in Auburn just stepping out of bounds for no real reason.  Speedy has the ability so I’d just love to see the kid tap into it.  We punted twice for an average of 47.5 yards so nothing really special there.

 

Going forward I really feel we’re a 6-0 team headed to Alabama.  Tennessee scares me a little more as Saturday’s second half Tennessee flat out stomped Florida.  If they finally found the right gear then our game against them is back to a toss-up they can win.  We’ll see what they do against Georgia this weekend before making a final determination.  I still don’t think we beat Alabama but it’s certainly possible if our offense comes out and plays 4 quarters of football to match the Wrecking Crew’s effort.

Ole Miss I still have as a toss-up after their game with Georgia and I have no idea what to expect with LSU now that Eddie O is running the show.  Don’t forget Eddie O took USC to 6-2 as the interim coach so I see this as a very similar situation.  Head coach at LSU is his dream job so he’s not going to throw in the towel by any stretch.  Eddie did lose to UCLA in his year at USC so that makes me feel better but he did beat #5 ranked Stanford that season.  I’m going to leave us at 9-3 for now.  There’s a very real chance we go 11-1 if we get past Tennessee, Ole Miss proves vulnerable again because let’s face it we don’t know what Georgia really is as they don’t look good right now, and Eddie O shows he’s still the same head coach that Ole Miss fired.  I feel very good about this team being on par with the 2012 team but just want a couple more weeks to see how we do along with those on our schedule before predicting too many wins.

This week we’ll likely be “resting” a couple key guys like RSJ, Myles, and Avery Gennessy so catching a really bad South Carolina after an Arkansas battle is nice.  Thank goodness this is a 3:00 game as that’s perfect for us.  We can fly in, wake up at a normal time, take care of business, and get back home at a decent hour as well.  I really assume we’ll take care of business this weekend so there’s not much to predict and just see how it plays out.  I’d love to see an Auburn type game from 2012 where after beating Mississippi State to put people on notice we just ran Auburn out of their own stadium to truly make the statement we were better than anyone expected.  If this team is truly as mature as they say they are we start off stronger than any game on offense and walk away with this thing by half.  We shall see.

 

Before I get into the game I have to comment about everything Auburn.  Their fans were amazing all weekend.  From being out on Friday night at their version of Northgate, to some tailgating before the game, to during the game, and then at the bars after the game on Saturday night.  Just tremendous and welcoming all weekend.  I didn’t run into one jackass.  I put them as the nicest fan base I’ve visited above Nebraska and Alabama.  I hope we’re just as nice when visiting fans come to Aggieland.  The scene in the stadium was tremendous.  There’s no doubt we made the right choice going to the SEC.  If you haven’t been to Auburn put it on your list as you won’t be disappointed.

As for the game that’s a damn nice win.  We went on the road against a damn talented football team and controlled the game for most of it and put them away when we had to.  There are lots of areas to work on and we didn’t even come close to playing flawless but we held control and momentum for most of the game.  While you can question the coaching of Auburn that’s still a really talented team so we had to work for it.  In the end I’d say we out coached and out played them and that’s something we couldn’t say last year and even two years ago.  As a whole this team has improved for the third straight week and that’s not something I’ve felt we’ve done in the past two years and even in 2013.  This kind of feels like the 2012 season which I’ll touch on later.

Before I get into each unit I have to say this game felt like the Vanderbilt game last season.  We were playing a really tough defense and had trouble in the red zone all night but converted 5 field goals and scored a long touchdown.  Auburn has a much better offense than Vandy but it just had that feel where we were in control the entire game but just couldn’t quite walk away until late in the game.  That’s not a bad thing but we could have really blown that game away with better play calling and execution in the red zone.  As it was though we didn’t take any chances and didn’t make any mistakes.  We held control and walked out of our first SEC road game against a really talented team with a solid win.  You take that all day long.

Offense:

I have to say Trevor Knight played a really good football game.  He wasn’t flawless as he was only a 50% passer on the night but his receivers had some drops they shouldn’t have had.  Most importantly Knight did not turn the ball over.  For the most part he played within himself and played his best game against the best defense he’s faced without a doubt.  At least as an Aggie.  Knight missed some passes on his own but I’ll take the Trevor Knight we saw on Saturday night all season long.  Even better if he improves some which I think he will.  I thought his decision making in the pocket was pretty decent.  He’s still not perfect but he did a good job of just tucking and running or throwing the ball away and not trying to do too much.  The kid is a really good runner and I have no issues that if he feels pressure and sees a lane to tuck and head up field.  I’m going to do a little piece on Knight later this week if I get time but I was impressed with Knight on Saturday night considering he appears to be improving and not regressing.  Regressing is what we’ve seen out of our QBs the last two seasons.  If this is Knight’s baseline for the rest of the season I’ll take it.  Would love to see him keep improving which is what I think will happen.

The most impressive part of our offense on Saturday night was our offensive line.  Not because they dominated but because the adjusted in game.  On the first two series despite us getting positive yards at times the Auburn defensive line was blowing up our offensive line for the most part.  I really thought we were in for a long night.  Auburn scored on their second possession and we had two punts on our first two offensive possessions with Auburn’s defensive line over matching our offensive line.  I was seeing 2015 all over again down 7 to 0.  Not sure what Jim Turner did but he got our line in tune and they handled Auburn’s defense for the rest of the night.  Not dominant by any stretch but all of a sudden our offensive line was holding their own.  The interior part of the line was especially taking the fight to a really good Auburn defensive line.  Never saw that in game adjustment last season with our offensive line so it’s great to see.   Later in the game the work our offensive line did all night finally showed in Trayveon Williams long run which was the official dagger in Auburn.  Their defense was fully cooked at that point.  Our offensive line has lots of improvement but I like what I’m seeing.  Great game by them and let’s hope they keep improving with Knight.  I have no reason to think they won’t at this point.

Outside of Williams big run our backs didn’t dominate by any stretch but they worked and ran tough all night against a really good defense.  I have no complaints with what they did and assume as our offensive line improves so will their yards.  We don’t have the talent of LSU or Bama in our backfield but the guys we have are really serviceable and an improvement over last year which is not a knock on Tra Carson at all.  That dude had major heart but Ford and Williams are just better equipped for what we need right now.

The biggest negative of our offense against Auburn was our receivers no doubt.  Everybody had some drops they shouldn’t have and RSJ is just still inconsistent with catching balls.  He shouldn’t be this bad at this point in his Aggie career but he’s just not a reliable pass catcher.  Reynolds had his usual nice long catch along with a TD catch but he also missed another TD catch.  Kirk didn’t have any long catches but had a couple key receptions.  He also got his bell rung in the third quarter but came back in.  He had a nice 20 yard run so he’s just a weapon I’m glad to see Mazzone utilize in many different ways.  Kirk does a lot of work as a receiver he doesn’t get credit for.  Speedy had a nice catch and run for 40 yards but I thought he made a mistake going out of bounds when he could have given an inside cut to the defender and potentially broke into the end zone with his speed.  I’m really not impressed with Moorehead as a receivers coach with these drops and then seeing Speedy step out of bounds when he could have made a move for a potential TD.  It just seems Moorehead is an average coach and that’s it.  He doesn’t appear to be a nails recruiter so he’s a guy I’d like to see replaced assuming Sumlin is here next year which I’ll touch on later as well.  Now, I will credit this receiving corps in that they doing a pretty damn good job blocking and take that seriously.  That’s a really solid thing and hope it doesn’t change.

Outside of the individual units the biggest negatives of this offense remain the same.  It’s third down conversions, red zone conversions, and time of possession.  On third down we were 2 of 15.  TWO of FIFTEEN.  That’s 13%.  THIRTEEN FREAKING PERCENT.  How in the world did we even win this game with that conversion rate and actually scored 29 points?  It’s really mind boggling.  We actually had 19 first downs which is pretty impressive but that means we had 16 first down conversions on 1^st and 2^nd downs as we converted a 4^th down but man we’ve got to get better at converting third downs.  That would go a long ways to winning time of possession and giving our defense a huge lift.  I still contend Mazzone is just picking plays and not really sequencing or scripting plays which would help our offense control a game better if he could get us in shorter third down situations.

As for the red zone we were inside the red zone 5 times and kicked 4 times.  We also made a trip inside the 30 yard line that turned into a field goal and not a touchdown.  Outside of that we had one big play that got a touchdown.  We’re going to need bigger plays or a much better conversion rate in the red zone against teams like Bama and Ole Miss if we want to beat them.  I’d prefer red zone conversion to hoping for big plays to score touchdowns.  Hopefully Mazzone works on some red zone plays that show the defense a different look and catches them by surprise.  We’ve also got to get better converting third downs.  We get better in the red zone and converting third downs then our time of possession gets better and our defense gets better.  Mazzone still has lots of improvement as a play caller in that regard.  He’s not terrible by any stretch but he’s nowhere near the play caller that Petrino and Kiffin are and that’s what I hope he aspires to be.

Defense:

I have to start off with Mr. Myles Garrett because the dude is just amazing to watch in person.  We’ve got at least 10 more games with him and maybe a couple more but enjoy the 10 games because he’s special.  For 3 games now from start to finish he’s just wrecking shop and altering the plans of the offense.  I can’t believe Gus thought a backside guard could get to him before Myles wrecked their backfield.  You would think when it didn’t work on the first play of the game he wouldn’t try it again but Gus stupidly tried it again to similar results.  I think it only happened twice.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again but Myles is just dominating the left side of the offensive line by himself.  If you don’t give the left tackle help Myles is going to destroy him.  It’s really creating so much else for our defense.  Myles may not be the #1 pick next year but if you’re an NFL scout and watch him in person it’ll be hard to walk away and not think he’s the best defender in the country and be someone at the next level like a JJ Watt.  His stats aren’t showing it but his play flat out is.  Myles just does everything he can to help his defense from start to finish.  There are no taking plays off waiting to get an easy sack as Myles knows there’s not any.  He’s just a special special guy.  I don’t know how he comes across on TV but I can’t take my eyes off him when the ball is snapped because he’s just that amazing.  I think against Arkansas he could flat out dominate their Undertaker looking left tackle.  Arkansas will probably put him on an island early on and once Myles gets his third sack they’ll start looking to help Undertaker, Jr.

As for the rest of the defense they did what they had to do.  If you thought Auburn wasn’t going to get some rushing yards you haven’t been paying attention to what they do.  They run the ball and run the ball really well.  They got 236 yards of rushing which is more than you want to give up but most importantly their longest run was 33 yards.  That’s a damn fine job by our defense that got gashed for long run after long run last year in this game.  The longest runs by their two backs were 33 and 20 yards which is okay by me.  Auburn is just built to run.

In all honesty no one else on the defense really stood out to me other than Myles.  That’s not a bad thing at all as against Auburn you have to play disciplined defense.  Everyone seemed to step up and make a play at times which was great to see.  The defensive tackles were on a solid rotation which kept them fresh against Auburn’s big offensive line.  I’m sure the Auburn offensive line was wondering why our defensive line wasn’t wearing down.  We run a solid 5-6 guys out there at defensive tackle so they’re always battling someone fresh.  Hall had a decent game and made a couple of really nice stops but seems he was just out there holding his position and playing responsibilities.  That’s not a bad thing.  I did see him get burned crashing on a zone read but he didn’t do it all night so I’m fine with a mistake here and there assuming it’s not repetitive.

The linebackers seemed to be really solid and they also rotated a lot.  Last year’s linebackers seemed to be one step too slow and out of place which lead to some really big Auburn runs last year.  Not this time.  The linebackers were filling the gaps they were supposed to and not being out of position.  This linebacking group really reminds me of the 2012 in that they’re not dominant but they’re playing really smart football.  This is a younger group with more depth than the guys in 2012 so that’s a really good sign.

The group that looked the best behind Myles was no doubt our safeties.  Justin Evans is just a flat out baller.  Watts and Wilson are no slouches and they looked really solid as well.  There’s no doubt in my mind Evans and Watts are playing on Sundays and I actually think Wilson will play on Sundays as well in his nickel role he does for us.  This group like Myles just keeps holding their own and getting better which helps mask our inexperience at the corner position.  As far as the corners go they did okay.  Auburn had 163 yards of receiving which isn’t amazing but they averaged 7.4 yards a pass which is pretty good.  They just don’t pass a lot but they do it regularly enough you can’t forget to defend it or totally sell out to the run.

Kind of like defending the running game, Auburn’s longest pass was 18 yards so we didn’t give up a big pass.  There’s a lot of factors for that including the pressure we could get on the QB if they tried to set up for a long pass but it’s nice to know Auburn didn’t get any long passes by surprise.    Our defense was ready.  The other impressive thing this defense did was playing the first down marker on 3^rd and longs.  What I saw a lot of the night was on anything 3^rd and 10 or longer we’d give them an open zone about 6 yards downfield which baited the QB to throw there and then immediately crashed for little to no gain.  Auburn was 6-17 on third down conversions and 0-2 on fourth down conversions.  I’m too lazy to look but I bet they didn’t convert more than one third down that was longer than 6 yards.  If we tackled them for a loss on a first down I don’t think they converted the second or third down.  That’s pretty impressive when you don’t give up that momentum as a defense when you get a tackle for a loss on 1^st down.  That’s the way it should be but defenses don’t always execute it that way and there’s nothing more demoralizing than have an offense convert 3^rd and 12 on you.  That wasn’t happening with our defense on long 3^rd downs against Auburn.

As a whole I’ve mentioned this defense reminds me of the 2012 defense.  It does in many regards but it’s just flat out better.  We really need to enjoy this defense this year as it’s going to drop off next year.  We’ll lose Myles, Hall, Evans, and Watts.  Maybe Watts stays another year but I think there’s a chance he goes.  Myles and Evans are getting drafted in the first round.  Hall and Watts will go in the second to third rounds.  I don’t think we’ll see the drop off in talent like we had from 2012 to 2013 on defense but I’m telling you now to cherish this 2016 defense because it’s the best we’ve had since back to RC Slocum and the legit Wrecking Crew of old.  I’m not quite ready to call these guys the Wrecking Crew as they’re missing some dominant linebacker play.  But at any given time there’s 11 guys out there playing their asses off and most importantly playing their role against their opponent.  It’s been a long time since I’ve since this in an Aggie defense and I’m loving every minute of it.

Special Teams:

Have to start off with LaCamera going 5 for 5 and none of them were really gimme kicks.  LaCamera had kicks of 46, 35, 31, 37 and 26 yards.  The 26 yarder was sort of a gimme but the others were legit kicks on the road in a pretty tight game that he nailed.  Much like the Vandy game.  Tripucka averaged 42 yards and had a long of 59 which he flat out booted.  We didn’t have a single return this game.  Not one on punts and not on kickoffs.  I’m actually okay with that as in a game like that just take the ball on the 25 if it’s kicked in the end zone and on punts just call the fair catch and hold the ball.  No need to take a chance giving the other team a turnover on the road in a pretty tough environment.  Special teams just executed all night long and that’s what you want.

Going Forward:

After seeing Tennessee’s third performance I’m ready to move this to a 9-3 team.  Kevin is gonna win nine and be fine.  I have a good feeling we’ll be 6-0 rolling into Tuscaloosa.  I’m also really thinking this could be a 10 win team as I want to see what LSU does against Auburn this weekend.  I think LSU wins that game so I won’t be able to move us to a 10 win team yet but if Auburn beats LSU then Les is a dead man walking and that team will have quit come Thanksgiving night.  I also think there’s a strong chance we beat Ole Miss as they’re reminding me of 2011 Texas A&M.  I mean they’ve blown two 21 point leads.  That’s Mike Sherman style right there.  Ole Miss is still a really talented football team but they’re obviously struggling to put 4 quarters together and if that trend keeps up there’s no doubt we can beat them at Kyle in November if this A&M team keeps  getting better each week.  I honestly didn’t feel that the last two years at this point.  This could honestly be an 11 win team playing in a major bowl game.  With the right breaks we could even play for the SEC Championship but any discussion of that begins or ends in Tuscaloosa so let’s cool our jets on that talk until after that game.  Nick Saban controls the gate to the SEC Championship for SEC West teams.  That’s just the way it is.

We have to get past Arkansas first but they really don’t scare me.  Auburn scared me like Arkansas scared me the last two years.  We got by Auburn.  This Arkansas team is not as good as their last two seasons’ teams.  Maybe I should be scared but what I saw in their TCU game and what I saw in our UCLA and Auburn games I feel really confident we’ll win this game and there’s a good chance we walk away with it.  Assuming we don’t make mistakes with the ball.  That TCU defense is not that good and Arkansas had to come back on them and get them in double overtime.  Arkansas also played La Tech close and I don’t think La Tech is good at all.  Just based on three games for both teams I think we handle Arkansas really well.

I know a lot of people are afraid of Arkansas because of the last two years but our offense really struggled those years under Spavital.  Mazzone while not spectacular has shown to be a marked improvement over Boy Wonder.  With the way our defense and offensive line is playing I just feel really confident going into this game that we could really make a big showing against Arkansas.  This could be that statement game we didn’t have the last two years where we had to come back and basically steal a victory.  I don’t see that happening this year.  I really think we walk out of Jerry World with a statement win that this is a different A&M team that’s not going to collapse down the stretch like we’ve done in the past.  Maybe I’m wrong but with 25% of our schedule done I’m feeling a statement game.  I don’t think it’ll be a 2012 Mississippi State game where we announced we’re kicking ass from here on out but I think it’s going to be pretty convincing.  We’ll need a wide margin as a lot of people won’t see the second half as they’ll be asleep .  They’ll just see the final score on Sunday morning.  I’m all for this team making a statement they’re a Top 10 and deserve to be there.

My prediction – Aggies 33, Arkie 16.

Not a whole lot this week but wanted to hit on a few things so I’ll get right to it.  For those of you wondering I know I’m biased but I confidently feel the Nationally Famous Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band did in fact win halftime.  No doubt PVAMU entertained at half time but in the end their effort fell short of 360 Aggies marching in perfect precision.  I was truly worried though.

Offense:

I’m just really going to hit on a few negatives here as the positives are way too many so just look at the score and stats.  First off, Trevor Knight is a pretty good quarterback.  He’s easily in the top half of starting QBs in the SEC.  He might actually even be Top 3 as this season keeps going so I’m not saying he’s a total pile of dung.  He’s without a doubt the best guy to be starting for us considering what happened at the QB position at the end of last year.  I’m just looking at him and trying to be objective on expectations with the hope he can be really good if not great.  Based on his time at OU and two games here he’s still just inconsistent.  He sailed some balls that he had no reason sailing.  He was 57% this weekend and against Prairie View and you just have to be better.  He also threw an interception that was extremely stupid and a reminder he can’t spot balls like he thinks he can.

Now, to his credit he threw some REALLY good deep balls to Christian Kirk.  He also looked really good running the ball.  And all in all it looked like he was getting better as the game wore on so maybe he’s still just getting more comfortable as a starter and in Mazzone’s system.  He did look better this week than last week but that’s to be expected considering the opponent.  I was just hoping to see fewer mistakes.  There were mistakes though that just makes me keep the foot on the brake when it comes to getting really excited about Knight in that he’ll win us games by himself.  There’s definitely some hope he keeps developing and we’re going to find out a lot more this weekend against Auburn.  However, with the Knight I’ve seen in two games I currently feel we can lose any SEC game with him at the helm.  I’m not saying we lose every SEC game and far from that as I think we do win more SEC games than we lose but right now I think there’s a strong chance we lose an SEC game and it’s because Knight has a horrible day from a completion and turnover standpoint.  I really hope I’m wrong on that and very well could be.

Another negative from the game is I don’t think RSJ is really going to be a clutch receiver.  He’s amazingly talented but he’s just not consistent in catching balls.  He’s not the guy I want to be going to when we need a 3^rd down or TD.  It would be nice with his size and speed but I just don’t fully trust his hands.  It’s been 3 years and his hands have always been his biggest question.  He’s still good and there’s no doubt he should be starting but like Knight throwing an interception I feel like RSJ is going to drop a ball when it’s needed most.

The final negative was our third down conversion was right at 50%.  Just like Knight needs to have a better completion percentage against PVAMU I feel the same about our third down conversion.  Due to Knight’s inconsistency and the fact we converted 33% and 50% of third downs in the first two games, I don’t have much faith in this offense extending the drive on anything longer than 3^rd and 4.  That means Mazzone has to start sequencing plays to minimize 3^rd down distances.  I know that sounds obvious but I feel there’s been some calls on first and second downs that we were trying to get a first down when we probably should be trying to gain 3-4 yards.

All in all though I’d give the offense a grade of 85 for the game.  A whole lot of positives as the backs, line, and Kirk/Reynolds are just solid.  It’s just there’s a few inconsistencies from key guys and the 3^rd down conversion issue that still bother me.  We’ll find out what it all means on Saturday when we go on the road for a night game at Jordan-Hare.

Defense:

I actually heard some people complain about the defense because PVAMU moved the ball some and we had to block a field goal to keep them from scoring.  They gave up 205 yards in being on the field for 32 minutes.  That’s actually really remarkable.  I read a Tweet where 121 yards of that came on two possessions so basically other than TWO possessions the Aggie defense was flat out dominant.  PVAMU was 5 of 18 on third down conversions and a 1.1 yard per carry average.  As Russell Crowe said in The Gladiator said, “Are you not entertained?”  That was a solid 4 quarters of defense against a team that had some decent athletes.  Usually in games like these one of those guys wiggles free for a score but that didn’t happen.

 

Looking forward I’m still leaving us at 8-4.  We’re going to find out a lot more about this team the next two weeks against Auburn and Arkansas.  My original prediction was they were both wins but I don’t know about Auburn.  They played Clemson close but Clemson looks in question but Auburn also took care of business on Saturday night.  I’m not sure if that means Auburn is good or bad.  I think they’re definitely better than I expected them to be.  I still lean to us winning but it’s not going to be easy.  I do think we beat Arkansas still despite their win over TCU.  I don’t think TCU is a Top 10 team and Arkansas matches up with them well.  With Arkansas almost giving the game away at the end I feel like we keep our streak going but it won’t be easy.  There’s a good chance we’re 5-0 with Tennessee coming to town.

Speaking of Tennessee they looked like the team everyone expected but their QB is still dicey passing and Va Tech turned the ball over 5 times.  Let’s see what they do against Florida in two weeks.  LSU finally switched QBs so I’m interested to see what they do the rest of the season now that their biggest issue was been changed.  Fournette is still in question there though.  Ole Miss solidly beat a cupcake but I think Bama is going to stomp Ole Miss this Saturday like they slammed Georgia last season.  I mean Saban was ripping into Kiffin with a minute left of a 28 point win.  If you don’t think that was on purpose for Saban to set the tone to make up for 2 back to back losses against Ole Miss you’re a fool.  It doesn’t mean Ole Miss is a bad team but Bama is just going to abuse them this weekend so we won’t really know where they are other than not Bama’s level but no one else is this season.

With all that I’m leaving us at 8-4 until we see what happens the next two weeks as we’ll get a LOT of clarity on who we are as well as those teams left on our schedule.  We could still go anywhere from 6-6 to 11-1 but until we get through the next two weeks I haven’t a clue.  I honestly do think we could go 11-1 but if we don’t get by Auburn and Arkansas then we don’t stand a chance obviously.

With football season less than a month away it’s time for me to make a season prediction for this year’s Aggie team.  Before I go through each game I’ll touch on the offense and defense a little bit.

Offense:

This offense begins and ends with Trevor Knight.  For some reason Aggie fans have drank too much maroon Kool-Aid and think Knight is the second coming of Johnny Football.  He looks the part and talks the part but he’s not going to play the part.  He brings maturity and leadership no doubt but let’s not forget he’s a guy that couldn’t cut it at OU which is why he’s in Aggieland.  At OU he had a 57% completion rate and threw 25 TDs with 19 interceptions.  That’s not even close to earth shattering.  That’s VERY pedestrian.  The light is not all of a sudden going to come on and change those numbers dramatically.

I do think Trevor Knight can be a very serviceable quarterback but he’s not going to carry this Aggie team.  I’d like to think Knight could have the ceiling of an AJ McCarron but I’m not even sure that’s possible.  McCarron was a 67% passer and threw 5 TDs to every interception.  That’s a big step from Knight’s career at OU.  Maybe the best case is Knight becomes a 60% passer with a 3 TD to 1 interception.  That’s not bad but that’s not a guy that carries his team at QB.

As for the rest of the offense the offensive line worries me quite a bit.  I like Jim Turner a lot as a coach but the talent and depth is not there like it’s been in the past.  I don’t think it will be worse than last year as that unit was more talented but they were flat out horrible.  This line should be much better from an execution standpoint but not sure how great it can be.

Running back will be pretty solid assuming enough of these guys stay healthy.  Wide Receiver is flat out loaded so that’s a definite strength of this team but I just hope Mazzone can quarterback whisper Knight into being a better version of the OU Knight.

All in all I think this offense can be better than last year simply because Jake Spavital isn’t involved in any capacity.  Have I ever told you how much I hated Jake Spavital?  In all seriousness I do like Mazzone and a lot of components of this offense.  It won’t be a dominating offense by any stretch but I think it can put up points giving us a chance to win.  I just think Trevor Knight won’t win any games and will likely cost us a game or two when it’s all said and done.

Defense:

First off let’s talk about our defensive line.  I firmly believe that our defensive line could be the best in the country.  Garrett, Hall, Mack, and whoever else starts at DT (assuming it’s Zaycoven) is as good as it gets in college football.  Even better is we’re a solid 2 deep along our defensive line.  Football is won in the trenches and when you have a defensive line that can apply pressure by itself the rest of the defense gets freed up to make plays.

Our linebacker corps has major questions but there is some decent talent to start but those 2-3 guys have to stay healthy.  The talent drops off quickly after Washington, Alaka, and I guess George or Moore will be our other LB in 3 LB sets.  We can’t sustain any injuries at linebacker or we’re going to be in trouble.  At best this linebacking group could rival the 2012 crew of Porter, Jenkins, and Stewart.

The secondary is loaded at safety with Watts and Evans.  Those two guys are total studs and likely playing on Sundays in the not too distant future.  Not totally sure who will start at corner back but we’ve got a few talented guys that can be serviceable.

Even with the potential holes at linebacker and corner I think this defense will be pretty damn good.  Good enough to win quite a few football games.  My main question is how this offense will be able to complement the defense when it comes to the final number of wins and losses.  Last year’s offense couldn’t respond when the defense gave them the ball with a chance to win late in the game.  If this offense can’t respond it’s just going to be more of the same.

With that, here’s my game by game prediction:

UCLA:

This feels a lot like the ASU game from last year.  Really good Pac-12 team with a solid QB coming into Texas higher ranked.  This game is really a toss-up but I feel like this our game to win and will.  The defense won’t be anything UCLA has seen or can be prepared for.  I think with this being Knight’s first game under center he can just execute a game plan UCLA wasn’t fully expecting.  I know there’s an element of UCLA knowing Mazzone but if you go back and look at the offenses Mazzone has run he’s pretty adaptable to the talent he has.  The offense UCLA knows of Mazzone with Rosen at QB won’t be the same offense they see with Knight.  The score will be decided by less than 7 points but I see the Aggies holding on for the victory.

This is Sumlin’s biggest game of the year as if he loses this thing he’s done at A&M I think.  He’ll have to fight all year for wins but if he gets off on the wrong foot in the first game I really don’t think he recovers.  This is the most winnable of the big games and Sumlin has proven outside of Johnny’s first year his teams regress as the season wears on so has to win this one.  If he loses this game we might as well put him on the Green Mile.

Prairie View:

A&M wins walking away but this has already been set as an 11:00 am kick.  11:00 am kick in early September.  A&M gets the win but NOBODY wins anything in this game.  Seriously.  What a total waste of a day for Aggie football.  Maybe some depth guys get playing time but man this game will be brutal.  I long for a day when college football schedules no more than 2 cupcakes a year and even then I think it should be 1.

Auburn:

I scratch my head on this one as I really like Malzahn but maybe he’s not the amazing coach I think he is.  Maybe he harnessed Cam Newton and then caught lightening in a bottle his first year in Auburn winning the SEC and playing for the national championship.  Looking back at that 2013 season he could have EASILY lost to Miss St., Bama, Georgia, and A&M.  We’re talking a late TD pass with seconds left against Miss St that had to be reviewed, two amazing plays to end Bama and Georgia, and an injury to Johnny Manziel when Kenny Hill couldn’t find his helmet so Matt Joekel went in and missed a TD pass to put A&M up by 7 instead of 3 when we settled for a field goal.  No doubt you make a lot of your luck but Auburn was REALLY close to being 7-5 that season.  What does Malzahn look like at 7-5 that season?  A lot like Kevin Sumlin without Johnny his first season I think.

This feels like a toss-up game but I really think A&M is the better team walking into this game.  This team has won at Auburn before so they shouldn’t be intimated.  Sure, it’s our first night road SEC game but there’s enough leadership on this team it shouldn’t matter.  Auburn isn’t real sure who their QB is going to be and they have a new defensive coordinator in Kevin Steele who got run out of LSU after last season.  He’s never impressed me as a coach so he doesn’t scare me at DC like Muschamp did last season.

Auburn opens up against Clemson and I think that’s a loss.  If we beat UCLA and they lose to Clemson then this is our game no doubt.  If we lose and they win then this is their game.  I think we beat UCLA and I think they lose to Clemson and we win this game.  Aggies go to 3-0 and Auburn to 1-2 and Gus is a dead man walking waiting to see if Sumlin joins him.

Arkansas:

We all know about this game.  Sumlin has had Bielema’s number although it’s required OT magic the last two years.  Remember that was with Jake Spavital as our OC.  I know there’s the law of averages where streaks have to end but I really feel this is a game we win by double digits.  We have the defensive line to match up with Arkansas’ strength and with Spavital gone as OC I don’t think we struggle offensively.  It won’t be an easy game and we’ll feel the pain the next day but I think we win this game somewhat comfortably.

Sumlin seems to be to Bielema what Saban is to Miles.  Team wise and number wise Arkansas should beat us from time to time but I think this is just one of those things where have Arkansas’ number like Bama beats LSU repeatedly when everyone thinks LSU should win from time to time.

South Carolina:

So Will Muschamp takes over a program in worse shape than when he took over Florida.  I mean MUCH worse.  If Spavital was here I’d be somewhat worried about this game but Spavital isn’t and Mazzone will prove to be a much better match for a Muschamp coached defensive.  Even though it’s a road game I think the Aggies also win this in convincing fashion.

Tennessee:

Tennessee is MUCH better than anyone in the West likely gives them credit for.  This is going to be a really tough game for A&M.  I’d like to think we win this game but I’m not really sure.  It’s definitely a toss-up and a lot will depend on how well our offense develops along with how healthy our defense is.  Tennessee has a really mobile QB in Dobbs and Chavis tends to struggle against mobile QBs.  This feels like one of those games that goes back and forth and Tennessee makes a play in the end to win it.  They choked away a lot of games last year and I feel they don’t do it this year even being on the road at Kyle Field.

I’m taking Tennessee here but once again it’s all about our offensive development and defensive health.  If Knight and our offensive line is developing with a healthy defense then this is the Aggies to win no doubt.

Alabama:

Johnny Manziel is not walking back through that door and the only other time we’ve played in Tuscaloosa we lost 59-0.  I’d love for Trevor Knight to recreate his Sugar Bowl magic against Bama but I don’t see that happening as Saban has adapted to the college game.  This isn’t a gimme win for Bama and I think we’ll actually play within two touchdowns but I don’t think we have the horses to compete with Bama so this is another loss.

New Mexico State:

Playing the Aggies of New Mexico State on Halloween weekend.  Once again the Texas Aggies win this game but there’s no real winners here.  Trick or treat, kids.

Mississippi State:

This game doesn’t scare me at all.  I really think we’re the better team here without Prescott.  We beat them in convincing fashion last year.  They lost Prescott and we lost Spavital so that’s like a double gain for us.  I know we’re going on the road but I think the Aggies win this by 10.

Ole Miss:

At one point I thought Hugh Freeze was the dumbest coach in the SEC.  The Kevin Sumlin hired Jack Spavital and took that crown.  Seriously.  I hate Spavital that much.  Ole Miss has flat out owned A&M the last two seasons.  I mean just frustratingly owned us thanks to better coaching.

This is a better A&M team than Ole Miss has played in the last two years but because of Chad Kelly at QB I think Ole Miss is the better team.  The kid is a flat out legit QB.  I think that because of that he makes more plays than our QB and Ole Miss wins the game.

This is much like the Tennessee game.  If our defense is healthy and our offense is progressing and not regressing then I think we can win this game no doubt.  Picking right now though I’m picking Ole Miss.

UTSA:

The Saturday before Thanksgiving when we play LSU at night on Turkey Day.  Seriously.  Did the powers that be want to set up the cupcakes in the worst absolute scenarios to see just how few fans would show up?  I’m a diehard Aggie and have season tickets and I don’t want to go to this game.  Do the student s go out of town in preparation for the Thanksgiving game.  Will there even be a wait at Wings N More or The Chicken all weekend.  Won’t someone think of the hospitality revenue lost on these cupcake weekends?

Aggies win but like the other two games everyone else loses.

This game is so hard to predict right now.  It could mean nothing at all, it could mean a spot in the SEC Championship game, or it could mean Les and Kev are fighting for their jobs.  Seriously.  No idea how to really know what happens in this game other than to look at history.  That history says Kevin loses and Les wins.  Same thing the last four years.

Unlike Bama and just like Tennessee and Ole Miss I do think this is a very winnable game for the Aggies going back to defensive health and offensive development.  The Aggies win the games I predict they win but pull off a win over Tennessee or Ole Miss they’re sitting at 9-2 and all of a sudden this is an Aggie team that can finally beat the Swamp Kitties.  If the Aggies walk into this game at 9-2 they’re coming out 10-2.  Bet your hard earned dollar on that.  They come in at 8-3 and Les has an equal or better number of wins then Les takes this win and everyone wonders about Sumlin’s job.  I’m predicting we walk in at 8-3 and Les is 9-2 so Les walks out with win 10 and Kevin stays at 8 making his next season in Aggieland a tough decision for the powers that be.

 

So I’m predicting an 8-4 season with losses to Tennessee, Bama, Ole Miss, and LSU.  I said in my last piece that 7 wins gets Sumlin fired without question and 9 wins keeps him in good graces as that’s a pretty remarkable season based on this schedule.  If he goes 8-4 with those three major home losses I think Sumlin is gone.  Recruiting will lose momentum as it’ll look he’s a perennial 7-8 win coach when he doesn’t have Johnny Manziel.  He’ll get a nice $15 million parting gift and hopefully we can snag Tom Herman or at worst Chad Morris.

There you go Ags, an 8-4 season and a new coach in December.  You heard it here first.  I do hope I’m wrong as I really want Sumlin and this staff to succeed but based on Sumlin’s 4 seasons I don’t see it happening.