Football

Thoughts on MSU and a Look to LSU

Some Aggie fans seemed to be teeth-gnashing during and after that Mississippi State game. I get it to a degree. We wanted to put them away, and we never did.

On the other hand, this game was really never in question. Even when MSU opened up the game with a touchdown, the Aggie offense marched down on its first possession to tie the game. We responded right away.

Then, we forced a punt and scored a touchdown to go up 14-7. We never looked back from there.

MSU would get within 4 points a couple of times, but I never felt like we were losing that game.

Despite MSU taking their best shots, we controlled that game from the moment we got our hands on the ball until the final seconds clicked off.

We could have and should have put them away much earlier in the game, but we never truly let them back in once we went up 14-7. The momentum never really swung to Mississippi State’s side. When they had a chance to swing the momentum, we answered immediately.

I’m not going to do a deep analysis mostly because I’m happy we got out of Starkville with a solid enough win. Those things have been few and far between.

I know MSU doesn’t look like a great team due to their record, but they’re not a pushover. They don’t have the talent other teams have but they’re going to take some swings. Van Buren is not afraid to throw the ball around and he’s not terrible. I wouldn’t be shocked if they beat one of Arkansas, Missouri, or Ole Miss before this season’s done.

I’m mostly looking at Missouri since that game is in Starkville.

Offense:

Conner Weigman finally threw his first interception in the SEC. I’ve been waiting on this. The first interception was one he sailed, and then he had two more potential interceptions dropped. His second interception was a shallow underneath pass where he again didn’t see the defender sitting there.

It’s a little concerning. That’s now four interceptions on the season in essentially 3 games. I’m not counting the McNeese State game as an actual game. They all had the same last name on the back of the jerseys.

He did look pretty good outside of those four passes, though.

His touchdown pass to Noah Thomas was beautiful. He also did a great job making some key passes on third downs to move the chains.

He was 15 for 25, which is a 60% completion rate. That’s a pretty good day for most quarterbacks at the office.

We still don’t know what we have in Conner Weigman, though. Is he the Missouri quarterback? Is he the Notre Dame quarterback? Is he somewhere in between, like this game?

His sample set is too small, but we’ll learn a lot this Saturday night. LSU will be the biggest test of his collegiate career.

As for the rest of the offense, I thought they did fine.

The offensive line was wonderful at pass blocking, giving Conner all kinds of time. They weren’t as dominant in the rushing game as I would have liked, but they did enough blocking to keep the ball moving.

Moss and Daniels were good enough on the ground, combining for 112 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries. That’s a 3.86-yard average per carry. That’s not great, but it’s also not terrible.

Moss’ two biggest runs were called back because of penalties. That was 68 yards of rushing called back, thanks to an illegal formation and a questionable holding call. We’ve seen worse holds not get called by SEC officials.

If those runs had happened, the total yards would have shot up to 190 yards on 31 carries for 6.12 yards per carry. That’s a solid day.

Moss continues to prove he’s one of the best running backs in the SEC, and only SEC officials can truly slow him down.

At receiver, Jabre Barber had a really nice day, catching all 6 of his passes for 92 yards. Noah Thomas had a nice 20-yard touchdown catch in the end zone. Weigman barely missed him earlier in that drive. That would have likely been a 62-yard touchdown catch.

Cyrus Allen had a big catch he couldn’t quite haul in.

We didn’t have Terry Bussey, who I think would have been a factor from a receiving standpoint.

I know my analysis is sporadic, but that’s how that whole game was. At points, it looked like a solid rhythm was about to emerge, and then something would happen where it stopped.

Then we would get going again, and something else would disrupt it.

I know I was hard on Klein before the Missouri game, but I thought what he did on the first two drives of this game was really good. He took some shots and had some wrinkles the defense wasn’t quite ready for. We had two great drives to open up the game, scoring on drives of 74 and 81 yards.

We then scored a touchdown on our fourth possession, thanks to a short field from our defense. We scored 21 points in the first half on essentially four possessions.

We might have scored on the fourth possession if Conner hadn’t sailed that first interception.

The second half was sporadic, and I’m not sure why. Much of it was just trying to control the ball because the defense was flat-out bringing it in the second half.

I think Elko likely told Klein to let’s just get out of Starkville with a win. Don’t get cute. Take what the defense is giving so we can grind yards and clock.

Had Conner not had the second-half interception and had Moss not had his long run called back, the scoreboard would have looked entirely different. But that’s football.

I’m not super proud of the offensive effort in this game because it was sporadic, but I’m not disappointed with it either. They stayed in front of Mississippi State in Starkville.

Defense:

The Aggie defense was a tale of two halves.

In the first half, they couldn’t stop giving up big plays. They were bringing plenty of pressure, but their failure to tackle at the second level resulted in some decent plays for Mississippi State.

The Aggie defense got a lot of that cleaned up in the second half, where there weren’t a lot of runs that even got to the second level.

If it wasn’t for Weigman’s interception, I don’t think Mississippi State even scores a point in the second half. The Aggie defense was that dominant.

Elko has two main calling cards from a defensive standpoint:

  1. Halftime Adjustments
  2. Third Down Conversions

We obviously had some serious halftime adjustments because Mississippi State struggled to move the ball in the second half. They had six offensive possessions in the second half, the longest one for 26 yards. That’s a controlling defense.

Third-down conversions were 5/16. I’m going off memory, but I feel like they had nine straight third-downs that didn’t convert.

After the Arkansas game, I wrote I was worried about the defensive line because I didn’t want a duplication of last year’s defensive line. That unit was good against inferior offensive lines but couldn’t bring pressure against decent offensive lines.

Well, this defensive line is not last year’s defensive line. This unit is DISRUPTIVE. I don’t know if it’s the best defensive line in the country, but it’s certainly in the conversation. These guys flat-out get after it and are the difference-makers for this whole team.

They continue to just live in the backfield, disrupting the opposing offense’s whole rhythm.

The linebacking trio of York, Williams, and Sanford continue to make massive strides as players, and the hybrid end/linebacker duo of Howell and Kennedy continue to make strides.

While they’re not always perfect, these guys disrupt, making it hard on an offense. Couple that with Elko and Bateman making adjustments, and this group of guys is just outstanding.

This defense still has issues in the secondary, most obviously at the safety positions. I’m going to include the nickel as a safety.

Jaydon Hill (number 8) needs to never see the field again. He is routinely burned on deep balls. It’s pretty clear offensive coordinators are trying to get him into man coverage with a receiver, and then they just burn him. He’s an obvious liability, and putting him in positions where he has man coverage on a wide receiver is foolish.

I wrote about him after the Missouri game, but the regression of Bryce Anderson is unreal. This dude has the raw athletic talent and seems to have the desire, but he’s not doing anything. He’s just nowhere to be found in the secondary. He had a couple of missed tackles on those big plays. I guess you keep running him out there, hoping the light finally comes on.

Dalton Brooks continues to play well. I think BJ Mayes is about to be the new nickel, and Marcus Ratcliffe is pushing Bryce Anderson to get his safety spot.

I thought Will Lee and Dez Ricks did decent enough at corner. They seemed to be playing with a big cushion, but I think that was more to keep Van Buren from going for big shots.

At least against them. Van Buren got a couple of big shots against Hill.

Overall, this secondary is doing enough, but it is clearly the weakest link behind the linebackers and defensive line.

I will give Elko credit. With all the transfers he brought in, he’s absolutely improved this unit. I questioned their ability before the season, but he’s absolutely developing them.

It’s not elite by any stretch, but it’s a massive improvement that has allowed this defense to make some strides from last season.

What About LSU?

Whatever happened in the Mississippi State game won’t matter around 10:30 on Saturday evening.

At that point, we’ll have either beat LSU or lost to LSU. Not a single person cheering for the maroon and white (yes, I’m aware of the rumors) will care about what happened in the Mississippi State game.

Hell, you probably don’t even care about Mississippi State right now.

I know the Aggies are a 3-point favorite to LSU, but to me, this is a total coin-flip game. It will all come down to which quarterback has the best game.

LSU is coming off what is probably their best game of the season. They basically controlled Arkansas from start to finish. Arkansas got down early and fought back in the second quarter and early in the third quarter, but they never truly threatened. LSU put it away late in third quarter thanks to an interception at the Arkansas 2 yard line. It was over at that point with the score at 24-10.

I’ve watched a good portion of LSU in their bigger games this season. They have an amazing collection of talent at some key positions.

Nussmeier can sling it as well as any quarterback in the country. Kyren Lacy has the talent to be the best receiver in college football. Caden Durham is starting to come on as a true freshman running the ball. They have one of the best offensive lines in the country.

Their offense has struggled at times, but when they find their gear, it’s as good as any offense in the country.

Their defense has been an issue this season, but they’ve played really well in the last two games against Ole Miss and Arkansas. Their defense seems to be finding its footing under first-year defensive coordinator Blake Baker.

Whit Weeks is the heart and soul of this defense, especially with Harold Perkins gone for the season.

The rest of the defense has talent, as there are plenty of guys that A&M recruited but ended up in Baton Rouge.

As usual, talent is not the problem in Baton Rouge.

The coaching matchup is going to be interesting because I don’t think Brian Kelly is that involved during a game. I think he approves the game plans during the week and then just lets it roll on Saturday nights.

He’ll ask some questions occasionally but doesn’t appear to be active in giving his coordinators guidance.

He’s a damn fine football coach, but I think he believes more in letting the script play out than tinkering with it during the game. It’s won him a lot more games than he lost, but I think it’s bit him a few times, especially in season openers.

Elko, on the other hand, seems a bit more involved with making adjustments, especially from a defensive standpoint.

This game will be a chess match because each team’s offense and defense are so different. LSU’s strength is its offense, while A&M’s strength is its defense.

A&M would love to establish the run and keep the LSU offense off the field while the LSU offense will want to take shots through the air. Nussmeier is averaging 40 passes a game at a 65% completion rate.

The dude wants to sling it. Nussmeier is going to get yards through the air. It’s just a matter of limiting the big plays and obviously score.

It’s all going to come down to Conner Weigman keeping the chains moving to chew the clock and then the Aggie defense pressuring Nussmeier for what snaps he’s taking out there.

It’s entirely possible, but I don’t see it.

I think LSU is playing with too much confidence coming off the big wins against Ole Miss and Arkansas. Confidence and talent are tough to overcome.

I don’t think A&M has been tested quite enough where LSU has. I see LSU making more plays than the Aggies.

I do think the Aggies will make a game of it, and it’ll be a back-and-forth contest for much of the night.

I just don’t think the Aggies have LSU’s talent, and LSU seems to be clicking right now.

I think LSU wins 27-23.

I hope Conner proves me wrong and he has the game of his life on Saturday night. The Aggies will need it to beat the Tigers.

I’m ready for things to not be like they used to be.

Georgia/Texas:

Real quick thoughts on the game in Austin on Saturday night:

• Kirby Smart is the new Nick Saban. The dude is head and shoulders above every college coach out there. I know he lost to Bama, but Georgia is about to march to Atlanta, taking out Tennessee and Ole Miss along the way. When the dust settles, they’ll be the SEC Champion and number one seed in the playoff.

• Texas is a damn good football team. Their offense just wasn’t ready for Georgia’s defense. Their defense is legit, and they did everything they could to keep them in that game. I think it’s possible they drop another game before coming to Kyle, but if I had to wager, they roll into Kyle at 10-1, looking to get past us and to Atlanta. I think it’ll be LSU and Georgia in Atlanta, but Texas will roll into Kyle determined to get past us to Atlanta.

• I hope the officiating fiasco on Saturday night finally spurs Greg Sankey into doing something about the quality of officiating in his league. Schools are making hundreds of millions from their football program, and the SEC is trotting out officials that screw up time and time again and aren’t held accountable. It’s bad leadership from him.

Thoughts from the Mizzou Game

Have you ever had that family member or friend who always let you down? But, you loved them so much you couldn’t quit loving them?

Well, for many of us, that’s been Aggie Football for 25 years. There have been a few moments of elation and excitement, but there has been a lot more head-shaking in disappointment.

I don’t know if what we saw on Saturday is the moment things will finally be different than they used to be. Or, that game was just a blip like we’ve seen before, and we’ll return to things being just as they used to be.

Nobody has any idea. I hope this moment is different, but we’ll have to wait 3 more weeks until LSU comes to Kyle Field for a better idea.

We haven’t seen a game in which we dominated a quality opponent from start to finish since South Carolina in 2014. Yes, it’s been a decade in which the game was never in question against a quality opponent.

What we saw on Saturday was a molly whopping. If you’ve ever wanted a visual definition of a molly whopping, you saw it on Saturday. We went bell to bell and hammered Missouri the entire game.

I had my concerns going into the game, but I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the elation and excitement from that game. We looked like a team that could beat anyone in the country. As the clock struck midnight on Saturday, it looked more and more like it. Every team in college football looks beatable this season.

I don’t know if this game was a case of the team taking extra motivation from everything Missouri said and did, but I hope the Aggies can bottle what they did and use it for the rest of the season.

If so, things are gonna turn much better for the Aggies.

With that win, the floor for calling this a successful season is now 9-3. 8-4 seems like a lock, as we need to find 2 wins out of Mississippi State, South Carolina, and Auburn. I’d like to think those are possible wins, but as you saw on Saturday, you can’t take anything for granted in the SEC.

It’s very possible we can go 10-2 and sneak into the college football playoff. It’s also possible we go 11-1 and find ourselves in Atlanta the first weekend in December.

Because our lone loss is to Notre Dame, we may also find our way to Atlanta at 10-2. We would only have one SEC loss, but a lot would have to be shaken loose.

We actually control our own destiny to Atlanta and the College Football Playoff. I would have NEVER guessed that after the Bowling Green game.

Say that again – We have a legit shot at controlling our own destiny to Atlanta and the College Football Playoff. College Football is WILD!

Let’s talk about the game.

Offense:

Welcome back, Conner Weigman. Completing 18 of 22 passes for 276 passes is flat-out having a day.

I don’t expect him to complete 82% of his passes the rest of the game, but the Conner we saw on Saturday should complete between 60% and 70% the rest of the way.

He completed passes to 10 guys. That’s spreading it out. He wasn’t just honed in with one guy.

He didn’t hit a ton of big passes, but he did have passes of 40, 33, and 29 yards. He was VERY methodical and surgical in carving up the Missouri defense. He didn’t have guys running wide open but they had enough separation and he was putting balls in the perfect spot.

My favorite pass from him was the 32-yarder to Terry Bussey on the second drive of the third quarter.

Thanks to a holding call, we had a 2nd and 20. Bussey had man coverage and was streaking down the field. When Conner let it go, I thought he was going for a deep ball. I quickly realized it was vastly underthrown, but then Bussey saw the ball and adjusted to it for a completion.

For the first time since I can’t remember, the Aggie offense completed a deep back shoulder fade. I’ve seen countless other college teams run that on Saturdays, and we finally did it!

It was the perfect play call in the moment and perfect execution.

I don’t know who this Collin Klein is. In the previous five games, I feel like we would have run some kind of screen or draw to hopefully get it to 2nd and 10 at best. It was definitely not a pass over 5 yards.

Instead, we threw caution to the wind and went for the big hit.

I LOVED IT!

Maybe Klein was just playing it conservatively due to Reed’s apparent passing limitations. Perhaps he read this blog and realized he needed to open things up. Whatever it was, I’m glad he did.

I sure hope there’s more of this Collin Klein in the second half of the season.

As for the rest of the offense, I can’t say enough great things about Le’Veon Moss. The dude carried the ball 12 times for 138 yards and 3 touchdowns.

His 75-yard run to open the second half was an absolute gut punch. The way he’s running, he will find himself playing on Sundays.

A part of me wants him to get more carries, but if we’re better off giving him fewer carries to keep him fresh, I’m okay with that. He’s clearly the best running back on this team.

As for the offensive line, I’m not saying anything bad about them. They had some frustrating holds and false starts, but they gave Conner plenty of time to throw and opened enough holes for 236 rushing yards.

They were magnificent. The progress we’ve made from last year is outstanding. I hope they continue to get better each week.

On the receiving side, nobody did anything truly special, but they all contributed to catching balls and moving downfield. I know that’s really generic-sounding, but the way Conner distributed the ball was truly an entire unit effort.

I’d like to think Noah Thomas and Conner will become a very reliable pass-and-catch duo in the second half. Coming into the season, I said their connection would be the biggest benefit to this offense. I hope it comes to fruition with those two.

I also hope Terry Bussey’s use in this game continues for the second half of the season. The formations where we had Moss and Bussey in the backfield had me salivating. Bussey’s athleticism and versatility in motioning in and out of the backfield will keep defenses guessing.

I have no idea why Collin Klein waited until the sixth game of the year to try new things on offense. I’m just glad he did.

I hope he’s not a turtle and goes back into his shell for the rest of the season.

Defense:

My biggest fear coming into this game was that Missouri, like Bama last year, would be able to neutralize the pressure from our defensive front after watching them destroy the Arkansas offensive line the week before.

Boy, was I wrong.

This defensive line destroyed the Missouri offensive line and pressured Brady Cook all game. Cook was a miserable 13 for 31 with only 186 yards passing. 52 yards came on Missouri’s final drive when the game was over. 59 came on the big touchdown catch.

75 yards of passing the rest of the game.

He was sacked five times and pressured the entire game. He never got comfortable in the pocket, and it was clear he was hearing footsteps the whole game.

I know Nic Scourton got a pretty good NIL deal to come to A&M, but he’s making himself a TON of money with his play on the field. He looks like a top 10 draft pick. The dude is an absolute beast and terrorizes offensive tackles. He wasn’t officially credited with a sack but he was in the backfield the entire game.

His three other buddies on the defensive line aren’t far behind him. What the four of them did against Missouri was domination. I don’t have any reason to think they can’t continue this.

My main reason for that belief is that Elko and Bateman are helping them. Unlike D.J. Durkin, who put last year’s defensive line on an island, Elko and Bateman are dialing up pressure from the second level. They’re putting at least two additional guys on the edge or gaps to confuse the offensive lineman about who’s coming.

You have no idea how helpful that is to the defensive front. That’s the biggest difference between last year’s defense and this year’s defense.

Speaking of those second-level guys, the whole rotation of York, Sanford, Williams, Kennedy, and Howell has been working really well. In that Missouri game, everyone seemed to know their assignments and execute them.

I was concerned with this unit coming into the season because Edge Cooper is such a talent. Not one of these guys has Edge’s talent, but they have progressed from the start of the season, at least from an applying pressure standpoint. I still have concerns with their coverage ability, but if they’re applying pressure, that helps a ton in coverage.

The coaching staff’s scheme is helping these guys. However, these guys deserve a ton of credit for executing the plan. Jimbo has to be so proud watching these guys execute.

Elko’s specialty is bringing pressure from areas that are hard to tell pre-snap. I know Bateman is the defensive coordinator, but I have to imagine Elko has some influence on the blitz packages and timing.

Dalton Brooks had the game of his young career on Saturday. The dude is a true sophomore, so he’s still developing, but he was all over the field on Saturday. He led the team in tackles and was laying the hammer. Fortunately, he’s doing it with his head up, so he doesn’t get called for targeting.

I guess Bryce Anderson is hurt. He doesn’t show up on the injury report, and I also don’t remember hearing his name called. He didn’t show up on the stat sheet, either. I’m not sure what’s going on with Anderson, but he and Brooks could be quite the duo.

As for coverage, we looked pretty damn good. Ricks got burned on a touchdown, but for the most part, our corners locked down their receivers.

I know the whole drama with Will Lee and the blanket for Theo Rease. That’s all stupid stuff because play on the field matters more than silly motivation tactics off the field. Especially when they wind up motivating the wrong guy. Lee got the better of all the Missouri receivers in the game. That’s what matters most.

I think Elko handled that nonsense well. Elko used it to motivate Lee and then accurately told people to ask the Missouri head coach about it. It was a clear motivation tactic from the Missouri side. It fell flat on the Missouri side.

I still have a feeling we’re going to bust coverage occasionally, but we shut down some pretty good receivers on Saturday. That was by far the best we’ve looked all season.

The most impressive thing from this defense was Missouri’s final drive. I believe we let our foot off the gas a bit, and Missouri drove down the field with a couple of nice passes to Luther Burden and a facemask by the Aggies.

Missouri got to first and 10 at the Aggie 11-yard line. They gained 8 yards on the first down, so they had second and 2 on the Aggie 3-yard line.

At that point, the Aggie defense decided to make a statement.

Missouri gained 1 yard on the next play and then stopped for no yards on the third play. The guys making the tackles on those two plays? The Shemar Brothers.

On 4th and 1, they gained a yard with a tackle by Albert Regis. That got them a first down at the Aggie 1.

In three plays on the three-yard line, Missouri only got 2 yards. It was a meaningless drive and meaningless points, but the Aggie front four was determined not to let them score up the middle.

That set up 1st and goal from Aggie 1 yard line. Missouri didn’t want to try up the middle again for whatever reason. They went outside to Luther Burden on a swing pass. Dalton Brooks read the play the entire way and took Burden down for a five-yard loss.

It’s 2nd and goal from the 6-yard line. Two incomplete passes later, Drinkwitz is running the field goal unit out there.

That was a massive goal-line stand in a meaningless moment. The Aggie defense was playing with a lot of pride.

Looking Forward:

So here’s the $20 million question: Was that game a Jimbo Blip, or are things finally going to be different than they used to be?

I’m putting on my maroon-colored glasses but leaving the maroon Kool-Aid on the counter for now. I’m hopeful but not certain. I’ve seen this situation before, and I’m hoping for a different outcome.

I know we control our own destiny for Atlanta and are in excellent shape. However, I’m gonna tap the brakes for just a bit.

We really have to win out to make Atlanta. We’re started too far back in the pack, and we’re not a blue blood. If we have 1 SEC loss and there are a couple other 1 loss teams that are blue bloods, we’ll find ourselves on the outside looking in.

I don’t see us winning out because the SEC is so tough. I don’t think we make Atlanta.

Even if we have 1 SEC loss, which I think is attainable, that still puts us in a 10-2 football program and likely in the College Football Playoff. That’s REALLY DAMN GOOD in Elko’s first season.

Losing two SEC games puts us at 9-3, a massive improvement over what we’ve seen. I want more than 9-3 right now, but I won’t complain about 9-3.

Let’s get through Starkville in two weeks because that place has been tough on us. I would love to see a convincing win on the road in the SEC, even if it’s Starkville.

Let’s get through that, and then we can focus on the swamp kitties coming to town.

Maybe, just maybe, things aren’t going to be like they used to be.

Thoughts from the Arkansas Game

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

I mean WILD.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Offense:

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

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

We had 14 possessions in this game.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He’s clearly hurt.

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

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

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

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

Defense:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Looking Forward:

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

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

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

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

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

Something has to be different about our offense this Saturday.

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

You know, just like it used to be.

Quarter Season Assessment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Talent Concerns:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last year was a 7-5 team for reference.

One more thing on talent while we’re here.

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

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

Season Outlook:

Here’s my breakdown of remaining games:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

One game at a time.

Coaching Concerns:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yes, it’s really been that long.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Elephant in the Room:

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

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

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

Care to guess how that class went?

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

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

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

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

OUCH!!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

We need WINS!!!!

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

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

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

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

Florida Fodder

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That much is for sure.

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

I have hope it’s a trend.

A Month of Mike Elko

In my initial analysis of Mike Elko after his firing, I stated I felt the Aggies finally got the hire right. This was after four failed attempts with Fran, Sherman, Sumlin, and Jimbo. I’m going to retract the statement I think we finally hired the right guy.

I’m not retracting my statement because Elko was a bad hire. I’m retracting my statement because I have no idea if Mike Elko will be successful at Texas A&M. We all HOPE Elko was the right hire, but nobody has any real clue if he was the right hire or not at this point. Everybody is just guessing.

We all know Mike Elko appears to be a tried and true football coach. He doesn’t seem to be some slick salesman or some dude who has ridden a hot hand he didn’t have much to do with.

Mike Elko has got to where he is because he’s a tried and true football coach. He’s a football coach above everything else. That I don’t question.

I believe Mike Elko can succeed at Texas A&M, but I wonder if he will be. I’m looking at Mike Elko with a more objective lens than I did with the previous coaches. I drank the Maroon Kool-Aid way too early with Fran, Sumlin, and Jimbo.

What’s the saying? Fool me once; shame on me. Fool me three times; shame on you, Aggie Football head coach, hiring decision-makers.

Like the coaches before him, Mike Elko will be judged on the 12-game schedule and whatever bowl games he attends. The offseason matters, but it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme. The off-season, including signings and practices, is fodder until the games are played.

What matters for Mike Elko is how many wins and losses he’ll have over the next few years. That’s impossible to predict right now.

The biggest epiphany in changing my mind about how I see Elko came the night of the Texas Bowl. Many folks will say it’s a meaningless bowl game, but I’m afraid I have to disagree after watching it.

My greatest takeaway in watching that game was the massive talent deficiency of the Aggies. It was MASSIVE.

Sure, the excuse is there were quite a few injuries, opt-outs, and folks entering the transfer portal. That’s right, but most folks are missing the point – This is the base from which Elko has to work. We lost to a pretty bad Oklahoma State team that night. We lost because we had a severe talent deficiency.

I know we lost our third-string quarterback on the first play, but our cornerbacks got worked by a pedestrian set of receivers and quarterback. Our defensive line and linebackers got very little pressure. We did an excellent job of slowing Oklahoma State’s running game, but the pass defense is a massive concern for me going into 2024.

Offensively, we did decent passing the ball but struggled to establish the running game. Our running backs combined for 15 carries and 47 yards. That’s slightly better than three yards per carry. That’s not a great Oklahoma State defense, and we couldn’t establish the run.

We were down most of the game, so we had no choice but to make up ground through the air. I still would have liked to have seen us establish the run. We abandoned it too soon, but what little we did run could have been more impressive, so that could be a reason.

While 372 yards of passing isn’t terrible, I’d like to present two stats: 1) No passing touchdowns and 2) Max Wright had the longest pass completion of 40 yards.

That isn’t a knock on Max Wright. He’s a good football player who embodies what a Fightin’ Texas Aggie should be. The problem is Max Wright is a tight end and not what one would call a passing threat. This is the second game in a row where he’s had the longest pass completion.

That’s a massive concern for me regarding our receiving corps. It needs to be discussed because there are some plays where these guys flash, but this receiving corps, as it stands right now, is pedestrian. I’m serious. We continue to need more elite-level receivers.

Ainias Smith is the lone exception to the receivers in the six years Jimbo was at the helm. I don’t see that changing anytime soon. You must have receivers who can take on the best secondaries to excel in college football. The Aggies still need to be elite through the air right now.

We can move the ball at times, but for the most part, we can’t routinely press secondaries with our receiving corps. That has got to change and change quickly. I don’t see it happening, though.

Coming out of the Texas Bowl against a VERY beatable Oklahoma State, I have these concerns:
1) An inability to bring pressure by the defensive front.
2) Can’t cover at all.
3) Can’t establish the running game.
4) Receivers can’t consistently dominate.

Other than that, it wasn’t all that bad…

That was not a meaningless bowl game. It was an eye-opener to where things stand with the Aggie football program. It’s not good.

Many of you think Elko will fix it with the transfer portal. While I will give Elko credit, he’s doing everything he can via the transfer portal. However, I equate it to an NFL expansion team trying to bolster its roster via the expansion draft. It really is.

Mike Elko is going to sign roughly 20 guys from the transfer portal. 25% of his scholarship roster will be guys from the transfer portal.

These aren’t SEC starters are even SEC two deep guys he’s signing. Most of these guys are coming from non-Power 5 conferences. They have yet to face elite talent like they’ll be facing in the SEC. They’re all going to go through a massive learning curve if they actually survive the learning curve.

One guy can be an immediate contributor, and that’s the defensive end from Purdue, who led the Big 10 in sacks last season. He looks like the real deal and an excellent get from the transfer portal.
Other than him, these guys have yet to produce much in a major conference.

I like the corner from Kansas State, but we’ll see if his skills transfer to a more physical league with better overall talent.

The rest of these transfers? There are a couple of guys with promise, but I have a question on whether they’re that much better than the guys they will try to replace.

Why does this worry me? The top teams in college football don’t have to load up in the transfer portal. The argument will be they don’t have to because they’re a good football team. That is precisely my argument. They’re not coming off a 5-7 and 7-6 season. Texas A&M has a losing record over the last two seasons.

A&M has received a bad rap related to the transfer portal over the last two years, but you can’t objectively deny that flipping over a roster every year is not the recipe for success. You should use the transfer portal to add talent in critical areas. You shouldn’t use the transfer portal to replace 25% of your roster in one season.

That’s where Texas A&M is right now. Our depth and a few critically talented individuals have left the program. Elko is forced to fill the roster with people from the transfer portal.

I’m sorry. That’s just not ideal.

I fully get the argument Elko is trying to mold the roster with “his guys.” The problem is we are still determining if Elko can truly identify and develop talent. We don’t know that, as there’s no track record of him doing it.

We have two seasons of Mike Elko at Duke, where he went 8-4 and 7-5. That’s pretty decent for Duke, but he also coached in what could be the worst Power 5 conference. I know he lost his quarterback for parts of this season, but didn’t Jimbo lose his quarterback as well?

Why do we give Elko the benefit of the doubt in losing his quarterback but not Jimbo? I’m not defending Jimbo. I just want a head coach where we don’t have to routinely defend the loss of our starting quarterback for the win-loss record.

What Elko did at Duke is impressive, but it’s not like he won the ACC or even a division. His time at Duke is promising, but it’s certainly not definitive for having success at Texas A&M.

As for the 2024 schedule, it is easier because Alabama isn’t on it. However, the Saban news changes that. The 2024 schedule is still a big challenge for a team with around 40% of its scholarships filled with guys who have never taken a snap for the Aggies. I’m including the high school signees and the transfer portal guys in that number.

FORTY PERCENT OF THE ROSTER WILL HAVE NEVER TAKEN A SNAP IN AN AGGIE UNIFORM.

I’m sorry. That’s not ideal.

Elko is bringing in a ton of guys, hoping and praying they can fill half a dozen starting spots if not more. That’s roughly 25% of the starting spots. He needs transfer players to win the job and then play at a high level to win ten games.

I don’t see that happening in Mike Elko’s first year. That doesn’t mean he can’t be successful long term, but it’s much easier to be successful in college football with some early excitement from a coaching staff that wins football games.

This will be more of an 8-4 team in 2024.

When we fired Jimbo, I thought the right coach could come in and win right away with our roster. Mike Elko has decided to take a different approach and turn this into a 2-3 year build. If that pays off, I’m good with it, but I have massive questions right now.

While the transfer portal is new, Mike Elko is attempting to do something that nobody else is doing. I don’t know of any other team overhauling 40% of their roster in a single season. It’s a bold move, for sure.

Once the final roster is set with transfer portal players and the final signing class is done, I’ll look at how the team shapes up.

I believe we’ll be worse off going into the 2024 season than in 2023. I hope I’m wrong, but after watching the Texas Bowl and realizing what Elko is doing with the roster, I have some concerns about what Aggie Football is capable of in 2024.

The Aggies have to compete with all of college football, and if you accurately compare where things stand right now, it could be better. In a vacuum, it seems exciting to get all new players. There are concerns when you compare it to the rest of college football.

Only time will tell if those concerns are real.

How Bad Was D.J. Durkin in 2022?

I’ve heard and read a lot of complaints related to D.J. Durkin and the 2022 Aggie Defense. My overall thoughts of Durkin’s defense in 2022 were it wasn’t as bad as most people made it out to be. I thought the 2022 Aggie Defense played much better than the 5-7 record showed. I felt the anemic offense was a MUCH bigger issue and the defense got unwarranted blame because the offense was just so putrid.

I went back and looked at each game looking at high-level stats to see if I could put some level of objectivity to grading the 2022 Aggie Defense. You can find those here.

Beyond those raw stats above I went back and looked at details from each game via the box scores. Mainly I was looking at scoring rhythms and what stuff lead to scores along with a few stats of specific players.

This is in no way a scientific analysis but more looking at the whole body of work by the Aggie defense in 2022. I felt there were some obvious imperfections but as a whole it was a decent enough defense to win more games than the 5-7 record showed.

Before I get to reviewing the 2022 Aggie Defense I need to point out we were spoiled for 4 years with Mike Elko at the helm. Mike Elko is a defensive genius. That dude can run circles around any other defensive coordinator in college football. Some are close to being as good as Elko but not many.
There was no way the 2022 Aggie Defense was going to be as good as what we’d seen in Jimbo’s first 4 seasons. It was going to drop off but the question was how much.

I knew that going into 2022 so maybe that’s a factor in my analysis. Mike Elko isn’t walking back through that door. At least not as Defensive Coordinator…

Let’s get to the games…

Sam Houston State:

Not much to say here due to the competition and weather. The defense got to play one-half of football against an inferior opponent. It did fine holding Sam Houston to below 200 total yards, getting 2 turnovers, and shutting them out. Not much more you can ask for.

Appalachian State:

Ugh. Yes, this has to be discussed. I can’t put into words the disappointment of this loss.

This is the game where I think the defense gets a HORRIBLE rap. You hate to see the defense give up 181 rushing yards to an opponent of this level. Because of the anemic Aggie offense that day Appalachian State smartly decided to see if they could keep the ball away from the Aggie offense. It made perfect sense as the game wore on. Just hold onto the ball so the Aggie offense won’t have more chances to get going.

App State wasn’t ripping off big runs or plays. They were churning out 3-4 yards a carry burning clock. When it was all said and done App. State ran 82 plays compared to the Aggies’ 38 plays. That’s right, App. State ran over twice as many offensive plays as the Aggies.

From a time of possession standpoint, App State held the ball for 41:29 while the Aggies only held it for 18:31. The Aggie offense only converted 8 first downs and gained less than 200 yards of offense.
Jimbo’s vaunted Aggie offense put Durkin’s defense in a massive hole.

I don’t see how anyone can put any level of blame on the Aggie defense for this game.

While the defense could have stopped App. State on key 4th downs the Aggie defense should have never been put in the position where late 4th down conversions were so meaningful.

This loss is TOTALLY on Jimbo and his offensive blindness.

Miami:

This is a weird game to analyze because the Miami team wound up being so bad.

The Aggie defense gave up almost 400 yards to the Miami offense but kept them out of the endzone while the Aggie offense broke in a new starting quarterback.

The defense did plenty for the Aggies to win and the Aggie offense did just enough.

No issues here for me.

Arkansas:

Arkansas had a little over 400 yards of total offense. The Aggie offense would only muster 343 yards of offense.

This one is weird to analyze because if it wasn’t for the fumble return for a touchdown the Aggies lose this game and the defense looks horrible. That was a massive 14-point swing right before the half.

By far the worst part of this game was the 4th quarter touchdown given up to Arkansas and then letting Arkansas get in range for a chance to win the game with a field goal.

I do think the Aggie defense outplayed the Aggie offense in this game. While I’m disappointed in some things they did I’m not going to rail on them for a horrible performance.

They played well enough to win while the Aggie offense struggled to get and keep any momentum.

This is by far the luckiest win of the Jimbo era getting the key breaks in a game to go our way.

Mississippi State:

This is such a tough game to analyze from a defensive standpoint. Mike Leach pulled Jimbo’s pants down from the get-go and the entire Aggie team never had a chance of winning this game. Jimbo will tell you we were just a few plays away from winning this game but that’s pure denial on Jimbo’s part.

Mike Leach and his staff knew exactly what to expect from this Aggie team and exploited it.

Jimbo’s vaunted offense did nothing in the first half while Mississippi State scored a couple touchdowns in the 2nd quarter. We went into the half down 14-0.

We opened the second half with a long drive that resulted in an Aggie field goal. The score is 14-3 so there’s a chance the Aggies can come back.

Mississippi State gets the ball back and the Aggie defense forces a turnover on Mississippi State’s second play of the half. The Aggie defense gives the ball to the offense at the Mississippi State 32-yard line. VERY favorable field position for Jimbo and his offense to make a statement we’re back in this game.

What does the offense do? Fails to get a first down resulting in a 44-yard field goal attempt. A little deflating but at least we have a chance at some points to make it a one-score game.

What happens next? Mississippi State blocks the field goal and returns it for a touchdown. Instead of it being 14-6 it’s now 21-3 in Starkville. Game. Over.

The Aggie defense would give up 473 yards but the Aggies turned the ball over 4 times that game. That’s not exactly helping the defense. The final score was 42-24 but 14 of those points came off a blocked kick and a Haynes King interception return.

By far the worst moment for the defense that day was the Aggies scored a touchdown halfway through the 4th quarter to make it a 28-17 game. 11 points isn’t impossible with half a quarter of football.
Unfortunately, the Aggie defense gave up a 75-yard touchdown on Mississippi State’s very next offensive play and any hope of a comeback was dead in the water. Dead.

I’m giving the defense an “Incomplete” in this game. The offense didn’t help turning the ball over 4 times including a Pick 6 along with the special teams getting a field goal blocked and returned for a touchdown.

However, when the team needed a stop the Aggie defense couldn’t come up with one so they’re not clean in this game.

It was just another nightmare in Starkville where Mike Leach pulled down Jimbo’s pants because the game plan for the Aggies was so obvious.

R.I.P. – Pirate.

Alabama:

What everyone thought might be the game of the year in college football thanks to Jimbo’s offseason press conferences wound up being a big dud as both teams started their backup quarterbacks. The Battle of the Backups if you will.

Alabama started true freshman Jalen Milroe. I don’t think Milroe had taken 10 snaps all season before this game.

Milroe came out of high school as an exceptional runner and athlete but had questions about his passing ability. Similar to Jalen Hurts.

It was no secret that Saban and his offensive staff weren’t going to let Milroe throw much. Anybody with half a brain knew that Nick Saban was going to grind out an ugly game against a very questionable Aggie offense.

That’s exactly what Alabama did where they rushed 51 times compared to 19 passes. They ground out 288 yards on the ground and their passing game was VERY effective completing 12 of 19 passes for 9.3 yards per completion and 3 touchdowns. Ironically they didn’t score any touchdowns running the ball.
This was a much tighter game than anyone expected thanks to one reason – the Aggie defense forced the Bama offense to turn the ball over 4 times. In doing so they held the Bama offense to under 400 total yards and only 3 touchdowns. That’s not super impressive considering they were playing a true freshman making his first start with very limited starts. However, it was a night game in Tuscaloosa so you take it all day long.

This was in no way a dominant effort by the Aggie defense but they did take advantage of that young quarterback with 4 turnovers. What they gave up in yards they took back with 4 turnovers.

There’s no doubt in my mind that if Bryce Young starts this game it’s a blowout win for Alabama. I’m not that naive. But I do have to give credit to the Aggie defense as their play that night gave the Aggies a chance to win on their final offensive possession.

I’ll go to my grave believing two things:

1) If A.J. Hinch doesn’t pull Zack Greinke when he did in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series the Astros win that game.
2) If Jimbo Fisher gives Devon Achane the ball on the final possession the Aggies beat Bama in back-to-back years.

As it was the Aggie defense did enough to win that game that evening and Jimbo Fisher squandered it by getting too cute on the final play. That loss wasn’t on Durkin and his crew. It was on the man who wears the main headset and calls the offensive plays.

South Carolina:

Another tough one to truly judge the Aggie defense. Coming off a bye week Jimbo spotted the Gamecocks 17 points thanks to an opening kick return for a touchdown and turnovers on our first two offensive possessions.

In the first five minutes of the game Jimbo’s special teams and offense spotted the opponent 17 points. Unreal. What a damn hole to dig out of.

This wound up being a pretty close game and the defense did PLENTY to win this game. They held the South Carolina offense to under 300 yards and even got two turnovers.

This game was all on Jimbo for not having special teams and offense prepared coming off a bye week. The fact this was a 6-point game despite spotting the opponent 17 points in the first 5 minutes is a testament to the defense.

This loss wasn’t even close to being on Durkin and the Aggie defense. Once again, it was 100% on Jimbo Fisher.

Ole Miss:

I believe this to be the game where people decided to turn on D.J. Durkin.

I get it. Ole Miss rolled up 390 yards on the ground. There’s ZERO defending that. We flat-out dared Ole Miss to run on us and that’s exactly what they did.

I’m not going to rehash this game but this is where I think Jimbo as the struggling OC has to take some blame for the struggles on defense as well. At some point, the head coach has to tell his defensive coordinator to stop the damn run. Get out of the 3-man front and stop the damn run.

I think Jimbo was so caught up in his fist full of plays and notes he wasn’t paying attention to what was happening on the field when Ole Miss had the ball. I’m not absolving Durkin but I’m curious what would have happened if Jimbo had given him more direction on shutting down the run.

It didn’t help the Aggie offense didn’t score in the 2nd and 3rd quarter but that wasn’t the biggest issue.
Letting Ole Miss roll up 390 yards of rushing at Kyle Field was the biggest issue that night. This defensive outcome is on Durkin and I get it.

Florida:

A week after the Ole Miss game a very bad Florida football team would roll into Kyle Field and thump the Aggies 41-24.

This is the infamous Flu Game where it seemed like half the team was out. Still, this should have been a winnable game for the Aggies.

It wasn’t. The Aggies went into the half leading 24-20. Things were looking okay as the Aggie offense was moving the ball and scoring. Anthony Richardson had a couple of frustrating touchdown runs but he’s an exceptional athlete so you knew you weren’t going to shut him out.

For whatever reason the entire Aggie team failed to show up in the second half. Florida outscored the Aggies 21-0 in the second half. 21 unanswered points at Kyle Field by an inferior team.

The Aggie defense gave up 492 total yards including 291 rushing yards.

In back-to-back games at Kyle Field the Aggie defense gave up 390 and 291 rushing yards. That’s embarrassing and that’s on Durkin. Teams shouldn’t be able to roll up 300 yards of rushing against any Aggie defense at Kyle.

Durkin and his defense didn’t show up this day.

Auburn:

For me, this is the most frustrating game of Jimbo’s time in Aggieland. Yes, more than App State. This was a VERY beatable Auburn team who had an interim coach and no quarterback. This was the 10th game of the year and Jimbo should have had the issues worked out by this game.

There was no doubt that Auburn was going to try and run on the Aggies. Auburn did a pretty decent job rolling up 270 yards on the ground but the Aggie defense didn’t allow a rushing touchdown.
They limited the Auburn passing game to 60 yards passing while getting two interceptions. The Aggie defense also recovered a fumble for a total of 3 turnovers for the game.

Meanwhile, Jimbo’s vaunted offense spent their first 10 possessions punting the ball. Read that again – in their first 10 offensive possessions they had to PUNT the ball. Not even a field goal attempt. That is completely anemic and that’s totally on Jimbo. I didn’t even know that was possible in this age of college football where the worst teams still put up points.

10 offensive possessions and 10 punts. Even R.C. Slocum knows that’s an embarrassing offensive effort.
The Aggie defense did everything they could to try and win this game. Jimbo’s offensive did nothing but sputter around the whole damn game.

This loss wasn’t on Durkin. Not even close.

UMass:

One of the most miserable games at Kyle Field in the stands and on the field.

The defense held the UMass offense to 168 total yards and no touchdowns.

They were fine in this game.

LSU:

In a classic Jimbo big win at Kyle Field, he finally pulled his head from his ass and ran some offensive plays the opposing defense wasn’t expecting. The Aggie offense FINALLY moved the ball and scored some points.

The Aggie defense wasn’t dominant that night as LSU still compiled 384 yards of total offense including 3 rushing touchdowns.

They did however come up with the biggest play of the game when Edge Cooper sacked Jayden Daniels who fumbled the ball and Demani Richardson scooped it up for a touchdown. LSU was getting a little momentum but that play squashed it.

The Aggie defense stepped up and swung all the momentum back to the Aggies who would walk away with a convincing win over the SEC West champ.

There’s no doubt I would have liked to have seen a more dominant defensive effort but they did plenty enough to win so I’m not going to dog them at all.

This LSU game is what the whole season should have looked like. We weren’t going undefeated in 2022 but it’s much easier to play defense when you have a competent offense that can score points and not turn the ball over.

Summary:

If Jimbo had pulled his head out of ass at the beginning of the season things would have been different from a defensive perception I believe.

D.J. Durkin is no Mike Elko but I think he got a bad reputation in 2022 due to the Ole Miss and Florida games. There’s no defending him in those games but I felt the Aggie defense did enough to win plenty of other games if Jimbo Fisher had just pulled his head from his ass running a competent offense.

That 5-5 record in those other 10 games could have EASILY been 8-2 as we had plenty of defense to beat App State, South Carolina, and Auburn.

While 8-4 would have still been a disappointing season it would have been MUCH better than 5-7. The Aggie defense did plenty to get to that 8-4 record. Jimbo failed the team and the fanbase. It wasn’t totally on D.J. Durkin.

This could have been a 10-2 team with a little more offensive production. Ole Miss was a very winnable game even with the defense giving up almost 400 yards of rushing. The Aggie offense went absent for almost 2 quarters of football so just a little more offense would have won that game. It’s shocking the Aggies only lost by 3 points.

The Florida flu game could have been different as well had half the team not been out but that game was just a perfect stamp on the 2022 Aggie football season.

10-2 was the absolute ceiling with this defense but 8-4 was easily attainable with how the defense played in most games.

I do expect better things from Durkin and the Aggie defense in 2023. It won’t be Mike Elko level which spoiled us for 4 years but it doesn’t mean it’ll be bad. Durkin is a decent enough coach and will have more mature talent so I think we’ll see a leap in performance.

When you take away the Ole Miss and Florida game from the 2022 slate the defense really doesn’t look that bad.

Durkin will have 12 games in 2023 to prove me right or wrong.

I just hope the hire of Bobby Petrino contributes to Jimbo pulling his head out of his ass to do some head coaching. That’s what we pay him $9.5 million a year to do.

Random Musings on the South Carolina Game

Before I get going on more stuff from the South Carolina game there’s a couple things to address.

Rumored OC Hire:

There’s strong rumors Jimbo is going to hire a legit offensive coordinator at the end of this season.  It’s so blatantly obvious at this point he needs to do it.  I’m glad he’s doing it but I’m still frustrated it’s coming to this.

For Jimbo’s first three years here (2018-2020) I really felt like he saw the whole football program.  What I mean by that is I felt he was a head coach that understood what was going on with the offense, defense, special teams, talent, development, and recruiting.

There were four games in 2019 I wish he would have managed differently but all four of those teams were ranked Number 1 in the country at one point that season.  I chalked those four games up to never having a chance so Jimbo was just building for the future sticking to a plan.

In 2020 it appeared to all come together during the Florida game.  From then on we rolled that season and never lost another game.  We finished #4 in the country with an Orange Bowl win.

I had the utmost confidence in Jimbo because we truly looked like a complete football team and he was recruiting well.  When he spoke, he spoke about football and not just jibberish like some other head coaches had done.  He sounded like an actual football coach.

In 2021 Haynes King went down in the Colorado game.  I chalked up that nail biter to a quarterback that was wildly inaccurate with no experience.  In the Arkansas game I saw coach that still looked confused on what plays to call but also saw a left tackle and quarterback that were getting beat by an Arkansas defense that just wanted it more.  Those two guys looked scared.  I felt that loss was more players than coaching.

We lost to Mississippi State the next weekend and I chalked it up to our defense having a bad game.

Then we beat Bama and rolled over Missouri and South Carolina.  We beat Auburn with an amazing defensive effort without scoring an offensive touchdown.  I thought it was just Jimbo seeing the whole game and not letting an erratic quarterback make errors that could lead to a loss.

The Ole Miss game last year was the first game I really realized there might be issues with Jimbo’s overall coaching ability.  Ole Miss came out and handed it to us both offensively and defensively in the first half.  We even had a safety on a running play in the first half.  A safety on a running play.  That’s virtually impossible if you know your team.  We went into half only down 15-0 but clearly getting out played.

In the third quarter we shut down their offense and Devon Achane was moving the ball at will.  It was 15-10 at the end of the third quarter so the game was well within our reach and momentum clearly on our side.

We closed it to 15-13 and got the ball back deep in our own territory at our 12-yard line.  We still had 7 minutes to go in the 4th quarter.  Plenty of time to mount a drive and then some.  I would have leaned on Achane but Jimbo called two pass plays.  The first goes incomplete and the second is intercepted.

I was always confused why Jimbo was passing there when Achane was gaining yards on the ground by the bunches.

Thanks to the interception Ole Miss only had to go 14 yards to score and they did.

We get the ball back down 22-13 with 6:32 left on the clock.  We need two scores but still plenty of time.

Achane isn’t even in the game.  This is not a knock on Isiah Spiller but Devon Achane was clearly the hot offensive hand and Jimbo sent Spiller in.  For whatever reason he didn’t recognize Achane was what was moving the offense in the second half.

We run a couple check down passes to Spiller with a false start (sound familiar) mixed in.  On 3rd and 10 Calzada throws an interception Ole Miss returns for a touchdown and puts the game away.

That was the first game that I really questioned Jimbo’s true ability as a head coach.  He clearly didn’t see what was happening on the field and ride the momentum.  He went back to what he thought he needed to do and didn’t adjust.

The LSU game last year was a little different but pretty similar.  I won’t bore you with details on that one but on a 3rd and 2 with a little over 2 minutes left trying to salt away a lead Jimbo called for Calzada to roll left asking him to complete a pass he had no business attempting.  Spiller had been moving the ball but Jimbo felt he needed Calzada to make a play when he hadn’t all year.

LSU totally blew up the play and we didn’t convert the first down.  We had to punt and wound up losing.  I give the ball to Spiller in that moment as he had been chewing up yards for most of the game and the LSU defense looked worn out.  For whatever reason Jimbo felt Calzada could execute a play he had no business attempting.

Both of those games I questioned his head coaching decisions late in the game.  I’ve seen those issues in the App State, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Alabama, and South Carolina games this year. He seems to miss key parts of those games where he’s not adjusting to what’s going on in the game.

I say all of this because I’m not sure how much hiring an offensive coordinator is going to matter.  We’ll certainly score more points which will be nice but if Jimbo can’t see the whole game and guide his team and coordinators then it won’t really matter.  He’ll get out coached and continue to lose games he shouldn’t.

Maybe the struggles of the offense have him buried in his play sheet but he needs to realize he’s the head coach responsible for the entire game.  It’s his job to guide the players and the coaching staff based on how things are going with the game.

You go in with a gameplan ready to adjust based on what you see on the field.  That’s not currently happening and that’s my biggest concern with Jimbo Fisher right now.

Hopefully he does more as a head coach with the addition of an OC.  I suppose it can’t be any worse than what we have now.

Player Issus/Suspensions:

News broke late on Monday night we have some potential suspensions and even potential dismissals with a few guys based on something that happened in South Carolina.

Rumor is some players were smoking weed in the locker room before or after the game.  It’s not crystal clear what the issue was but it’s something that’s not good.

Not sure if these are just a couple of boneheads or indications of a program in trouble.  Based on the names I’ve seen I think it’s just a couple of boneheads that need to be tossed out despite their immense talent.  No reason to let a couple of guys bring down a locker room of 85 scholarship guys.

We’ll look back on this South Carolina game as a turning moment for good or bad.

EDIT (10/27/22 8:27 a.m.) – As more details come out it looks like a few of the freshman were vaping in the locker room after the game. I have no idea what was in the vape but it doesn’t seem like the guys were smoking joints or hitting a bong. It sounds like they’ll be suspended for a game. Obviously not a good look and we don’t know all the details but maybe things aren’t as bad as it was initially made out to be.

Winning cures EVERYTHING so we’ll see if this team can win.

South Carolina Game:

Let’s get to a few things that frustrated me from the South Carolina game.

First Offensive Play:

The Aggies came into this game coming off a bye week.  We kicked the ball off and South Carolina returned the kick 100 yards to take a 7-0 lead.  Not the way you want to start but still in decent enough shape.

We get the ball on the 25-yard line after a touchback.  Before we even snap the ball we get a false start.  Down 7-0 after a bye week we can’t even snap the first ball without a false start.  That is a CLEAR sign for lack of preparation.

You would have thought our offense was fired up to have a big play after not playing football for two weeks.  You would have thought they were looking to make a statement.  Turns out they were making a statement.  Nothing evolved with a week off.

We move back 5 yards and run our first play.  It’s a short pass to Max Wright that’s incomplete.  I love the grit and the guts of Max Wright but there is absolutely ZERO reason why he should be receiving the first play down 7-0 coming off the bye week.  This is a play we had run before.

I don’t blame Max as much as I blame Jimbo.  Two weeks off and for his first play he calls a play that’s been called before to a guy that’s not our best offensive threat.  I couldn’t believe it.

Jimbo didn’t have a wrinkle there?  At least let the defense think for a play they may not be prepared for what’s coming.  I bet the whole South Carolina defensive coaching staff laughed out loud that Jimbo called a play they’d seen before and were ready to defend.

In Max’s defense he’d later score an impressive touchdown but he’s not the guy that should have seen the first ball coming off two weeks of no football and down 7-0.

That’s 100% on the “offensive mastermind” Jimbo Fisher.

False Starts:

As most of you know we had 8 false starts.  I believe two were on special teams but 8 is at least 6 too many.  I know the South Carolina crowd was pretty loud but it wasn’t any worse than what they experienced in Tuscaloosa.  There is ZERO reason for 8 false starts in a football game.

ZERO.

That’s on coaching.

Blockers Standing Around:

I’ve noticed it a lot this season but I saw two or three times in addition to the final plays where offensive lineman weren’t blocking anyone and just standing around.  Offensive linemen’s SOLE purpose is to block people.  They can’t legally catch balls and you don’t want them running balls.

Since there’s 11 people on offense and 11 people on defense that means if an offensive lineman isn’t blocking someone the defense has gained a massive advantage.  That means at minimum there’s two defenders running free looking for the ball since the ball carrier can’t block people.

Once again this is squarely on coaching.

Even if you blow your assignment you should always be looking to block someone.  The last thing an offensive lineman wants is to be on film not blocking someone.  Yet we had multiple moments where our offensive linemen were standing around not blocking anyone.

It’s as if the offensive linemen say to themselves, “Well, the guy I’m supposed to block is not here so not sure what I should do.  I guess I’ll stand here to see if a defender comes along that needs blocking.”

GO FIND SOMEONE TO BLOCK!!!!!

Lack of Commitment to the Run:

This is what’s so confusing to me about Jimbo’s play calling.  In 2020 we committed to the run in the Florida game and had massive success.  We have one of the most underrated running backs in the country with plenty of talent behind him.

For whatever reason Jimbo won’t even try to commit to the run early in the game.  The South Carolina game seemed PERFECT for it.  You have a banged-up quarterback, a line that struggles to pass block, and a defense that’s suspect to the run.

What do you do?  You don’t give your running back the ball until the third play of the third series after turning the ball over the previous two series.

Your best offensive weapon didn’t touch the ball until the third snap of your third possession.  How in the hell does that happen?

It ain’t that complicated, Jimbo.

Run.  The.  Dang.  Ball.

Opposing Defensive Strategy:

The opposing defensive strategy has become crystal clear.  We’ve seen it in EVERY game since the App State game and Jimbo refuses to adjust.

The opposing defensive ends are simply going to fire straight off at the outside shoulder of our offensive tackles.  No moves or anything.  Just fire right off at their outside shoulder.  They’ll either run around them or push them back to the quarterback who for some reason keeps dropping back even though he’s in shotgun formation.

Seriously.  Our quarterback takes the snap in the shotgun formation and if it’s a pass his first move is to step backwards.  I think it’s a massive key that defenses have picked up on.

While the defensive ends are racing to meet up in the backfield the defensive tackles are moving laterally to confuse the guard and center.  They change it up quite a bit but they almost make some lateral movement before heading up field.

As that’s happening the linebackers are looking for the gaps that are getting created and then rushing through them.

It’s the same damn defense over and over again.  It doesn’t change because we won’t do anything about it.  We just let it happen while we try and execute the perfect play.

South Carolina is not a stellar defense but they played great defense based solely on film study.  They learned the cheat code to beat our offensive based on the fact Jimbo would likely trot out the same pile of offensive garbage.

It’s maddening.

Aggie Defensive Turnovers:

I see a lot of complaints about our defense but let’s be clear – If it wasn’t for the defense getting 6 turnovers in the last two games we’re not even in the position to have a play at the end to win.

Without the key turnover in the Arkansas game we lose that game.

This defense isn’t without fault but I’d love for this defense to play with a lead just like they did in the Miami game.  Ideally I’d love for this defense to play a with a two score game to see what they can do.  I think it would do wonders for this whole team.

Unfortunately, we can’t because Jimbo keeps trotting out that same old pile of offensive garbage.

Don’t hate on this defense because there’s only so much they can do with an offensive that can’t score points.  Even worse the offense turns the ball over with a certain quarterback under center.

Yelling At Players:

I’m tired of Jimbo yelling at his players.  He thinks he’s coaching but he’s not.  I’ll give him credit he’s not berating his guys but he’s treating them like they’re inferior.  It’s an old act because his scheme ain’t working.

I have ZERO issue with a coach yelling at a player when it’s warranted.  ZERO issue.  In fact, I want to see someone getting yelled out when they make a mistake so they can learn from it.

We’re not seeing that.  For two years now all we’ve seen is Jimbo yelling at his players because they didn’t execute the play correctly.

If you’re yelling at your subordinates after every single thing they do that’s a massive failure on your part as a leader.  You either recruited the wrong talent for what you want to do, aren’t clear in your teachings, or your teachings are flat wrong.

In this instance it’s Jimbo’s teaching’s are flat wrong.  He can’t see the defense has already diagnosed what’s coming and blowing it up.  Jimbo can only see his precious offense isn’t working so it must be on his players.

I’m not saying the players aren’t botching assignments from time to time.  If you’re constantly yelling at failure you need to look in the mirror as you’re part of the failure.

Jimbo ain’t doing that.

Lack of Quarterback Runs:

One thing that really opened Jimbo’s offense up was Kellen Mond’s legs.  Jimbo openly talked about how he wished Kellen Mond would run more.

It wasn’t designed runs but simply when a hole opened in front of you then tuck the ball and run.  It worked wonderfully as Kellen’s ability to just take off and gain yards changed how defenses had to defend us. 

Kellen wasn’t even the deadliest runner.  He had decent speed but he wasn’t super elusive.  He just simply took off and ran when he saw space and green grass.

For whatever reason Jimbo doesn’t have Haynes King doing that.  I know King isn’t all the elusive as a runner but it’s like he doesn’t even know it’s an option.

I feel like King only runs in these two instances:

  1. Designed run
  2. Running for his life

I know there’s a lot of the running for his life but if Jimbo is going to keep running King out as his quarterback he needs to tell him to tuck the ball and run the second he sees space and green.  Stop going backwards and go forwards the moment you see any gap to go.

Weigman:

Building on the last one I hope Jimbo rolls Weigman out as quarterback the rest of the way.  I have no clue if Weigman is the guy but I know for certain it ain’t King.  Let Weigman develop a rapport with some of these receivers in actual SEC play.

If Haynes King and Max Johnson have confirmed anything it’s that a Jimbo Fisher designed offensive practice is not indicative of SEC play.

Let’s get game film on Conner in at least five games and hopefully six.  The six would be a bowl game.

This notion it’ll stunt his growth is complete BS.  He’ll make mistakes but as most people know the only way to learn from mistakes is to make them in the first place.

Time to let Weigman make some plays and mistakes while hopefully showing those 5 stars were well warranted.

I have no clue what to make of the rest of the season.  I lean to us not going bowling or barely getting eligible at 6-6 with wins over Florida, Auburn, and UMass.

I do believe we can beat Ole Miss.  They’re not as good as their record shows which LSU exposed and we’re not as bad as our record shows.  At least not talent wise.

If Jimbo is willing to do things a little different we can win on Saturday night.  I just don’t think he will because he’s so damn stubborn.

What a season…

Thoughts At the Halfway Point

I’ve been debating what to write since the Mississippi State loss.  What Jimbo built up with wins over Miami and Arkansas completely fell apart in 60 minutes of football.  Then came the Alabama game which was nothing but a moral victory.  I hate moral victories.

So I sit here as confused as anyone as to what to expect for the final 6 games.  This team could honestly go 6-0 or 1-5.  Neither would surprise me.

The bye week comes at the perfect time.  Problem is I don’t know if Jimbo is going to double down on the things that made this team 3-3 or make some adjustments and make a run at 6-0.  I honestly have no idea.

Just when I think I can see this team trending one way it takes a serious turn and I’m lost.

I’m just going to hit on some random topics.

Jimbo and His Offense:

It hit me on the flight back from Tuscaloosa what Jimbo’s offense is like.  Jimbo is that stubborn dad that wants his son to drive a manual transmission when he turns 16.  Jimbo wants his son to learn how to drive an outdated transmission because it’ll be good for him and that’s how cars used to be built.

So Jimbo buys his son a mid-90s Mustang V8 with a manual transmission.  Jimbo thinks once his son masters that pesky clutch he’s gonna have a cool ass car.  On Sunday mornings Jimbo and his son head to the mall parking lot where Jimbo is going to teach him how to drive that thing.

They spend multiple Sunday mornings screaming at each other because his son just can’t figure it out.  Most of the time his son lets off the clutch too soon and it just lurches until it stalls out.  Other times he just rides the clutch entirely too long and you can smell that burning clutch.  Sometimes he gets the car going but then he presses the brake and not the clutch so the car stalls out yet again.  Every now and then he’s able to make a complete circle of the mall parking lot with no issues at all.

In those moments Jimbo beams with pride forgetting all about the 5 previous attempts that resulted in failure.  Jimbo pictures in his head his son pulling into the high school parking lot looking super cool.  He never envisions his son could become the laughingstock of the school parking lot because he’s repeatedly stalling out.  Jimbo can only see his son in his mid-90s V8 Mustang with the windows rolled down, classic rock cranked, and mullet flowing.

That’s all he can see because he’s blind to the reality of what other kids are driving.  Jimbo is stubborn and lives in the past.

All the other kids are driving more modern vehicles that actually have more horsepower, get better mileage, more reliable, and most importantly – are just plain easier to drive because they don’t have that stupid complicated clutch.

Jimbo just can’t see there’s a MUCH better way for his son to drive.  He doesn’t understand that clutch makes thing infinitely more challenging and completely unnecessary. 

It’s The Scheme:

We can blame the players all we want but the reality of this team’s struggles are centered around an offensive scheme that isn’t working.

I can’t precisely say why it isn’t working but my eyes and statistics say it’s not working.  It’s ranked near the bottom in many statistical categories.  It’s a complete failure at this point.

I think it’s not working because there’s no wrinkles.  Jimbo believes he’s devised the perfect system and if all 11 players do their job then the offense hums along.

NEWSFLASH – Every single offensive play designed by anyone ever is designed this way.  There’s not an offensive coordinator alive that just willy nilly designs offensive plays without accounting for every defender.  If all 11 offensive players execute perfectly then every offensive play ever designed gains large amounts of yards.

It’s a foolish statement for an offensive coordinator to say if the players execute the play is there.  It’s on the coach to create plays that can be executed because it confuses the defense.

This offense isn’t confusing the opposing defense because there’s no damn wrinkles and everything takes so damn long to develop.  App State really exposed this and every defense since then has done basically the same thing.

Here’s the secret to defending this offense – Pin your ears back and apply pressure.  What you see in front of you is what you’ll expect to see.  Don’t worry about a wrinkle you’re not ready for because there is no wrinkle.

The opposing defensive ends basically make a pact to fire off straight into our tackles and plan to meet at the quarterback.  Meanwhile the defensive tackles and linebackers give the interior lineman a little confusion and someone will break through.  It’s not a difficult offense to defend.

I don’t chart plays of this offense but I bet a junior high kid decent at math could chart our plays and predict with 80% accuracy if a run or pass is coming based on offensive personnel and the down and distance. 

Knowing if a run or pass is coming is a HUGE advantage for the opposing defense.  I don’t think it’s hard for opposing defenses to determine what plays are coming.

Jimbo simply thinks if all 11 guys execute we’ll be moving the chains.  He’s not wrong except for one thing – the entire reason the defense exits is to blow up the play.  When the defense has a really good idea of what play is coming they’ll routinely blow it up.

That’s what’s happening and Jimbo is too stubborn to admit it.

Until Jimbo designs some wrinkles and speed things up this offense will be stuck in the mud.  It’s completely maddening and frustrating.

Where Are the Wrinkles?:

Believe it or not there have been some wrinkles.  They’re few and far between but they’ve been there.  Against Sam Houston we had receivers run routes across each other which confused the defense.  I don’t recall seeing those routes since that Sam Houston game.  We seem to have run them once and abandoned them.

Against Bama we finally added some wrinkles including the first reverse I think I’ve seen Jimbo run since he got here.

We also had a beautiful delayed pass to Donovan Green for a touchdown.

We need a LOT more of those.

I’m hoping Jimbo spent the entire bye week drawing up wrinkle plays.

Make Them Defend the Unknown and Space:

Lane Kiffin is one of the best play designers in college football if not the best.  I hate to say it but Steve Sarkisian is not far behind him.  Each week if you watch those teams there will be 5-10 plays the defense never sees coming and they grab big yards if they don’t get a touchdown.

We never see that from Jimbo.  It’s the same old plays over and over again.

Kiffin has less offensive talent but his scheme is totally superior to Jimbo’s.  Kiffin uses the full width of the field and attacks downfield as far as possible.  Jimbo runs plays around the hash marks and as deep as 15 yards at most.

Kiffin makes the defense defend more space while Jimbo lets the defense defend less space.  In case you’ve never defended anything it’s much easier to defend less space than more space.

It’s simple physics and Jimbo can’t figure this out.

There’s No Sequencing of Plays:

The best playcallers think about plays 2-3 plays ahead of the one they’re calling.  Once again, Lane Kiffin is one of the best at this.  He’ll call a play expecting a certain result and has the next play ready to go right after that.

Jimbo doesn’t do that.  Jimbo appears to call plays completely independent of each other.  It’s almost as if he says to himself, “Okay, let me see how this play does and then I’ll call the next play based on the results of this one.”

He has no expectation of what a play will do until he sees it happen.  That’s a big reason he’s so ineffective as a play caller.  He has no expectation of what’s going to happen with every play.  He must call it and then see what happens.

It’s like Congress passing a Bill to figure out how it effects the American people.  Only morons do things like this.

No Urgent Execution:

I’ve talked about this before but Jimbo has ZERO sense of urgency from an offensive standpoint.  I’m sure defenses love this.  This gives them a chance to get set up and read the offense before the snap.

Because Jimbo believes he’s the perfect play caller he’s giving the defense more time to rest and defend his offense.

It’s maddening to watch.  The more you put a defense on it’s heels the easier it is to execute against them.

There’s a reason why up tempo offenses have become so popular – THEY WORK!!!!!!

Meanwhile Jimbo is doing the exact opposite trying to slow things down which gives the defense an advantage.

It makes ZERO sense why he won’t push the throttle all the way to the floorboard on occasion.

This goes back to the lack of sequencing plays.  To run up tempo you must have the offense ready to go on the next play as soon as the ball is set.  Jimbo needs to see the result of the play and then go back to his massive playsheet to decide the next play.

Jimbo is the person that orders an appetizer without looking at the main course or anything else on the menu.  One thing at a time, people.  One thing at a time.

What Do You Want to Be, Jimbo?:

In 2020 after the Alabama game Jimbo decided we were going to be a running team.  It worked beautifully.  Sure, we had a mostly senior offensive line but it really wasn’t that talented.  Only two guys from the offensive line are playing in the NFL.

I say that not as a knock on those guys but just showing what can happen when you decide on your offensive identity.  Creating an identity helps the offense executes.

We should have been a running team the last two seasons but for some reason Jimbo won’t commit to it.  I don’t know why.  I get wanting to be a robust offense but when you can ram the ball down the defense’s throat you’re going to set up other plays.

In the games last year against Arkansas and Ole Miss Jimbo should have committed to running the ball late in the game but he wouldn’t.  We lost both games.

It’s like he sees a run go for no yards and thinks, “Ah shit.  That run got stuffed.  I better dial up some passes!”

He’s completely afraid of establishing the running game.  In order to establish the running game you have to commit to the running game.  He won’t do it for some reason.  We have one of the most underrated running backs in the country along with some talented younger running backs.

We can run the damn ball if Jimbo will commit to it.  I don’t know why he won’t.

You establish the running game and your passing game will flourish if you know how to design and call plays.

Maybe we’re back to the main problem – Jimbo doesn’t know how to design and call plays.

The Final Play at Bama:

The entire season so far was encapsulated in the final play at Bama.  I’m sure you’ve watched the play multiple times.  For any Aggie football fan it’s like watching the Zapruder film.

You watch it even though you know the result is going to be bad.

We can bitch about the officials all we want but the reality is the players executed that play REALLY badly.  The play took way too long to develop, Evan Stewart didn’t get deep enough in the end zone, and after staring Evan Stewart down Haynes King threw a ball that even if caught would not have resulted in a touchdown because it wasn’t in the end zone.

They didn’t execute it well because it was a terrible job of coaching.

Jimbo and the players can say what they want but it was a horrible play call.  It never had a chance.  It really didn’t.  Bama defended the play decently but they didn’t do anything out of the ordinary.  They just defended what they expected to happen and that’s exactly what happened.

Bama knew everything to expect on that play and just played basic defense  The Aggie offense did NOTHING to surprise Bama on that play.

My entire list from above boils down to this single play.  With a chance to pull off a MASSIVE upset Jimbo has nothing special.  I mean nothing at all.  We’d already run this play earlier.  We did score a touchdown on it but Bama was well aware of that and prepared to defend it.

It’s almost as if Jimbo looked at his play sheet and noticed he’d put a star and “TD” next to this play.  He probably thought, “Well, hell.  Apparently this play scored a touchdown already so let’s just call it again.”

Jimbo was playing with house money on one final play and dialed up something the defense had already seen.  He just needed two yards.  No wrinkles, no urgency, no nothing new.  Just the same thing he’d previously called.

I wanted to give the ball to Achane in space.  I know Bama was expecting it but if I give Achane the ball and some space I have more faith in him to get two yards than anyone on this team.  He’s proven that so I would have given it to him.

Jimbo didn’t and I don’t know why.

Even beyond giving it to Achane did we not have some play we’ve been working on since the summer to get two yards?  Something the defense never saw coming?

It’s not surprising based on how Jimbo’s called this offense all year but it’s really disappointing.

House money and Jimbo runs trips to the wide side, five offensive linemen, a lone receiver right, and Achane lined up next to the quarterback in the shotgun.  No motion or anything.

Not a single wrinkle or chance at something the defense had never seen.  Just Jimbo in his head thinking, “If all 11 guys execute this perfectly we’ll win this game.”

The entire first half of the season was summed up in that final play.  A failure because it’s the same old thing over and over again.  The players never had a chance to make a great play happen.

No urgency and no wrinkle.  Just a play off the same spreadsheet he’s been running for 2 seasons now.

Line up a tight end to slip into the endzone, put in a fullback to make it look a run, or run someone in motion to see if the defense will tell you how they plan to defend it.  Do something the defense had no idea what was coming.

We had a chance to upset Bama in back to back years.  We didn’t because Jimbo just called an ordinary play like he didn’t know or care what was on the line.

Just like he was in a mall parking lot on a Sunday morning trying to teach his son how to drive a clutch because he’s oblivious to the advances they’ve made to automobiles.

Maddening.  Frustrating.  Disappointing.  Pick your word.  Hell, pick them all.  They all apply.

Looking Forward:

This team is talented enough to wind up winning 7 games which would include the bowl game.  I don’t see it happening unless Jimbo has a massive epiphany.

That’s not happening so let’s look at reality.

We should beat UMass.

I think we’ll beat South Carolina and Auburn.

I think Florida and LSU are toss ups.

I don’t see how we beat Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss.

I think we wind up 4-2 over those six games for a final record of 7-5. It’s a little ambitious but this is a talented football team. Especially the defense and I think they play well enough to win 4 games the rest of the way.

Even with that it will be a massive disappointment for Year 5 of Jimbo’s tenure.  7-5. Massive disappointment.

Jimbo is not going anywhere as our head coach but there are massive rumblings he’ll be forced to hire an offensive coordinator in the off season.  I hope that’s true.  Everything else about this program seems to be humming along.  Most of the recruiting and the defense appear to be fine.

Ironically enough the positions we don’t have any commits for the 2023 signing class are quarterback, running back, and wide receiver.  Offensive skill players are shying away from committing to Jimbo’s offense.

Strangely the one thing that needs improving is the one thing Jimbo controls.

We’ll find out how stubborn Jimbo is over the next couple of months.

I hope he finds better things to do with his Sunday mornings than spend them with his son in a mall parking trying to figure out how to use a clutch…

2022 Aggie Football Season Prediction

Time for my annual season record prediction.  I’m hoping 2021 was an anomaly due to a season ending injury to our quarterback early in our second game.  That coupled with a young offensive line and still no receiving threats created a disastrous 2021 season.  If you call 8-4 disastrous.  That’s still a pretty good season by most accounts.  Aggie football just has higher expectations going into Jimbo’s fifth year.

I’ve mentioned it in my other blogs but I think this 2022 Aggie team will be more talented than the 2021 Aggie team.  It won’t have the experience the 2021 team had but I do think overall it will be much more talented.  If we keep a few key players healthy and the young guys develop this is going to be a damn good football team.

I’m basis my predictions on three key things:

  1. Improved quarterback play
  2. Improved offensive line play
  3. Improved production from receivers

I feel good about the defense.  Especially as the season wears on.  I think Durkin and the talented are going to be one of the top defenses in the country by the end of the year.  We just need to get some level of offensive production early on as the defense find it’s legs.  If we get offensive production from the start we’re all going to be pretty happy at the end of the 2022 season.

I don’t know who’s going to be quarterback but I do feel good about whoever gets the nod.  We’re either going to have someone in their third year of Jimbo’s system or someone in their third year of taking SEC snaps.  I tend to lean Max Johnson as the starter but I have no issues if Haynes King is the starter.  I certainly think it’ll be better than last year’s quarterback play.

Let’s get to the 2022 games.

Sam Houston:

This shouldn’t be a contest.  The only intriguing thing about this game will be who gets what snaps.  Mainly at the QB position.  I’m not talking about who takes the first snaps.  I’m talking about when the second quarterback takes snaps.  If someone else besides the starter takes snaps in the first half or starting the second half we’ve got a quarterback battle.  If the starter takes all the first half snaps and opens up the second half then that QB will be the clear front runner.  It’s their position to lose.

Ags Win: 1-0

Appalachian State:

This will be a tougher game than Sam Houston but I think we’ll prevail.  The most intrigue will be who takes snaps when.  Will a quarterback front runner have emerged?

Ags Win: 2-0

Miami:

Miami didn’t have a great win-loss record last season which is why they have a new coach.  They were playing well at the end of the season though.  Especially their quarterback Tyler Van Dyke.

They went 2-3 before their bye week and then were 5-2 after.  They didn’t play their bowl game due to COVID issues.  Sound familiar?

Mario Cristobal seems to be a great fit since he’s from Miami and played at “The U.”  He gets a lot of hype but his head coaching record is just okay.  He wasn’t that successful at Florida International and he didn’t exactly set the world on fire at Oregon.

He did okay in 2019 winning the Pac 12 and the Rose Bowl but his other four seasons he had at least 3 losses including 2020 where they only played 7 total games.  Cristobal even took over the team from Willie Taggart.  Cristobal didn’t come into a new situation where everyone had to adjust.  He probably should have had more success in Oregon considering the circumstances.

Miami is different as this is his first year.  First year coaches tend to struggle unless they’re Ryan Day or Lincoln Reilley where their dad gave them the key to the Ferrari while it was still in pristine shape.

The biggest question in this game will be if the quarterback situation is settled.  I think Jimbo knows it must be by this time and it will be.  I think you’ll see this as a close game through 3 quarters but the Ags finally pull away in the 4th quarter.  I wouldn’t be shocked if it’s very similar to the 2020 Orange Bowl.

Ags Win: 3-0

Arkansas:

Obviously this game caught us by surprise last year.  You had an Arkansas team with a ton of confidence after beating Texas.  Most importantly, you had an Arkansas team that wanted it more than the A&M team.  In addition, the Aggies had a few key positions that underperformed and a coaching staff that was completely confused by the Arkansas defensive scheme.

The Aggies were the more talented team last year but Arkansas was the better team executing a great game plan.  I won’t call it the perfect storm but I do believe Arkansas got the brakes their way because they were better prepared and played better.  Last year’s game was the perfect example that talent doesn’t always win.

The 2022 Arkansas is going to be a similar team but I don’t think quite as good.  They have wonderful coordinators with Kendall Briles and Barry Odom. These guys can coach and it’s their third season.  Arkansas is going to be a tough team for anyone.

I think where Arkansas takes a slight step back is with their defense.  Arkansas returns 3 of their defensive starters from last year’s team.  They return 11 other guys that played defense for last year’s team.  That’s decent experience for a defensive unit but I think it’ll be a different look than what we saw in 2021.  I think we’ll be better offensively (I hope we can’t be worse) and they’ll be slightly worse defensively.  That’s an advantage for the Aggies.

On offense the Hogs return KJ Jefferson.  He’s a dynamic QB and perfect for Kendall Briles’ system but I don’t think he’s a true polished passer.  He can throw but they’ll want to use his mobility to open up the passing game.  If you can control him on the ground without selling out the run you can limit him through the air.  I think the Aggie defense can do that.

It’ll be a tough fought battle like always but I think the Aggies pull this one out after last year’s stinker.

Ags Win: 4-0

Mississippi State:

The 2021 Mississippi State game at Kyle Field is Jimbo’s worse game as the Aggie head coach.  There was no reason to lose it.  We were coming off the loss to Arkansas and it’s painfully obvious there was no clear leader on this team.  We didn’t make enough plays and found ourselves limping off Kyle with a loss that should have never have happened.

I think 2022 will be different for a host of reasons.  I think we’ll have better quarterback play and D.J. Durkin knows how to defend Leach’s system.  For some reason Elko sat back last year giving Will Rogers time to throw and let their receivers work in space.  Huge mistake by Elko.

Will Rogers is going to get yards but you don’t want to give him time to throw.  Durkin knows that and I don’t think he’ll let Rogers pick the defense apart.  He’ll force him to make quick obvious throws which are easier to defend.

Offensively I think we’ll establish the ground game and control time of possession. We won’t dominate but I think we’ll win convincingly enough.

Ags Win: 5-0

Alabama:

The Aggies will roll into Tuscaloosa with five wins and no losses while the Crimson Tide have four wins and one loss.  That loss of course will come in Austin during the third of the week season.  Just kidding.  Bama will be undefeated.  I just hope we are.

We all know how big this matchup is.  It was going to be big after last season.  Then Jimbo decided to take on Saban during the off season yet again.  It worked last season but I don’t see it working this season.

Do I think the Aggies can beat Bama?  Absolutely.  I just don’t think they will.

Not much else to say about this game as we know the stakes and the teams.  We just wait for the results.

Here’s something interesting – each of Saban’s last three starting quarterbacks are projected starters in the NFL this season.  Bryce Young will likely be a first round draft pick and start in the NFL.  He’s already won a Heisman.  Gone are the days of Saban having a game managing quarterback with an elite defense and running game.  He’s got high level quarterbacks running his offenses now.  Saban’s the greatest because he evolves.

Here’s something else that’s interesting.  Those three quarterbacks tie Bama as the school with the most 2022 NFL starting quarterbacks having started for a college team.  This assumes Baker Mayfield wins the Carolina job.  The really interesting part?  Jalen Hurts gives both OU and Bama three former starters as 2022 NFL starters.  Even more interesting is that not one of OU’s quarterbacks starting in the NFL was recruited by OU.  They all transferred to become the starter.

OU doesn’t have a single starting quarterback in the NFL if Kyler stays in Aggieland, Baker stays in Lubbock, and Jalen stays in Tuscaloosa.  OU got two Heisman trophies because Sumlin couldn’t manage multiple quarterbacks, Kliff wouldn’t give Baker a scholarship, and Saban recruited a better quarterback than Jalen.

Enough of that diversion.  Bama beats the Aggies in Tuscaloosa.

Ags Lose: 5-1

South Carolina:

If there’s a trap game on this schedule this is it.  We get a week off after Bama and go on the road to South Carolina.  In addition, we’ve won the eight Bonham Trophy showdowns.  We’ve never lost a game in this series.  Kenny Trill set the tone in 2014 and we’ve never looked back.

There’s no reason we lose this game but this feels like a loss to me.

Shane Beamer has some nice momentum, Spencer Rattler is a talented quarterback, and South Carolina pulls off an upset from time to time.  This is purely a hunch because there’s no football reason.  Upsets happen in football and this feels like one right now.

Ags Lose: 5-2

Ole Miss:

While everyone is focused on the Bama game I think this is a game that Jimbo really wants more than anything.  He wants to embarrass Lane Kiffin at Kyle Field.  He’s got the team to do it along with Kiffin’s old defensive coordinator.  Couple those two things along with Kyle Field and I think Jimbo mops the floor with Ole Miss.

Ole Miss is still a decent football team but they lost a lot from last season.  Kiffin is still one of the best offensive coordinators in college football but I think Durkin understands how to defend what he likes to do.

Ole Miss did well in the transfer portal but they were non competitive in the Sugar Bowl against Baylor.  They need a talent infusion. Even with that infusion I think Ole Miss takes a step back while the Aggies take a step forward.  Couple that with Jimbo wanting to make a point against Kiffin’s NIL comments and the Aggies run the Rebels out of Kyle Field.

Ags Win: 6-2

Florida:

Hard to believe it was 2 years ago that a win over Florida at Kyle Field COMPLETELY changed the trajectory of the 2020 season.  I still remember walking into a 25% capacity Kyle Field at 11:00 a.m. with very little hope of winning.  Florida was #4 in the country and we were barely a Top 25 team after not competing against Bama.

A kick as the time expired had Kyle Field rocking with a victory over the number four team in the country.  The Aggies wouldn’t lose the rest of the season winding up as Orange Bowl Champs and ironically enough the #4 team in the country.

Florida would rebound from that loss to win 6 straight games and solidify themselves as a Top 10 team.  Then their defensive back threw that shoe against LSU and it’s been a straight spiral down from there.  Seriously.  Everything about Florida football went south real quick when that show went flying.  The irony is Max Johnson was the LSU quarterback in that game.

Dan Mullen lost his job last season and now Florida has Billy Napier as coach.  I like Napier a lot and think he’s going to do a great job at Florida but he’s going to have his struggles in 2022.  Mullen basically quit recruiting last season so Florida is not nearly as talented as they’ve been in years past.

This won’t be a cake walk of a game but I don’t see why the Aggies will struggle.

Ags Win: 7-2

Auburn:

They don’t get enough attention but Auburn is the most fascinating program in college football.  They’re completely schizophrenic.  Much of it is due to Nick Saban being in state but damn this is a program that’s all over the place.

They won the national title in 2010 and then played for it again in 2013.  That’s not that long ago and something only a handful of teams have done in that time.

They ran off Tommy Tuberville who had beat Bama six years in a row.  They ran off Gene Chizik who won them a national championship.  They ran off Gus Malzahn who’s had more wins over Nick Saban than any other coach in college football. 

They replaced Malzahn with Bryan Harsin who was never a good fit.  Someone from Auburn spent the offseason baking up a story that Harsin had an affair with a staffer.  They were hoping to fire him without paying him.  Apparently none of that was true so Harsin walks into the 2022 season like his predecessors waiting to get the word he’s no longer the coach with a big check to go away.

What a damn mess Auburn is.  I have no idea how Harsin finds the motivation to have a successful season this year.  Couple that with there’s a strong chance Zach Calzada is his starting quarterback and I like the Aggies chances in this one.

Ags Win: 8-2

UMass:

I can’t wait for that 9 game SEC schedule so we don’t have these weird games in November.  I get why it hits the schedule like this but I don’t like it.  I suppose it’s good for the players to a degree as it’s a glorified practice towards the end of the season but I don’t like it.  I’m on an SEC high by this point and don’t want to come down.

Ags Win: 9-1

LSU:

Hard to believe Texas A&M is the better program after LSU’s magical 2019 season.  That was one of the best teams in college football and now they’re in shambles.  It’s only been 3 years.

I don’t think Brian Kelly was the right hire.  I think he’s a pretty good coach but I think when push comes to shove and LSU isn’t winning an automatic 10 wins in the SEC he’s going to get eaten alive by the LSU faithful.

Kelly made his name at the marquee program in the country but really didn’t do all that much when you look at things.  He feasted off a questionable schedule.  He never showed up in a BCS or College Football Playoff game.  He’s never won a NY6 Bowl Game only playing in two of those.  Notre Dame has a TON of advantages and Kelly really didn’t do much with them.  I get the academic requirements but Notre Dame never showed up against better competition.

He has the perception he’s a successful coach.  However, when you look under the hood he’s good but by no means great.  I don’t see him lasting past his third season at LSU.  He’ll have made a ton of money but I don’t think his time at LSU is what people think it’s going to be.  I think he’s gonna wish he’d never gotten on that plane from South Bend from a football standpoint.  His bank account will say otherwise though.

Assuming the Aggies look more like the 2020 Aggies if not better I think the Aggies win here.

Ags Win: 10-2

Summary:

I hate saying the Aggies are a year away from winning it all but there’s so much youth and uncertainty at key positions.  If that youth grows and that uncertainty solidifies I truly believe this is a team that can compete for the College Football Playoff.

Even if we lose to Bama and go 11-1 I think we’re knocking on the door of the CFP depending on how things shake out.  I think it’s clear Bama, Georgia, and Ohio State are the class of college football.  The fourth best team is a major question mark. 

Our biggest challenge could be SEC fatigue if Bama and Georgia show up in Atlanta undefeated.  Even at 11-1 with just a loss to Bama I expect some “interesting” positioning to keep a third SEC team out of the playoffs.

Either way, let’s just get back 2020 production and let the chips fall where they may.