Jimbo Fisher

You Didn’t Win, Jimbo

Some of what you’re about to read I wrote before the Ole Miss game. I had outlined a piece called, “What to do with Jimbo Fisher.”

After the South Carolina game, I knew what was coming. We were headed for a 7-5 finish.

I didn’t think Jimbo would use the bye week to adjust and do anything differently. He hadn’t done it in the past so why would he do it this season? I did want to see if he would before passing the final judgment. The South Carolina game proved it to me. He was set in his ways.

After the Ole Miss game, I was dejected. The same old Jimbo we’ve seen for the last three seasons stuck to his guns and didn’t adapt a single thing. We were headed squarely for 7-5 because there was no way he was beating LSU in Baton Rouge.

I didn’t want to continue writing the same things I’ve written over and over again related to the deficiencies of what Jimbo has done the last three seasons. I’m focusing on the last three seasons because I feel that’s his true body of work. 2020 was great but that was ages ago and a single blip in his six seasons at A&M.

He’s had time to get his recruits in along with some longevity with his staff. He can’t blame anyone else for the state of the program over the last three seasons. It’s entirely on him. I also believe your more recent history is your most relevant history.

Jimbo’s last three seasons at A&M have fallen well short of expectations and it wasn’t going to change anytime soon. It wasn’t going to change anytime soon because Jimbo was going to stick to his guns trying to prove everyone wrong. He believed his way was still a way to win a national championship.

He couldn’t even sniff the SEC West but he routinely talked about how to win a national championship. That’s a coach detached from reality.

Mississippi State Game:

Before I get going on my thoughts about Jimbo Fisher I do want to briefly touch on the Mississippi State game.

Walking to the game with my buddies I said, “I wonder if Petrino tells Jimbo to take his hands off the offense. Henderson is his guy and he’s going to run the offense as he sees fit.”

I’ll be damned if I didn’t nail that one. We saw something out of a quarterback we hadn’t seen in some time. We saw a quarterback produce on the ground and through the air. We haven’t seen something like that in the last 3 years where our starting quarterback took over the game. Jaylen Henderson was damn impressive.

Sure, he missed a couple of deep passes but he had thrown 8 passes in his collegiate career before Saturday night. Those passes were 2 seasons ago so I’m not going to fault a guy who wasn’t perfect on the night. The dude showed up in a big way though.

I’ve had a feeling Jimbo constrained the offense all year. We didn’t see those constraints on Saturday night. We saw an offense use the zone read to neutralize the threat of a crashing defensive end. We saw an offense roll out a quarterback rather than drop straight back to keep pressure off of him.

We saw clear plays designed for this defense they weren’t expecting. We FINALLY saw creativity from an Aggie offense. It wasn’t without fault but by and large, it was damn effective.

I’m not saying Jaylen Henderson is the second coming of Johnny Manziel. He caught Mississippi State by surprise and LSU will be more ready for him.

It was just refreshing to see an offensive scheme that was unique and not the same old tired 20 plays we’ve seen the last 3 seasons from Jimbo.

That’s my quick thoughts on Mississippi State.

Back to the piece I had started on Jimbo.

All of the bold and underlined areas I touched on were my outline before Ole Miss. I had outlined these items as key discussion points for what I thought was the inevitable decision when he went 7-5. After reading them two weeks later I think the outline points are still relevant.

I know it’s a little confusing but just trying to show in two weeks nothing changed for Jimbo. At the time I wrote those words he could still beat Ole Miss and win 10 games including the bowl game. He took himse

You will read words in present tense that should be past tense today.

<BEGIN TWO WEEKS AGO BEFORE OLE MISS>

First off, believe it or not, this is not a post on firing Jimbo Fisher. I don’t want Jimbo Fisher fired. I want Jimbo Fisher to win out this season including a bowl game for 10 wins.

I want Jimbo Fisher to have the Aggies as the second-best team in the SEC West. I want Jimbo Fisher to close a really strong recruiting class. I want Jimbo Fisher to have some momentum going into the offseason for the first time in 3 years.

Beyond this season, I want Jimbo Fisher to routinely compete for the SEC West. I want Jimbo Fisher to go to Atlanta to compete for the SEC Championship. I want Jimbo Fisher to get into the College Football Playoffs and compete for a national championship.

I want a statue of Jimbo Fisher outside of Kyle Field.

I really and truly want all of that.

I just don’t think it’s going to happen. Should this season play out like I think where we go 7-5 losing to Ole Miss and LSU on the road I think the decision-makers have a serious issue on their hands.

What to do with Jimbo Fisher?

Execution vs Scheme:

Jimbo is convinced his offensive style is the only style that can win a national title. He said so much after last year’s LSU win at Kyle Field. In a season where he went 5-7, he spent some of his post-game press conference crowing about how his offense is the type of offense that can win national championships.

YOU JUST WENT 5-7 AND YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT HOW TO WIN A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP FROM AN OFFENSIVE STANDPOINT???

His specific comment was, “We are so caught up in tempo. Name me a tempo team that’s won a National Championship. There’s not one in the last 15 years.”

Well, Jimbo…

The 2015 season title game between Alabama and Clemson was a 45-40 contest won by Alabama where Nick Saban himself said he believed his defense could not stop Clemson’s offense. This is the reason he called the onside kick in the 4th quarter. Clemson was running a tempo offense with Deshaun Watson.

Clemson didn’t win THAT game but they certainly stressed Nick Saban’s defense to the point he called an onside kick because he didn’t have faith in his defense. Clemson would win the national championship the next season which was the 2016 full season. That same Clemson offense won the national championship the following season after stressing Nick Saban so much he felt he needed some luck via an onside kick to win the game.

Maybe there’s a fine line between urgency and tempo in Jimbo’s book.

Either way, both are a long way from the slow, plodding offense that Jimbo likes to run. Teams with an offensive urgency have won national titles in the last 15 years.

You can’t tell me the following offenses didn’t have some sense of urgency in trying to stress the defense beyond that 2016 Clemson offense I previously talked about:

2018 Clemson

2019 LSU

2020 Alabama

Sure, those offenses had elite quarterback and wide receiver play but much of what they did was operate with a sense of urgency to stress the defense. I suppose you could argue their offenses weren’t true “Tempo” offenses but they ABSOLUTELY had a sense of urgency and used their elite talent to stress defenses by quickly lining up and calling plays.

They certainly weren’t offenses that tried to bludgeon their opponents with perfect execution on every play. It was to line the ball up and let players make plays.

Jimbo has the weapons at his disposal but he refuses to utilize them to his advantage. He has an antiquated style of offense he needs to evolve.

He hired Bobby Petrino to run the offense but nothing has appeared to have changed. The only thing that appears to have changed is that all of his playsheets and notes are with Bobby in the coaching booth. The style of offense is the same.

That’s all on Jimbo.

Look around college football. Everyone is running some kind of offense with an urgency that can stress the defense. They’re attacking sideline to sideline to make the defense defend the entire width and length of the field.

They’re doing it urgently so the defense doesn’t have time to rest or get set. You don’t have to run this pace the whole game but there’s absolutely a time and place to have some sense of urgency with your offense in a game.

Jimbo simply talks about perfect execution. Seriously. Execution is all he talks about. Thanks to the power of the Internet we have proof:

118 times in 19 games Jimbo has referenced execution as the sole reason for the success or lack of success for his offense.

At what point does Jimbo admit some scheme issues are leading to all of these struggles and not just straight-up execution?

Jimbo needs to get with the times. His slow and plodding offensive style is antiquated. Defenses know what to expect with his offense which makes execution by his players more difficult.

It’s more scheme than execution despite what he thinks.

Humps vs. Hills:

A common argument is just to give Jimbo more time. There’s a long list of college coaches who won after years of being at their schools.

That’s not true. Most coaches that have won national championships in the last 20 years have done so in the first 5 years.

Mack Brown and Dabo Swinney are kind of the outliers taking longer than that but in the time it took them to win their first national championship they were routinely winning 10 games and were the second-best team in their conference.

Jimbo Fisher is a long way from routinely winning 10 games and being the second-best team in his division.

It’s not a hump that Jimbo is just trying to get over. He’s got a hill bordering on a mountain he needs to get over.

<END WORDS WRITTEN BEFORE OLE MISS>

Now we’re back to the present tense.

As I read all of that two weeks later I believed it was even more accurate after what happened at Ole Miss and what we showed against Mississippi State with a different quarterback and offensive scheme.

The decision-makers at A&M decided to make the change with Jimbo. I applaud them for what they did. It needed to be done. It’s a painful thing to admit due to the money involved but for the sake of the football program it needed to be done.

Jimbo was not going to wake up one day and adapt to what he needed to do. He was stuck in a time warp from over a decade ago.

A&M needed to make the change.

I’ll keep moving on to the topics I planned to write two weeks ago.

Blaming the Players:

I can’t tell you how tired I got of Jimbo blaming the players. Obviously he routinely blamed lack of execution which is blaming the players.

His BS about fighting for inches got old too. They’re only fighting for inches because they’re talented and your coaching sucks.

I got tired of him dressing down quarterbacks. There’s a time and place for it but he spent the whole damn game yelling at his quarterback. So much so he quit paying attention to the ball in the Auburn game because he wanted to yell at Max Johnson and was standing on the field while the play was alive.

After the Ole Miss game, he blamed Randy Bond for kicking the ball an inch too low on the potential game-tying field goal attempt. Never mind it was the FIFTH blocked kick of the season. Couldn’t have been the lack of special teams coaching or scheme. It was the player’s fault for not anticipating a potential block and kicking it higher.

The photo I used for this piece is Jimbo dressing down Max in the Ole Miss game. The dude was getting hammered and Jimbo was just piling on. I’m sure it got old being dressed down like that the entire game.

He pretended to blame himself as well but he never truly meant it. Which is why he wouldn’t change his ways.

Most Coaches Are Interchangeable:

The sad reality in college football that nobody wants to admit is every coach other than Nick Saban and Kirby Smart is interchangeable. They’re the two outliers in college football.

Sure, there are tiers of coaches in the college ranks but the dropoff from Saban and Smart to the rest of college football is pretty far.

Everybody wants to talk about Urban Meyer as an elite level coach but do you see any drop off from him to Ryan Day at Ohio State? I don’t. Urban was a VERY successful college coach. However, if he never gets Tim Tebow to Gainesville I’m not sure he sniffs a national championship at Florida and he doesn’t get the job at Ohio State. He likely flames out.

Ohio State is a perennial winner because of its location and conference. Some of it is coaching for sure but several people have had the same level of success Urban had at Ohio State. Ohio State while REALLY good under Urban only won one title.

He certainly never attained the level of success Saban and Smart have had at their schools.

Urban’s time at Jacksonville in the NFL shows me while he was a solid coach he had some really good timing at Florida with Tim Tebow and the defensive talent Ron Zook left him. I’m not trying to take anything away from Urban but just trying to show there are a lot of external factors to most coaches winning it all.

Urban had great timing.

Moving on from Urban let’s talk about Dabo Swinney. I know he’s a piñata right now but Dabo is THE perfect example for the reality of most college coaches – You’re only as good as your coordinators and starting quarterback.

With Brent Venables running his defense and Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence under center he won two national titles. He also played for two more which is an amazing accomplishment. From a success standpoint, Dabo is the third most successful coach in college football.

The coordinator and quarterback luck hold for Ed Orgeron, Jimbo Fisher, Gene Chizik, and Mack Brown. All four of those guys had great coordinators and a Heisman winner or runner-up as their quarterback.

I’m leaving off Les Miles because he’s essentially the Barry Switzer in the NFL of college football. Much like Switzer taking over from Jimmy Johnson, Miles took over from Saban. Only a fool wouldn’t have won a national championship with what was left to them.

Outside of Saban and Smart, the coordinator and quarterback are just as, if not, as important as the head coach.

Despite all of that, colleges are paying coaches like Nick Saban and Kirby Smart to grow on trees. You just have to find one and pay them before they win it all. They don’t grow on trees. It can be fool’s folly to pay someone to be something that they’re not.

In reality, just hire a coach who’s got some recruiting ability and the smarts to hire top coordinators. Then you roll the dice every season and hope some luck with an amazing quarterback finds you.

It also helps if you’re in the SEC.

Recruiting Momentum:

One of my greatest concerns with holding on to Jimbo was his recruiting momentum was about to slow down big time.

Texas A&M has a solid NIL machine but kids still want to win games. The 2022 recruiting class was sold on winning a national championship. Two seasons later they couldn’t be further from that goal with Jimbo as head coach.

If Jimbo were to start losing recruits which I suspect was about to happen, elite recruits in future classes would be harder to come by. When you lose recruiting momentum in college football due to not winning enough it’s hard to get it back. If ever even get it back. That’s where Jimbo was about to be with recruiting.

I think we were also staring at a lot of transfer portal entries this go-round. Not the backups we saw last season but starting talent looking to go somewhere and win football games.

Don’t think opposing coaches weren’t going to use 5-7 and 7-5 to their advantage.

I’m positive it was about to get bad. Three seasons of failed expectations spoke for itself.

As we’ve seen with other coaching staffs once you lose recruiting momentum you’re a dead man walking. The hole for the next coach is that much bigger.

Now vs Later:

If the Aggie decision-makers can make a solid hire they can hold a portion of this team together AND keep the recruiting machine going. A&M is recruiting at a level it hasn’t seen but momentum is still a very real thing. I think some of the elite recruiting was Jimbo but let’s not kid ourselves that A&M is VERY competitive on the NIL front.

Let’s give another coach a shot at doing something with the talent on the team and in the pipeline rather than come in a year or two later with a total rebuild.

A competent coach and staff can win big next year. The talent is on the team and in the recruiting pipeline if we can hold it.

I don’t think there’s any way Jimbo was going to hold a good portion of the talent. A new coach at least has a chance.

That’s why the move needed to be made now and not later.

Those That Came Before Him:

In the end, Jimbo Fisher will be no different than those who came before him in Aggieland.

He did recruit at a superior level compared to the coaches before him but his on-the-field performance was the same or worse. He had one good season out of six but didn’t do enough with the resources he had.

Why that is I have no idea but we need to try something different with this next hire.

We need someone who is truly hungry. None of the guys we’ve hired since R.C. Slocum were truly hungry.

Fran was too caught up with the perception of himself and had already won a national championship in his mind. Mike Sherman while a fine person was not a college head coach. Kevin Sumlin was never equipped to be a big-time college head coach.

Jimbo wanted to prove to everyone he could win a national championship in his style. He didn’t want to adapt and instead took a big paycheck to prove people wrong.

Let’s get someone who hasn’t won anything and is super hungry to win it all. How you identify that I’m not totally sure but give me someone who hasn’t won anything of real substance or thinks too much of themselves and is willing to put in the work to win a national championship.

Dan Lanning:

Dan Lanning has been my key target since I started thinking Jimbo might get let go this season. I was actually on the Elko train for a bit but that had more to do with finances and reality.

I like Lanning the most because he’s coached in the SEC under Saban and Smart. He’s had pretty good success at Oregon. I think it’s important to have had some time as a head coach at a big program to show you can do it. He checks that box.

He’s not been perfect as a head coach but that’s okay. He’s won a lot more than he’s lost and hopefully learned some coaching lessons along the way.

He’s young and appears to understand the recruiting game. After all, he hired away the architect of Jimbo’s vaunted 2022 class.

Yes, you read that correctly. Lanning hired the guy who was the key component to that 2022 class at Texas A&M. His name is Marshall Malchow. He also spent time with Lanning at Alabama and Georgia.

Lanning’s Offensive Coordinator also has heavy Texas ties. He’s been at UTSA, Lake Travis, and Texas. I know time spent at UTSA and Lake Travis doesn’t seem like much but he’s continued Bo Nix’s development and is familiar with the state of Texas.

There’s a lot to like about Lanning considering his success as a head coach at Oregon, his time spent under Kirby Smart and Nick Saban, and having some staff he’d likely bring that has strong awareness of Texas.

I think he’s a coach that would hit the ground running in no time.

I believe Lanning is THE key target and it’s okay to “break the bank” on. I’m not saying give him a 10-year deal at $9.5 million per year but I do think it’s fine to give him an 8 million dollar-a-year contract for 6 years. That’s $48 million total guaranteed.

I know he has a $20 million buyout but that’s the cost of doing business for a guy like him.

I’m also fine throwing in some serious incentives for 10-win seasons, College Football Playoff Appearances since it’s going to 12 teams, Division Championships, Conference Championships, and of course a MASSIVE incentive for winning a National Championship.

I’m talking about throwing a $10 million carrot for winning it all.

I do have questions if Lanning would take the job considering he’s in the hunt for a Pac-12 title and berth in the College Football Playoff. I know he also came out and said he had no interest in leaving Oregon. We’ve heard that before from other coaches so take that for what it’s worth.

If I do have one concern about Lanning it’s that he’s a bit prickly. He’s not the smoothest talker but I don’t care. I want someone more interested in winning football games than winning press conferences. He also has a slight Tom Herman vibe but not going to hold that against him as he’s won at a big program.

Either way, he’s the candidate I make tell me no before I move on to anyone else. Even if he said he’s not interested. He may not have realized what he was saying no to.

At least say we tried everything we could to hire him.

The Others:

Mike Elko – Mike Elko has always been my safety hire if we needed to fire Jimbo and save some bucks. What he’s done at Duke is remarkable. My biggest question with Elko is if he has a limited ceiling. He seems like that 9-3 to 10-2 coach at A&M. That’s MUCH better than we’ve experienced in the past but I don’t know if it’s enough. The man can coach football but I’m not sure he’s geared for what a perennial national title contender needs.

Jeff Traylor – Much like Elko, he seems like a safe hire who will improve from where Jimbo was but I believe has a ceiling. If we wound up with Traylor I wouldn’t be upset but I think we’re looking at a perennial 9-3 and 10-2 coach because he doesn’t have the elite level experience.

Lane Kiffin – I LOVE Kiffin as a football coach. He’s got a great football mind but it ends there. When things don’t go his way he becomes very petulant. He seems to think he’s got a ceiling at Ole Miss which is true but he doesn’t need to verbally express it every time something doesn’t go his way. Pass on him.

Deion Sanders – I thought Deion was the perfect hire for Auburn last season. They screwed that up. I don’t have a problem with his flash but I do wonder about his ability to coach in games. We just don’t have a good sample set due to a host of reasons. I know the shine is off him right now. The reality is other than getting stomped by Oregon they’ve been pretty competitive in the rest of their games. They blew a MASSIVE lead to Stanford but other than that they’ve only lost to ranked teams. This was a 1-11 team last season that’s now 5-5 in a pretty good conference this season. He’s someone I wouldn’t take off the list just yet. Like most things in life don’t let the media narrative around him influence the decision making. What he’s done at Colorado is REALLY impressive when you remove the flash and talking heads. He needs to be considered as the process plays out. I don’t think he’s the guy but I’m not going to dismiss him solely because of perception. He’s better than a LOT of college coaches. I do think he’d be better off at a program that needs more of a rebuild which isn’t A&M right now. I don’t want to see him at Arkansas or Mississippi State though.

Elijah Robinson – This is my heart-string candidate. This guy seems to have that Terry Price aura to him. Those guys don’t always make good head coaches but as the coaching search plays out and he gets to coach two games let’s see what happens. If Lanning doesn’t take the job and Robinson beats Brian Kelly in Baton Rouge I think he’s all of a sudden a serious candidate assuming players aren’t entering the transfer portal and recruits are holding. My biggest question with Robinson beyond his ability as head coach is what does he want? If he’s never truly wanted to be a head coach it’s not a gear he can just turn on. It’s something he should have been building to.

Kalen DeBoer – This guy seems like a winner but his body of work at a massive program is pretty small. He won big at Sioux Falls over a decade ago and then bounced around coordinator positions at minor programs before getting the Fresno State job for a couple of seasons. He then landed the Washington job where he’s done pretty well but with an outstanding quarterback. I have no clue if he has any interest in this part of the world and the SEC. This guy is the wildest of wildcards. I just don’t know enough about him and don’t think anyone does either.

Glenn Schumann – Schumann is THE assistant coach in college football simply because he sits next to the throne of college football in Kirby Smart. He’s young at 33 but has Texas ties having graduated from McKinney Boyd. His dad was a football coach and Schumann started his coaching career at Alabama under Saban where he got tight with Smart and moved with him to Georgia. Schumann is by far the biggest roll-of-the-dice candidate out there. He’s got no skins but his pedigree is as good as it gets for any assistant in college football. If you’re going to gamble on an assistant he’s the guy without question.

Jake Spavital – Just wanted to give you a giggle if you’re still reading this.

Summary:

Jimbo needed to go. The money is an unfortunate thing but the move had to be made for the health of the Aggie football program. It was pretty clear Jimbo wasn’t going to get it done. He was stuck in the past and stubborn to the point he wanted to prove doubters wrong. That’s a bad combination.

Had we waited to let him go we might have saved some money but we would have put the program in a bigger hole for the next guy. It would likely have cost us more money over time. It was time to make the move.

This will be THE defining hire of Ross Bjork’s career. Even he doesn’t know who it’s going to be right now. If he did we’d know about it.

Whoever it is will be walking into as good of a situation as you get in college football. That is assuming they can sell the current players and committed recruits. If they can do that AND coach modern-day college football we’re going to see a massive spike in wins next season.

Now we just sit back and see if it happens.

Sorry, you didn’t win, Jimbo.

Thoughts from the South Carolina Game

That may have been the most depressing win I’ve ever witnessed at Kyle Field. Not because I wanted the Aggies to lose. It’s the exact opposite of that. I want the Aggies to be great.

What I saw on Saturday was depressing because it was more of the same Jimbo Fisher. I fully expected that game to play out exactly how it did.

However, I had hope coming off the bye week with a record of 4-3 there would be a sense of urgency and some wrinkles we hadn’t seen in 6 years of Jimbo as the head coach. I knew better but I still had hope.

The only wrinkle we say was Jimbo using his timeouts before the end of the first half. That decision resulted in a touchdown thanks to an amazing play by Ainias Smith. That was the only thing different we’ve seen from Jimbo this season.

Everything else was the same with 7 games under our belt and an extra week to prepare. Jimbo doing the same thing that hasn’t been effective in almost 3 seasons of football.

We saw an offense come out flat and struggle to do anything on its first three drives.

I suppose this game was better than last year’s South Carolina game coming off a bye where we had two big turnovers on our first two offensive drives. I suppose punting on your first three possessions is better than two turnovers so that’s a positive. Even if our punter is still struggling like before the bye.

It’s still depressing we couldn’t come out and dictate our will to an inferior defense right from the start.

What we saw is a stubborn head coach who refuses to admit his way is an inferior way. Defenses know how to defend what they’re going up against.

Jimbo firmly believes his way is the best and it’s just about player execution. He’ll be damned if he admits his way needs to be adapted.

I’m going to write a longer piece on what to do with Jimbo Fisher later this week. I have some massive concerns like most Aggies and this game didn’t change anything despite the win.

Let’s talk about the South Carolina game.

Offense:

Quarterback:

Max Johnson didn’t have a bad day from a statistical standpoint. He was 20 for 30 which is a 67% completion percentage. He threw for one touchdown and no interceptions. He was sacked three times on our second drive and under pressure for much of the first three offensive possessions.

Max looked like Max for much of his career in Aggieland. A pretty solid but not spectacular quarterback.

I think at this point we can just accept Max Johnson as who he is as a player. He’s very capable of manning the helm but he’s not going to carry the team by himself.

I think he’s limited by the scheme and the play calls but he’s going to need the help of the other 10 offensive players along with the coaching staff.

Offensive Line:

Like I’ve talked about all season the real key to this offense is the offensive line. At least the way Jimbo wants to run his offense. He still thinks it’s 2020.

Jimbo refuses to adapt to whatever issues this unit has. I don’t believe it to be one main issue and believe the issues are multiple.

Part of it is scheme, part of it is talent, and part of it is just overall attitude.

For whatever reason, the scheme is confusing this unit. Time and time again this unit is confused on who to block based on what the defense shows before and immediately after the snap. It’s not that complicated but they seem to focus on a single defender before the snap and don’t adjust at all when the ball is snapped. I don’t understand why this keeps happening. We’re eight games into this season and it keeps happening.

There are way too many instances of defenders running wide-open into the backfield because an offensive lineman didn’t pick them up. I suppose you could call this an execution issue which it is but when someone repeatedly fails at execution you have to look at the scheme.

From a talent standpoint, there’s decent enough talent but nobody is dominating. None of these guys are getting drafted based on their current play. I don’t get that because Kam Dewberry, Bryce Foster, and Layden Robinson all have NFL talent. I have no clue why these guys aren’t playing up to their talent but they’re not.

Despite their supposed raw natural talent, I don’t see any of these guys regularly just hammering their opponent. At least if you’re making execution issues go block the hell out of someone. Nobody is even doing that.

Their overall attitude seems to lack confidence. I think they’re so confused schematically they can’t just focus on physically beating their opponent. At some point, you just have to beat up the guy on the other side of the line. When you’re hesitant because of your assignment it’s going to contribute to your lack of physical domination.

Eight games in and this whole unit is struggling. So much so that we’re rotating guys at right tackle and left guard. That’s not something you want to be doing eight games into the season and totally on coaching.

As for the game itself, this unit seemed to improve as the game went on. Sadly, it was going from getting dominated to a stalemate but they did improve. That’s a positive.

They certainly never imposed their will on a defense they could have physically dominated. Two-thirds through the season and we’re just happy with a stalemate.

Yikes.

Running Back:

Le’Veon Moss was a late scratch due to a hamstring issue he suffered in the Tennessee game. I think that was a pretty big loss for us in the running game.

Amari Daniels and Rueben Owens split carries and were decent but not spectacular. They wound up gaining 108 yards on 31 carries which is a 3.5 yard per carry. Those numbers are elevated thanks to a 29-yard carry by Daniels in the 4th quarter.

That run increased the yards per carry by a yard. These two running backs aren’t haven’t been ripping off big runs this season which is why they’re running behind Moss.

Much of that is the offensive line but a good portion is the running backs themselves. Rueben Owens has all the talent in the world but he’s slow to the hole and doesn’t seem to be able to shake defenders.

Daniels is a nice change of pace back but he’s not an every-down back.

It’s just frustrating we have a noticeable drop-off at running back from our main guy. It shouldn’t be this way with the way football is played now. You should be able to plug in a running back with no issues.

Wide Receiver:

There’s no doubt that Ainias Smith is the most talented and dynamic player on the Aggie offense. He certainly showed it on Saturday. His touchdown catch before the end of the half was all him. At one point he was surrounded by three defenders and he somehow wiggled his way to a score.

You can’t coach that. However, what you can do as a coach is figure out a way to get this guy in space and then get him the ball. We probably still win on Saturday without Ainias but he certainly made it a much easier win.

Evan Stewart had a decent game but I expect more out of him. He’s not struggling to do more because of him as a player. It’s because of the coaches and the scheme.

I think the scheme that’s being used isn’t maximizing the talent of Stewart and Ainias. I have to imagine every defensive coordinator goes into each game worried about numbers 1 and 0 on offense. Yet the offensive coaches aren’t maximizing their talent.

I just don’t get it. This could be the best receiving tandem in the SEC but their talent isn’t being used like that. It’s all coaching.

Max Wright got HOSED on a non-touchdown call. It looked pretty clear he did an amazing job of dragging his back foot but he didn’t get the call.

I’m sure in Jimbo’s eyes that ended the narrative the Aggies haven’t scored a touchdown in the second half of four straight games. It’s all on the refs and not Jimbo.

Defense:

Here’s the craziest thing about the Jimbo Fisher era at A&M – while Jimbo has struggled to win games at A&M it hasn’t been because of the defense for the most part. Sure, there’s been hiccups here and there but by and large the defense has been the most consistent unit in almost six seasons of football.

Without this defense, we’re struggling for wins even more than we are. It’s crazy to think Jimbo’s calling card during his six years as the Aggie head coach is his defense. Other than recruiting, Jimbo has had ZERO to do with the defensive performance but it’s his best unit.

Think about that a little more if you will.

Defensive Line:

This is still the heart and soul of the defense. This unit kept South Carolina corralled all game long for the most part.

They forced Spencer Rattler to have three intentional groundings on three consecutive series. I’ve never seen that before. Rattler didn’t want to get hit and was chucking the ball out of bounds. It’s not a bad strategy as if there’s a receiver in the area you can potentially avoid a sack. You also don’t get pounded by fellas bigger and stronger than you. I don’t blame Rattler for trying but it’s a testament to a defense when the quarterback is so quick to give up on a play he’s just throwing the ball away between the tackles due to pressure.

If I have one complaint about this unit it’s that South Carolina’s lead back rushed 16 times for 72 yards. That’s a 4.5-yard-per-carry average.

I think part of this is due to a change in strategy by Durkin. Ever since getting burned by Miami and Alabama through the air while shutting down the run, Durkin is a little more willing to give up yards on the ground while limiting yards through the air.

It would have worked against Tennessee with a little bit of offense and special teams. It might have worked against Bama and Miami. At least one coach can make in-season adjustments.

It makes sense even if that 3-man front is frustrating to see. I care more about limiting points on the scoreboard and the defense has done a good job of that other than Miami and Alabama.

We’ll find out this Saturday against Ole Miss if Durkin can adjust back to stop the running run. Ole Miss is going to run the ball early and often. I’ll be curious to see if Durkin goes back to more 4-man fronts to shut down Ole Miss’ running attack. If he doesn’t it’s going to be a looooooooooong day as Quinshon Judkins will chew up yards against that 3-man front.

Linebacker:

I don’t need to write this as you know it but Edge Cooper is playing like a man possessed. I don’t think we’ve seen this linebacker player since Dat Nguyen. The dude is simply making play after play.

The best was the screen play where Cooper was surrounded by three South Carolina blockers. There wasn’t another Aggie defender in the area. Cooper somehow fought through all three blockers and was able to trip up the ball carrier. It was an amazing play.

Beyond Cooper, Taurean York and Chris Russell, Jr. are playing solid ball.

I don’t have any issues with this unit at all.

Secondary:

This unit seemed to be a hodge podge of players other than Demani Richardson, Bryce Anderson, and Jarred Kerr.

That’s not a bad thing as it worked.

Josh DeBerry seems to be playing more nickel than cornerback which I’m okay with. He doesn’t need to be covering elite outside receivers.

Tyreek Chappell and Deuce Harmon started at corner but rotated quite a bit with Sam McCall and Jayvon Thomas. Chappell appears to be a little banged up which contributed to the rotation at corner it sounds like. Either way, everyone played pretty decent on Saturday keeping Xavier Legette in check.

None of these guys stood out in this game but that’s okay. Give me a unit that’s playing great as a unit over a couple of guys standing out while other guys are blowing assignments.

Your secondary is only as strong as its weakest part. Let’s minimize the weakest parts.

Special Teams:

Nik Constantinou still struggles to punt averaging 34 yards per punt with a long of 37. I don’t know what’s going on but this kid is struggling big time. I have no idea how this kid has regressed so much. Apparently, neither does Jimbo or anyone on his coaching staff.

He came out of the bye week doing the same thing he’s done all year.

Randy Bond finally hit a field goal over 45 yards hitting a 52-yarder. He had another field goal attempt blocked. I don’t put that on Bond but just more of the same when it comes to our kicking game.

Maybe, just maybe, Jimbo could hire a special teams coach…

Looking Forward:

The Aggies have a chance to salvage their season by winning out which would put them at 9-3. Win a bowl game and you’ve got a 10-win season and a Top 25 finish. The Aggies would also be the second-best team in the SEC West with wins over Ole Miss and LSU. That’s a damn good season all things considered.

I just don’t see it happening. I firmly believe this to be a 7-5 finish with losses to Ole Miss and LSU on the road.

I’m going to write a much longer piece on what the Aggies should do with Jimbo Fisher assuming he does what I think he’s going to do.

I hope I’m wrong.

Just win, Jimbo.

Thoughts from the Tennessee Game

I said at the beginning of this season we wouldn’t know what we truly had for the 2023 season until after the Tennessee game.

Well, here we are. We’re 4-3 and on an 8-game road losing streak. We still have Ole Miss and LSU on the road this season. That doesn’t seem ideal to change the streak.

We have South Carolina in a couple of weeks at Kyle which we should win but it’s not a gimme by any stretch. We could easily lose that game if Rattler gets hot. Shane Beamer is up against the wall at 2-4 right now so he’s going to come in ready to gamble. That usually doesn’t work in our favor but I do think we win this game.

I do believe Mississippi State and Abilene Christian are wins so we’re staring down something between 6-6 and 8-4.

7-5 seems like the most likely outcome at this point. We’ll win at Kyle and lose on the road.

In year 6 of Jimbo Fisher with Top 10 recruiting classes we’re likely going to finish 7-5.

If only we had executed better in 3 of those losses we could be 7-0 right now. That’s what Jimbo will tell you. Execute, execute, execute. It’s all about the lack of execution by the players according to Jimbo.

It’s the same excuse over and over and over and over. Lack of execution.

What if Jimbo had coached differently rather than doing the same thing over and over again? Is that not possible? Maybe when your team isn’t executing you should try something different.

We hired Bobby Petrino to run the offense and make things better. You sure as hell wouldn’t know it. Does anything look different about this offense 7 games in? Not to me.

Sure, we’ve been more productive at times this year than last year. I think that’s simply a factor of talent over competition more than the actual scheme. We have better quarterback and receiver play this year than last year.

I don’t think anything about the actual scheme is that much different.

This offense looks exactly the same as the previous two years. There are a few wrinkles like more motion but at the end of the day, it’s the same.

It still takes forever to get plays in and lined up. There’s never any urgency. Players don’t always know assignments. It looks like the same damn offense even though we have an offensive coordinator.

The offensive line is a massive question mark letting defenders through like an amusement park turnstile.

The offense was supposed to be different this year but it’s not. If you’re an opposing defensive coordinator you can take film of any of the Aggie losses going back to 2021 to devise a winning scheme.

Just send pressure off the edges and mix in the occasional blitz in the middle of the line. Don’t even get cute on the edge pressure. Just have your defensive end or outside linebacker run a straight line through the tackle to get to the quarterback. They’ll get there.

If the Aggies need a yard then put a man head up on the center and as soon as the ball is snapped fire straight ahead as fast as possible. You’ll blow the center up.

It’s not a hard offense to defend and Jimbo refuses to admit it making adjustments to cover those deficiencies.

There are no quick passes and very few screens. Motion Ainias into the backfield and do a quick toss to see if he can get outside the edge rusher and juke a second-level defender. At least try and scare the defense they may not know what play is coming.

We don’t pressure the edge at all. It’s all about trying to get downfield with slow-developing plays.

Our motions are terrible as they never set up any plays. It’s like we just put players in motion because someone said it’s a good idea. We don’t use motion to our benefit it seems like.

Either way, Jimbo, just try SOMETHING different than the last 3 years. It’s mind-boggling he keeps running the same offense out there that’s not working.

Even more maddening is his lack of adjustment in the second half. Just the same thing the defense learned to shut down after the first couple of series and Jimbo keeps thinking it’s going to break loose.

We haven’t scored an offensive touchdown in the second half of our last three games against Arkansas, Alabama, and Tennessee. Three straight games and not a single offensive touchdown in the second half. Jimbo is supposed to be an offensive coach. Bobby Petrino is supposed to be a great offensive mind. The Aggie offense has been kept out of the end zone in the second half for three straight games.

If only we executed better…

That’s garbage. That’s not on player execution. It’s on a coaching staff not adapting to what the defense is doing.

Do you want to know what Jimbo REALLY thinks of his offense? For two weeks in a row, he refused to take timeouts to give his offense more snaps at the end of the first half.

That’s a CRYSTAL CLEAR sign he’s more worried about his offense making a mistake than making a play. A coach confident in his offense to take more snaps. A coach with no confidence in his offense wants to limit the snaps.

He can say what he wants but for two games in a row, he didn’t want his offense to take more snaps than necessary to end the first half. That’s a problem.

That’s just the offense. I haven’t got to special teams yet.

I suppose I should talk about the Tennessee game in a little more detail before I rant too much.

OFFENSE:

Offensive Line:

My greatest concern with this offense has been the offensive line. It’s looked decent at times until defensive coordinators remember the cheat code.

Apply pressure to our tackles. Our right tackle situation is terrible. Neither Bisontis nor Crownover have looked good against better opponents. They both routinely get pushed around or just whiff on slowing down a defender.

This has been a known problem for a couple of seasons now and it’s not been addressed. I know trying to start a true freshman in the SEC is not ideal but that’s what we’re doing. We’re in a bad way if there’s no other tackle on the roster that’s better than what we’re running out there. Just this last week Jimbo was talking about Crownover playing in the NFL. The dude got destroyed in 2 plays against Tennessee and didn’t see another snap. What the hell does Jimbo see?

I get building players up but game film matters more than anything else. I swear Jimbo sees stuff happen in games and just denies it’s happening because he sees it differently in practice.

I know Fatheree is hurt but he wasn’t exactly stellar last season. I’m not sure he’s the answer if he does get healthy.

I just can’t believe Jimbo, Petrino, and Addazio can watch GAME film, and believe those two guys are the absolute two best options. Apparently, they are which speaks to Jimbo’s roster management and player development. It’s year 6 and we don’t have a serviceable right tackle. We have a MASSIVE liability.

I don’t know what’s up with Bryce Foster but this guy has regressed from the 2021 season. He struggles to snap the ball and gets no push when we need it most. He routinely gets blown up when it’s clear we’re trying to run inside for a yard or two.

Same thing – is he truly the best option we have at center right now? I know he looks and talks the part. He probably practices great. His actual game film against better opponents is pretty bad.

I think our guard play is fine. At least relative to right tackle and center. Trey Zuhn has improved from last year but I certainly wouldn’t call him dominant. He struggles from time to time letting pressure get through. He’s not a concern relative to the other glaring issues though.

This offensive line is far and away the greatest liability of this team. Yet Jimbo won’t admit it with his play calling. He thinks this line can hold up giving the quarterback the needed seconds for plays to develop downfield. It’s just not happening.

Wide Receiver:

The use of our receivers is probably the most frustrating thing for me. We have serious talent with Evan, Ainias, Moose, and Noah Thomas.

Noah Thomas made some great catches against Tennessee but the other guys were non-existent for the most part. It’s not their fault.

To me, it’s the scheme. They just line them up and let them run normal routes. There are no bunch formations or bubble screens to see if they can break something loose.

The scheme is to just run them downfield in normal routes hoping they can break open while Max has enough time to get the ball off.

We’ve got some serious horses at receiver that are limited by the offensive line. Rather than give these guys a chance to make plays Jimbo just keeps hoping the offensive line can figure itself out and give the quarterback time.

Running Back:

Unfortunately, there’s not much to say here. Le’Veon Moss does as much as he can considering the offensive line issues. Jimbo seems content to ride him for good reason.

Rueben Owens is still a little green with hesitation in his game at times. Amari Daniels didn’t even see a snap due to his struggles with blocking I believe.

I would like to see more production out of this group but until the offensive line starts to exert any influence at the line of scrimmage there’s not much this unit can do.

Quarterback:

I read a stat that Max was pressured 65% of the plays on Saturday.

That’s 2/3. I don’t know how a quarterback can be successful with that pressure. Even on the 1/3, he’s not pressured he’s bracing himself for it.

Max isn’t perfect and he’s not without fault but he’s tasked with waiting on routes to develop in a pocket that’s routinely collapsing. It also doesn’t help he’s having to deal with an errant snap from time to time.

The fact the right tackle situation is his blind side only compounds the problem.

I’m not sure we’d have beaten Bama or Tennessee with Weigman under center. Weigman is more mobile but he didn’t light up Auburn before he got hurt. Max seems more apt to run than Weigman did. I think we’d have seen the same results if Weigman hadn’t gotten hurt.

I think no matter who’s under center is going to have a tall order in waiting on routes to develop while the pocket quickly disintegrates to nothing. We’ve got a scheme problem and not a talent problem.

Until the scheme changes to allow quicker routes or more rollouts whoever is quarterbacking will struggle.

Defense:

These guys flat-out played their asses off on Saturday.

I think the Tennessee passing game is pretty anemic for the most part so it’s not a dominant offense but this unit only gave up one touchdown and got a crucial turnover.

We went into the game missing Bryce Anderson and lost Edge Cooper at the half. We lost Walter Nolen in the fourth quarter. That’s three MASSIVE talent losses.

Still, the guys who took their spots stepped up in a big way not letting Tennessee make a big play, and got off the field without giving up a touchdown in the final three quarters.

I was a little frustrated by Durkin daring Tennessee to run but after the game it made sense. Milton is a streaky passer but he has a great arm. Our secondary is suspect. We moved DeBerry to a safety position due to the loss of Anderson and put Deuce Harmon in his spot at the corner.

Durkin knew his secondary was a massive man down so he didn’t want a repeat of Bama. He smartly dared Tennessee to run the ball hoping we could get them into stoppable third downs. The plan worked as the defense routinely stuffed the Tennessee offense on 3rd down forcing punts and field goal attempts.

We were even perfect on fourth-down attempts.

I had a bad feeling when Edge Cooper didn’t come out of the locker room after half we would lose. I was correct about us losing but I was wrong the defense would be the reason. Cooper certainly would have improved our defense maybe limiting a field goal or even two but we were always destined to lose that game.

I can’t say enough good things about this defensive unit. Since getting their pants pulled down against Miami this group has played four outstanding games. Certainly good enough for the Aggies to win.

Sure, the Bama game had issues but a better offensive performance in the second half and we probably win that game. Especially considering the defense got crucial turnovers in the second half of the Bama game and the offense did exactly zero with them.

As long as this unit doesn’t fall apart we’ll have a chance to win our remaining games. If for some reason this unit regresses we may struggle to make a bowl game.

I don’t see them regressing though.

Special Teams:

Oh boy. If you’re a regular reader of my blog you know I’ve been worried about our special teams all year.

Well, it killed us on Saturday. In a game where field position mattered, we couldn’t flip the field thanks to our punter.

He had a miserable game. It was pretty windy in the stadium but it was a weird wind. Depending on where you looked the wind was doing different things.

On the field, the flags on the goalposts weren’t going crazy and showed opposite directions at times. I don’t think wind on the field was a factor.

Constantinou averaged 32 yards a kick and his longest was only 38 yards Tennessee’s punter averaged 40 yards a kick with a long of 49. I don’t think you can just blame the wind if the other guy is finding better success.

The dagger was his punt from the end zone. When we got the ball on the goal line I was convinced they’d get a blocked punt for a touchdown. I knew Jimbo wasn’t going to be aggressive offensively so I knew we would likely be punting with as little space as possible.

I was right about where we’d be punting from. I just assumed Tennessee had a punt block dialed up. What I didn’t realize was Tennessee has an elite punt returner. He got the ball with a short field and took it to the house.

Randy Bond missed another field goal attempt over 45 yards. He continues to be perfect at missing field goal attempts longer than 45 yards this season. It could have mattered if the punting and offensive line struggles hadn’t mattered more.

How Jimbo doesn’t have a dedicated special teams coach is beyond me. Our special teams have been a massive liability under Jimbo his entire time at A&M.

The only bright spots have been Achane returning kicks and Ainias returning punts. Just raw talent excelling and not scheme or coaching.

Along the way, our special teams issues have contributed to losses against App State, South Carolina, Miami, and now Tennessee in just the last two years. There’s probably a couple I’m forgetting.

They certainly didn’t help against Alabama with the blocked field goal last week.

I can’t figure out if Jimbo can’t see this or just doesn’t care. The Aggie special teams are costing us games. It’s an absolute liability and Jimbo isn’t doing anything about it.

I assume hiring a dedicated special teams coach would help but who knows? The hire of Petrino hasn’t changed anything about our offense.

It’s extremely frustrating special teams have been a massive liability under Jimbo for two seasons and nothing has changed.

Just add it to the frustration list.

Looking Forward:

I hope that Jimbo takes the bye week to correct some of these issues. History says he won’t.

He’ll just focus on fundamentals and “executing better.” He won’t introduce any wrinkles or take advantage of an extra week to fix the glaring issues. He didn’t do it last season and didn’t do it this offseason. Why would this bye week be any different? It won’t.

Let’s be clear – He still has a path to win 10 games. Bama and Tennessee were the toughest tests for me. There’s ZERO margin for error but as of right now, Jimbo Fisher can still win 10 games this season including a bowl win. What a massive season it would be to close out with 6 straight wins.

Even though it could happen it won’t.

We’ll come out sluggish against South Carolina at home and likely eke out a somewhat convincing win.

Jimbo will think we’re back on track. We’ll march into Oxford and get punked by Lane Kiffin in a close game where Lane has a couple of offensive wrinkles that make the difference for his team.

We’ll come back home and beat Mississippi State convincingly. We’ll follow that up with a snooze win over Abilene Christian.

We’ll go to Baton Rouge the Saturday after Thanksgiving and get clocked by LSU where our defense just finally falls apart and their defense has their best performance of the year.

We’ll be 7-5 gassing up the buses for the drive down to Houston for the Texas Bowl. Ironically the same stadium where the national title game will be held.

It’ll be a fitting ending playing in the same stadium as the national championship game. An obvious reminder of how far we really are from the ultimate goal.

Jimbo will say we just have to work on fundamentals and execute better. We’re that close.

Whatever. It’s a tired act.

Just win, Jimbo.

Thoughts from the Bama Game

Since entering the SEC in 2012 the Aggies have never had a clearer path to Atlanta than what they did last Saturday. It wasn’t an easy path but it was as clear as it’s ever been.

It’s pretty obvious Texas A&M has as much talent as anyone else in the SEC West and was playing a very beatable Alabama football team. Get by Alabama and you can lose one game the rest of the way and still win the West getting to Atlanta. I’m assuming Ole Miss loses another game this year since they have Georgia on the schedule. Not an easy task for the Aggies but very doable.

Unfortunately, Jimbo Fisher is not cut of the same cloth as General William Sherman during the Civil War.

Jimbo had the opportunity to make a statement things truly “ain’t like they used to be”. However, the only statement Jimbo made is that things are just like they used to be. How far back “ain’t like they used to be” is open to interpretation but you can go back to 1998 if you want.

Sure, there were some blips in 2010 and 2012 but the Aggies still haven’t played for a conference championship since 1998. It makes planning for the first weekend of December much easier but that’s not what Aggie fans want.

Jimbo Fisher had the Fightin’ Texas Aggies poised to show everyone things are different now. All of the top-notch recruiting was finally going to prove differently. The Aggies finally had a clear path to march to Atlanta like General Sherman in the late Fall of 1864.

Unfortunately for Jimbo, Nick Saban stood in the way not ready to relinquish the crown of the SEC West.

You can’t tell me Alabama has a better receiving unit than Texas A&M.
You can’t tell me Alabama has better running backs than Texas A&M.
You can’t tell me that Jalen Milroe is a better quarterback than Max Johnson.
You can’t tell me Alabama has a better offensive line than Texas A&M.
You can’t tell me Alabama has a better defensive line than Texas A&M.
You can’t tell me Alabama has better linebackers than Texas A&M.
You can’t tell me Alabama has better safeties than Texas A&M.

I’m leaving the corners off that list above which I’ll get to later. Of all the things I’ve listed you can’t honestly say Alabama has more talent at any of those groups. You can certainly argue there might be a draw or a slight advantage to Alabama in a couple of those areas but for the most part, the team Jimbo Fisher put out on Kyle Field on Saturday had as much talent as Alabama.

He had the team to beat Nick Saban. He just didn’t have the ability as head coach.

I listened to a little bit of his post-game comments but it’s still the same thing. A little here and there and we win the game. The problem is it’s the same damn thing over and over again.

He added an offensive coordinator but he’s not changed how he manages games.

He took a 7-point lead into the half and came out flat yet again. The Aggie offense was essentially shut out for the entire second half while the defense played their ass off for the most part even getting two crucial turnovers.

We’ve seen this at Kyle way too many times in the last couple of years where the offense does NOTHING in the 3rd quarter letting a team slip back in or even worse give the game away:

2021 Mississippi State
2021 Alabama
2021 Auburn
2022 App State
2022 Ole Miss
2022 Florida
2022 LSU
2023 Alabama

Not in any of those games did the Aggie offense score a touchdown in the third quarter. Not a single touchdown. We had special teams and defensive touchdowns in the third quarter of those games but not an offensive touchdown.

AT KYLE FIELD THE CROWD IS NOT A FACTOR TO YOUR OFFENSE.

How is Jimbo so damn bad at getting his offense into gear in the third quarter of SEC home games over the last couple of seasons? We won 3 of those games but it’s a bit concerning the Aggie offense seems to struggle so badly in the third quarter of big games at Kyle. If not for touchdowns by special teams and defense we might have lost the 2021 Bama and 2022 LSU games. Thank goodness the 2021 Auburn team had a more inept offense than we did

That’s as concerning as his road record where he’s never beaten a team that finished the season with a record of 8-4 or better.

He’s showing some massive deficiencies he can’t seem to fix against good teams.

Teams are coming out of halftime AT KYLE FIELD and proving his offense inept. It’s frustrating as hell.

You know what? Screw this. I can’t type anymore about the Alabama game and why we lost. You watched the game if you’re reading this. You know why we lost. I’m not going into deep analysis because it’s obvious.

Jimbo Fisher did what Jimbo Fisher does which is fail to adapt to the opponent during the game. He sticks to his plan ignoring what’s changed as the game has progressed. He believes he’s smarter than everyone else and it’s other people to blame for the Aggie struggles.

Nick Saban took Jimbo to school all because Jimbo didn’t learn or adapt. My guess is Saban watched the Miami film and said to his staff let’s try that. It worked. Alabama did the EXACT same thing Miami did and it worked beautifully.

Jimbo either didn’t see it or didn’t know how to adjust. Likely a combination of the two.

Saban likely told his defensive line to just destroy our offensive line. Then he decided to let Milroe pick apart our secondary because Jimbo and Durkin thought they could confuse him with coverage and pulling pressure.

Meanwhile, all Alabama did was mostly go after our weakest link on defense. I’m not going to name who it is but you know who it is if you read this blog. It was a glaring weakness and we did nothing to mask it.

What Jimbo and Durkin should have done was EXACTLY what they did to Auburn and Arkansas. Apply pressure like crazy and do not let Milroe get comfortable. They thought they could confuse Milroe but they just gave him time to execute a plan that Saban had planned for all because he saw it on film earlier this year.

Jimbo and Durkin got too cute and it burned them. Jalen Milroe threw 33 passes completing 21 of them for 321 yards. He’s never come close to that effort in any other game but Saban was smart enough to know that was the only way to beat the Aggies on offense.

Strangely, it wasn’t the defense that truly lost the game. It was an inept offense in the second half that couldn’t score a single touchdown and mustered one successful field goal for 3 total points in the second half. The defense while not without fault did more than the other units to try and win the game. Coaching failed them.

Along the way, special teams also hurt the Aggies all because Jimbo doesn’t believe in wasting time on it. It’s annoying it even happens and it’s even more annoying that opposing coaches see it as an opportunity to gain an advantage. Stupid special teams.

We all know about the clock and timeout issues he has so no need to go over those. He just never has a sense of urgency believing timeouts are for deliberating as opposed to making sure his team has the most amount of time in crucial moments.

In Monday’s press conference, Jimbo was still blaming the ref on the Evan Stewart play. This is Jimbo’s problem – it’s always everyone else’s fault but his. THAT WAS ONE FLIPPING PLAY THAT WASN’T GOING FOR A TOUCHDOWN AND THE REF WASN’T EVEN REALLY OUT OF POSITION. THAT SINGLE PLAY WAS NOT WHY THE AGGIES LOST!!!! STOP USING IT AS A DAMN EXCUSE!

How stubborn and stupid can this man be? Damn, it’s frustrating.

Looking Forward:

I still firmly believe there’s enough talent to win out going 10-2 and being the sole team in second place in the SEC West. At this point that would be a FANTASTIC finish all things considered.

I just don’t see it happening. I don’t see how we beat Tennessee this weekend since Saban just basically confirmed how to beat this Aggie team. I thought we’d win at Ole Miss but I believe that feels like a loss right now. Call LSU a coin flip at this point and I think this is an 8-4 team at best.

South Carolina won’t be easy either as Rattler could get hot and you know Beamer is going to try a thing or two on special teams. I don’t think this is a 6-6 team but Jimbo can do fascinating things.

Jimbo had a chance to change the narrative on Saturday and didn’t do it. He still has the chance to change the narrative by running the table and winning a bowl game. He won’t do it.

He’ll stubbornly ignore an opposing coach implementing a game plan he’s seen before on how to beat the Aggies. Jimbo will blame the referees and the lack of execution on a few plays thinking if only those things would fix themselves the Aggies could win.

Meanwhile, everyone else will shake their head wondering why a man who was given everything from a program standpoint can’t see what everyone else sees.

Just win, Jimbo.

Thoughts from the Arkansas Game

Sometimes the final score of a game doesn’t indicate what happened. 34-22 in Arlington last weekend is certainly the case here.

If you didn’t watch the game you would have thought Arkansas put up a pretty good fight. The reality is Arkansas didn’t put up much of a fight at all. Especially after their first two offensive possessions. Sure, they got a couple of big plays to keep the game close but it was more about A&M shooting themselves in the foot more than anything else on those two scores.

Arkansas scored 10 direct points off turnovers and had a touchdown late in the game when the game was well in hand. That touchdown came off an Aggie turnover. The Aggie defense allowed zero touchdowns on Arkansas possessions that weren’t the result of an Aggie offense turnover.

In addition to those Arkansas points off turnovers, Texas A&M missed two field goals. That’s a potential 22-point swing. Arkansas went for 2 on that late touchdown and didn’t make it which is why it’s 22 and not 23.

Let’s say we take 16 points away from Arkansas and add 6 to the Aggies. That’s a 40-6 beatdown. We weren’t far from that score happening. There are another 7 potential points the Aggies missed out on but I’m not even counting those. It reasonably could have been 47-6.

A&M played a game with a decent amount of errors on offense and missed two field goals. Even with that, they walked away with a convincing 34-22 win. That’s pretty impressive when you can shoot yourself in the foot a few times and keep walking like nothing happened.

Let’s get to the game and I’m starting with the defense.

Defense:

For anyone calling D.J. Durkin by the name of D.J. Urkin, you can stop that for now. The defense stubbed their toe against Miami but his body of work so far as a defensive coordinator has been really solid to date. I don’t know if it keeps up but the Aggie defense has had more good games than bad games in his 17 games as Aggie Defensive Coordinator.

Right now, I would put Ole Miss, Florida, and Miami as outliers in his time in Aggieland. What the defense has done over the last three weeks has been dominant. They didn’t allow a touchdown in 11 straight quarters and the touchdown they did finally give up was off a turnover late in the game due to a defensive back brain fart.

I understand the opponents didn’t have the most dominant offenses but that’s the first game Arkansas essentially didn’t score a touchdown all season and Auburn scored two touchdowns on Georgia’s defense last weekend. The Aggies kept Auburn out of the end zone and basically did the same to Arkansas.

I don’t know how you can say that’s not damn impressive.

Defensive Line:

If you didn’t watch every snap of the Arkansas game you have no real clue how dominant the defensive line was. Sure, you can see the 7 sacks and 15 tackles for losses but if you didn’t watch every snap you don’t realize just how dominant it was.

These weren’t individual sacks as much as they were “swarm sacks”. What I mean by that is the ENTIRE defensive line was collapsing the pocket on pretty much every play. K.J. Jefferson is an outstanding runner which we’ve seen in the past.

However, on this day, he had nowhere to run because there was nowhere to run. All he could do was pull the ball down and wait to see which defender would take him down. Often it was more than one person taking him down. He couldn’t get away because the pocket had just collapsed and there were no lanes for him to run out of pressure. He just had to pull the ball and wait to be tackled.

That’s VERY rare in the game of modern football with a guy like Jefferson. Usually, an offensive line like Arkansas will keep the pocket as spread as possible so if Jefferson needs to take off there’s some kind of lane. There were no lanes on Saturday. Especially after the second possession.

The Aggie defensive line simply pushed or found their way into the Arkansas backfield while limiting space for Jefferson to get loose. The Arkansas offensive line is a little suspect but they couldn’t do anything against this Aggie defensive line. They just got dominated from the second possession on.

It was really impressive.

Individually, Walter Nolen and McKinnley Jackson were the most impressive. Those guys just collapsed the interior by brute force or contorting themselves past the interior of the Arkansas offensive line. I think these two guys are the best defensive tackles in college football. They’re certainly playing like it.

Shemar Turner also flashed at times.

The rest of the defensive line was impressive but these three guys are the core of this unit and allow the rest of the defense to make plays when they’re not making plays themselves.

The most impressive thing about the performance of these guys is the Arkansas coach said in his post-game press conference they prepared all week for the pressure. They KNEW it was coming but couldn’t do anything about it. That’s when you know you’re dominating.

Linebackers:

I bet Edge Cooper, Chris Russel, Jr., and Taurean York are just giggling at each other watching film right now. It looks like all these guys are doing is filling what gaps the defensive line creates. These guys are racking up tackles because all they have to do is fill the little gaps the defensive line creates.

They’re doing an outstanding job of it but it’s MUCH easier to fill a smaller gap than a larger gap.

I think this is the biggest difference in the defense right now. I don’t know who finally figured it but screw gap integrity. Let the defensive line just fire off the ball creating havoc and the linebackers just wait to see what gaps are created and then fill them with violent force before they get any bigger.

Our linebackers are pretty talented but it’s SO much easier to play linebacker when you don’t have to worry about big gaps or blockers teeing off on you.

I’m not taking anything away from our linebackers as they just need to keep doing what they’re doing. Keep supporting the defensive line and have fun making plays thanks to the guys in front of you.

Our linebackers are essentially the number 1 and 2 batters hitting in front of Barry Bonds in his prime steroids years. They saw pitches to hit and our guys are gonna have plays to make so just have fun benefitting by the dominating play of those around you.

Secondary:

Thanks to all the pressure by the lineman and linebackers the secondary didn’t have much to do this game. Arkansas only completed 9 of 17 passes. Jefferson was 6 for 9 on the first two possessions. That’s a 66% completion rate so that’s pretty good.

All of those passes were in the first quarter. That’s right. The majority of Jefferson’s pass attempts came in the first quarter.

Jefferson only attempted 8 passes the rest of the game for 3 completions. That’s a 38% completion rate. That’s not good. One of those was the botched coverage on the touchdown throw so he really should have been 2 for 8 which is a 25% completion rate. That’s terrible for 3 quarters of football in which you’re trailing.

Our front pressure shortened the time and field that our secondary had to defend which helped immensely.

If I have one concern coming out of this game it’s our ability to defend the deep ball with decent receivers. Specifically, Josh DeBerry. He’s been burned a couple of times now in the Miami and Arkansas games. If I’m an opposing offensive coordinator I’m trying to figure out a way to isolate him on a deep ball.

You need time to throw the ball but I would say the deep ball against #28 seems to be the Achilles Heel of this defense.

I hope I’m wrong but it’s the biggest concern I have about this defense right now. Assuming our defensive line keeps wreaking havoc we should be fine but if we start struggling to apply pressure I do believe there are components of this secondary that are vulnerable.

We’ll find out on Saturday because if there’s one man who can identify and take advantage of weaknesses it’s Nick Saban.

Offense:

Quarterback:

I’ll start with Max Johnson. There’s no bigger fan of Max Johnson than me. I’ve been banging his drum for two seasons. He’s a damn fine quarterback.

However, I don’t think he played that great of a game on Saturday. He was 17 of 28 for 210 yards so that’s not terrible but it’s just a 60% completion. Jahdae Walker had a few drops which certainly would have helped Max but Max kind of tailed off after the first two possessions.

He threw a BEAUTIFUL touchdown pass to Evan Stewart and was carving up the Arkansas defense. He completed his first 7 passes and it should have been 8 for a second score but Jahdae Walker stuttered on his route for some strange reason and missed the ball.

Similar to K.J. Jefferson, Max was 7 for 9 to start the game. After that, he was 10 for 21.

He went from a 78% passer on his first two drives to a not-even 50% passer the rest of the game.

I can’t explain why he tailed off but there was certainly a difference between Max on his first two possessions and Max the rest of the game.

Running wise Max is a damn fine scrambler. He’s way more athletic than you would think. He had some beautiful scrambles to get yards but he needs to avoid contact and hold onto the ball. Hopefully, Saturday was a big learning event for avoiding contact and holding onto the ball.

Max’s biggest failure in this game was pulling the ball from Le’Veon Moss on three occasions. I don’t know the play design but three times in the game Max put the ball in Moss’ belly and pulled it. Moss had a hole to run through and Max got tackled by backside pressure.

Even Jimbo was visibly upset about why Max kept the ball on a couple of those plays he should have let Moss take it.

I’m still behind Max Johnson. It’s impressive that we can still be so strong on offense when Max has kind of a Jekyll and Hyde day.

If he eliminates his mental and physical errors we’re going to roll opponents even more from an offensive standpoint.

Running Back:

A big issue I’ve had with Jimbo the last two years is his use of running backs. He seemed to have had a set rotation rather than adjust in the game to who was the most productive.

Not sure what happened on Saturday but Jimbo appeared to ride Le’Veon Moss in the running game which I’m okay with. He was producing more than any other back so he got the most carries. That makes sense.

Moss carried 17 times for 108 yards which is a 6.3-yard-per-carry average. That’s damn good.

Amari Daniels carried 10 times for 37 yards and Rueben Owens only saw 2 carries for 7 yards. That’s a 3.6 and 3.5 yards per carry average respectively.

Moss has kind of separated himself from Daniels and Owens as far as production goes. Owens is the most talented but he’s still a true freshman learning his way. Daniels is the most explosive but can’t do much if a hole isn’t there.

Moss seems to be the most aware of knowing what’s going to happen in front of him and exploiting it. Good to see Jimbo recognize it and give him the majority of the carries.

Offensive Line:

I thought the offensive line did fine for the most part. They gave Max time to throw and we rushed for 204 yards on 39 carries averaging 5.2 yards a carry.

I can’t complain about that.

If I have one concern about this group they cannot exert their dominance early in the game. I’m all about wearing a defense down over four quarters but it would be nice to see this offensive line come out and blow defenders off the ball early in the game.

Moss had runs of 15 and 30 yards on our final possession which were the longest runs of the day for Moss. It would be nice to see runs like that in the first half.

I do believe this line seems to be improving each game which is a great sign. They’re doing much better handling pressure and wearing down the defensive line late in games.

Playing ahead score-wise thanks to a dominant defense has helped that.

Just paints me a bit concerned if this team has to play from behind because this unit takes a while to exert some dominance on the defense.

Wide Receiver:

Because of the defensive effort, we weren’t forced to pass and Jimbo smartly played to protect the lead for the most part.

Ainias led the receivers with 4 catches for 71 yards. That’s a nice day but it’s certainly not dominant.

Evan Stewart had two BEAUTIFUL catches on his touchdown and play on the sideline. Both were just picture-perfect. He missed a good portion of the game for some reason but the fact he came out in the 4th quarter was a good sign. We’re going to need him for Alabama.

Jahdae Walker filled in for Stewart and had a TERRIBLE game. He stuttered on a route that had he kept going he would have walked in for the second touchdown of the game. He missed a couple of other balls where he was somewhat defended but very makeable plays.

Walker has looked good at times in his first four games but he didn’t do anything against Arkansas. He could have made a couple of big plays with one being for a score and the other a big first down. He did neither. Hopefully, it was a blip and he keeps developing.

Moose didn’t seem to see the field much as we ran a lot of tight ends and fullbacks this game.

Tight-end wise they weren’t dominant but Jake and Max each had a couple of nice catches to extend drives. They looked good blocking at times as well.

This unit still looks like it’s trying to find its identity. The talent is there but with the way the defense is playing I get limiting the desire for big plays and just keep moving the ball downfield in small chunks.

As long as Ainias keeps producing while Max and Evan hook up for beautiful touchdown passes I’m good where things are for now.

Special Teams:

What a day for Ainias. He had two beautiful punt returns taking one to the house. He had more all-purpose yards than Arkansas had offense. A nice statement game for him after ending his season in the same game last year.

Constantinou had a good day booting two punts over 50 yards inside the 20-yard line. I’m not complaining about that after the Auburn game.

Randy Bond seems to have an issue with any field goal over 45 yards. He missed his two attempts at 49 and 48. I don’t think he’s completed a field goal over 45 yards this season. He’s got to figure that out as there will likely come a game where we need 3 or 6 points from those distances. This is the SEC after all.

I still worry about this unit because we had an offside on a punt return and had a breakdown on a couple of kickoffs. Why we don’t just boot the ball through the end zone every kickoff I have no idea. We struggle to defend kickoffs and have been burned in the South Carolina game last year and the Miami game this year with kickoff returns for touchdowns.

With our defense just let the offense start at their own 25 and not give the other team’s special teams a chance to gain better field position or even score.

Kick the damn ball in the endzone and be done with it.

Let’s Talk About Bama, Baby:

I get it. You’re over the Arkansas game and focused solely on the Bama game.

On paper, I think things favor the Aggies. Bama can’t block and the Aggie defensive line can destroy offensive lines. One has to think those trends continue on Saturday.

My biggest problem is we’re still going up against Nick Saban and he’s not ready to give up the SEC West to anyone. Certainly not Jimbo Fisher.

I think this is going to be a pretty low-scoring game. I think both Saban and Jimbo are going to coach very conservatively hoping the other team makes a mistake. Rather than be a turnover offensively or a botched defensive assignment for a big play, I think Saban and Jimbo are going to hope the other team makes a fatal mistake.

They certainly don’t want to be the team making the fatal mistake.

For me, this game is going to come down to the Aggie defense against Jalen Milroe. If Milroe gets lanes to run or the Aggies let a Bama receiver get deep Bama will win the game. Milroe is one of the best running quarterbacks in football and you have to keep him contained.

Along with that, I think Bama is going to see if they can isolate one of their talented receivers on Josh DeBerry and burn him deep.

For the Aggies offensively, I think we’re going to see if we can establish the run so we can leverage some play action. Because of the nature of the game, I don’t think the Aggies try to get greedy early on believing their defense will limit the Bama offense.

Throw some quick punches and see what you can land before trying to land something big. I feel confident our offense will move the ball and score some points but I have no clue how many.

What I can’t figure out right now is if this is 2020 Jimbo or 2021 Jimbo that spit the bit in games that mattered and were winnable. This wouldn’t be a shocking win by any stretch to those who have watched these two teams this season and not relying on past performance.

Can Jimbo make a statement it’s not like it used to be? I don’t know.

What I’m REALLY hoping is this 2023 defensive line is the equivalent of the 2020 offensive line and running game. The 2020 running game would impart its will against the opponent. There’s no reason the 2023 defensive line can’t do the same against opponents because it has the talent and has shown it knows how to do it.

I just don’t know if we can establish defensive pressure when it matters most. I still have concerns about Jimbo and his coaching in a game like this.

With that, I’m going with Bama in a VERY close game. Tide 23 and the Aggies 20.

Just win, Jimbo.

Thoughts from the Auburn Game

Before I get to anything else on the Auburn game let’s be clear that’s not a good Auburn team. They’re a step up from New Mexico and Louisiana Monroe but they’re a step down from Miami and might be the worst SEC team we play this season.

They went through three quarterbacks without one getting hurt so that tells you the state of their offense. They were trying to find some kind of spark because they didn’t have a quarterback who could move the ball.

Regardless of Auburn’s lack of talent, this was still a good win for the Aggies. Still lots of questions but the Aggies handled the Tigers from start to finish with no real scares. Even when Auburn returned the fumble for a touchdown it wasn’t a real scare. The Aggies were still up by 10 and Auburn’s offense hadn’t done anything all day.

My biggest concern for the day was having to take a timeout on the second play. THE SECOND PLAY OF THE GAME WE’RE TAKING A DAMN TIMEOUT.

How does that even happen? That’s the mark of an ill-prepared team. We’ve seen this way too many times in Jimbo’s Aggie tenure where this team comes out flat, confused, or just not ready to play. It’s a massive concern that keeps happening. This was a game we should have been prepared for. We shouldn’t have been overwhelmed by this Auburn team at Kyle Field.

To make matters worse we get a false start coming out of the timeout. I don’t get it. What gets discussed during the timeout?

It should be crystal clear what personnel group will be going out there, what play will be run, and what the snap count/cadence will be.

Taking a timeout followed by a false start on the second play of the game is an ill-prepared team and that starts with coaching. There’s no defending or excusing that. That’s on Jimbo and it’s a HUGE concern in my book.

Some things need changing and Jimbo isn’t changing them.

The other concern with Jimbo is a bit nitpicky but his being on the field during the fumble return. He claims he thought the play was dead. How the hell did he think that? It was a clear fumble in the field of play and there were no whistles blown. Nobody on the field thought the play was dead.

Why did he think that? What does he see when he coaches a game? How can he screw that up? Did he just stop following the ball?

I don’t get how he thought the play was dead when nobody on the field thought that. How can he be the only one in that instance?

It kind of makes me wonder if he truly sees the game as it’s being played or if he’s still watching theoretical football in his mind disconnected from what’s happening on the field.

I don’t think he should get fined and it’s sort of funny but it makes me wonder what he sees in the game if he thought that play was dead. Nobody else near the field thought the play was dead but him.

Let’s talk about the rest of the football game.

Offense:

This offense didn’t look great for most of the game. Conner Weigman got hurt before the end of the half but he was struggling. He was 8 for 14 and 70 yards before leaving. That’s not terrible but he never looked super comfortable as some of his misses weren’t close.

We were moving the ball with Weigman but stalled out thanks to our inability to establish the run, penalties, and inability to connect on third-down passes. 3 of Conner’s incompletions came on 3rd downs resulting in a field goal attempt and two punts.

Our inability to establish the run in the first half was by far the most concerning thing in the game beyond the apparent lack of preparedness. Outside of Le’Veon Moss’ 34-yard run we only had 29 yards rushing in the first half on 10 other rushes. 2.9 yards isn’t a terrible yard per carry but the problem was 5 of those rushes were for 1 yard or less.

On 11 rushing attempts in the first half not quite half resulted in a zero or one-yard gain. That’s feast or famine and something that has to be improved if we’re going to do well in the SEC.

It’s nice that we can break off good runs here and there but I’d rather establish the line of scrimmage where 50% of your rushing attempts aren’t stalemated by the defense.

Our running backs rushed for 202 yards on 27 carries. That’s certainly not a bad day on the ground with 7.5 yards per carry. However, 2 of those carries were for 114 yards so the remainder of the 25 carries netted 88 yards. That’s 3.5 yards a carry which isn’t terrible but much of came in the second half where we had a margin of error to try and wear down the defense.

I’m being nitpicky here but the inability to establish the run game early is a big concern to me. Maybe I’m too old school but I still believe the ability to establish the line of scrimmage early in the game is a big factor in how much success you’ll have. Especially against equal opponents.

You can’t fully rely on the run game but the ability to establish it puts pressure on a defense. This Aggie offensive line has to get better at establishing the run game much sooner than the second half.

As for the rest of the offense, it was honestly mediocre as well except for 2 big pass plays by Max Johnson. His touchdown to his brother Jake was a great play made possible by his rolling out and keeping the play alive. His touchdown pass to Evan Stewart was one of the most beautiful balls I’ve ever seen at Kyle. Not quite as good as Reggie McNeal to Greg Porter against OU in 2002 but it was up there.

On the day Conner and Max combined for 193 yards completing 15 of 25 passes. That’s not terrible but it’s certainly not dominant. You’d certainly like to have seen more against a team like Auburn at Kyle.

We won comfortably but we did not win convincingly.

Count me in the camp that still has concerns about this offensive line. It’s certainly improved over last year but I don’t think it’s playing near the level that it should be. Still too much confusion via penalties, blown assignments, and just not being dominant.

As for Conner, it looks like we dodged a bullet with him. I saw him hobble to the locker room and it didn’t look good. I suppose it was a decent sign he wasn’t being assisted in any way but it was clear he was hurt and not coming back.

He looked a little like Bisontis did against Louisiana Monroe and Bisontis was out there playing against Auburn the next week. I didn’t think that was possible. I can’t judge injuries from my seat.

Jimbo said the X-rays were negative which is great. I think we’ll likely lose him for a couple of games but we should have him back after the bye week at worst.

I think this is Max’s team against Arkansas but suppose Conner could be back out there.

I have faith in both quarterbacks individually but until I see more from this offensive line I have questions on how much offense we’ll be able to produce against SEC teams that are better than Auburn.

Defense:

For the second week in a row, the Aggie defense gave up zero touchdowns. I don’t care who you’ve played that’s damn impressive to go 8 quarters of football in an offensive era and not give up a touchdown.

In addition, we limited Auburn to 3 first downs on 15 3rd down attempts. That’s also the second week in a row we’ve shut down the opposing offense on 3rd downs.

I’m not sure what to make of this defense because they’ve dominated their opponent in the last two games. It just hasn’t been against an offense that I think is very good and a real test.

To their credit, Jimbo and Durkin decided to apply pressure this game and they did a really impressive job.

According to the stat sheet the Aggies had seven sacks and an additional quarterback hurry.

They should have had two fumble recoveries returned for touchdowns. However, the refs hosed them on a BS replay overturn that was not conclusive if you have half a brain. In addition, Bryce Anderson swatted another lateral pass he should have picked up and ran back for a touchdown. Bryce brain-farted there.

Two scoop and scores would have only added to the domination on Saturday.

The Aggie defense brought pressure in a big way on Saturday. To me, it looked like Durkin decided to do away with gap integrity and just let the defensive line try to dominate the offensive line with the linebackers filling the gaps that were created.

It worked based on the results. The defensive line got a great push into the backfield and the linebackers did an OUTSTANDING job of filling the gaps as soon as they saw them. They weren’t playing on their heels waiting to see what developed and instead went into attack mode when they saw a gap develop.

You can question the ability of the Auburn quarterbacks all you want but the reality is they had no time to pass and the Aggie defensive line and linebackers were disruptive all game long. All of that pressure caused Auburn to hold quite a bit. When SEC refs are regularly calling holding in a game you know you’re dominating the line of scrimmage.

Passing wise Auburn was only 9 for 23 passing for 56 yards. That’s a roughly 40% completion rate for 56 yards. They just weren’t able to pass on us so give credit where credit is due. The defensive players and staff flat-out shut down Auburn’s passing game.

All because of pressure at the line of scrimmage.

I do have a concern with the amount of yards they gave up on the ground. Auburn’s top two running backs rushed for 112 yards on 17 carries. That’s 6.5 yards a carry.

Luckily Auburn was losing the whole game so they couldn’t try and establish the run. Auburn was playing from behind so they had to attempt some passes that weren’t working.

It looks like this defense can only shut down one aspect of an offense each game. As long as you choose correctly it’s fine but it’s a slight concern.

Another slight concern is the Auburn quarterbacks missed some open receivers but to the defense’s credit the Auburn quarterbacks missed them because they had no time to throw.

With all of that being said, I can’t dog on this defense. What they’ve done the last two weeks is impressive. I just hope it can carry over to better opponents.

I’m going to carry trauma from the Miami game until I see this defense do it against a better opponent. Speaking of Miami, if you look at the Aggie’s schedule and the quarterbacks they’ll face this year I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Tyler Van Dyke will be the best passer they face all year.

We’re gonna have some tests with Joe Milton, Spencer Rattler, and Jaxson Dart but we could look back on the Miami game and realize we got picked apart by an outstanding passer. At least I hope we can say that when it’s all said and done.

Just a positive thought for the defense…

Special Teams:

I usually gloss over special teams but there are two things I want to point out in this game.

Nik Constantinou had a horrible game. His first three punts were under 40 yards and he wasn’t trying to pin them inside the 20. They also had no real height. They were just three ugly punts under 40 yards. He had plenty of room to boom a 50-yarder but for whatever reason he kicked three ugly balls.

His fourth punt went 48 yards to the Auburn 22 and then his final punt was 46 yards to the Auburn 10-yard line. His final punt was fine but he could have put more leg into the first four but he didn’t for some reason.

Hopefully, it was just a bad day for him because we should be able to put a punter out there who can boom 50-yard punts.

The other thing I want to point out is a missed opportunity by Jimbo. Coming off the Bryce Anderson lateral bat down we backed Auburn up to their 5-yard line thanks to a penalty by Auburn. It’s 4th and 27 at the Auburn 5-yard line so the punter isn’t as deep as he normally is in his end zone.

PUT TEN MEN ON THE LINE AND SEE IF YOU CAN BLOCK IT!!!!! THAT’S OPPORTUNITY!!!!!

You tell Ainias to fair catch it as we’re trying a jailbreak at the line of scrimmage. Instead, Jimbo just sets up a regular old punt return where Ainias returns it for 10 yards. A smart aggressive coach goes for it in that moment. There’s no reason not to.

Jimbo probably just wanted to get the ball back to his offense to see if they could score. Ironically enough that was the series Auburn picked up the fumble for a touchdown where Jimbo failed to make the tackle. Bad decisions all around by Jimbo for a quick span of the game.

I swear Jimbo sees Special Teams as an annoying event that has to take place to get offenses the ball. Since he’d rather do away with it he doesn’t see a real point in practicing or scheming each week.

Great coaches use special teams as an opportunity. Jimbo sees special teams as a gnat he just swats at.

Looking Forward:

I still believe every game left on this schedule is winnable. The talent on this Aggie team is there even with Conner being out however long he’s going to be out. Max Johnson is a more than capable backup quarterback and can win every game he starts.

Realistically though I think we go 5-3 simply because Jimbo hasn’t changed that much. He’s the same old head coach he’s been for 6 seasons in Aggieland. If his boys can out-athlete the other team he’s going to win.

He’s certainly not going to do it with scheme and coaching decisions. He’s going to get outcoached in at least 3 games on the schedule. I hope he proves me wrong but there are just a few things in the Auburn game to give me doubt that Jimbo is a different coach in 2023 compared to the previous 5 seasons.

He’s still the same stubborn coach who doesn’t know how to adjust in games and doesn’t have his team prepared from the start.

As for Arkansas, I think we win this weekend. I think we can bottle up K.J. Jefferson just enough to keep them from running up and down the field on us. I think offensively we’ll look a lot like we did against Auburn where we struggle to finish drives but we’ll score a couple of touchdowns and kick enough field goals.

I feel like both teams will score less than 50 points and probably less than 40 points. It’s going to be equal parts inept offenses and decent defenses with the Aggies having the better athletes to win.

Give me the Aggies winning 20-16.

Just win, Jimbo.

Thoughts from the ULM Game

What a difference a week makes. This time last week you thought Aggie Football was doomed forever. A week later you’re eyeing that maroon Kool-Aid wanting to take a sip or already taken some.

I’ve got news for you – nothing has changed. Other than the opponent which makes all the difference. This is still the same Jimbo Fisher lead team we’ve seen for the last two years.

Over the summer, in my Season Prediction, I mentioned it would be best to wait until after the Tennessee game to get a real feel for what kind of team we have. I still believe that even though it’s so easy to get caught up in the week-to-week emotions.

We’re about to hit a four-game stretch that’s going to give us all indications of what kind of team this 2023 Aggie team is. Auburn, Arkansas, Alabama, and Tennessee are finally going to give this team a true test. Interestingly enough, I think they’re in order of difficulty based on what I’ve seen of each team through 3 games and where they’re being played.

Miami exposed this team’s weaknesses so we’ll see if the Aggies can fix them in time for SEC play.

I do believe the Aggies may win all 4 of these games. However, I think the most likely outcome is we split them based on what I saw on Saturday at Kyle Field.

Offense:

Far and away the most positive takeaway from Saturday’s game was the passing accuracy of Conner Weigman. Holy cow. That kid was slinging the ball.

He was making REALLY quick reads and letting the ball fly with amazing accuracy. He wasn’t just sitting in the pocket waiting for guys to get open. He was quickly deciding what guys would be open and making great passes.

I know it was the Louisiana Monroe secondary which isn’t the same as an SEC secondary but it was great to see him not only processing the offense so quickly but throwing absolute strikes to his receivers.

He was 25 of 29 passing for 337 yards. That’s 86% accuracy. I don’t care who you’re playing. That’s as good as it gets.

If I have one concern about Weigman it’s I think he waits too long to throw the deep ball or he doesn’t have the arm to get it out there. Often he’s throwing it where his receiver has to slow down to catch the ball on deep routes.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather the quarterback throw it where the receiver can adjust to get it rather than throw it too far where the receiver never has a chance. It’s a minor complaint based on everything else but it’s the one thing I’ve noticed.

As for the rest of the offense, there were some bright spots and some concerns.

Evan Stewart did not suit up for some reason and Noah Thomas came out early. Even without those guys, the receivers did fine. Ainias reminded us what he’s capable of and Jahdae Walker stepped up in a big way with Stewart and Thomas out. I like Walker a lot. I think he would have been a big starter on any Aggie team in Jimbo’s first five years. Kind of crazy that he’s second string this season since we finally have talent at receiver. Moose didn’t get a ton of looks but he was productive with the looks he got.

I thought Jake Johnson and even Max Wright looked good catching the ball. Conner spread the ball out between his receiving weapons which was great to see.

At running back I thought Rueben Owens made some strides running with more confidence. He’s the most talented back from an all-around standpoint. He’s shown some hesitation in the first couple of games but as this game went on he seemed to be more comfortable. He’s a guy we need to settle in and lead this backfield even if he’s a true freshman.

My biggest concern on offense remains the offensive line. They weren’t tested and seemed to do fine but it took them a while to establish the run on what should be an inferior defense.

For whatever reason this line is playing musical chairs. Bryce Foster didn’t play so Mark Nabou played center. He had been splitting time at left guard and it looked like he was going to take the left guard spot. I don’t know why Foster was out but it’s not good for an offensive line to keep moving parts around.

In addition to Foster being out Chase Bisontis went out about halfway through the second quarter. He’s our starting right tackle. I saw him go out and it didn’t look good. It was clear he couldn’t go another play. He pulled himself out by going to the ground requiring the trainers to come out. He was able to walk off under his weight but he was moving slowly. They took him to the locker room before the end of the half and I believe he came out in street clothes for the second half.

Jimbo has said he’s fine. I’m not buying that. You don’t pull yourself out of a game by going to the ground and then coming out in street clothes for the second half. I get the opponent but nothing about that says he’s totally fine. He came out in the Miami game so he’s got something lingering considering he’s not finished two straight games now.

I don’t know what’s going on with Duece Fatheree but he didn’t take a snap in this game. He played a little in the Miami game but he’s been our starting right tackle for a season and a half. I know he’s been dealing with an injury himself but it’s a little concerning that when Bisontis goes out Fatheree isn’t taking any snaps.

We’re headed into SEC play and I think there are legitimate questions as to who our starting center and right tackle are. Injuries or not you don’t want to be wondering who’s going to be starting for 2/5ths of your offensive line.

I believe that’s where we are.

Beyond the personnel, there are questions about how well this unit can handle pressure on the edge from a legitimate defense. If I’m a defensive coach and I’ve watched film of A&M’s last games against Power 5 opponents I’m applying pressure from both edges to see what the Aggies can do.

Until I routinely see this unit stop pressure from an opposing defense I’m going to have concerns. Secondaries will cover our receivers tighter. Even if Conner is making quick decisions it’s going to be tougher to complete passes with increased pressure and tighter coverage.

I didn’t see enough on Saturday to make me feel confident much has changed from what’s been this offense’s weakness since last year and against Miami.

Defense:

Not sure what to make of the defensive effort on Saturday. Statistically, it was damn good. Louisiana Monroe had 222 total offensive yards and no touchdowns.

The Aggie defense allowed ZERO passing yards in the second half. That’s crazy. It’s impossible to do better than that for a half of football from a pass-defense standpoint.

Louisiana Monroe is a running team and only attempted 17 passes the entire game completing 6. They weren’t trying to pass being down by a large margin. They stayed committed to the run. We won’t see that from another team this season.

From my vantage, the secondary wasn’t tested at all. It’s hard to point to the stats and say our pass defense dominated them. They had a couple of completions in the first half where I saw the same secondary from the week before in Miami.

From a pressure standpoint, we tried a few twists on the line but that was about it. I get because of Lousiana Monroe being a running team it’s hard to attempt some unique blitzes and pressure packages we haven’t tried before.

I just don’t think we can take anything away from this defensive effort and say we corrected the issues we saw in Miami. In a couple of instances, they’re still there.

In a strange twist, I do think this defense will be better at defending the run while struggling against the pass. It’s the exact opposite of last year.

We really need to wait to see what we do against Auburn and Arkansas to see if we corrected the Miami issues. Don’t be shocked at all if both Auburn and Arkansas move the ball through the air as I don’t think the issues have been corrected. It’s hard to correct issues when you’re not tested.

Looking Forward:

I’m assuming no one from an opposing coaching staff is reading this blog so I can say this – Until proven otherwise the way to beat this Aggie team is to pressure the edges with your defense limiting Weigman’s time to throw.

Offensively, Aggie opponents would do well with a lot of intermediate passing routes along with the occasional deep ball. Obviously, you need to mix in some running with draws and play actions to keep the defense honest. I’d also stress the edges with quick sweeps and even misdirection a time or two.

I think this Aggie defense wants to get by on raw talent alone. If you make them defend the whole field as quickly as possible you can move the ball on them.

I hope I’m wrong as I’d love nothing more than to start 4-0 in the SEC.

I just don’t see that happening from what I saw on Saturday.

Just Win, Jimbo.

Jimbo On The Road Es No Bueno

I’m assuming Jimbo is a fan of Willie Nelson. I don’t know how you can exist in Texas and not be a Willie Nelson fan.

Assuming he is, I will wager there’s one song of Willie’s that’s not on Jimbo’s playlist – “On the Road Again.” Based on the results of his tenure in Aggieland, Jimbo hates being on the road again.

The life Jimbo loves is NOT playing road games with his friends.

In fact, Jimbo is on a 7 game road losing streak that dates back to 2021. Ironically enough, this streak was started by a D.J. Durkin lead Ole Miss defense that got the better of Jimbo’s Aggie offense in Oxford, Mississippi.

For Jimbo’s last road victory, you have to go back to October 16, 2021, when the Aggies beat the Missouri Tigers in Columbia.

Here are Jimbo’s remaining road games in 2023 to hopefully end this awful streak:

@ Tennessee
@ Ole Miss
@ LSU

Um, those aren’t the teams I want to be facing on the road if I’m Jimbo Fisher. Those are going to be tough games. The Tennessee game is on October 14th so the best-case scenario has Jimbo going TWO FULL YEARS between road victories. That’s a massive longshot right now though.

Beyond the current losing streak, there’s a greater concern with Jimbo playing on the road in his time as the Aggie head coach. To put it quite frankly – He sucks coaching road games in the maroon and white.

His overall Road Record is 8-14. That’s a 36% winning percentage. He’s basically won every third game on the road. Even if he somehow wins the remaining road games in 2023 he’d be 30% in his last 10 road games. That’s terrible.

Winning those three games would be a REMARKABLE achievement but he’s still in a massive hole from a road-winning standpoint in Aggieland. He just hasn’t won on the road since he got to College Station.

Want more concerning data about Jimbo as a road head coach? His Non-2020 Road Record is 4-13. FOUR AND THIRTEEN IN ROAD GAMES NOT IN 2020!!!! That’s a 24% winning percentage so he’s just winning one out of every four games on the road except for 2020. That season DEFINITELY looks like a massive anomaly right now.

Want EVEN MORE concerning data about Jimbo as a road head coach? Take a look at his 8 road wins and the regular season record for each school.

Road Wins:

2018 South Carolina (7-5)
2019 Ole Miss (4-8)
2020 Miss St (3-7)
2020 South Carolina (2-8)
2020 Auburn (6-4)
2020 Tennessee (3-7)
2021 Colorado (4-8)
2021 Missouri (6-6)

Look at the list again.

Notice anything interesting? That’s right, only TWO of those EIGHT teams have a winning record and even then they’re both just one game above .500. Not an 8-4 team or better in Jimbo’s eight road wins as the Aggie head coach. 22 tries.

Jimbo hasn’t beaten a single team that a normal person would define as a good team in the year he beat them. He’s simply beaten crappy teams on the road. That should be expected for ANY coach much less a man with a 10-year, $95 million contract.

There is certainly no road upset in his 5+ years as Aggie Head Coach. He could have had one last year in Tuscaloosa had he given the ball to Devon Achane but you’ve heard that from me enough. Jimbo outsmarted himself that day.

He has yet to beat an 8-4 team or better on the road in his Aggieland tenure. Read that again and let it soak in. That’s a pitiful showing in 22 attempts. 22 attempts and he hasn’t beaten an 8-4 team in their house.

I know the SEC is tough but that’s pretty damn bad. That’s simply a man who has no clue how to handle road games.

Tennessee and LSU are almost certain losses this year. I felt that way before the Miami game and feel it even more after that game.

If Lane Kiffin finds out this information Ole Miss will be an even tougher game. I do feel Ole Miss is beatable this year but Lane likes to take it up a notch against Jimbo. He doesn’t need any more reason to want to beat Jimbo.

Jimbo is going to have to either buck a serious road game trend or be perfect at Kyle and JerryWorld to go 8-4 in 2023. Even then that’ll be a massive disappointment yet again.

I’d be curious if anyone at A&M has discussed this with Jimbo. This is VERY concerning since the schedule requires us to go on the road and play games against good teams in the SEC.

How in the hell are we ever going to win the SEC West if we can’t beat 8-4 teams or better in their house? We can’t and we won’t. It’s that simple.

I’m sure Jimbo thinks it’s just some weird data and there’s nothing he needs to do to address it. It’s the ref’s fault, the painted turf, a faked snap cadence, the pH of the water in road stadiums, bed bugs, or whatever else he likes to blame. It sure as hell couldn’t be the fault of the head coach who’s had 22 opportunities.

Unlike Willie I have to imagine deep down inside Jimbo would rather not get on the road again.

Maybe we all need a little of what Willie keeps on his tour bus so the pain of Jimbo’s ineptitude isn’t so sharp…

Shut Up and Win, Jimbo.

Thoughts On The Miami Game

R.C. Slocum once famously said that half the teams in college football lose every week. That comment infuriated me at the time but now in Year 6 of Jimbo Fisher I realize how prophetic R.C. was.

The Aggies are just going to lose important games here and there. Stop thinking things are going to change.

Silly me. Here I was thinking yet again that things would FINALLY change with Aggie Football. In Week 2 of Jimbo Fisher’s sixth season, we all got a dose of reality. Some of the names associated with Jimbo’s time in Aggieland may change but the results are going to continue.

I mean, half the teams in college football lose every week. Sometimes it’s going to be the Aggies.

As for the game itself, I don’t know where to start.

I’ll start with the fact if you told me the Aggies would score 33 points while limiting Miami to under 100 yards rushing with no rushing touchdowns I would have been certain the Aggies won. I wouldn’t have even questioned it.

That’s what happened and somehow the Aggies lost.

I’m not going to do my usual breakdown of groups on both sides of the ball because the issue on Saturday afternoon was coaching. Sure, there were certainly miscues by players at times but by and large coaching lost the game on Saturday.

HC Jimbo didn’t do anything different than OC Jimbo. Jimbo didn’t see what Miami was doing and made enough adjustments on both sides of the ball. We’ve seen this same movie several times now. It just has a different title and names from time to time.

Miami did two things on Saturday that Jimbo and his staff refused to address during the game:
1) Apply pressure off the edges on defense.
2) Attack the Aggie defense through the air.

Miami’s Defensive Pressure:

Miami did an obvious job of watching film from last year and even last week. The Aggies are susceptible to pressure from the edge. It was the Achilles Heel last season and even against New Mexico, we struggled to pick up pressure via the blitz.

The Miami staff likely realized they have much better athletes than New Mexico and they could apply pressure. They were right. Time and time again Miami brought pressure from the edge where Conner could never get comfortable.

I thought Conner played a decent enough game but he was barely a 60% passer. He could have been a much more effective passer if the coaching staff had addressed the pressure off the edges.

Most importantly, the backside pressure that Miami applied all night long. There were several times we let a Miami defender run untouched from the left side of our line. We weren’t even chipping him with our running back. The running back was flaring out into the flat as a safety valve but Conner never hit him.

I don’t know why Conner never hit the running back right out of the backfield to see if they could slow down that backside pressure. It seemed obvious when that pressure was coming and that defender was allowed to run free. We never took advantage of the space they were leaving even though it seemed obvious they were coming. We hit that back flaring out a couple of times for decent gains and that pressure likely goes away. At least slow it down some.

I was also hoping Conner would have stared that pressure down giving him a juke to buy more time. He never did that. I think Conner can juke a blitzer and buy more time but for some reason, he never tried it.
Instead, all he did was let that pressure dictate how quickly he got rid of the ball. That edge pressure never let our offense settle in and make the plays we wanted. We simply passed the ball sooner than we wanted to.

At least that’s what it looked like. Way too many Miami defenders running untouched and unaccounted for in the backfield.

Some of why Conner went from an 80% passer to a 60% passer in one week is because of the Miami athletes but a big part of it was Miami’s scheme. The Miami defense simply did what other defenses did against us last year. Make the Aggie quarterback throw before they want to.

Jimbo and Petrino have to address this pressure off the edges and cause teams to stop doing it. That happens through scheme and coaching.

Lack of Aggie Defensive Pressure:

Conversely, because A&M under D.J. Durkin rarely blitzes or applies pressure the Miami coaching staff smartly realized they could attack downfield because Van Dyke would have more time.

The ironic thing about all of this is Miami is a running team at heart. Durkin got ripped last season for not stopping the run. The Aggie team did a REMARKABLE job of stopping the run against Miami.
It was clear the Aggie defense was committed to not letting Miami run the ball. They succeeded in doing that.

The problem is Miami adapted by attacking the Aggie defense through the air. Jimbo and Durkin never adapted to that threat.

The Aggies had two sacks but had exactly ZERO quarterback hurries. Not a single one. At least according to the stat sheet on the A&M website.

Van Dyke attempted 30 passes and wasn’t hurried on a single one.

Durkin was so focused on stopping the run he had NOTHING in his arsenal to apply pressure or confuse the Miami offense to make mistakes in the passing game. A lot of that is on Durkin but at some point, Jimbo needs to ask on the headset if Durkin has any unique blitzes he can call.

Don’t forget Durkin works for Jimbo and Jimbo needs to be held accountable for what happens on defense as well. Jimbo has a set of eyes and can question the in-game planning.

All the Aggie defense did was send their four down linemen upfield while the linebackers waited to see where the ball was going. I feel like we sent a linebacker a time or two but we sure as hell didn’t disguise anything with our secondary at the line of scrimmage to make it look like we might blitz.

We just had our four down linemen and two linebackers in position all game long while the secondary stood back waiting to see what happened. We did nothing to confuse or pressure the Miami passing attack.

We have a TON of defensive line talent and I thought Cooper and York were fine at linebacker on Saturday. However, you have to scheme against good teams to give them looks they’re not prepared for. I didn’t see any of that on Saturday.

I simply saw a defense that thought they could be very basic and out talent the opponent. It didn’t work. Miami has enough talent to overcome a basic defensive plan.

Coaching Mattered:

Miami did the exact opposite of Jimbo and his staff by scheming and adjusting during the game. Cristobal got the best of Jimbo.

I know that’s not a lot of analysis on the game but if you watched the game it was the Same Old Jimbo that’s stubborn as hell at in-game adjustments. I don’t know if he can’t see it or just isn’t prepared for it.

I’ll give Jimbo and his staff credit the original game plan worked. We moved the ball for a quarter and a half and shut down the Miami run. The problem is Miami realized that and adjusted.

It’s like Jimbo walks into a game with a set plan and if it’s not working or stops working then he’ll be damned because he’s going to force it to work. Yet time and time again it doesn’t.

Saturday was no different. There are now at least 10 games in the last three seasons where Jimbo could have made a few adjustments to win a game but he didn’t. He just comes in with a plan and keeps repeating it hoping it’ll work rather than adjust it.

Meanwhile, the coaching staff on the other side of the field is making adjustments to their plan of attack.
It’s getting really old.

Looking Forward:

I had this Aggie team at 9-3 in 2023. I think that’s a little ambitious at this point. There are probably three to four more losses based on what we saw on Saturday. That will put us at 7-5 or 8-4. It’ll be better than last year but it’ll still be a VERY frustrating season.

The good news is the SEC and especially the SEC West looks down this season. The Aggies have the talent to run the table. I’m not kidding. This team has enough talent and there’s not a team the Aggies can’t beat.

I said earlier this year that until we were done with Tennessee we won’t truly know what we have for the 2023 season. I still feel that way but what I saw on Saturday doesn’t make me feel any better.

Jimbo and his crew will decide how many games the Aggies win for the rest of the year.

This is still a VERY talented team. Talent isn’t the issue at all. It’s all coaching and it starts with the man with the title of Head Coach.

It’s up to you, Jimbo. Aggie fans will just be here sitting on our hands hoping you can figure out something that’s different than the last two seasons and what we saw on Saturday.

A few names have changed on your staff but the product on the field hasn’t changed much.
It’s getting old, buddy.

Just Win, Jimbo.

Thoughts From the New Mexico Game

Overall:

I’m beginning with the most obvious thing from Saturday night – For the first time in a long time, it seemed like an Aggie football team was prepared for their first opponent of the season.

I know it’s just New Mexico who’s not that great but this Aggie team came out with a plan and executed it to damn near perfection. It was refreshing to see.

In addition to the overall execution, it seemed Jimbo may have changed as a coach. The most telling of this was at the end of the first half when he was calling preserved timeouts to get the ball back with less than a minute to go in the game.

I feel like “OC Jimbo” would have let New Mexico run out the clock and get to halftime. “HC Jimbo” was wanting the ball back for another possession already up 35-7. Those timeouts resulted in a blocked field goal but that was a smart use of timeouts. It gave us an extra field goal attempt in a game situation. You can’t simulate that in practice.

The kick got blocked so we obviously needed the practice.

The worst part of the game was the opening possession of the second half. The Aggies got the ball to start the second half and immediately got a substitution penalty before they ever took a snap. How the hell does that happen coming out of halftime? The Aggie offense then had a 3 and out resulting in a punt. I saw flashes of 2022 Aggie Football all over again.

They got the ship righted and scored 17 points in the second half so that drive seemed like just a blip. I was worried for a moment. Decades of Aggie Football will cause trauma to a person.

It’s only one game against New Mexico but I felt Jimbo managed this game as a true head coach. Of course, it’s easy to manage when your units are having their way for the most part. However, Jimbo seemed to be a true head coach and not just an offensive coordinator moonlighting as a head coach as well.

Offense:

Play Calling:

The main thing I remember about great Bobby Petrino’s offenses is his ability to not complicate things and attack obvious opportunities. That’s exactly what he did on Saturday night. New Mexico was essentially daring the Aggies to pass by loading up the box and committing to the run. They weren’t giving their defensive backs any help so Bobby decided to just go at them. No need to complicate it.

If they’re going to give you something then take it.

If I have one complaint about the playcalling on Saturday night it’s that I didn’t see any creative play designs. They weren’t needed so I do agree with why call them if they’re not needed.

As we face tougher teams I hope we have unique playcalls that haven’t been seen before to surprise a defense.

One game at a time…

Quarterback:

Not much to say about Conner Weigman other than he looked OUTSTANDING. I was SHOCKED to learn he only threw for 236 yards. It felt like he was constantly lighting up the New Mexico defense. That’s a testament to our defense for the field position our offense started with.

He was 18 for 23 passing which is almost 80%. I know it’s New Mexico but he was accurate as hell.

His best pass by far was his final touchdown pass to Evan Stewart. He hit Stewart in perfect stride running away from his defender in the end zone. It wasn’t an easy pass but Conner put it right on the money. That’s the photo above so you can see the perfect placement.

You can critique some of his throws as he probably should have let them go a little sooner but by and large, he threw passes only his receivers could catch and defenders couldn’t defend. Once again, I know it’s New Mexico but it’s always good to see a quarterback not only make smart decisions but execute on those decisions. Conner saw the obvious plays early and executed them quickly.

From a running standpoint, he had a nice scramble but it seems the plan for Weigman is to use his arm over his legs. I’m good with that.

I know a lot of Aggies want to compare him to Johnny but I think he’s more of a Patrick Mahomes-type quarterback. He has elite decision-making and accuracy with above-average scrambling ability. If we get the second coming of Patrick Mahomes in college I’m not going to complain about it one bit.

He’s likely not going to put up gaudy numbers like some quarterbacks but he’s making smart decisions leading his offense to points. That’s WAY more important than gaudy numbers.

Zero complaints about number 15 on Saturday night.

Running Backs:

The running backs split carries about as equally as you can on Saturday night. New Mexico was focused on not letting the Aggies get loose on the ground containing the Aggie running game for the most part.

The Aggies still managed to gain 102 yards on 20 carries with their three running backs which is 5 yards a carry. That’s not a bad yards per carry at all.

Individually they all look different. Amari Daniels looks like the most explosive back by far. His issue is that he doesn’t seem to have much patience to watch holes develop. If there’s a hole he’s going to get a chunk of yards but if there’s not a hole he’s getting stopped.

Laveon Moss looks like he’s lost a little weight but is definitely the physical back of the three. He converted a nice 3rd and 1 at the 2-yard line for a touchdown. He looks like the short yardage back. His problem is he seems to get banged up quite a bit. He limped off the field a couple of times and even went to the locker room once. He seemed to be fine though as he kept going back out.

Rueben Owens got 7 carries for 26 yards which isn’t spectacular but he is a true freshman playing in his first college game. He’s got the most talent but just needs to get some experience.

It’ll be interesting to see how things develop. It seems like Petrino is willing to use all three until a hot hand emerges.

Receivers:

The night at receiver belonged to Evan Stewart and Noah Thomas. We all know about Stewart’s talent and Thomas came on strong last year.

They both had a night scoring 5 touchdowns between them. Much like Weigman it’s a little shocking to learn Stewart only had 115 yards receiving and Thomas 74 yards. It seemed like they had 300 yards between them.

As mentioned earlier New Mexico dared the Aggies to beat them one-on-one and that’s exactly what Wiegman and his pass catchers did. These guys are dialed into one another when it comes to throwing and catching.

Ainias had a couple of nice catches as did Moose late in the game.

The surprise of the night was Jahdae Walker. I heard he had a good camp but he made a couple of nice catches to show he can carry practice over to a game. He looks like he’s going to add some solid depth to our receiving group.

All of these guys are going to get used differently week to week depending on what the defense does. When it’s man you’re likely going to see Stewart and Thomas shine. When it’s zone coverage I think we’ll see a lot of Ainias, Moose, and the tight ends.

Just let the defense decide how they should be attacked.

Offensive Line:

THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS GROUP WAS NO FALSE STARTS AND NO HOLDING PENALTIES.

These guys looked like an actual unit on Saturday night. They weren’t dominant by any stretch as the running game couldn’t quite get going and Weigman had pressure from time to time. That was mainly due to numbers but there were a couple of snafus so they weren’t perfect.

However, for the most part, they played like an actual unit which was a far cry from last year when they were flat out lost at times.

They’ll have a big test against Miami this weekend but this was a good first step for this unit.

Defense:

Overall:

This unit wasn’t completely dominant as they gave up 255 yards but they looked impressive for most of the night save for a few passes and one run. They seemed to play better as the night wore on.

A lot of guys got significant playing time so looks like we might have legit depth across the whole defense. Hope I didn’t say that too early…

I did see us in a 3-man front a few times. It’s obvious Durkin doesn’t read Aggie message boards. Or maybe he does…

All in all, it was a good night.

If I have one complaint it’s the lack of pressure resulting in sacks but the New Mexico quarterback wasn’t holding the ball very long. He didn’t seem comfortable and was letting the ball fly. Their starting quarterback was a 60% passer for 115 yards. He was just letting the ball fly as soon as he could so not a lot of sack opportunities.

Defensive Line:

This group played a TON of guys on Saturday night just like you would have guessed.

Walter Nolen looks like he’s ready to take that next step. McKinley Jackson looked solid.

Everyone who played had moments where they looked great. It’s hard to single out everyone’s play because so many guys played and looked great together. You want to see these guys playing as one on every snap and that’s basically what they did.

The most impressive play of the night was when Shermar Stewart ran down New Mexico’s running back for a 7-yard loss. He unfortunately grabbed the running back’s facemask but his display of speed for a man his size was unreal. If he misses his facemask it’s a total highlight reel play.

We know what this group is capable of. On Saturday they showed they have a ton of depth and talent and it’s going to be hard on offensive units going up against this group.

They’ll get tested in a big way on Saturday as Miami is going to want to impose their will. We’ll find out real quick if they’re up for the challenge.

Linebackers:

Ladies and gentlemen, the Fightin’ Texas Aggies may have a rotation of linebackers for the first time in I can’t remember when.

Edge Cooper, Taurean York, JD Davis, and Chris Russell all got snaps at linebacker. Cooper looked like his 2021 self making a lot of plays. Davis seemed to be around the ball quite a bit.

A little hard to fully judge this group on Saturday night due to the opponent but it looks like we do have depth and talent at the linebacker position for the first time in a long time. Damn. That feels good to say.

I’m interested to see if two guys separate themselves from the rest of the group. I think Cooper is on his way but curious if Davis or York start getting the majority of the snaps next to Cooper.

We’ll also find out more about these guys in Miami. They’re going to have to step up and stop the run. They can’t blow assignments or Miami will gash us on the ground.

Secondary:

I’m repeating myself but I’m not sure what else to say about this group. These guys showed up spending most of the night in the right places.

They too played a ton of people and they all looked really good.

The safety trio of Demani Richardson, Bryce Anderson, and Jardin Gilbert looked as expected. These guys are legit.

Tyreek Chappell was solid as usual.

For me, the surprise of the night was Josh DeBerry. We’ve been wondering who was going to take the other corner across from Chappell. If Saturday night was any indicator that question has been answered by Josh DeBerry.

He’s a fifth-year senior from Boston College but he was all over the place on Saturday night. He leads the team with 7 solo tackles, a sack, an interception, a pass breakup, AND a quarterback hurry.

It’s just one game but it was a hell of a performance.

True freshman Dalton Brooks even flashed on a couple of plays.

Like the rest of the defensive unit, I feel good about this group based on what happened on Saturday night.

Special Teams:

You saw it. We botched a field goal attempt and nailed the other attempt. Our punter only punted twice. Not much to talk about with field goals and punting.

Ainias looks like he’s still fearless on punts which isn’t a bad thing.

We covered kicks and punts well.

Looking Ahead to Miami:

I watched a good portion of “The Battle of Miamis” on Friday night.

The U didn’t do anything special and just leaned on the Ohio Miami. Their quarterback, Van Pelt, looked decent but he didn’t look spectacular by any stretch. He looked like he did last year. He’s a decent enough quarterback but I don’t think he’s going to light the world on fire.

I think we’re going to see a similar Miami from last year with a little more talent. They going to try and establish the line of scrimmage and keep our offense off the field.

Defensively they’re going to see if they can expose our offensive line by shutting down the running game and applying pressure to Weigman. I have no idea if they can.

If this is a close game then I think Miami wins it simply because that’s the kind of game they want. I think HC Jimbo is going to want to apply pressure from a scoring standpoint early and often looking to make a statement. I don’t think HC Jimbo will want to grind this one out as it’ll work in Miami’s favor.

If we can grab an early lead I think the Aggies cruise to a victory.

If it’s a slugfest I think Jimbo’s second game struggles in Aggieland continue with a loss.

Either way, I can’t wait until Saturday at 2:30 so we can learn more about HC Jimbo.

College football is back, y’all.