I got tied up last week and didn’t get a chance to blog about the South Carolina game.

I don’t really know what else to write other than – “It was the worst of halves, it was the best of halves.”

Seriously. We did everything we could in the first half to shoot ourselves in the foot—just mistake after mistake.

And then in the second half, we did everything damn near perfect save for that stupid play call on third down at the goal line.

Despite that stupidity, we still managed to hold on and win.

I can’t explain it. I wish I could offer you some great insight into how or why it happened, but I can’t. Other than to say this is an inconsistent football team, which we’ve seen all year.

Somehow, they find a way to win, and that’s all that matters.

If there is one main takeaway from the South Carolina game, I hope that in the future, Elko and Klein realize we need to punch the gas more on offense.

Especially with the games we have left.  That’s the Texas game, and then whatever postseason games.

At some point in the second half of the LSU game, they felt like the Aggies could control the game on the ground going forward.

Go for a more ground attack than an air attack.

It worked against Missouri, but it was failing against South Carolina in the first half.

I know ball control is tempting, especially for a defensive coach, but we’re gonna have to stress the defense every which way we can.

From here on out, I want to see an offense that stresses the defense across the entire field, even if it means some three-and-outs. We have the talent, so take the shots.

Texas Game:

As for the Texas game, I’m torn on what’s going to go down.

Maybe it’s my Battered Aggie Syndrome, but in the back of my mind, I can’t get rid of two things:

1. It’s tough to go undefeated.
2. Rivalry games are crazy.

I do think A&M walks into DKR with a better team, but Texas is still a formidable opponent.

Sure, we can point to their loss in Florida and the close games against Kentucky and Mississippi State.

Obviously, Georgia had their way with them in the second half.

But at the same time, they handled Vandy and Arkansas. Sure, the Vandy score was close at the end, but it was the equivalent of our Arkansas game. Vandy was never a real threat to win that game.

They kept Arkansas at bay in the first half and then put them away in the second half.

I know the Texas offensive line has struggled to protect Arch at times. At the same time, our defense should have crushed the South Carolina offensive line, but we didn’t do a thing for an entire half from a pressure standpoint.  

So one can rationalize all they want about how this match-up is going to go. As of this writing, the Aggies are a 2.5-point favorite. That says the Aggies are a slightly better team even on the road.

I have a feeling it’s going to be a close game.

I personally think it’s going to come down to three Ts to win:

1. The Toys
2. Tight Ends
3. Turnovers

The Toys:

I’ve referred to Concepcion and Craver as the toys since the Notre Dame game. While I’d love to see the same performance as Notre Dame for these two, I don’t see that happening. They get too much attention now.

I don’t see them putting up a combined 300 receiving yards between the two of them.

That doesn’t mean they can’t bust off 4-5 big plays that either score points directly or lead to the Aggies scoring points.  

The Tight Ends:

While the other receivers, not named Concepcion and Craver, have stepped up their game, I think using the tight ends will be really important to keep the Longhorn defense honest.

Marcel is going to have to recognize it is okay to hit these guys to move the chains rather than focus on the big play downfield.

Now, if you’ve got man coverage with Concepcion or Craver, by all means attack that. However, if you have safeties playing back, then take what’s underneath and keep moving the ball down the field.

No need to get greedy.

Especially near the end zone.

Turnovers:

This is totally obvious, but something that hasn’t been talked about is how sloppy Reed has been with the ball since the LSU game.

He had an awful interception in the end zone against LSU, and then again against South Carolina.  

Sure, he’s bailed himself out of these situations, but that’s a fire that’s gonna burn you at some point.

If Reed continues to turn the ball over, this is likely the game where it finally burns him.

I know those are all pretty obvious points, but most of sports are pretty obvious.  Just do better than the other team, and you’ll win most of your games.

Might as well add a fourth T – Tackling.

Texas likes to do a lot of short passes and get yards after the catch. Our secondary has had a few issues making initial tackles this season, and that can’t happen on Friday night.

Don’t let Texas get additional yards after contact.

So do those four Ts and the Aggies win this game without much issue.

I know, it’s obvious.

Random Thoughts:

Get ready for Texas to score some points. I have little doubt that Sark will have 4-5 plays that take advantage of the Aggies being overaggressive on defense.

Especially, the tendency for our defensive ends to not properly seal the edge or be too aggressive on backside pursuit of the ball.

I think Texas scores 17-20 points in this game.  Not a problem, as the Aggies should certainly score more.

I’m not too terribly worried about the cutbacks on the ground that destroyed us last year. Not saying Texas won’t break off some runs on cutbacks, but they flat-out gashed us last season on simple cutbacks by their running backs.

We’re better at defending those cutbacks this year than we were last year.

As for our offensive line, I defended rotating guys after the Missouri game when Reed-Adams got hurt, but I’m over that. I felt it was good to have everyone cross-trained and gain experience for the betterment of the offensive line.

For whatever reason, we went with the same offensive line group against South Carolina that we ended with in Missouri.

It was Fatheree, Bisontis, Zuhn, Nabou, and Crownover to start against Missouri.  That’s going from left tackle to right tackle. I can’t remember precisely when Reed-Adams came in against South Carolina, but he sat out the first three or four series.

That grouping of Fatheree, Bisontis, Zuhn, Nabou, and Crownover showed up against Samford, and we weren’t super clean as Reed got some pressure he shouldn’t have.

From this point going forward, I want to see Zuhn, Bisontis, Nabou, Reed-Adams, and Crownover. Barring an injury and a close game, I want those five guys in those five positions.

That’s clearly our best combination of offensive linemen. I want to see that grouping of offensive linemen the rest of the way.  

No need to tinker otherwise.

As for Arch Manning, I don’t think he’s a bad quarterback.

His challenges are no different than any other quarterback. When he doesn’t have time to throw, he struggles.

I’m not saying he should win the Heisman, but he’s not as bad as people make him out to be.

The media is a funny thing.  They’ll build someone up. Then they’ll take a big dump on that player when that player doesn’t live up to the hype they themselves created.

Arch isn’t going to make plays out of nothing, but if he has time, he can run Sark’s offense.

The Aggies have to make sure he doesn’t have time.

No different than any other quarterback.

Sark’s Schedule Sadness:

One thing that gives me a great deal of hope is Steve Sarkisian complaining about having to play an SEC game the week before this one, while A&M played a weak opponent in Samford.

I hope what Sark is really worried about is Mike Elko having extra time to draw up and install more of his exotic blitzes.

Sounds like a coach already making excuses. Hopefully, Sark knows he’s got a big challenge, and the schedule is making that challenge worse.

I don’t care.

Here’s the deal, Sark. The SEC has been set up like this forever. The SEC starts conference games before other conferences.

You came over from the Big 12, where non-conference games were all front-loaded.

You were playing Sam Houston for your fourth game while we were playing Auburn this season. It ain’t our fault, and it ain’t no conspiracy.

It’s due to your conference move.

Stop complaining to the media and tell your Athletic Director to schedule like everyone else.

Or maybe focus on coaching your team instead of making excuses in advance.

Speaking of Schedules:

I’m also tired of people saying the Aggies haven’t played anyone.  I’ll freely admit the teams we played have been disappointments, but we started the season with three teams in the Top 10 and two more in the Top 15.

We beat Notre Dame on the road. We emptied Tiger Stadium. We helped get Billy Napier and Hugh Freeze fired.

Maybe we get caught with our pants down in Austin, the SEC Championship, or the CFP.

Our schedule looked as tough as anyone in the country to start the season.  It’s not our fault we’ve exceeded expectations while others have fallen off.

All we can do is win the next two games and prove we’re one of the four best teams in the country going into the playoffs.

We do that, and nobody can say a damn thing about our schedule.

Special Teams Scares:

One thing that scares me about this game and every game from here on out is our special teams.

Short of KC Concepcion’s God given talent, I don’t have a lot of faith in our special teams right now.

Sure, the fake punt against Missouri was awesome, but there’s nothing else that gives me great confidence about our special teams.

I have a bad feeling it’s going to be our special teams that costs us our first loss of the season.

I’m not sure it’s in Austin, but it sure feels like if there’s a loss for the 2025 season, it’ll be because of special teams.

With all of that, I think this is somewhat of a coin flip game.  If the Aggies protect the ball, then they win. If not, Texas wins.

It’ll come down to one of the basic tenets of football.

Protecting the football.

You read all of that to get that fundamental analysis.  

Sometimes it really is that simple.

BTHO tu

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So it’s been over a week since the Aggies beat LSU.

I took some time off from blogging to think more about that win.

Some of it was due to Battered Aggie Syndrome, and some was due to cautious optimism.

I loved every minute of the second half of that LSU game. My problem is that’s precisely what happened last season. We were down at half and stormed back in the second half to beat LSU.

Then, we lost to South Carolina, Auburn, Texas, and USC in the bowl game. In the South Carolina and Texas games, we were pushed around badly.

I’ve spent the last week wondering if we’re about to see the same thing in front of us. Or is this year different from all the November collapses from previous seasons?

I do think it’s different.

This team is different from last year’s and previous teams, dating back to 2020.

We’ve got a seasoned quarterback who seems to be improving each week.  We’ve got a very seasoned offensive line that is doing a good job protecting that quarterback and creating running lanes for a talented group of running backs.

We’re even missing our best running back and still cranking out yards.

We’ve got two dynamic difference makers at receiver.

We’ve got a defense that has hiccups from time to time but can flat out bring pressure and, more often than not, shut down an offense.

Especially if they get them to third and six or longer.

I think the defense is only getting better as the young guys gain more experience.

I do think this team is different than every Aggie team we’ve seen since the 2020 season.

With one more win against our three SEC opponents, we will have punched our ticket to the College Football Playoff.

At worst, our record will be 10-2, which is good enough for the playoffs.

We still control our destiny to go to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game. We even have a slight margin of error: We could lose a game and still make Atlanta. That will all depend on how things shake out for the other SEC teams, who have one loss or less right now.

I’ll get to that later.

We’re sitting real pretty right now.

So now I’m just gonna ramble a little bit.

LSU Game Takeaways:

I have two big takeaways from that LSU game:

1. The Aggies still have not played a perfect game this season.
2. That was a REALLY poorly coached LSU team.

The first one excites me, and the second one concerns me.

The Aggies shot themselves in the foot in the first half. Marcel Reed had a really bad interception in the end zone and an unfortunate interception on a tipped ball.

Dezz Ricks committed a really stupid penalty after a third-down stop, which resulted in LSU scoring a touchdown when they should have punted.

We also had another blocked punt near our end zone, which luckily resulted in a safety for LSU instead of a touchdown.

Despite all of that, the Aggies were only down by four at halftime.

Then the Aggies straightened it out and dominated a poorly coached LSU team.

Most people don’t realize this, but the Aggies only attempted three passes in the second half. They decided to confuse the LSU defense with all kinds of looks and run the ball down their throats.

The Aggies used the running game and help from special teams returns to outscore LSU 35-0 in the second half. LSU got a late garbage touchdown, but the Aggies essentially put a 35-0 beatdown on LSU in the second half.

LSU didn’t know what to do. They were lost and clueless. Their defense was running themselves out of plays. Their offense couldn’t respond to being down because the A&M defense unleashed pressure everywhere.

The Aggies had seven total sacks on the night. Garrett Nussmeier couldn’t get comfortable, and the LSU offensive line couldn’t figure out where the pressure was coming from, thanks to the Aggies’ defense disguising who was coming.

It was total domination on both sides of the ball in the second half.

And yet it still wasn’t close to a perfect game.

As much as I am concerned that A&M beat a massively overrated team, I hope this Aggie team will get better.

We’ll find out over the next three and hopefully four SEC games.

Coaching:

I was very critical of Elko and Klein coming into this season.

Specifically, I believed Elko wasn’t involved in the actual game.  I felt Elko was just watching the game with his headset on, yelling at referees, and nothing more.

I felt Klein lacked creativity in his play designs. They were basically some semblance of the same plays over and over again, making it easy for the defense to defend.

Boy, what a difference a year has made.

We heard in the off-season that Elko would be more involved with calling the defense.  That’s been obvious, as our defensive third-down conversion is one of the best in the country.  That’s been an Elko calling card for his defensive coordinator career.

Other than the Notre Dame and Arkansas games, we’ve seen our defense clamp down in the second half, another hallmark of an Elko-led defense.

Effective halftime adjustments.

I have no clue why he was so hands-off on the defense last season. He seems to be fine handling the head coaching duties and helping call defensive plays this season.

I hope he continues to do it, as it seems to have made a massive difference on defense this season.

As for the offense and Collin Klein, I know he got two new toys in Concepcion and Craver. I also know he has a more seasoned line and quarterback.

However, his play design has been COMPLETELY different this season compared to last season. Maybe it’s because he felt he lacked the talent last season and was forced to be conservative.

This offense is night and day from last season. I can’t believe it’s the same coordinator from last season.

The pre-snap motion is more complex this season, and most importantly, the use of jet sweeps is confusing defenses on how to defend us at the line of scrimmage.

Defenses can’t just focus on between the tackles when defending the run. They have to worry about guys in motion getting the ball and getting outside.

I know we tried it with Bussey a few times last year, and it rarely worked, but it’s highly effective this year. Maybe it’s just the talent of Concepcion and Craver running the ball.

The routes we’re running are very complementary and getting guys open.

Again, maybe it’s just having the talent to do these things effectively, but I have to credit Klein for running an explosive offense.

While our defense has been sporadic, our offense has been the most consistent unit so far this season, especially since the Florida game.

I also have to credit Elko for letting Klein mash the gas with his offense. Many defensive head coaches would tell their offensive coordinator to be a little more conservative, but it’s clear Elko is letting Klein try to score as much as possible.

I think it also allows Elko to be a little more aggressive in his defensive play calling when we’ve got a lead.

Elko said something really interesting about the Arkansas game. Arkansas never had the ball in the second half, when they could have tied or taken the lead.

They were always playing two scores down. I think that’s why Elko kept the pressure up, hoping for that knockout punch rather than moving to a more conservative defense.

We’ll see what happens the rest of the way. I think Elko and Klein have adapted this season to definitely get us in the College Football Playoff. There’s also a good chance we’ll be in Atlanta on the first Saturday in December.

College Football Playoff Poll:

The first CFP poll comes out on Tuesday night, and there’s zero doubt the Aggies will be in the top four. I’m curious where they land, as they could even be in the top one or two.

I think Ohio State and Indiana will be number one and two, simply because they have been more consistent in their winning.

We can debate their competition all we want, but they’ve looked better winning than the Aggies in all of their games.

The Aggies have plenty of opportunity to polish their resume and overcome one of, if not both of, those teams.

Let’s keep winning and let our play speak for itself the rest of the way.  It’s too early to worry about what a collection of idiots thinks about specific rankings.

Winning will take care of itself.

How Likely is Atlanta?

I’m not gonna lie. I’m a little concerned about getting to Atlanta.

Sure, some of its BAS. However, much of it is because chaos is the usual rule of order for college football in November.

It’s tough to go undefeated, and you’re actually better off getting in a loss early on.

How far away does the Bama loss against FSU look right now? Ironically enough, how far away does LSU’s win over Clemson that first week look now?

Bama fans were contemplating firing their coach, and LSU was making plans for Miami in January.

Now, each team has flipped its view from that first week. LSU fired its coach, and Bama is looking at Miami in January.

Things can change in a hurry in college football.

Obviously, if we win out, we’ll be in Atlanta and probably get a bye week in the playoffs. At worst, we’ll be hosting a playoff game at Kyle as a very high seed.

If we lose a game, it will depend on who we lose it against.

Right now, Bama and the Aggies have no losses, while Ole Miss, Georgia, and Texas have one loss each.

Georgia and Texas are going to eliminate one of themselves in two weeks.

I think Ole Miss wins out.  Georgia wins out in the SEC if it gets by Texas. I don’t think Georgia loses to Mississippi State.  That’ll leave at least two teams with one loss.

I think Bama wins out, but OU and maybe even LSU could trip them up.  Either way, they have a margin for error like the Aggies.  

I’ve looked at the SEC Championship game tie-breaker rules, and I get tired head. It’s a six-step process that will likely come down to common opponents and records.

It will be an absolute mess if three or four teams have one loss.

It’s best if the Aggies win out and avoid trying to figure out who goes based on various opponents’ records and match-ups.

I do think the Aggies can win out, but two things concern me:

1. The previously mentioned November chaos.
2. The Aggies haven’t played a stinker of a game yet. They haven’t played a perfect game, but haven’t played a stinker, which is why they’re undefeated.

Maybe there’s no stinker game this season. The history of sports says there could be, which bothers me more than anything right now.

Mizzou doesn’t scare me as much with their starting QB out. South Carolina doesn’t scare me either, and I think having an early game at Kyle benefits us.

I have no clue what to think about Texas.  They’ve finally got their offense in gear over the last five quarters. I don’t know if that’s sustainable against a defense that can bring pressure.

We’ll learn a lot in two weeks when they go to Athens.

I want to look forward, but I just can’t.

Let’s get through Mizzou and South Carolina.

Then we can look at the map to Atlanta.

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

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

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

I have two main sets of takeaways from that game.

Set 1:

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

Set 2:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Offense:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He did it again on Saturday night.

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

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

An easy three and out for the defense.

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

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

Keep doing what you’re doing.

Defense:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Still, the Aggie defense is better than that.

At least I hope.

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

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

Live by the blitz, die by the blitz.

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

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

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

We got aggressive and got burned.

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

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

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

But still, the burns were really bad.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Looking Forward:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We lose two games and there’s no Atlanta.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We’ve been waiting for this.

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

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

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

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

BTHO LSU

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What a game in South Bend. It looked bad, then it looked good, then it looked good, then it looked questionable, then it looked really bad, and then it went GREAT. Which is why we love sports so much. As painful as the roller coaster can be at times, the thrill at the end is worth the anguish along the way.

I have to state the obvious before I get to anything else about the game. The additions of K.C. Concepcion and Mario Craver look like the best portal additions of anyone in the country. Without those two guys, we walk out of South Bend with our tails between our legs. We wouldn’t have been competitive without those two guys.

I was skeptical of those two guys before the season started, not because of them specifically, but because I was tired of the off-season receiver hype. Too many guys had been built up since Christian Kirk and Josh Reynolds, and all of them failed to deliver.

I’ve never been happier to be wrong about two guys than Concepcion and Craver. These guys have been amazing. Hats off to Elko and whoever else helped get them to campus.

I don’t know how many more games these guys win for us, but we’re already at one game.

We’re dead in the water without them in South Bend.

Beyond their performance, the Aggies got some breaks to go their way. I’m not saying the Aggies winning was pure luck, but in many close victories, some events prove beneficial without realizing it at the time.

Specifically, here’s what I’m talking about:

• The missed field goal at the end of the half by Bond. If we were down by 3 on the final drive, no way we go for the end zone on 4th and 11. Elko would have kicked for overtime. That miss was a huge factor in the Aggies win.
• Notre Dame scored their final touchdown with a little less than 3 minutes left. I don’t think the Aggies let them score there, but it was a big blessing. Notre Dame drives down and scores with a minute or so left, and our goose was cooked. Our inept defense actually benefitted us in that moment.
• The botched extra point by Notre Dame. Obviously.
• The holding call on our kick return. We give the ball right back to Notre Dame down by 1 with more than two minutes left, and there’s no doubt in my mind they get into field goal range.
• Using all four plays on a goal line series. Once again, not by design, but giving the ball back to Notre Dame with 13 seconds only allowed them two plays, even with their two timeouts. That wasn’t enough time for them to get in field goal range. If they had 30 seconds, they would have had a serious chance to get in field range with how our defense was playing.

I’m not going to bring up anything with the refs, but those five things aligned to force the Aggies to score a touchdown while giving us just enough time to do it and not enough time for Notre Dame to respond.

Thank goodness we didn’t have to go to overtime. I don’t know that we could have pulled out a victory with equal possessions. It could have happened, but I’m totally okay with events aligning, allowing the Aggies to have exactly one more point as regulation expired.

Notre Dame Experience:

Before I get to anything else on the game, I want to discuss the Notre Dame experience.

This is my second time going, as I went in 2000. I stayed in South Bend this time, so my experience was slightly different. I enjoyed spending the whole weekend in South Bend, instead of commuting in from Chicago.

It’s a great place to spend a college football weekend.

I know people get annoyed by all of the attention Notre Dame gets. I’m one of them. They definitely get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the perception of how good their team is and how good they actually are.

Their schedule is usually pretty weak compared to the rest of the SEC or Big 10 schools. It’s frustrating to see them get propped up when they’re playing Navy, Stanford, Boston College, Purdue, and other teams of the same caliber.

However, their gameday experience is pretty awesome.

The history, pageantry, and everything else are as good as it gets in college football.

It’s not as rowdy as other schools, but it’s a great scene. It doesn’t need to be rowdy because it’s reverent. They’ve been relevant in college football longer than any other program. Sure, some have had more success and there have been periods where Notre Dame wasn’t good; but they’ve always been relevant in college football history.

There’s something to be said for that.

If you’ve never been to a game there and you get the chance, go. It’s even better if it’s a marquee matchup.

Let’s talk about the game.

Coaching:

I came into this game feeling that we had to press the gas on offense to win.

We did precisely that.

I felt we would lose if we tried to get into a war of the trenches. Elko and Klein had a great game plan for winning this thing, and they executed it pretty well.

I’m still a little worried about this team as a whole, but I have to give Elko and Klein credit. They had the right game plan for Notre Dame.

It’s clear Concepcion and Craver are the two biggest weapons on this entire team. They need to be fed and fed often if we stand the chance of winning football games.

I felt Klein kind of lost his way in the second half after Reed missed Concepcion and Niblack for what likely would have been touchdowns. We went to a two-back set for a good portion of the second half, and it seemed like we couldn’t quite get anything going.

It seemed like Klein got a little more conservative since Reed missed on those deep balls.

Our third-down calls were especially baffling all evening. We only converted 4 of 11 third downs. I couldn’t quite tell what was going on, but we really didn’t have guys open. Reed missed a couple of guys on plays, but for the most part, the plays didn’t develop enough to convert the third down.

In addition, the call to Reed to run to the short side on 1st and goal from the 10 on our final series was mind-boggling. I don’t like Reid running to the short side. He’s not a super elusive runner, and he’s certainly not powerful. Reid is plenty athletic and can be elusive, but he’s not a guy who’s going to juke an entire defense out of their jocks.

Reed needs as much space as possible to spread guys out.

My only complaints about Klein are the third downs and the call on the first and goal on the final drive, so he did just fine.

The overall game plan of trying to outscore the opponent worked. If this team is to keep winning, the offense has to keep scoring points. Our defense just doesn’t have the horses to dominate the opponent.

I have to assume Elko knows this, and the reason for the game plan against Notre Dame.

There’s some stuff to improve on, but I am glad this staff seems more grounded in the reality of what is and isn’t possible with their roster.

Offense:

Receivers:

I’ve already talked about them, but I’m going to reiterate how good Concepcion and Craver are.

They are the difference in this football team’s being 3-0 instead of 2-1. There is no way around it. If they don’t transfer in, this is a completely different team.

We had 360 yards of passing, and they had 289 of those yards, which is 80% of our passing yards.

Craver averaged 29.6 yards a catch on 7 receptions, and Concepcion averaged 20.5 yards a catch on 4 receptions. That average would have been much higher if he had caught that ball on the first series and if Reed had been able to hit him for what would have been a 99-yard touchdown. He would have had another 150 yards or so.

Concepcion would have averaged close to 40 yards a catch if those two completions had happened.

These guys are just incredible. That’s a tough Notre Dame secondary they did that against. I’ll be curious how defenses defend these guys going forward, as it’ll undoubtedly be a focus.

If I have a complaint about the receiving game, it’s that we never tried a bubble screen to Craver. It was a pretty big staple in the first two games, but we never tried it. Maybe they thought the Notre Dame secondary was too good, but I did want it tried at least once to see if he could have busted it open.

This unit absolutely carried the Aggies to victory.

Running Backs:

Although the running game seemed a bit underwhelming, I thought it was the perfect complement to what we were doing through the air.

Le’Veon Moss had a “quiet” night, rushing 20 times for 81 yards and 3 scores.

Moss saw most of the snaps in the evening. I don’t know if there’s anything to glean from Moss taking most of the snaps. I believe Moss is our best back and can handle the amount of carries he got, so there’s no reason to overthink it.

I like it.

Rueben Owens had 3 carries for 5 yards, and Amari Daniels had 1 carry for 4 yards.

I saw Jamarrion Morrow out there a couple of times and E.J. Smith on the final drive of the first half, along with another third down.

We ran a lot of 2 back sets in the second half, motioning in and out of them, but they didn’t seem to do much. I believe Bussey was one of the guys motioning in and out. I was in the second-to-last row of the stadium, so I couldn’t always make out who was doing what.

I assume Klein just wanted the run game to complement the passing game, so I’ll take it.

Offensive Line:

I think the offensive line is decent enough. They’re a little inconsistent in my mind.

They will look good at times, and then they’ll blow assignments. I get that happens, but this unit still has a long way to go to truly be great.

It looked like they were still rotating guys, which puzzled me a bit. I thought they would have the five guys figured out and be willing to roll with them.

Two things really stood out to me in this game.

First, we were unable to run to the left side. We tried three or four times with Moss, but he got nowhere.

The other thing that stood out to me is Chase Bisontis’s inconsistency. I know he’s the guy that some people think could have held on the final play, but I don’t care about that. Throughout the game, he struggled at times. He’s not terrible by any stretch, as he’ll dominate at times, but I think he’s the most inconsistent lineman by far.

We had way too many false starts, which need to be cleaned up.

I think this unit did pretty well against the pass rush, as Notre Dame was trying to bring a lot of pressure. Reed helped this group a ton as he moved through the pocket, but credit to the offensive line for giving him space to move to.

Reed wasn’t sacked once all night, which is a credit to this unit, especially considering Reed threw the ball 37 times.

My hope for this unit is that they get the best five guys figured out and roll forward with them.

I want this to be the 2020 offensive line, and they still have a way to go.

Quarterback:

This statement will sound weird – Marcel Reed didn’t play a great game.

He didn’t.

He played a pretty good game which allowed his team to win but he was far from great.

Which I think is a testament to the players around him and the fact this offense can get even better if Reed can continue to improve.

He had an awful interception and missed Concepcion and Nilback on what would have been touchdowns. At the same time, he made some money throws that were significant factors in the game.

I have no problem with his game at the moment, but just pointing out he can get even better.

One thing I continue to see with Reed is that he’s not a dominant runner. He’s got some elusiveness, but he’s not a burner, and he certainly can’t run through defenders.

He can certainly extend the play, but I don’t think we’ll see him routinely have big running plays like we’ve seen from other dual-threat quarterbacks. You know who I’m talking about…

Reed is wonderful at moving in the pocket, though. His greatest attribute is his ability to move into space and reset.

I’m good with that as long as Reed can stay where he is.

If he dials it up a notch, even better.

Defense:

Overall:

The Aggie defense struggled quite a bit on Saturday night.

My biggest fear came true—this is not a super talented defense. My biggest point in proving this is that there’s very little NFL talent on the defensive side of the ball. Some of the young guys can certainly develop into NFL players, but when it comes to our guys logging the most minutes right now, I don’t see a lot of high NFL draft picks.

I just don’t.

I think we’re going to see a lot more games like this. We just have to hold on, hoping our offense can make one more play than our defense will give up.

I’m curious to see how Elko handles this, as I think he’s pretty aware of the issues facing this defense.

Defensive Line:

The most exciting thing about this game from a defensive standpoint was the play of our defensive tackles. We already know what Albert Regis can do, but D.J. Hicks had the best game of his career and was flat out disruptive at times.

We also had a good rotation of guys who held up inside most of the night. Tyler Onyedim did a wonderful job rotating in with Hicks and Regis.

Notre Dame struggled to run between the tackles, which is a testament to the interior of our defensive line.

I’m pretty pleased with this group.

I didn’t see much from our defensive ends. Cashius Howell was disruptive on a couple of plays, but for the most part, our defensive ends were pretty quiet all night. They seemed to get taken out of plays where they couldn’t seal the edge.

I have a feeling we’ll see a lot more teams test the edge of our defensive line to see if they can find running space.

I’m not totally sure what the best solution is, but it could pose a problem in the SEC. I kind of think we need to run some of the big young defensive ends out there, like Marco Jones.

Linebackers:

This is the unit that perplexes me a bit.

Scooby Williams missed the second half of the game, but something is becoming more obvious about him. He’s really good at playing with his eyes forward, but he’s not so good at playing going backward.

If the play is in front of him, he can ball. If the play is going behind him, he struggles. He’s not been good in pass coverage in the two seasons at A&M.

I’m pretty sure he blew the coverage on the Jeremiyah Love touchdown reception, where Love just ran a standard wheel route and nobody covered him. That’s usually the assignment of a linebacker, and I believe it was Scooby’s.

I could be wrong, but it seems like it should have been Scooby’s guy.

Scooby made some great plays in the backfield, but he’s got to be a net positive overall.

Daymion Sanford filled in for Scooby and had a fantastic night. He had a big sack at the end of the first half and then had a solo tackle taking down Love on a 4th and 1 play to turn the ball over on downs.

Sanford was far and away our best linebacker of the night.

Now comes the tough part – I think Taurean York is regressing.

He struggled quite a bit on Saturday night and didn’t do much. At least not for a middle linebacker.

He was out of position for a good portion of the night and just didn’t do much. On one specific play on third down, we called a stunt where he was supposed to fill the gap left by Albert Regis. York was slow in getting there, and the Notre Dame lineman made him irrelevant on the play as Notre Dame picked up the first down.

I’ve never considered York an NFL player due to his lack of size, but I do expect more from him in his third year in the Aggie program.

I’m not sure what Elko and Bateman need to do here other than play Sanford more.

Obviously, Scooby’s health is also a factor.

Secondary:

If you had told me we would have only given up 136 yards of rushing, but Notre Dame scored 34 points on offense, I would have been surprised.

I would have thought Notre Dame would have pounded the ball on the ground to get 34 points on offense.

The Aggie secondary had far and away the roughest night of any position group against Notre Dame. Notre Dame has some decent receiving threats, but they shouldn’t have been able to rack up 291 yards through the air.

One guy showed out, and it’s the guy I’ve been critical of from last year’s team – Dezz Ricks. He was far and away our best defender in the secondary on Saturday night. I have to give him credit.

Everyone else looked like a Keystone Cop trying to defend a Notre Dame receiver. In addition to covering, they also struggled with tackling.

Will Lee needs to lose his nickname for a bit, at least publicly. If he needs it to hype himself up, then go for it. His blanket had a few holes in it on Saturday night, especially on third downs. I don’t know if he was playing zone, but there were several times the receiver would stop right past the line of gain on third down, and Will Lee would be three or four yards off of him for an easy third-down conversion.

Notre Dame was 7/15 for third-down conversions on Saturday night. Four plays were where a Notre Dame receiver went right past the stick and turned around while there was no Aggie defender within a couple of yards of him.

Getting off the field on third down has been a staple for Mike Elko. It wasn’t on Saturday night in South Bend.

I don’t know what to do with this unit, as it’s going to be absolutely tested by SEC offenses. If that happens, it will be the reason we don’t get to Atlanta.

I know Bryce Anderson got hurt. It looks like he’s going to be okay. I don’t know about his football future, and that’s not a concern for me. I’m just happy it looks like he’ll be just fine from a physical standpoint.

I think he just had his bell rung really badly and will need some time to recover.

Special Teams:

What was a strength under Elko all of last season was a liability on Saturday night. It all worked out, but this could have been a much easier win if special teams had done a few things better.

Looking Forward:

This is hard to say, but I feel like the Aggies have 2-3 losses this season. This defense is just too bad. If we go up against a defense that can slow us down or, even worse, stop us, we’ll wind up on the short side of things.

8-4 is definitely our floor right now. I feel pretty confident in saying that. That’s not what I want or expect, but I think it’s our floor right now.

Despite the rankings, the SEC is an absolute grinder right now. There’s not a gimme win on our schedule the rest of the way, including Mississippi State. We come out flat for a game, and whoever we play will bite us.

I still feel like LSU is a loss. Their offense hasn’t found its footing, but their defense seems to have improved dramatically from last season.

I feel much better about the Texas game, but it’s going to be a wild game. One team has a stout defense and a struggling offense; the other has a struggling defense and a stout offense.

It wouldn’t shock me if we lost to Auburn coming off that Notre Dame win, as Auburn torches our secondary. I don’t think it happens, but it could.

Florida seems to be down, but they could get better as the season wears on, just like they did last year.

The road games at Arkansas and Missouri won’t be easy. Arkansas is going to get someone, and it could be us.

Who knows what the Gamecocks will look like when they roll into Kyle in November?

I’m not even going to wager a guess on what our final record will look like.

I would be ecstatic if we somehow managed to pull off a 4-1 record in the next five games against Auburn, Mississippi State, Florida, Arkansas, and LSU.

That would put us at 7-1 and well-positioned for Atlanta and the playoffs.

It’s entirely possible, but we’ve got a lot of things to work on. We won’t always get things to break our way like they did on Saturday night.

Enjoy the off week and then let’s BTHO Auburn.

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