It is finally here. A week that has become the biggest week each year for Texas A&M Football is upon us. Alabama week. Better yet, its a home game in the primetime slot on CBS.
Two short years ago, the game was at home in the primetime slot on CBS. That Aggie team was licking its wounds following back-to-back losses against Arkansas and Mississippi State. Nobody thought the 3-2 A&M team stood a chance against an undefeated #1 Alabama team. Just listen to Stephen A. Smith yell about it. Well, a beatdown of epic proportions did not occur. Instead, this happened: One of the greatest moments in recent history for Texas A&M and a moment that will always bring happy tears to my eyes. Absolutely beautiful. This year brings a different narrative. The Tide come into the game 4-1 and on a three-game winning streak with wins over South Florida (17-3), Ole Miss (24-10), and Mississippi State (40-17). Their lone loss occurred at home back on September 9th to our little brother from Austin (more on that later). Alabama is not ranked number one and is not undefeated. In fact, this Alabama team does not feel like the Alabama teams that we are used to facing. They are ripe for a beating. Why? The most important position in the game, the quarterback. This Alabama team does not have the type of elite quarterback we are used to seeing in Crimson. There is no Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones, or Bryce Young. Instead, it is Jalen Milroe leading the Tide and the Alabama passing game has suffered mightily. Milroe has only passed for over 200 yards twice in five games and has yet to throw for more than 255 yards (season high vs Texas). He has six touchdown passes to three interceptions and has been sacked a whopping 15 times. This Aggie defense should be drooling at the opportunity. That being said, the Aggies are 0-1 against Milroe. Last year, in Tuscaloosa, the Aggies came up short on the final play when a puzzling play call by Jimbo led to Haynes King throwing the ball wide and outside of Evan Stewart from the 2-yard line as time expired. Alabama, and Jalen Milroe, won 24-20. Alabama's passing game wasn't pretty under Milroe back then either. He finished 12/19 for 111 yards, three touchdowns, one interception, and two sack fumbles. Only 111 yards passing and much of that came on short passes that Alabama receivers turned upfield for longer scores. The Aggies' pass defense was largely successful. The run defense was not. Milroe ran for 81 yards despite the sacks counting against that number, and Alabama finished with 286 yards overall. Milroe's legs and the inexperience in the Aggies front seven cost A&M the game. Here's a five minute summary if you're interested: There are two key stats when comparing last year's A&M-Alabama game to this year's game. First, Milroe has not been a better passer thus far in 2023. Alabama has faced the 99th (Middle Tennessee), 35th (Texas), 120th (USF), 112th (Ole Miss), and 105th (Mississippi State) best passing defenses in the country but only ranks as the 103rd best passing offense. The Aggies have the 8th best passing defense in the country even after Tyler Van Dyke picked them apart for 374 yards in Week Two. Milroe is no Tyler Van Dyke. Secondly, Texas A&M finished 2022 ranked 124th in run defense out of 131 teams, allowing 218.3 yards per game. This year, through five games, the Aggies rank 20th and are allowing only 96.2 yards per game. All of those defensive linemen from the vaunted 2022 recruiting class are older, more experienced, and playing up to their recruiting rankings. Additionally, freshman Taurean York has provided a much needed boost to the Texas A&M linebacker room alongside Edgerrin Cooper and Chris Russell Jr. The jury is still out on defensive coordinator DJ Durkin's playcalling and defensive scheme, but there is no doubt this 2023 Texas A&M unit is leaps and bounds better than its 2022 counterpart in terms of talent, experience, and production. No matter who wins on Saturday, there is no reason to believe Alabama will rush for 286 yards again. Come Saturday at 2:30pm local time, Alabama will likely try to pound the football using a combination of Milroe and running back Jase McClellan in an attempt to lure the Aggie secondary into coming up in run defense. Alabama offensive coordinator Tommy Rees will then look to play action Milroe away from danger where he can attempt deep plays over the top of the Aggie defense. It's a recipe that almost worked against Texas earlier this year. In that game, Alabama ran the ball 35 times despite only averaging 3.1 yards per carry but that commitment to the run game resulted in a 49-yard touchdown pass to Jermaine Burton and 39-yard touchdown pass to Amari Niblack. Milroe only completed 14 passes, but averaged 9.4 yards per completion. If the Aggie secondary can stay disciplined on play action and the front seven continue to do what they have done since the Miami game, Alabama should have a very tough time moving the ball, let alone scoring points, on this Aggie defense. Offensively for the Aggies, this is an important moment where I think the hiring of Bobby Petrino makes a noticeable difference. In years past, this would be a classic situation where Jimbo would go ultra conservative with the playcalling in an attempt to minimize turnovers. Far too often in those situations, the offense would fail to stay on the field for the long drives that Jimbo was playcalling for, allow the opposing team's defense to key in on early down run plays between the tackles, and stumble to a 10-24 point finish. Just go back and watch the App State, Alabama, Florida, and Auburn games from a year ago. Jimbo is obviously still the head coach at Texas A&M and may very well override Petrino's playcalls. The Aggies could even win a 17-14 or 21-17 game with that style. But you don't go out and hire an established SEC offensive coordinator only to override his playcalling and resort back to what has resulted in far too many pathetic offensive showings during the post Kellen Mond era of Jimbo's tenure. Does the Aggie offense need to avoid turnovers? Absolutely. The worst-case scenario for this game is multiple turnovers that either give Milroe a short field or points to the Alabama defense. Make Milroe repeatedly drive that Alabama offense down the field against the stiff Texas A&M defense. It is a clear recipe for success. Step one: avoid turnovers. Perhaps too obvious of a step. Step two: let Petrino run Petrino's offense. Though Max Johnson started the year as the backup quarterback, he's head and shoulders above a vast majority of other backup quarterbacks in the country. Heck, I'm pretty sure Johnson could have had his pick of starting jobs, including within the SEC, if he decided to transfer at the beginning of this year. He's a more than capable quarterback to run Petrino's offense and does not need to be handled with kid gloves. The Alabama defense is ranked 36th in rush defense, 23rd in pass defense, and 17th in scoring defense. They are talented in their own right and have all the talent to be a top unit in the country. But there are several key differences between this matchup and the Alabama offense vs A&M defense matchup. First, the offensive line has been much better for A&M. The Aggie O-line has only allowed five sacks to Alabama's 20. A&M's run game is averaging 4.92 yards per carry to 4.09 from Alabama's. The Aggies are converting 3rd downs at a 50% rate while Alabama is slightly behind at 46.3%. Second, running back Le'Veon Moss and Amari Daniels have been more productive than Alabama's Jace McClellan and Roydell Williams. The Aggie duo is averaging almost a full yard more per carry than the Tide duo even though the Alabama running backs have combined for 22 more total rushing yards than Moss and Daniels. Third, A&M has more talent and production at tight end and wide receiver than Alabama. That's something extremely uncommon in this matchup that will play an important role on Saturday afternoon. Aggie receivers have 45% more receiving yards than Alabama's receivers (1415 yards to 977 yards). Part of the explanation for the disparity is the quarterback play, but equally important is the receiver's ability to get open. Evan Stewart and Ainias Smith have excelled in their route-running skills this year. Not to mention the Aggie wide receiver corp. is significantly deeper. Jahdae Walker, Noah Thomas, Moose Muhammad III, and Jake Johnson are talented pass catchers that rotate on and off the field. Tight end Amari Niblack is a bright spot for the Alabama offense, but after Jermaine Burton and Isaiah Bond the Alabama wide receivers tend to fall off. Lastly, the obvious difference. Max Johnson vs Jalen Milroe. This is Johnson's fourth year to play quarterback, in some capacity, in the SEC. He's thrown for 44 total touchdowns to eight interceptions while completing just over 60% of his passes. He took over for an injured Connor Weigman in the second quarter against Auburn and went 7/11 for 123 yards, two touchdowns, and zero picks. Johnson then got the start against Arkansas and finished 17/28 for 210 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception in what was a messy game for the entire Aggie offense. Regardless, comparing this year's version of Max Johnson to last year's version, it is clear that he is benefiting from another year of experience and the new offensive system under Bobby Petrino. Though Weigman may be the future for the Aggies, Johnson is clearly a viable starter within the SEC. I'm not sure the same can be said about Jalen Milroe. Milroe has thrown for 12 total touchdowns to six interceptions while completing almost 64% of his passes. Outside of the interceptions, the stats aren't awful for the type of pound and bomb style that Alabama is using this year, but he's nowhere near the passer that Max Johnson is. Milroe may have a mobility advantage but Johnson can move better than people give him credit for. In the end, you can't convince me that Nick Saban wouldn't trade Milroe for Johnson as his starting quarterback. Is Johnson better? Clearly yes. But how much better can he be on Saturday when both quarterbacks are facing tough defenses? This Texas A&M team is better prepared to beat Nick Saban and Alabama than any other A&M team has been since joining the SEC in 2012. The Aggies have the better quarterback, the better offense, and the better defense. Now it is time for this team to put it all together on the field. Though a night game would have been incredible at Kyle Field, the environment will still be electric. It's standing room only and the students started camping out to pull their tickets for this game almost two weeks in advance, tents and all. This is it. The single most important game of Jimbo's tenure at Texas A&M and there's no excuse not to win it. This is for first place in the SEC West with everything in front of A&M. Trips to Tennessee, Ole Miss, and LSU remain but win on Saturday and all of a sudden this team has a legitimate path to play Georgia in the SEC Championship. Texas and Steve Sarkisian beat Saban and Alabama. We can do it for the second time in three years. Give 'em hell Ags. Texas A&M 27 Alabama 16 Follow Cole on X (Twitter) @_ColeDolan and check back later this weekend for a recap of the game. In our preview I did mention the possibility of this game bringing Aggieland back down to earth. I also didn't think that would happen unless the run game was nonexistent. I anticipated the Aggie offensive line dominating up front and the Aggies winning by about the same margin that they lost by. What I didn't anticipate was just an absolute no-show by this vaunted Aggie defense, and specifically the defensive line that has been so highly touted as the best unit on the team.
That being said, while I cautioned fans following the thumping of New Mexico not to get too hyped, I'm going to caution fans to not get too down on this team following this loss. Yes, expectations were high and this loss certainly stings, but it is a nonconference loss to a good team. We'll see how the ACC plays out but Clemson is certainly not what it once was, North Carolina barely escaped Appalachian State in double overtime, and the second best looking team (behind Florida State) has been the Duke Blue Devils. My point is that Miami may very well contend for the ACC, so this loss may not look as bad come October or November. But that is an outcome the Aggies can't control. Let's take a quick look at the good, the bad, and the ugly from the Aggies' loss in Miami. The Good - Connor Weigman's Chin In multiple ways, Weigman took a shot on the chin and got right back up to continue to lead this team. On the second drive of the second half, Ainias Smith ran into the middle of Miami's offense, was wide open for a first down, but slipped and allowed the defender behind him to intercept the incoming pass. What a way for Weigman to have his first collegiate interception. Two drives later, with the Aggies nearing the middle of the field down only five points, Amari Daniels took a helmet to the football on 3rd and 1 and fumbled the ball. Incredibly disappointing for the Aggie offense following a 7 play, 75 yard touchdown drive. Two drives later, Weigman took the offense 74 yards in just 1:26 of game time to make it a one score game once again. Throughout the game, but especially in the second half, Weigman stood tall in the pocket, taking hit after hit, while keeping the Aggies' comeback attempt alive. Weigman finished 31/53 for 336 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions, and 29 yards rushing. I know those two interceptions count, but neither were Weigman's fault. He showed immense poise, accuracy on every level of pass, and the ability to move around the pocket and make plays with his feet. He's special and the Aggies have him at least through next season. The Aggie offense is in good hands. The Bad - Aggie Run Game Amari Daniels and Rueben Owens combined for 69 yards on 23 carries for an average of 3 yards per carry. Not good, especially when taking into account this year was supposed to be a meshing year for an offensive line that was touted during the broadcast as being bigger than the average NFL offensive line. Some of the low production can be attributed to the comeback attempt in the second half, where the Aggies were forced to score quick to keep pace with the Miami offense, but this is just not acceptable for the amount of talent on that offensive line and in the backfield. The Ugly - Lines of Scrimmage We talked above about the offensive line's struggles in run blocking. The problem is that the pass blocking was even worse. Miami brought multiple blitzes, including several from the cornerback position, and the Aggie offensive line and running backs consistently missed assignments. I can understand the misses from the running backs, they are young and in their first year of playing a substantial amount of snaps, but the offensive line got punished by a Miami defensive line that is not as good as many of the other defensive lines that the Aggies will face this year. Not to mention multiple Miami defensive line starters were not out there in the second half. To make matters even worse, the offensive line was the better unit in the trenches when compared to their defensive counterparts. After the game I had to go check the wanted and missing persons report for Miami-Dade County for this Aggie defensive line. Tyler Van Dyke was essentially playing 7 on 7 drills out there with no pressure making him move from the pocket. The defensive line was supposed to be the Aggies' strength and the amount of blue chip talent in that unit would back that statement up. I don't know where they were. I don't know how to explain the amount of time I watched Van Dyke stand in the pocket and scan the field. It wasn't like last year when DJ Durkin's 3-3-5 defensive scheme was the easy answer. Van Dyke finished 21/30 for 374 yards and five touchdowns, tying a touchdown record that was set by Ken Dorsey during the early 2000s. Forget the Where's Waldo or I Spy books, I'm going to put a replay of Saturday's game on the television and see if my kids can spot the Aggie defensive linemen. Goodness gracious. Follow Cole on X (Twitter) @_ColeDolan and check back soon for our next article! Texas A&M @ Miami, 2:30 CST, ABC, A&M -4.0 (Caesar's)
The Texas A&M Aggies and the Miami Hurricanes each hosted a warmup game in week one, with the Aggies hosting New Mexico and the Hurricanes hosting Miami of Ohio. Both games ended as expected, with the Aggies dominating 52-10 and the Hurricanes dominating 38-3. Each team did what they were supposed to do. That is a welcome sight following last year's matchup between these two teams. During the week three matchup last year, Miami came in undefeated and ranked #13, but the Aggies were hobbling in from one of the worst losses in recent memory—an atrocious 17-14 loss at home to Appalachian State. The Aggies would end up beating Miami 17-9, but the game was not easy to watch. Max Johnson finished 10/20 for 140 yards, the Aggie run game finished at 3.9 yards per carry, and the Aggies were outgained in total yardage by 392 to 264. Two missed Miami field goals and a fumble recovered by the Aggie defense turned out to be the difference in the game. This year sees a reversal of roles. Both teams are undefeated, but it is the Aggies going on the road as the only ranked team in the matchup. All is well in Aggieland after a successful week one outing from the new-look Bobby Petrino offense. It was only New Mexico, but the Aggies looked significantly better offensively in week one than perhaps any week of the 2022 season outside of the finale against LSU. Both fan bases have high expectations for this season, and both head coaches are feeling the heat to win after disappointing seasons last year. This game may not determine either team's chances to win their division, conference, or even make their first College Football Playoff appearance, but it does have the potential to be an important building block to a successful season. Returning Starters The national media loved to bring up the "mass exodus" of Texas A&M players through the transfer portal over the offseason. Yes, the Aggies had 27 transfer portal departures. But what wasn't as commonly talked about is the fact that the Aggies return the most starters of any team in the SEC at 19. Along with those 19 returning starters, they will also return 80% of the production from 2022. Furthermore, some of the top Aggie "stars" that departed in the transfer portal haven't exactly proven their worth elsewhere. Denver Harris is already in the doghouse at LSU. Tunmise Adeleye finished with one solo tackle and one assisted tackle in Michigan State's opener against Central Michigan. Smoke Bouie is already out at Georgia. Chris Marshall is already out at Ole Miss. I don't wish these former Aggies or any others anything other than success in their future endeavors, but my point is that the whole "mass exodus" narrative was completely overblown. More likely is that Jimbo cleaned up the locker room and focused in on the guys that he believed had a future on the team. Trim the fat. On Miami's side, the Hurricanes return seven starters on each side of the ball, including quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, leading rusher Henry Parrish Jr., and star safety James Williams, who led the Hurricanes in tackles in 2022. The returning starters result in a returning production of around 62% from 2022. Road Environment It is no secret that Miami playing their home games at the Hard Rock Stadium instead of an on-campus stadium hasn't resulted in any significant home field advantage. Attendance in week one was 49,024. More than 30,000 Aggies showed up for the first Midnight Yell of 2023. Even Tyler Van Dyke prefers playing road games where the environment is better. It's not even the opponent that matters. This week, in an attempt to muster together any sort of home field advantage, Miami is offering a BOGO ticket deal where if you buy a ticket to the Texas A&M game, you get a ticket to the Georgia Tech game for free. I mean...c'mon Cane fans. Keys to Victory In the 2022 matchup, the Aggies were successful in limiting the effectiveness of Tyler Van Dyke. He finished with only 21 completions on 41 attempts for a mediocre 217 yards. The Aggie defense was solid but couldn't force an interception (even with several opportunities) or record a sack. DJ Durkin largely ran his patented 3-3-5 defense, which provided more defenders in pass coverage but left running holes open on the ground. Like many games last year, the Aggie defense allowed far too much yardage on the ground. Miami racked up 175 yards rushing and kept third downs manageable, resulting in drives of 16 plays, 12 plays, 12 plays, and 8 plays. There are some key differences in the outlook for this year's game. In week one, we largely saw Durkin's 3-3-5 defense shelved in favor of a four-man front. That's not an indicator of Durkin's game plan moving forward, but the Aggies finished with the 122nd best run defense in 2022. Furthermore, the strength of this Aggie defense by a significant margin is the talent and depth along the defensive line. It has to be inevitable that we see more four-man fronts moving forward from the Aggies. It just makes no sense to keep trying the 3-3-5. Offensively, the Aggies looked great in the pass game in week one but did not show a whole lot in the run game. De'Von Achane is gone, and the Aggies have shifted to a running back by committee approach. This unit is the key to a victory on Saturday. Run the ball moderately effectively and there will be immense pressure on the Miami defense. Outside of the top few defenses in college football, it is virtually impossible to stuff the run while simultaneously covering Evan Stewart, Noah Thomas, Moose Muhammad, and Ainias Smith. That arsenal of playmaking ability is simply too much to cover unless you're consistently dropping 7 or 8 defenders into coverage. Verdict The jury is still out on both of these teams. Both project to be better in 2023, and ESPN's Football Power Index actually predicts Miami to finish about a game better than Texas A&M. I think that prediction is based more on the schedule of each team and is less indicative of how these teams match up. The Aggie defense played Van Dyke well in 2022, and I think a similar result occurs this year. The talented Aggie defensive line will get more pressure on the Miami quarterback, record multiple sacks, and provide opportunities for turnovers. Whether the Aggie secondary can make the interception remains to be seen. The unit has not been able to snag any significant amount of interceptions in recent years. But I don't think that will even matter. The Aggie defense will be better this year in both the pass game and run game. Offensively, this Texas A&M team is a whole different animal from the 2022 squad. Maybe this game brings the unit down to earth. I don't see it unless the run game is nonexistent.
It is the greatest time of the year. College football is back, and fall is near, although it doesn't feel like it for most of us in the South. This time last year, the Aggies blew out the Sam Houston State Bearkats to begin the season, 31-0. This year, the Aggies blew out New Mexico 52-10. Two sound wins with 31-point and 42-point margins, and yet the two games feel vastly different.
Against Sam Houston State a year ago, the Aggies landed big play after big play, scoring touchdowns from 66, 63, and 46 yards out. Haynes King finished with 364 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. The Aggies finished with 11.1 yards per pass and 3.4 yards per rush. Against New Mexico this year, the Aggies lacked 40+ yard touchdowns but were more methodical and efficient. Their longest touchdown was only 35 yards, but the Aggies finished with zero turnovers and only two punts. As a whole, the Aggies finished with 8.1 yards per pass and 4.6 yards per rush. It is difficult to explain the difference between watching the two games by breaking down the numbers. While the Aggies felt explosive against the Bearkats, it also felt like gaining first downs on every drive was burdensome for that team. It was as if the team could either pull off the big play or lose possession of the ball, whether that be a turnover or a punt. There was no in-between. Perhaps that's a difference in quarterbacks, but it feels like the offensive scheme and play calling are more likely the answer. The problem is that outside of the number of punts and turnovers, the numbers don't back up that explanation. Haynes King had 364 yards to Connor Weigman's 236. Leading rusher Devon Achane had 46 yards rushing to Amari Daniels' 51. The Aggie defense was 7/13 on third down against the Bearkats but 3/7 against the Lobos. Similarly, the Aggie defense kept the Bearkats to 1/13 on third down with 10 total first downs, but the Lobos to 3/13 on third down with 18 total first downs. This year's game felt different, in a very positive way, but the statistics don't back up that "feeling". That's exactly why Aggie fans should remain cautious moving forward. I'm right there with you, and there is a certain amount of value that can be placed on the "eye test," but you can't argue with statistics. This week's game against Miami should provide much more insight into the difference between this year's team and last year's. Regardless, Aggie football is back, and after one week, the Ags are undefeated. Here's what I loved and hated about the Aggies' first victory of 2023: What I loved: 1) Connor Weigman Weigman is that guy. He's the present and future of the Aggies. He looked poised, decisive, and accurate, with an arm capable of making every throw that the offense needed. Through six games as a starter, he's 91/155 passing (58.7%) for 13 touchdowns and no picks, and that's including the 14/36 outing against Auburn last year, where the entire offense was in peak disaster form. The accuracy will improve this year, and if Weigman can up that completion percentage to around the 70% mark, this offense will be one of the best in the country. 2) Jimbo as CEO One of the lesser-talked-about aspects of this Aggie team in previous years, often overshadowed by the underperforming offense, was the fact that there seemed to be a lack of leadership while the game was being played. Timeouts were often used at inopportune times, Weigman was often rushed through pre-snap reads by the play clock, incorrect personnel were on the field, and even the simple parts of the game felt burdensome. It is a difficult issue with the team to explain without going back and pointing out every instance of the above list, but if you watched Aggie football last year, then you felt the same kind of uncomfortableness that I'm trying to convey. It's only one game, but that felt much different with Jimbo running the entire team instead of just the offense. Bobby Petrino's offense showed out, which of course was a welcome sight, but I was more impressed with the overall business-like nature of both sides of the ball. The Aggies did have nine penalties for 88 yards, and the first possession following halftime was a three-play, negative six-yard disaster, so there is plenty to work on this week before the trip to Miami. But when comparing this team to the 2022 squad and even the blowout victory over Sam Houston State, there seemed to be a different air of maturity, preparation, and leadership about them. This week will tell us more, but the initial look at Jimbo as head coach and Bobby as offensive coordinator is a very positive one. 3) Wide Receiver Talent and Separation Welcome to the big stage, Noah Thomas! We heard rumblings from camp that Noah Thomas was a guy to keep an eye on, and he did not disappoint in week one. Thomas finished with six catches for 74 yards and three touchdowns. If you missed the game on Saturday (inexcusable, by the way) and only watched the highlights, you likely saw a bunch of Noah Thomas in the endzone. More impressive was that, despite the Noah Thomas show being in peak form, Evan Stewart was strangely and quietly just as impressive. Stewart finished with two fewer touchdowns but reeled in eight catches for 115 yards, for an average catch of 14.4 yards. Ainias Smith and Moose Muhammad were a little underwhelming in terms of statistics (3 catches for 40 yards, 3 catches for 12 yards, and a touchdown, respectively), but I think that was much more of a product of Bobby taking advantage of mismatches outside and the new rules keeping the clock running, shortening the game and thereby providing fewer plays for the Aggie offense. It's a nice problem to have when your quarterback has too many weapons to get the ball to everyone. It was only New Mexico, but the Aggie receivers were open all evening and looked like a different class of athlete than the Lobo secondary. What I hated: 1) The Run Game Let me preface this by saying I'm hard on my Aggies. I have high expectations and will pick apart even a 52-10 victory that many others may write off as a massive success. The run game was not great and not where it should be against a lower-class opponent like New Mexico. Amari Daniels rushed seven times for 51 yards, with a long of 27 yards. That means six of the rushes totaled only 24 yards for a 4 yards per carry average. Le'Veon Moss and Rueben Owens combined for 13 carries for 51 yards, or 3.92 yards per carry. Averaging those numbers throughout the SEC slate will win the Aggies a lot of games, but New Mexico was ranked 75th in rush defense as a team last year. Averaging around four yards per carry against the Lobos is clearly not the same as averaging four yards per carry against the gauntlet of SEC West opponents that the Aggies face later this season. 2) Lobos in the Aggie Backfield New Mexico only managed one sack on Weigman, but there were far more hurries. Even during a couple of the touchdown passes, Weigman made the throw with a defender in his face. Making the throw and evading the pressure is great, but New Mexico put consistent pressure on Weigman when this Aggie offensive line was supposed to be much improved from last year. Granted, Jimbo did make a comment during an on-field interview that the New Mexico defensive staff was using several complex blitzing schemes against the Aggie offense, and the offense still beat the blitz on a majority of occasions, but it's always concerning to see pressure on your quarterback early in the season before SEC play begins. 3) The Defense (at times) Overall, the Aggie defense was on par with the other top units in college football, so there is nothing to really "hate" here.
Through the air, the Lobos were more effective, posting an 8.2 yards per catch average. Four Lobos had catches of over 10 yards. But New Mexico quarterback Dylan Hopkins finished with only 115 yards on 15/24 passing, zero touchdowns, and one interception. If you take the game as a whole, the Aggie defense performed up to expectations, but at times, especially early in the game, the Lobo offense was more effective than it should have been. New Mexico's first drive was 10 plays, 42 yards, and a punt. Their third drive was six plays, 88 yards, and a touchdown. Their first drive after halftime was 12 plays, 51 yards, and a field goal. Remember, this team ranked 100th in rush offense and 127th in pass offense out of 130 teams a year ago. That's where my concern ("hate") lies, especially when a Miami Hurricane team that put up 243 yards passing and 250 yards rushing on an 8.1 yards per play average awaits the visiting Aggies this week. Follow Cole on X (Twitter) @_ColeDolan and check back soon for his preview of the Miami game. CategoriesAll
Here we are again, recapping another loss. The sixth loss in a row is something that hasn't happened for Texas A&M football since 1972. There really aren't words to describe how much of a failure this season has been. Ugly, atrocious, heinous—pick your preference.
It is easily the worst season I've ever witnessed, though I'm a younger Aggie who is fortunate enough to not have witnessed the Dennis Franchione years. In fact, Texas A&M probably has a solid case of theft against Jimbo Fisher at this point in his contract. We'll get into that a little later, but first, let's quickly recap the Aggies' trip to the Plains. Texas A&M vs. Auburn reminded me of a game I used to play with my brother when we were young. We would go outside, each build a little rock wall, and proceed to throw rocks at one another. That sounds ridiculous, I know, but neither one of us was remotely accurate at rock-throwing. So, our "game" would result in both of us hurling dozens of rocks at one another until finally one connected, and the game would swiftly come to a tearful end. That inept, pointless game is a perfect analogy to what we witnessed Saturday night in Jordan-Hare. Weigman finished 14 of 36 for 121 yards and a touchdown. Auburn quarterback Robby Ashford finished 6-13 for 60 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. It was just a miserable game to watch. Without Devon Achane, the Aggies' run game was essentially nonexistent, notching only 94 yards on 24 attempts. As a result, the Aggies were forced to throw the ball, and the offensive line, which has had numerous issues this season, again left their quarterback scrambling for his life. Weigman was sacked three times and was officially hurried another six times. The official stats don't really tell the true story though. You would be hard-pressed to find a single down where Weigman had three or more seconds to go through his progression. As much as the offense was a replica of itself during the rest of the season, so was the defense. DJ Durkin's unit played well in spurts but still struggled mightily against the run. Granted, Auburn was a one-dimensional team, but the Tigers still ran up 270 yards on the ground. The young Aggie defensive line failed to fill the proper lanes, couldn't disrupt the inside of Auburn's offensive line consistently, and was gashed too frequently on the ground. The Tigers averaged 4.9 yards per carry on the ground when the Aggie defense knew what was coming. The Aggies are the same team we have witnessed all year, and that is a problem. But it is not a problem that can't be resolved. Don't get me wrong; I called Jimbo a failure over a month ago. But if you look closely at this season, there are factors that contributed to the awful season that were out of Jimbo's control. Injuries have plagued the team, especially on the offensive line. Eighteen-year-old freshmen are starting or playing significant minutes all across the board, especially on the defensive line. Further, the quarterback room has been a revolving door due to a combination of poor performance and injuries. It has been a disaster almost all across the board for the Aggies, thus the 3-7 season. The bright spot, if there is any, is that the offense has been so bad that I truly believe Jimbo has no choice this offseason but to hire a play-calling offensive coordinator. Even though he is a made man with his Florida State championship and has generational wealth thanks to Texas A&M, every football coach has pride when it comes to their legacy. Based on Jimbo's comments about Aggieland and the reasons he left Florida State (largely a lack of financial support from the administration), I truly believe he wants to remain the head coach of Texas A&M for the foreseeable future. Because of that, I believe he will go out and hire an offensive coordinator this off-season. Yes, things are absolutely atrocious this year, and Aggie fans have every right to voice their displeasure, but college football fans, in general, have less patience than would be beneficial for their program. I'm not defending Jimbo. I'm as upset as every other fan. But I just don't see the benefit in blowing up the program, spending $85 million to buy out Jimbo, and rolling the dice on a new head coach. This season will go down as one of the worst in A&M history, and I understand every fan calling for Jimbo's head, but the correct move going forward is to give Jimbo another year. Let the team get healthy, let the vaunted 2022 recruiting class make their decisions as to who is truly an Aggie, and let's see who our new offensive coordinator is for 2023. Don't believe the national media. This season was awful, but this program is not trending toward the cellar. This, by all accounts, should be a wake-up call for Jimbo to make the decision that so many other programs have already made. A head coach cannot be both a general manager and an offensive coordinator. Jimbo can recruit among the best, but his days as an offensive coordinator are well past sunset. As bad as this season was, it has the potential to be a springboard for accomplishing the necessary changes to vault this program into contention in the SEC. That needs to be something fans and recruits can believe heading into the offseason. Follow Cole on Twitter @_ColeDolan and please comment your opinion on the current state of the program. CategoriesAll
At this point in the season, predicting and recapping games has become such a chore. Not that I don't love to write about Texas A&M football, but because every game is seemingly a replay of itself with the Aggies just facing a different team in a different colored jersey. The critical issues within this team have not been solved and will not be solved this season. That has severely dampened my excitement for the remaining games on the schedule, despite bowl eligibility still being on the table.
Apparently, it has dampened the excitement of many other fans as well. I was at Kyle Field this past Saturday, and despite the stadium being near capacity, it was one of the quietest kickoffs and overall atmospheres I've been in. A 3-5 record certainly didn't help get the crowd up, and the 11 AM kickoffs are always a little sleepy, but I think the detached feeling from the fans sums up the current state of the program: hopelessness, at least for the rest of this season. Take basically any game this season, and the narrative is pretty similar to what we saw on Saturday against the Gators. Defensively, the young defensive line can't stop the run, DJ Durkin's 3-3-5 doesn't work, and there are just too many injuries in the defensive two-deep to have the necessary depth to compete in the SEC. The Gators had 291 yards rushing, didn't turn the ball over, and were simply better in the second half. Offensively, Devon Achane was successful in the first half but absent in the second half; the Aggie quarterback of the day (Haynes King) turned the ball over at inopportune times, and the offense stalled during a large portion of the game (the entire second half). Once again, the narrative was similar to every other game this year. At the end of last Saturday's game, another conference loss at Kyle Field, I found myself less upset than in previous weeks. Possibly because I could blame the team's rampant injuries and flu virus, but more likely because I know the problems that plague this team aren't going to be fixed week after week. The product that we saw on the field against the Gators is the same product that we've seen all year. This team is severely flawed and not mature enough or well-coached enough to overcome the flaws. Three games remain on the Aggies' schedule, and the team must win out to become bowl eligible. Forget LSU at the end of the year, Auburn is playing better football than the Aggies at this point in the season and may provide a swift death to my hopes for a bowl game...not for the game itself but for the additional 15 practices that this team clearly would benefit from. If you told me this Aggie squad would be 4-8 at the end of Jimbo's 5th year, I would have laughed you out of the room. Now that seems like a probability. That probability is certainly sitting heavy with the recruits from the 2023 class. Anthony Hill, a five-star linebacker, decommitted earlier this week, and the Aggies are left with only 11 commits in the class with less than three months until National Signing Day. Not only was Hill perhaps the most important piece of the class due to playing a position of extreme need for the Aggies, but he may be the first domino to fall. In today's college football game, it is virtually impossible to keep highly talented young players interested in the program when you are not competitive within your own division. Their peers that signed with rival schools are experiencing more success, and you better believe they are letting the Aggie players and recruits know it. I don't think Hill's recruitment is over for the Aggies, and I don't think the 2023 class implodes, but the Aggies' 2023 class is ranked 23rd nationally and 8th in the SEC. That's nowhere near good enough to compete at the standard that fans are expecting Jimbo to compete at. Furthermore, the next three months are not going to be easy for Jimbo and his staff to improve the class. What do you sell recruits on besides the A&M brand and a future with Connor Weigman? Nobody wants to come play for a team that is a national embarrassment. The selling point has to happen via a seismic shift following the LSU game. That seismic shift is dependent upon a change offensively. Specifically, a change from Jimbo calling the plays. Yes, the defense has been an issue, and Durkin's 3-3-5 scheme has failed, but you have got to give a coordinator more than one year to establish his system. Durkin's unit has been ravaged by injuries and is using more underclassmen than almost every other unit in the FBS. The defense has been bad, but it also has shown the capability to be a great unit. For that reason, I'm not mailing it in on Durkin as long as he's not running the 3-3-5. There have been enough highlights despite the putrid offense to give Durkin another season. At this point, Jimbo, either stands his ground and steals money from A&M or swallows his pride and hands off play-calling duties. There are several competent play callers available for hiring that will absolutely change the way this football team scores points. Alabama and Georgia have both adapted to the current offensive trends. It is clear that Jimbo needs to follow suit. Whether he is able to step away from play-calling remains to be seen, but therein lies the crux of Jimbo and Texas A&M's future. It is a crossroads in Jimbo's career. Yes, he succeeded with Bobby Bowden's Florida State leftovers. But Jimbo hasn't succeeded at the collegiate level since Jameis Winston stole some crab legs. It is crystal clear that Jimbo's offensive system is no longer viable. But is he capable of recognizing that? Whether this A&M program succeeds under Jimbo is completely reliant on that determination. This is it. This offseason will mark a turning point in Jimbo's career and the Texas A&M football program. It is officially Weigman season in Aggieland! 338 yards and four touchdowns on 28 completions in 44 attempts is about as good of a stat line as you could ask of a freshman quarterback making his first start against a top-15 SEC team. He advanced through his progression, threw the deep ball, threw the TE seam route, and successfully dumped the ball to Achane in the flat when the other options were not there. Look, it wasn't perfect, but it is a heck of a lot more than we've seen from any other Aggie quarterback since Kellen Mond. While Weigman started off on fire, the Aggies still fell to the Rebels 31-28. Every loss hurts, but at this point in the season the Aggies are playing for the future. Part of that future should include doing everything possible to reach a bowl game and get the extra 15 practice sessions allowed under NCAA rules. The Aggies had every opportunity to notch one of the three required additional wins to become bowl eligible against Ole Miss, but once again came up short in a close game. There are two main reasons for the loss. First, the Aggies failed to put up any points between the 4:16 mark in the first quarter and the 9:11 mark in the fourth quarter. After starting out on the first two drives gashing the Ole Miss run defense, setting up Weigman's passes, moving with tempo, and scoring back-to-back touchdowns, the Aggie offense shifted into neutral. Surprise, surprise, Jimbo suddenly slowed down the offense, abandoned Achane and the run game, and could not convert third downs. After the two opening touchdown drives, the Aggies following six drives ended with the following:
Even more concerning was the Aggie defense. As Lane Kiffin said in the postgame interview: "We had 390 yards rushing against a bunch of five stars. Pretty good." The Aggie defense could not get off the field when the team needed them to, and DJ Durkin's 3-3-5 scheme once again made an appearance and was swiftly eviscerated. Yes, the Aggies have injuries across the defense (although Rebel fans might have a legitimate gripe with some of those on Saturday night) and the unit is full of young players, but there is no excuse to let a team run up 390 yards on the ground. I don't know if Durkin is the answer at defensive coordinator, but I do know that his 3-3-5 scheme is not working. Obviously I would have preferred the Aggies to blow out Ole Miss and be one step closer to bowl eligibility, but in terms of the future of the program, I think Saturday night was actually a good result for the offense. Weigman looked good but Jimbo's scheme still looked bad. I would have been worried if Weigman came out and completely changed the offense that Jimbo would have closed the door to surrendering his play calling duties at the end of the season. While an offensive renaissance this year would be much welcomed by Aggie fans, for this program to achieve true competitiveness a top the SEC West, Jimbo's scheme has got to go. It has worked in the past, but it is not sustainable in today's game. There is a higher turnover of players on teams than ever before and to remain consistently competitive in such a tough conference, you need an offensive scheme that can adapt to different players and especially different quarterbacks. For the defense, Saturday night was ugly, and there has been ugly stretches throughout several games this season. But it is Durkin's first year, there are injuries throughout the two-deep, and every player you see making a play not named Demani Richardson, Jaylon Jones, Chris Russell Jr., or McKinnley Jackson is an underclassman. You will see a lot of Aggie fans calling for Durkin's head, but I think it is still a little early to call it a wrap on his tenure as defensive coordinator. But if that 3-3-5 shows up and performs miserably again, I might switch camps. For now, it is the same three goals that the Aggies had after the loss to South Carolina: 1) Damage control, 2) Develop the youth movement, and 3) Become bowl eligible for the extra practices. If Weigman can continue to perform well, Jimbo can sell the other younger players on the future. A few players may be out, but the Aggies are still in a good position, considering the circumstances, to maintain the 2022 recruiting class and improve the 2023 recruiting class (currently 17th). The biggest threat, and I can't believe I'm saying this after so much hope at the beginning of this season, is making a bowl game. The Aggies need to win three of the following:
Fortunately, three games are at home, but the task still isn't easy. Step one is getting mentally prepared for the team's first 11AM kickoff since the season opener against Sam Houston. A win over Florida and all of a sudden, a bowl game looks much more attainable. Categories All
Ole Miss (-1.5) at Texas A&M 7:30PM CST, o/u 54.5 (Caesars)
Talk about two programs trending in opposite ways. Fans of the Ole Miss Rebels and fans of the Texas A&M Aggies have experienced vastly different football seasons in 2022. Though the Rebels did suffer their first loss last week at LSU, Lane Kiffin's squad is 7-1 on the season and right in the mix for the SEC West crown. On the other hand, at Texas A&M, where do we even begin? There really aren't words to describe how disastrous of a season it has been so far. The offense is largely inept; the offensive line is terrible; the quarterback position has been a carousel due to poor play and injuries; and lastly, multiple freshmen from the vaunted 2022 class have been suspended. That being said, I don't believe the internal state of the program is anywhere near as bad as most Aggies fans are hearing on social media. Rumors spread like wildfire, whether true or not, and plenty of rival teams and fans have reason to point and laugh at the Aggies this season. Young players that are immensely talented and have dozens of offers coming out of high school are, by and large, going to have large egos and a sense of entitlement that is hard to manage. I'm not saying every young athlete is entitled. All of these guys have put in an incredible amount of time developing their skills and are naturally gifted. But the Aggies brought in the best recruiting class of all time last spring, which included 30 players. That's a whole lot of talent and a whole lot of all of the things that come with that talent. Though I'm pumping the brakes on all of the rumors that have come out this week, this is college football, and this is the SEC. If you don't provide results, especially when all of the ancillary things are in place for a program (money, facilities, alumni, NFL draft potential, etc.), the axe will come down. I'm not a Jimbo apologist, but I'm not ready to wave the white flag on his tenure. Changes need to be made (HIRE AN OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR!) but there is still time for change to be made. As much as everyone likes to point and laugh at Jimbo's guaranteed contract, it does provide a unique luxury for every opportunity to be exhausted. College football head coaches, especially at the top level of the sport, are often not given the full opportunity to establish a program. Jimbo has every opportunity, better or worse, to show his caliber at Texas A&M. On to Ole Miss. Predicting this game is about as easy as picking winning Powerball numbers. The Aggie offensive line is in shambles, indications from inside the program are that Connor Weigman will be making his first start, and Jimbo and his team have been beaten to a pulp by the media this week. But, it is the Aggies' first home game since September 17th. Yes, you read that right. It's been well over a month since the Aggies played in front of their home fans. This Aggie team is backed into a corner and has plenty of talent to take down an Ole Miss squad at home. Then add in the possibility of Connor Weigman starting at quarterback. It is all a giant question mark. What we do know is that DJ Durkin knows Lane Kiffin's offense and has a top-tier defense this year. The Rebels have leaned on the run game this year, and I expect Durkin to continue to rely on the four-man front along the defensive line. The Rebels are third in the country in rush yardage, only behind the run-happy military academies of Air Force and Army. Meanwhile, the Aggie defense is 102nd in the country in rush defense. There's your key stat for Saturday night. Fortunately for this Aggie defense, DJ Durkin has slowly shifted to using more defensive linemen to ensure less yardage on the ground. Ole Miss squad struggled on the road last week against LSU. Besides that game, the Rebels have only traveled to Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt. Do those even count as road games? For those of you attending the game Saturday night, treat this as a competition with the LSU fan base. Home-field advantage is typically treated as a three-point advantage in football. But in college football, there is an upper echelon of home fields that provide a higher point advantage. Kyle Field has traditionally existed in that echelon, and the Aggies are going to need every bit of it against the Rebels. I'm going to make a score prediction, but based on everything going on with the Aggie program and especially the offense, the spectrum of results is wide. Ole Miss is certainly capable of outpacing the Aggie offense by a wide margin and making this ugly. Kyle Field and this Aggie defense are equally capable of forcing Kiffin's offensive unit to get stuck in the mud. Call me an optimist, or a blind Aggie supporter, but it feels like a great week for the Aggies to respond to being backed into a corner with the help of their home crowd. Winning this game starts with stopping the Ole Miss ground game and ends with the offense resembling a competent unit. I think that will happen this weekend, but this one could end up with virtually any score. Texas A&M 24 Ole Miss 20 CategoriesAll
Texas A&M and South Carolina kicked off around 6:40 CST on Saturday night at Williams-Brice Stadium. Five minutes and nine seconds later, the Aggies trailed 17-0. It was one of the most inept openings I have ever seen from this team under any coach. It just makes it that much worse that it happened in year five of our $100+ million coach's tenure with, at least, top-10 level talent.
What makes this year more unbearable is that Aggie fans are having to watch the following coaches have success in their own conference:
All of them are significantly earlier in their tenure as head coach at their school. All of the programs have less talent than Texas A&M, and yet all of these teams are experiencing significantly more success than the Aggies. Sure, some of their schedules have not been as difficult as the Aggies' thus far, but I'm worried about just getting to a bowl game at this point in the year. The Aggies need to win three out of the following games to become bowl eligible:
Do you see three wins? It may very well come down to beating LSU at home to end the regular season. As for an analysis of the South Carolina game, if you have watched any other A&M game this year, then you know the basic storyline. The offense was improved, but still a disaster. Jimbo stuck with the same scheme that hasn't worked all season. The offensive line was Swiss cheese for most of the night. The defense played well until it didn't. DJ Durkin ran more four-down lineman sets before, recklessly reverting to his beloved 3-3-5, which gave up yards on the ground and in the air. Overall, the team was sloppy and not prepared for a road game in the SEC. I mean, how do you not have a better silent snap count in place that doesn't result in EIGHT false starts?? Take away the first five minutes and nine seconds of the game and all of a sudden the score is 24-13 in favor of the Aggies, right in line with my pregame prediction. I realize it was the South Carolina State Fair weekend (the SEC Network broadcast only mentioned it about 30 times) and the stadium was near its 80,000 capacity, but it is hard for me to consider that to be any sort of excuse for the way the Aggies started the game. Just two weeks ago, the Aggies played in front of nearly 100,000 Alabama fans at Bryant-Denny Stadium who were out for blood, and yet the Aggies didn't have nearly the disastrous start that they had in Columbia. It is inexcusable by Jimbo and the rest of his staff. A quick aside to provide a glimpse of hope. The Aggies managed 398 yards of offense, got Devon Achane 27 touches, and Evan Stewart 6 catches for 87 yards. Fadil Diggs notched yet another strip-sack, and Bryce Anderson looked and played like an upperclassman. The Aggie defense held Spencer Rattler to 168 yards passing and the South Carolina running game to 3.4 yards per carry. The young players are improving, and it is showing up in the box score. For the rest of this season, Jimbo should have three main goals: 1) Damage control: keep the team together and prevent younger players bought into the program from leaving. 2) Maximum experience: Involve younger players without abandoning key veteran playmakers. 3) Save face: Become bowl eligible for practice time in whatever Charmin Toilet Paper Bowl we may play in. Schematic changes aren't coming during the season. Hiring a play-calling offensive coordinator will, at the very earliest, only happen during bowl game preparations. Aggie fans almost certainly won't see that change until the off-season. This season isn't just on fire; it has crashed and burned. Now Jimbo needs to manage the smoldering mess and create something that remotely resembles hope for the future. Follow Cole on Twitter @_ColeDolan and check back later this week for a game-by-game prediction of the second half of the Aggies' season. What a whirlwind the first six weeks of the season. If you told me the Aggies would be 3-3 after the first half of the season, I would be depressed. I am depressed. This team has largely underachieved for all the reasons we have previously discussed (THE OFFENSE). Now comes the ugly stepchild that is the Aggies' supposed cross-division rivalry, the South Carolina Gamecocks. Throughout all of Kevin Sumlin's inept coaching years, the Aggies never managed to lose to the Gamecocks, but this feels like one of the more "iffy" matchups the Aggies have ever had with their eastern rivals. Surely Jimbo and the Aggies won't break the eight-game win streak, right? Like every game in the SEC, the line of scrimmage is going to be the key to this game. Especially with the Aggies' D-line against the South Carolina O-line. The Aggies must stop the run and force Spencer Rattler to throw the football. Rattler has five touchdowns, eight interceptions, and 12 sacks on the season. If the Aggies can force the Gamecocks into passing downs, the Aggie defense will flex their talent and roll South Carolina as they have during most of the past eight matchups. The problem? This Aggie defense hasn't been very good against the run. We finally saw a four-man front from DJ Durkin against Alabama, and it proved successful despite still giving up yards. Alabama has 286 rushing yards on 5.6 YPC, but that was with the run-heavy Jalen Milroe at quarterback. Despite the yardage, the four-man front, especially Fadil Diggs, kept the Aggies in the game against the Tide by forcing three fumbles. Much to the delight of the fans, expect more of the same from the Aggie defense on Saturday night. Spencer Rattler is nowhere near the same caliber on the run as Jalen Milroe. In fact, Rattler's longest run of the season is only eight yards. If the Aggie defense can keep the Gamecock rushing attack to around three yards per carry, it might not matter how inept the Aggie offense might be. Turnovers will happen on Saturday night, and the odds favor the Aggie defense being the unit forcing these turnovers. At this point, it is painful to even discuss the Aggie offense. We finally saw flashes of potential from Evan Stewart, Moose, and Chris Marshall against Alabama as the three receivers combined for 210 receiving yards on 12.4 yards per reception. Compared to recent offensive game plans from this unit, I'm not so sure that just throwing the ball to Evan Stewart on every down is a bad strategy. He's the best receiver Texas A&M has seen since Mike Evans, and even though Stewart is a freshman, it looks like his ceiling might already be higher than Evan's. Perhaps that is too early of a hot take, but Stewart is undoubtedly one of the best playmakers this Aggie team has had in recent memory. Jimbo and the offense must find ways to get the ball to Stewart in space and let his natural ability take over. To help get Stewart open, the Aggies should be able to move the ball on the ground with Devon Achane. South Carolina is the 101st rushing defense in the country, allowing 174 yards per game with a 4.28 YPC average. It is kind of a perfect storm for this Aggie offense. We saw improvements against a solid Alabama defense, including the emergence of a passing game and specifically, Evan Stewart. South Carolina is not good at stopping the run. The Aggie defense should thrive against a turnover-prone Gamecock offense. Yet, the spread from Vegas is only three points in the Aggies' favor. I don't see it. Much of the national media is flaunting the fact that South Carolina is riding a three-game win streak while A&M has lost the last two games. What's lost in that narrative is that two of the last three wins by the Gamecocks came against Charlotte and South Carolina State. Before their three-game win streak, the Gamecocks got blown out by Georgia and lost by two touchdowns to Arkansas. The Aggies' season has been disappointing, but this South Carolina team is not nearly as good as the media or the spread may suggest. Sure, it's a night game at Williams-Brice Stadium and the Aggies are going to have to endure whatever intimidation comes with Darude's Sandstorm, but barring a colossal meltdown, the Aggies should cruise to their second SEC win. The matchup is just too good for the Aggies not to take advantage of following a bye week. In the end, the Aggie defense is stout and forces turnovers, while the Aggie offense is able to move the ball in spurts and convert on short fields off of turnovers. On to the much bigger matchup against a possible undefeated top-10 Ole Miss team the following Saturday in Kyle Field. Texas A&M 27 South Carolina 16 Follow Cole on Twitter @_ColeDolan and check back after the game for a postgame analysis. CategoriesAll
Three yards. Three short yards away from pulling off another improbable upset, sticking it to Nick Saban and that Alabama fan base, and momentarily halting the national criticism of this Texas A&M program. A 10-play, 69-yard drive with Haynes King against that vaunted Alabama defense, and the Aggies could not find two more yards. Absolutely heart-wrenching.
The reaction from Aggie fans following the game fell across the spectrum. Johnny Manziel eviscerated the final play call (more on that play later). TexAgs' Billy Liucci heralded the game as a major step forward for this team. At least most of the reactions fell into the disappointment and disgust categories. Some fan bases lose to Alabama and tout it as some kind of crowning achievement (Hello there, Longhorn faithful). Before we move into the analysis of the night, let's correct any misconceptions about the postgame mood surrounding this game. Alabama did almost everything in its power to help the Aggies come away with a win. The Tide gave the ball away four times (three fumbles and one interception), tried to give the ball away a couple of other times, and missed two field goals. It was as sloppy a night from an Alabama offense as we have ever seen under Nick Saban. But it wasn't all Alabama. DJ Durkin finally moved away from the 3-3-5, used four down linemen, and made life uncomfortable for Jalen Milroe in his first collegiate start at quarterback. Fadil Diggs looked like a man among boys at times, coming off the edge, recording two sacks, three tackles for loss, and two forced fumbles. Man, was it good to see those young defensive linemen get pressure once they had more even numbers on the lines of scrimmage. Still, this was a game served up on a silver platter for the Aggies to take, and the offense still couldn't get the job done. Yes, the Aggies managed 323 total yards and 253 yards passing. But the first five drives ended in a punt, with no drive lasting longer than six plays. It wasn't until Alabama fumbled on their own 30-yard line that the offense got going and put up points. Alabama quickly responded with a touchdown of their own, and then the Aggie offense returned to form with a three-play drive for minus-three yards and a punt. Luckily for the Aggie offense, Alabama, under pressure from the Aggie defense, just couldn't hold on to the ball. Texas A&M's first 17 points came off of Alabama turnovers. The other eight drives, following an Alabama score or punt, resulted in 30 plays for 75 yards for Jimbo's offense. Don't let the close result or the box score fool you; this Aggie offense is still bad. What is even more disappointing about the offense in this game, despite having bursts of success following Alabama turnovers, is that you were able to see the potential of the playmakers. Evan Stewart finished with eight receptions for 106 yards. Moose finished with six receptions for 64 yards and a score. Chris Marshall finished with three receptions for 40 yards. Whether statistically accurate or not, it felt like the talent of these three underclassmen was brightest after Jimbo had thrown caution to the wind and let King start throwing the ball down the field. I don't want a close loss to Alabama to excuse Jimbo's performance as a play caller. Something still isn't working, and this game was perhaps the most profound indictment of Jimbo's system. The offense just feels like it's being held back by Jimbo's grind it out, possess the ball system. Despite almost upsetting Alabama in back-to-back seasons, I think more than ever, Jimbo's career is facing a fork in the road. That brings us to the final play of the game and what was supposed to happen. Evan Stewart was supposed to sell the fade route to the back corner before pivoting to the front pylon for a quick out route. As soon as Stewart turned, King needed a ball on a rope just inside the pylon. That would leave the defender at least a half step too far from jumping the route, giving Stewart room for at least one foot down in the end zone to convert the score before falling out of bounds. However, this is an NFL-level route that requires perfect timing from the quarterback. Stewart didn't do the best job of spacing his route and selling the fade, King was much too late on the pass, and the ball was short even if caught. Yes, Alabama committed pass interference on the play. There is no way we would get that call after executing so poorly. After all, King's pass was high and outside at one to one and a half-yard line. That may be the best example of why Jimbo's offense is stuck in the mud this year. To win the game against the top-ranked team in the nation, Jimbo asked a freshman receiver to convert an NFL-level route and catch; and he asked a quarterback, who had been throwing off his back foot, one foot, and no feet, under immense pressure, all game, to suddenly perfectly time a difficult pass just inside the front pylon. Why not just hand the ball to your best player (Devon Achane) and ask him to get two yards? You had thrown the ball for the entire drive and Achane was averaging 3.9 YPC in the game and 5.4 YPC on the season. I trust him to get two yards more than I do King and Stewart, executing an NFL-level goal-line pass to perfection. When you hear criticism about Jimbo's offensive system being too complex and asking too much of collegiate quarterbacks, this is exactly what that criticism is referring to. That's why you see the Aggie offense suddenly making plays after they are forced to resort to a more "backyard football" style offense where the talent can finally shine. A win on Saturday night would have been immense for this team and this season. That didn't happen, but this Aggie team still showed out. Stewart, Moose, and Marshall have the potential to be the best wide receivers in at least the SEC in the coming years. This Aggie defense is going to be a monster over that span as well. Shut up about getting rid of Jimbo. He's the perfect coach for this program...as long as he gives up the offense and becomes a true head coach. That is going to be an immensely tough pill for Jimbo to swallow, and I hope this close loss doesn't ease the pressure on him to give up play-calling. If Jimbo is able to swallow his offensive pride, become a program manager, and hire the right offensive coordinator and play caller, this program is the heir apparent to Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide. The program is on the cusp, but the offense is holding it back in too many ways. That is exactly what we saw Saturday night in Tuscaloosa. CategoriesAll
Are we all wearing black on Saturday? Has someone prepared the eulogy? It was only a year ago that most fans felt the same way before the Aggies pulled off the improbable 41-38 upset over the Alabama Crimson Tide, sending thousands of fans pouring onto Kyle Field in one of the greatest moments of the 2021 season across college football. The Aggies were 3-2 on the season, starting backup quarterback Zach Calzada, featuring a putrid offense, and still somehow managed to slay goliath.
This year, the similarities with last year's game are almost endless. The Aggies are again 3-2 and feature another woeful offense. There has already been a change at quarterback, and now would-be starter Max Johnson is out for the season with a broken bone in his hand. Meanwhile, Alabama is again undefeated entering the game and sits atop both the AP Top 25 and the Coaches Poll. The game is again slated for the CBS alternative prime time slot at 7 PM CST, and Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson are on the call. Now, can we also please get a similar result? The one caveat this year, and it's a big caveat, is that we may also see Alabama's backup quarterback start. The 2021 Heisman Trophy winner and 2022 Heisman hopeful, Bryce Young sprained the AC joint in his shoulder last week against Arkansas and did not return to that game. He was still suited up on the sideline after the injury and is getting reps in practice this week, but Saban has intentionally called him a "game-time decision" for Saturday. At this point, I'm 50/50 on whether Young starts for the Tide, but I'm not sure that it even matters. I could see Saban starting Young, being aggressive to build a big lead by halftime, and then pulling him for the rest of the game knowing that the Aggies don't have the offense to play catch-up. I could also see Saban starting backup Jalen Milroe, running the ball 60 times, and still winning comfortably. If I were Saban, I would see if DJ Durkin trots out the same 3-3-5 scheme defensively. If he does, there's really no need for Young to play. Mike Leach's air raid offense just ran the ball successfully on Durkin's 3-3-5 scheme. Surely Alabama wouldn't have a problem. Offensively for the Aggies, the unit is going to need a "Come to Jesus" moment if they are going to move the ball against this Alabama defense. Following Max Johnson's injury, I assume Haynes King will be back under center after he was pulled from the starting job following the loss to App State. If this week's game was against any other team on A&M's schedule, I think Jimbo might be tempted to give Connor Weigman a shot, but I don't think you can risk shell-shocking the kid against Saban's defense. He's our future and he shouldn't be thrown to the wolves. For all the doom and gloom, you can still beat the talent drum when it comes to the Aggies. Last year, the Aggies put it all together and pulled out a win despite facing similar odds. This year, a path to victory still exists despite ESPN's Football Power Index giving A&M a 3.8% chance to win the game. That path to victory starts with the defense stopping, or at least slowing Alabama's run game. Alabama is averaging 7.4 yards per carry when running the ball, the best in the FBS. The Aggie defense needs to hold Alabama to around half of that average on Saturday night. Bryce Young has a hurt shoulder, and backup Jalen Milroe is a much better runner than he is a passer. Stop the run and make them pass against an A&M secondary that is quietly the 11th-best in the country in defending passing yards per attempt. If Durkin runs the same 3-3-5 defense that hasn't stopped anybody's run game all season, Jimbo best leave him in Tuscaloosa. The Aggies absolutely must run a seven-or eight-man box for most of this game. The path to victory doesn't stop there. "A football team needs to score points to win a game." -- Captain Obvious. Therein lies the real problem for the Aggies. We saw the big play potential from King and these receivers against Sam Houston State to start the season when the Aggies had two touchdown passes over 60 yards and another of over 40 yards. But King came back the next week and threw for 97 yards while only completing 13 passes. On the season, King is 39 of 64 for 510 yards, three touchdowns, and four interceptions. For the Aggie offense to score points in this game, King is going to need to play as he did against Sam Houston State, minus the two interceptions. On the surface, that sounds doable, but Alabama also brings the fifth-best scoring defense, the 2nd best rush defense, and the 5th best passing defense — a far cry from Sam Houston State. Ultimately, while a narrow path to victory exists, this team has given me little reason to believe they can put together all of the necessary pieces to pull off the upset. I think the defense keeps the game close for a while, but the offense remains ineffective and keeps the Aggie defense on the field for far too long (sound familiar?). In turn, Alabama is able to pull away comfortably. If Bryce Young was healthy, Saban might try to run this one up and make a point following all of the offseason drama between him and Jimbo, but the Tide have more difficult opponents to prepare for on the horizon (#8 Tennessee next week followed by #23 Mississippi State). The result might be bad, but at least it won't be 59-0 bad. Texas A&M 13 Alabama 38 Follow Cole on Twitter @_ColeDolan and let us know down in the comments what you think the score will be. CategoriesAll
Texas A&M's offense is bad. Don't let Jimbo's press conferences fool you. Yes, better execution would have helped in each game this season and especially in the Mississippi State game. Better execution inherently helps an offense in every game. But even with better execution and converting the plays that Jimbo claims are there, this offense would still be slow, methodical, and stuck in close games.
The popular perspective across the country seems to be that Jimbo runs too complex of a system, requires too much of his quarterback, and has too many play sheets that he carries up and down the sidelines. I tend to agree. We're in Jimbo's fifth year as head coach, and while the offense showed flashes under Kellen Mond's leadership, it's never been electric. Jimbo's best year was his first year when the Aggies finished 19th nationally in points per game. Kellen Mond threw for 3107 yards and 24 touchdowns that year, but the offensive production largely relied on Trayveon Williams' fantastic 1760-yard, 18-touchdown season. Since that inaugural year, Jimbo's offense has finished 62nd, 37th, and 56th in points per game. This year, the Aggies are 108th out of 131 teams. Recruiting hasn't been the problem either. The offense brought in eight 4/5-star players in 2018, six in 2019, six in 2020, seven in 2021, and ten in 2022. There are only 11 offensive players on the field at a time. The talent is there. Something else isn't working. At the end of the 2013 season, Nick Saban and Alabama were coming off a 42-35 loss to Ohio State in which the Buckeyes put up 537 yards of total offense. Alabama lost a footrace despite having Derrick Henry, TJ Yeldon, Amari Cooper, and OJ Howard as offensive playmakers. That offseason, Saban brought in Lane Kiffin to revamp the offense, and the Tide never looked back. They finished in the top 16 in scoring offense in seven of the eight following years. This year, they rank 4th. At the end of the 2019 season, Kirby Smart and Georgia were coming off an SEC title game loss to LSU, 37-10 (they won their bowl game over Baylor). The Bulldogs ranked 50th in scoring offense that season and got run off the field by Joe Burrow's high-flying LSU offense. During the offseason, Kirby brought in Todd Monken to take over play-calling duties. Two years later, Georgia finished 9th in scoring offense and won the College Football Playoff National Championship game over Alabama. Nothing is going to happen during the season for the Aggies this year in terms of changing the offense. You can't change the offense in a week. But this offseason, Jimbo will be staring at a fork in the road of his career. Jimbo has always called plays and takes pride in doing so. But it's time for Jimbo to manage a program and hand off those duties. Saban and Kirby both reinvented their offenses. Dabo Swinney doesn't call plays for Clemson. Even Ohio State fans have called for Ryan Day to give up his play-calling duties. We all know Ed Orgeron wasn't responsible for much during LSU's championship season that featured one of the best offenses in college football history, and Lincoln Riley hasn't found College Football Playoff success as a head coach, despite his genius offensive scheme. The time has come for Jimbo to be a head coach and to manage his offensive coordinator, not the offense. Here is a list of some sharp offensive minds that could fill the void that is play calling for the Aggies in 2023. Jeff Lebby - Oklahoma OC Lebby was the offensive coordinator under Josh Heupel at UCF in 2019 when the Knights finished 5th in scoring offense. He was then hired into the same position by Lane Kiffin in 2020. Lebby's unit finished 14th in scoring offense in 2020 and 24th in 2021. He's now the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, which ranks 30th in scoring offense. Lebby doesn't have any ties to Texas A&M or Jimbo Fisher, but his resume from the past three years since becoming an offensive coordinator in the FBS is hard to match. He's served under two great offensive minds in Heupel and Kiffin and is only 38 years old. Perhaps the only drawback is that Art Briles is his father-in-law. I'm not sure if the Aggies want to bring in any bad juju that may be trickling down from that tree. Warren Ruggiero - Wake Forest OC One of the hottest names in today's market, Ruggiero has been the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Wake Forest since 2014. His offense finished 4th in scoring just a year ago. Even more appealing is the fact that he has no apparent intention of becoming a head coach and would prefer to remain a coordinator. It may be hard for the Aggies to pull Ruggiero away from a place where he has had so much success for almost a decade, but it could be worth a shot. Ruggiero's offense has ranked in the top 15 in the country at every coaching stop, and he's been coaching in college football since the late 80s. Phil Longo - North Carolina OC Sure, Longo has served under Mack Brown since 2019, and hiring anybody from the Mack Brown tree feels a little icky as an Aggie, but there is no denying that Longo can coach an offense. Since 2019, the Tarheel offense has ranked 31st, 9th, 19th, and 7th in scoring. Even more appealing may be the simplicity of the scheme for offensive players to learn. Longo's air raid and power run combination runs a lot of the same plays with different pre-snap disguises. The most difficult part of Longo's offense is that it heavily relies on athletes...something A&M has been able to recruit as of late. Todd Monken - Georgia OC Stealing away an offensive coordinator from a perennial power that just won a national championship is admittedly a long shot. But Monken was the architect behind the offensive renaissance that helped Georgia finally overcome Nick Saban and Alabama. The offensive play-calling ability exists, but Monken and Jimbo may be an uneasy fit if Jimbo remains involved in the offense (which is almost certainly the case). Monken is established in his own right, with numerous stops in the NFL and now as a national championship-winning coordinator at the college level. Garrett Riley - TCU OC I'm sure many of you watched TCU absolutely run up and down the field on Oklahoma last Saturday. TCU is averaging the 3rd most points in the country this year and is undefeated this year. Last year, Riley was the offensive coordinator for SMU, which finished 10th in scoring. To top it off, he's the younger brother of the most widely recognized offensive genius in college football, Lincoln Riley. At only 33 years old, this may be exactly what the doctor ordered for the Aggies. Riley is obviously a talented play-caller and has several more opportunities this year to pad his resume, starting with College GameDay against Kansas this weekend. If Jimbo is amenable, it is hard to deny the perfect fit of a young and innovative play-caller. Willy Korn - Coastal Carolina OC Korn has been under head coach Jamey Chadwell at Coastal Carolina since 2017. The two have garnered national attention for the small Sun Belt program despite 2017 being the program's first full FBS season. That national attention largely revolves around the incredible offensive turnaround that has occurred within the program. In 2017, the Chanticleers were ranked 108th in scoring. Last year, they ranked 5th. Furthermore, Korn is also only 33 years old, so he brings a lot of the same youthful benefits as some of the other candidates on the list. Kendal Briles - Arkansas Another descendant from the Art Briles' tree, Kendal is Art's son and started his coaching career with his father at Baylor in 2008. After the horrific sexual assault scandal at Baylor, Kendal served as the offensive coordinator at FAU, Houston, Florida State, and is now at Arkansas. Here's a breakdown of his unit's points per game rankings: 2017 FAU - 8th 2018 Houston - 5th 2019 Florida State -73rd 2020-2022 Arkansas - 87th, 48th, 62nd While Kendal may not be the top candidate to take over play-calling duties for the Aggies (especially after the Aggies just held him to 21 points), he has shown promise with his scheme that stretches defenses horizontally pre-snap and vertically post-snap. Zach Kittley - Texas Tech OC Kittley is the mind behind one of the greatest offensive turnarounds in college football history. He revamped a Western Kentucky offense that ranked 114th in scoring in 2020 and moved to 2nd in 2021. In fact, the Hilltoppers ranked 100+ in four major offensive categories in 2020 but were in the top three in those same categories in 2021. His quarterback, Bailey Zappe, set single-season FBS records for both passing yards and touchdowns. This year, Kittley's offense at Texas Tech is only ranked 41st in scoring, but four of the Red Raiders' first five games have come against ranked opponents. He's younger than the other candidates on the list, at 31 years old, but already has several impressive achievements under his belt. Let us know in the comments below if you think Jimbo will give up his play-calling duties this offseason and which coordinator is the best fit for the Aggies moving forward. Follow Cole on Twitter @_ColeDolan and check back later this week for a preview of the Alabama game. CategoriesAll
Disaster in Starkville is the only way to describe Saturday afternoon for the Aggies. We knew what we had in the offense, but the Aggies got outplayed in all three phases of the game. As frustrating as Jimbo's offense was yet again, DJ Durkin did his best to take some heat off of Jimbo this week. Durkin's 3-3-5 defense has been a point of contention among fans at times this season, but Saturday was a whole different story. Durkin stubbornly stuck with his scheme all game, despite giving up consistent yards on the ground once again. Even more concerning, the Aggies frequently dropped eight into coverage, yet Mississippi State receivers often found themselves wide open. How that happens is confusing, but how no changes are made at halftime is just dumbfounding. Then, to top it all off, the Aggies' special teams gave up the disastrous blocked field goal for a touchdown. Prior to the Aggies' touchdown at the 2:35 mark of the third quarter, the Aggies had four red zone attempts and three points. Mississippi State had seven points from those four red zone attempts. So, the Aggies were actually being outscored in their own first four red zone attempts by their opponents. That's got to be a first, and it's the perfect stat to describe this game.
Once again, this Aggie offense was largely inept, especially in the first half. The Aggies had five drives in the first half, none of which went for over 38 yards or led to any points. The run game was there, but when it came time for the Aggies to throw the ball and convert a third down, there was never a chance. Max Johnson was under pressure most of the first half and had a terrible time finding any receiver open beyond five yards in front of him. Then there's the two devastating fumbles, both when the Aggies were deep in Bulldogs' territory. The first, when the game was still scoreless, was probably the most devastating. Devon Achane was Devon Achane all day (basically the entire Aggie offense), but he fumbled a ball at the Mississippi State six-yard line after a great punt return from Moose Muhammad III provided an excellent opportunity for the Aggies to put the first points on the board. Instead, Achane fumbled, the Bulldogs recovered, and then Will Rodgers drove the Bulldog offense 94 yards in 11 plays for a touchdown. It was reminiscent of the Aggies' touchdown from KJ Jefferson's goal-line fumble just a week ago. The second fumble came on the final drive of the first half when the Aggies needed points to salvage some sort of offensive dignity before halftime. From the Mississippi State 15-yard line, Max Johnson was pressured, sacked, and fumbled the ball. That's at least 10 points left on the field for the Aggies in the first half. When the offense is as poor as it has been this season, that simply can't happen. The second half yielded a glimpse of hope that was quickly extinguished. The Aggies took the opening drive 14 plays for 72 yards, but had to settle for a field goal after Evan Stewart dropped an open touchdown pass in the back of the end zone. The Aggie defense then forced a fumble on the Bulldogs' second play from scrimmage, and the Aggies were suddenly a red zone conversion away from making it a 10-14 game and seizing back momentum. Instead, the Aggies couldn't convert the first down and then settled for a field goal, which was blocked and returned for a Bulldog touchdown. In a flash, the game was 3-21 and seemingly out of reach. The Aggies did manage a quick five-play scoring drive, but then immediately gave up a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to the Bulldogs, and the game was done. Some late touchdowns were exchanged, Max Johnson hurt his thumb, Haynes King came in and made some plays with his feet but threw two picks (not completely his fault), and the game was never really competitive the rest of the way. The game stats are skewed by all of the fourth-quarter drives after the game was out of hand, but it was clear early on that this was the same offense that struggled all season. This time, however, the Aggies were not on the positive side of turnovers and special teams' plays. The team has been walking on a knife's edge all season, relying on the defense and special teams to provide points and/or incredible scoring opportunities. That didn't happen today outside of the fumble recovery by the defense, and the result was one that Aggie fans are going to have to get used to this season if things don't change for the offense. The A&M defense played well at times and did create the aforementioned turnover deep in Mississippi State territory. But at other times, the unit was confusingly poor. The 3-3-5 scheme that DJ Durkin is married to once again gave up rushing yards (State had around 100 at halftime) and yet still couldn't shut down the Bulldog receivers. The Aggies had seven or eight defenders in coverage on almost every play, and yet Mississippi State receivers were still wide open on several occasions. If you aren't good against the run or the pass, isn't there something that needs to change? To be fair, the Aggie defense did have a solid first quarter and had three interception opportunities gifted to them by Will Rodgers. Unfortunately, the Aggie defense couldn't come down with any of them. Further, Jimbo's offense once again asked the defense to carry them through the first half. Near halftime, I tweeted out a statistic that is all too familiar at this point. The Aggies had 17 offensive plays and the Bulldogs had 46 offensive plays. This defensive unit could be so much better if it weren't on the field for a large majority of the game. Part of that is certainly on the defense not getting off the field. After all, the unit only played two plays in the first 12:30 of the second half and then immediately gave up a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. Still, you can't deny that Jimbo's offense is little more than a burden for this team at this point in the season. I think the ship has sailed or is at least ready to leave port as soon as it sees the first quarter against Alabama when it comes to fixing the issues within this team this season. The offense needs a complete overhaul, and that's only going to happen if Jimbo humbles himself and brings in a play caller to revamp the offense or Connor Weigman suddenly becomes an NFL-level talent that can run Jimbo's system. DJ Durkin is married to a scheme that requires pressure from three down linemen when the Aggies are incredibly young and inexperienced at that position. Now, the goal for the rest of the season is to get reps, salvage this year's recruiting class as much as possible, and win enough games to where the transfer portal doesn't fill up from the Aggies' historic recruiting class a year ago. Times are tough in Aggieland, but these goals are still immensely important for the future of this program and Jimbo's tenure as the head coach of Texas A&M. Follow Cole on Twitter @_ColeDolan and check back later this week for a breakdown of potential offensive coordinator hires for the Aggies and a preview of the Alabama game. CategoriesAll
Texas A&M @ Mississippi State 3:00PM CST (SECN), MSU -3.5, o/u 46 (Caesars)
The Mississippi State Bulldogs, like the Aggies, are 3-1 on the season. Unlike the Aggies, their wins have come against subpar competition (Memphis, Arizona, and Bowling Green). Their lone loss came two weeks ago in Baton Rouge to LSU. Entering this season, the feeling among State fans was that they had a special team this year that could compete in the big games on their schedule. The loss to a rebuilding LSU team put a dent in the excitement around the program, and now there is building pressure for Mike Leach to notch a win against a ranked Aggie squad this week. The Aggies are fortunate that the game kicks off at 3 PM CST, rather than 6 PM CST, but this should still be a tough first road test for the Aggies. We all know the Mike Leach offense: maximize plays, throw the ball 80% of the time, and have multiple receivers running a combination of routes in the 3-7 yard range. The Aggies witnessed a successful version of that offense last year in Kyle Field when Mississippi State quarterback Will Rodgers threw the ball 59 times for 408 yards and three touchdowns in a 26-22 Mississippi State win. The Bulldogs were only 3 of 10 on third down, but still managed 27 first downs and had 10 more minutes of possession time than the Aggies. Mississippi State's game plan for Saturday isn't likely to be very different. Will Rodgers is averaging over 47 passing attempts per game this year, and the Bulldogs have run 203 passing plays compared to only 82 rushing plays. Despite defenses knowing the pass is coming, Rodgers has still been impressively efficient, completing 74.1% of his passes while only tossing three picks. However, Bowling Green and Memphis are both in the bottom 10 teams in passing defense in the entire NCAA. Arizona, statistically, has a good passing defense, but that number is buoyed by their opening game against San Diego State, which is essentially the opposite of Mississippi State and never throws the ball. That leaves one data point--LSU. The Tigers field a top ten defensive unit in terms of passing yards allowed per game. Will Rodgers did not find near the same level of success against the Tigers' defense as he did against the other three teams. Rodgers was 24-42 for 214 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Like the Tigers, the Aggies also field a top ten defensive unit in terms of passing yards allowed. Furthermore, despite the gripes I've had with DJ Durkin's 3-3-5 defensive scheme thus far in the season, it is a scheme that is generally seen as a counter to the type of offense that Mississippi runs. This Aggie defense has been impressive so far this season but has had stretches of giving up consistent yardage on the ground to opponents (181 to App State, 175 to Miami, and 244 to Arkansas). Fortunately, that's not an area that Mike Leach's offenses have traditionally attacked and not an area that this Mississippi State team is built to succeed at attacking. The Bulldogs may be slightly more balanced in their attack on Saturday, but it is difficult to see Mike Leach significantly changing a scheme that he's been running in college football since he became the head coach of Texas Tech in 2000. On the other side of the ball, Mississippi State ... ...is talented and experienced. All 11 projected starting defenders for the Bulldogs are upperclassmen, and eight are either seniors or graduate transfers. Like the Aggies, the Bulldogs also run a 3-3-5 base and are probably going to run a blitz-heavy version of that scheme considering Texas A&M's issues in pass blocking this season. You can probably see where this is going. Much like the Arkansas game, the key to victory on Saturday lies with the big uglies on the offensive line for the Aggies. The passing game, all season, has been a giant question mark at best. Now the Aggies are without leading receiver Ainias Smith. Though we've seen improvement in the unit with Max Johnson behind center, the Aggies are clearly going to have to be successful running the ball to be successful on offense against the Bulldogs. That starts with the offensive line. Success for the unit is going to be determined by a matchup of size and talent versus experience. Five of the Bulldogs' front six are seniors or grad transfers. Meanwhile, all five Aggie offensive linemen are listed at 320 lbs. or above, while not a single Bulldog defensive lineman hits that mark. The Aggies are big, young, and talented up front, but don't have a ton of experience and are in their first true road game of the season. The Aggie defense will hold up, but you still have to score points to win games. The result of the Aggie O-line against the Bulldog D-line is the X-factor in determining the result of this game. The App State loss still stings and will sting for a long time, but a positive from that game has been a shift in expectations and seemingly a shift in the way this team is approaching this season. Despite all of the off-season talk about Nick Saban and Alabama, I don't think this team is looking ahead of Mississippi State. Instead, this Aggie team has come out for the past two weeks since App State and has made small improvements across the board. I think we will see another positive step from this team, especially the offense, but I think that step is another incremental step and not the leap that this offense needs to take in preparation for Alabama and the rest of the SEC schedule. But we can worry about that later. For now, I think the Aggie defense rivals LSU's performance against Rodgers and the Bulldog offense, the Aggie offensive line plays their best game of the season, Devon Achane goes for over 125 on the ground, and Max Johnson makes enough plays with his arm and legs to beat the blitz enough times to win this game. The offense still won't be good enough to comfortably pull away, but it is another Aggie win. Suddenly, the Aggies are back on the national radar as they travel to Tuscaloosa in Week Six. Texas A&M 24 Mississippi State 17 CategoriesAll
First of all, I want to thank all the Aggie fans that performed their pregame rituals, ate their black-eyed peas on January 1st, and wore their lucky socks for the game today. Lady luck was certainly on the Aggies' sideline Saturday night against the Arkansas Razorbacks. From KJ Jefferson deciding to superman dive from seemingly the five-yard line, to the repeated lob passes into coverage that Aggie receivers came down with, to finally a field goal that bounced off the TOP of the goal post. Since the Aggies joined the SEC, this has been their craziest rivalry, despite Texas A&M owning the head-to-head since 2012. Saturday night lived up to the tradition.
Quick clarification: while I do think the Aggies certainly benefitted from the ball bouncing their way, I still think this team showed immense toughness and willpower. This was one of those games that, under previous head coaches, the Aggies would have certainly folded after the 1st quarter. Instead, the Aggies hung tough and made plays to change the outcome of this game. A bounce of the ball doesn't change that. This team didn't quit, and it paid off. As for an evaluation of the game, it was really a tale of momentum. Though the Aggies held Arkansas to a four-play opening drive, the Arkansas offense was quickly up and running. The following two drives went five plays, 69 yards, touchdown; and seven plays, 78 yards, touchdown. Meanwhile, the Aggie offense went three and out on their first four drives. Finally, Devon Achane broke off a 63-yard run and the Aggies punched in a touchdown to save what was seemingly a disaster in the making. Besides this one play, the Aggie offense looked every bit of what we have seen so far this year: slow, sloppy, and predictable. The Aggies ran it inside on first down, either ran it again or threw a short route on second down, and then were at the mercy of third and long from there. Frustrating to say the least. Then came the moment of the game. The Hogs had marched 11 plays for 72 yards and were looking to make it a comfortable 21-7 lead from the three-yard line. Quarterback KJ Jefferson inexplicably tried to superman leap from four yards out. Chris Russell Jr. knocked the ball from Jefferson's hands, the ball landed in Tyreek Chappell's arms, and Demani Richardson took the ball while Chappell was being tackled and returned the ball for an Aggie touchdown. Easily one of the most insane defensive plays that we have seen in Texas A&M football history. Also, huge credit to Demani as he was actually in front of Chappell on the return, reversed field, and eventually took the ball from Chappell mid-tackle to turn the tide of this game. Jimbo may have downplayed this play in the postgame press conference, but the stats tell a different story. Not only was the play itself a 13-point swing (thanks to a dropped snap on the Aggie's extra point), but the entire Arkansas team seemed to be in shock for the next several drives. The following three drives for the Hogs, after such a terrific start, went for a total of 11 plays for 19 yards and three punts. While the Hogs were trying to regroup, the Aggie offense had a renaissance movement on offense. Jimbo adjusted at halftime, and the Aggies came out much more confident in throwing the ball in the second half. The result was 18 plays, 117 yards, and ten points in two drives. That was quite possibly the best stretch of offensive production we've seen all season. The Aggies stretched the lead to 23-14, weathered a late comeback attempt from Arkansas, and then thanked their lucky stars after the Hog's game-winning field goal doinked off THE TOP of the right upright in Cowboy Stadium. Pure insanity, but fitting for this rivalry. Time of possession was about equal. The Aggies put up 343 yards of offense and didn't turn the ball over. Devon Achane had 19 carries for 159 yards. All in all, it was another step in the right direction for the Aggie offense. Max Johnson only had 151 yards of passing but missed on a couple of deep shots (just keep running Moose!). Another step in the right direction for this offense, but it still feels like they are a couple of steps behind schedule. The team played tough and kept their focus, but you can't deny that they were very fortunate to come out with a win on Saturday night. Like I've said before, Jimbo and the Aggies are on a week-to-week grading scale right now. Saturday was a win, but the same significant concerns about this team remain. The offensive line was better, but not great. More of the success can be attributed to Max Johnson making plays with his legs rather than the offensive line providing protection. The run game sprung a big gain, but suffered stalls throughout the game. The passing game, although taking welcome deep shots, was still largely non-existent. There's been improvement, for sure, but this team must take bigger leaps if they want to challenge Alabama in two weeks. We're all looking forward to Alabama, especially after we've heard Texas fans singing high praises for losing a close game against the Tide earlier this season. But don't lose sight of Mississippi State. They've been a thorn in the side of the Aggies since the Aggies joined the SEC, and this Aggie team still hasn't had a true road game. Once again, we see a step up in difficulty. The defense will be tested by Mike Leach's pass-happy offense, and the offense may need to score more points than they have all season. We made progress on Saturday, but we need more this next week. Nick Saban and his Crimson Tide team loom large, and you better believe they have the Aggies circled on their schedule. CategoriesAll
Texas A&M @ Arkansas (Cowboy Stadium), 6PM CST (ESPN), A&M -2.5 o/u 48.5 (Caesars)
At the beginning of the season, this Arkansas game was probably the first real test that Aggie optimists saw on the schedule. Now, the entire SEC schedule seems like a daunting task. The defense is improving with reps and will improve even more with the return of players from suspensions and injuries. The offense is a different story. Yes, the offense looked more confident and stable with the switch to Max Johnson, but the unit was by no means good, or even average. Johnson was 10-20 for 140 yards. Achane got more touches and looked more like his explosive self, but the Aggies still only managed 264 total yards to Miami's 392. That's not going to cut it in SEC play. The win against a top-15 Miami team has somewhat masked the fact that the offense was only marginally better than in the historic upset against App State. But, freshmen standout receivers Chris Marshall and...
First of all, courtesy of Ainias Smith, we're all having nightmares of a muffed punt return. Thank goodness we got that one back... The most instant reaction of instant reactions is that Max Johnson is a better quarterback at this point than Haynes King. Despite the Hurricane secondary swarming Aggie receivers and the Aggies being without Evan Stewart and Chris Marshall (suspended for missing curfew), Max Johnson was significantly more confident in the pocket. He was able to make progress through his receivers and tucked and ran the ball when he needed to. The Aggie offense simply felt different, in a good way, with Johnson at the helm. Yes, the offensive line was better with the return of Bryce Foster, but the unit still allowed consistent pressure. Johnson was not operating under significantly different circumstances than King. He simply played better. That being said, this Aggie offense was still not good. If you take away the gifted field position from the muffed punt, the Aggies only scored 10 points on offense. The Aggies only had 16 first downs to Miami's 27 and 264 total yards (140 passing, 124 rushing) to Miami's 392 (217 passing, 175 rushing). There was improvement on offense, but not significant improvement. Moving forward, there are still several reasons for concern. The offensive line isn't what it was projected to be, or should be. The wide receivers rarely seemed to be open, as Johnson was consistently throwing into tight windows. While improved, the run game still saw Miami defenders consistently in the backfield, forcing Achane to cut it back against the blocking scheme. While the offense took a step in the right direction with new starting quarterback Max Johnson, defenses only get tougher from here, and the Aggie offense must be better. I know the biggest story is Max Johnson, but equally welcome was the number of touches that Jimbo fed Devon Achane. We've seen limited production from Achane in the first two games. Not tonight. The Aggie offense almost forced touches, both on the ground and through the air, to Achane, and it paid off. Achane finished with 18 carries for 88 yards and four receptions for 42 yards, a stat line that should be an average result for the best playmaker on the Aggie offense. Still, while this Aggie offense was better, it needs to significantly improve moving forward. We can't put this kind of pressure on our defense week in and week out without suffering disappointment. Glass half full, we have a week to build an offense around a proven quarterback and returning playmakers. Hopefully, another week of practice can advance the unit further. The Aggie defense played much better situationally, but still allowed yards. If those Aggie defenders didn't take Nick Constantinou out to Northgate after the game, I'd be disappointed. Constantinou looked like the best punter in the country, consistently pinning the Canes in their own territory without punting it through the end zone. On their own, the Aggie defense still looked fantastic...
8PM CST (ESPN) Texas A&M -6, o/u 47.5 (via Caesars)
I hope all of you are making it through the barrage of jokes, memes, and general laughter directed at you this week at work, on social media, and from your non-Aggie friends and family. Hang in there. There are less than 36 hours before the Aggies have the opportunity to right the ship and knock off the 13th-ranked Miami Hurricanes. This game is suddenly massive in terms of the outlook for this season, the outlook for Jimbo's career at Texas A&M, and for the 2023 recruiting class and beyond. Over 50 recruits from over the next several classes are supposed to be in town for the game. If that's not a reason to call this a must-win, then I'm not sure what more motivation this coaching staff needs. From the players, there should be significantly more focus, more effort, and more physicality as the sense of urgency should be at an all-time high. A visiting top-15 team in Kyle Field at night, after the players have been berated all week about a historic upset, sounds like a recipe for maximum effort to me, but will that translate to a win in Kyle Field on Saturday night? Jimbo's weekly radio show from Rudy's Bar-B-Q was held Wednesday night. According to Jimbo, Monday's practice was "good," Tuesday's practice was "really, really good," and Wednesday's practice was "really good." Beyond that, we heard the typical Jimbo coach speak. Good energy levels. Good execution. Defense looked good when he watched them. There was a lot of desire and energy in the 7-on-7 drill. More importantly, Gigem 247 has reported (beware! paywall) that Max Johnson has been getting reps with the first unit all week and that it is widely believed he will be starting the game on Saturday. It is a little concerning that there wasn't a competition, at least on Monday, but I understand the immediate switch by Jimbo. There simply isn't enough time during a game week to make that determination. It seems likely that the two quarterbacks were close in fall camp, and Jimbo is ready to give Johnson the opportunity after two lackluster performances by King. Also, if you are going to switch from the right-handed King to the left-handed Johnson, you might as well do it early in the week and let the rest of the offense adjust to the change in direction. We've seen what the Aggies are so far: a talented, young defense with a more veteran secondary; an underperforming offensive line and lackluster running game; and a quarterback that hasn't been able to make plays to keep the offense on the field and lacks the experience to take command of the offense in a way that overcomes some of the other deficiencies. Whether that changes with Max Johnson and another week of practice is an unknown. I don't think Max Johnson changes life in College Station single-handedly, but it is difficult to get much worse than what we have seen through the first two weeks. What about the Hurricanes?...
The Aggies paid $1.5 million to Appalachian State for them to come to College Station and humiliate the Texas A&M Aggies in their own building. Here's some more stats:
Average Recruiting Rank from 2018-2022: Texas A&M 7.6 App State 90.6 4-5 star Recruits on the Roster: Texas A&M 56 App State 1 Head Coach Salary: Jimbo Fisher $9M Shawn Clark $425K You have got to be kidding me, Jimbo Fisher. You have GOT to be kidding me. I've had my issues with your offensive style and play calling, but what kind of unholy piece of garbage did you put on the field on Saturday? You are in year five of your 10+ year contract and this is the product you spent all offseason designing? Then, on top of it all, after seasons of ineptitude on offense, you dare to come into the post-game press conference and feed Aggie fans the same load of you know what about how there were nice plays, about how we had nice drives that ended because of a mistake here or there, about how App State deserves praise? How dare you, Jimbo Fisher. Sure, you acknowledged that the guys weren't ready to play today, and that's on you and the coaching staff, but how dare you. You are around $50 million in earnings as the head coach of Texas A&M, and you want fans to believe that the Aggie program is on a positive trajectory? This is YEAR FIVE of your tenure and today we suffered the most embarrassing loss since that 63-0 drubbing at Alabama in 2014. You sir, right now, are a failure. Now, where do the Aggies go from here? ... After a solid but underwhelming Week 1 against the Sam Houston State Bearkats, the Aggies need to improve on several fronts before playing Miami and then entering SEC play. Against the Bearkats, the defense was stellar and rotated several freshmen from the vaunted 2022 class. This defense is elite and may even be better than last year's unit. Time will tell, but the five-star freshmen are already getting playing time, and the defense looks deeper and more talented than it ever has been. Offense is a different story. You might as well have called Devon Achane "Carmen Sandiego" because where in the world was he? It is not entirely Achane's fault. The offensive line was dysfunctional at best, allowing FCS opponent Sam Houston State to consistently get into the backfield. That simply can't happen moving forward. Meanwhile, the passing game was electric with 66, 63, and 46-yard touchdown passes. However, Haynes King still consistently threw suspect deep passes into coverage, resulting in two interceptions. You certainly can't complain about a shutout win in Week 1 of a season. Heck, we saw the Aggies struggle against Vanderbilt in Week 1 of 2020 before going 9-1 in the SEC-only COVID year. But there are certainly some disappointing aspects of week one, and week two against Appalachian State provides an opportunity for the Aggies to fix some major issues before heading into the meat of their schedule...
Texas A&M won convincingly in Week 1, shutting out the Sam Houston State Bearkats 31-0, yet even a casual A&M fan is not happy with the result. If any of you were checking social media during the lengthy weather delay, you know what I'm talking about. The Aggies were up 17-0 at halftime, just before lightning delayed the start of the second half. The score is not necessarily unacceptable. Remember, the Aggies were only up 10-3 on Kent State a year ago in Week 1. But this is far from what I had in mind after hearing how much Haynes King and the offensive line progressed off-season. Yes, it was an 11a.m. start. Yes, there was a rain delay. Yes, there may be first-game jitters. But there are serious concerns entering week two against an Appalachian State team that was a 2-point conversion away from taking North Carolina to overtime. Here you go, the Good, the Bad, and the concerning amount of Ugly from Week 1 against Sam Houston State. The Good The Aggies throwing downfield, multiple times, for touchdowns? Surely not. The saving grace to King's two interception stat line was his 364 yards. A closer look reveals that three of King's 31 attempts accounted for 172 of the yards. One of those three bombs was a busted coverage by the Bearkats. The other two were the third receiver options on the play (according to Jimbo), meaning King progressed through his receivers and found the correct receiver for a big play. For all of King's faults on Saturday, finding these big plays has been something Aggie fans have been drooling for since Mike Evans lined up on the outside. The Gooder Good (forgive me) was how evident the depth was on the roster. On offense, the Aggies rotated significantly more receivers than we've seen in previous years. Nine A&M players caught a pass, including five catches by freshman Evan Stewart and four catches by freshman Chris Marshall. I know Aggies are disappointed with the result this weekend, but there is more talent on this offense than ever. There are a lot of question marks entering week two for the offense, but the future is bright, and much of the brightness is due to the amount of talent Jimbo has been able to stack across the board. The Bad The greatest criticism of Haynes King this offseason was his three interceptions against Kent State in last year's home opener. You couldn't watch an off-season sports show about Texas A&M without hearing "Is Haynes King turnover prone?" When you throw three interceptions against significantly lower competition in your only game of the season it is a fair question...
Game 6: at Alabama Oct. 8, time TBA
Oh boy...here...we....go. Please please please do not discount this offseason's spat between Jimbo and Nick Saban. If either coach went winless except for one game this year, both coaches want this one win. This is a budding rivalry with a lot of dirty laundry. Saban being salty about Jimbo's success in recruiting was not a fumbling of words. Jimbo's retort was not an act. These two head coaches are at odds. Saban feels the A&M program creeping up as a serious contender in his division. Jimbo's goal is to topple, and more importantly, humble, his old boss. Jimbo became the first former Saban assistant to beat the GOAT of college football last October when Seth Small kicked the most important field goal in Texas A&M football history. If we still owe the SEC for the crowd rushing fine I'll be happy to sign up for a payment plan. Simply beautiful. You better believe Saban is putting every ounce of his new contract into beating, if not humiliating, Jimbo Fisher. Saban's mad and a mad Saban is scary. He doesn't lose to the same team in back-to-back seasons often (LSU in 2010, 2011; and Ole Miss in 2014, 2015) so the Aggies will have a monumental task when they travel to Bryant-Denny Stadium on October 8th. Let's talk about the elephant in the room. That Alabama defense. Will Anderson (probably the most deserving Heisman Trophy candidate from 2021) leads a defense that returns 10 of 11 starters. Saban also somehow landed (certainly without "buying") LSU's premier defensive back in Eli Ricks. Simply put, this is the best defensive unit in football. They can pressure the passer, they can stuff the run, and they can make plays in the secondary. Jimbo and King have their work cut out for them in this game. Davis Wade Stadium is annoying in the previous week, but it is a whole different ball game coming into Bryant-Denny. Luckily for the Aggies, offensively the Tide is retooling a bit. Yes, Heisman winner Bryce Young returns at quarterback but the Tide lose some key offensive linemen, including Evan Neal who was picked 7th overall in the NFL Draft. Workhorse Brian Robinson is gone from the backfield (also to the NFL) along with receivers John Metchie and Jameson Williams (you guessed it...NFL). Jahmyr Gibbs enters the program from Georgia Tech and is vaunted as a top-tier running back while the Tide still has Trey Sanders in the fold as a classic emerging Alabama running back. The offensive unit isn't on the same level as the defense, but this is Alabama and there is talent across the board. For the Aggies, this is a tough one to predict. Saban is giving this game 110% of his effort. This is by far the toughest team the Aggies will have faced at this point in the season but Jimbo is equally invested in winning this game. The key here will likely be King's legs. King has allegedly topped out at over 22mph in practice this offseason and is one of the fastest players on the team. If anybody beats Saban it is a mobile quarterback. Deshaun Watson, Johnny Manziel, Tim Tebow, Cam Newton, and Trevor Lawrence (though not as mobile) come to mind. The Aggies are talented, but they are young. This is one of the toughest places to play in America and the stakes are out of the atmosphere this year after Jimbo and Saban's offseason feud. Only perfect play, combined with significant mistakes from Alabama's offense could lead to an upset this year. The Aggies keep it close, but the Tide pull away and get their revenge. Texas A&M 31 Alabama 42
Game 5: at Mississippi State Oct 1, time TBA
Who doesn't hate playing at Mississippi State? Who doesn't hate watching games at Mississippi State? Nobody has ever needed more cowbell, despite what Will Ferrell would tell you. If you are planning to attend a road game with the Aggies, pass on this one. I've been to Davis Wade Stadium and it is the plague of the SEC. My ears were still ringing on the ride home on the day after the game. Not to mention the Aggies are the true maroon and the Bulldogs are some kind of ripoff. Ok, rant over. Mississippi State has been an unfortunate thorn in the Aggies' side for some time now. Unfortunate because Texas A&M should be the type of program that doesn't regularly lose to the Mississippi schools (more on Ole Miss in Part 2). Losing to Mississippi schools was routine for Kevin Sumlin but the trend has remained for Jimbo. He is 2-2 against the Bulldogs thus far, losing in Starkville in 2018 and at home last year. The Bulldogs return one of the better quarterbacks in the SEC with Will Rogers. Somehow, head coach Mike Leach makes every quarterback look better than he might be. Rogers threw under 40 pass attempts and less than 300 yards twice last year. In most games, Rogers was around 50 attempts and 380 yards. That's the Leach way. The Bulldogs won't run the ball against the Aggies, but instead throw short crossing and hitch routes again and again. Last year, Rogers was 46 of 59 for 408 yards and three touchdowns against the Aggies. That stat line might lead you to believe the Bulldogs blew out the Aggies, but the game went deep into the 4th quarter and ended in a 26-22 Mississippi State win. While Leach's quarterbacks often put up gaudy numbers (from Texas Tech, to Washington State, to Mississippi State), the offense is often not as potent as the numbers might seem. The Aggies play at Mississippi State this year, but new defensive coordinator DJ Durkin favors a defensive scheme (3-3-5) that makes me believe the Durk will beat the Dink and Dunk (trademark please). The Bulldogs lose two starting tackles in Charles Cross and Scott Lashley. The interior is solid, but the typical pass rush (and where there is significant talent on the A&M front) comes off the edge. Arkansas and Mississippi State both narrowly beat a Texas A&M team in 2021 that sported perhaps the most inept offense in Jimbo's career. Mississippi State, also like Arkansas, has not improved nearly at the level of Texas A&M. Yes, this year's game is on the road compared to the night game in Kyle Field against the Bulldogs last year. But, Texas A&M is just far more improved than Mississippi State. Achane may not necessarily be better than Spiller. But the offensive line is a year more experienced, the receiver corps seems to have more playmakers based on reports from camp, the tight end room, while not having a star like Wydermyer, is more versatile, and the quarterback, by all accounts, is on a different level than 2021. Perhaps I am putting too much faith in Haynes King or Max Johnson by week four, but 2021 seems like an anomaly in Jimbo's history with his quarterbacks. JaMarcus Russell, Christian Ponder, EJ Manuel, and Jameis Winston were all first round NFL draft picks. Haynes King beat out LSU's starter from last year even though Max Johnson threw 27 touchdowns to only six interceptions, and reports from camp suggest King is significantly better than last year despite his injury. Texas A&M 31 Mississippi State 23
Game 4: Arkansas (at Jerry World) Sept 24, 6PM CST (ESPN)
This is Aggie's first game away from College Station (though not a true road game...bring back home and home!) and even in A&M's best years and Arkansas' worst years, this game has been close. Hogs quarterback KJ Jefferson is one of the best in the SEC, but he loses his standout receiver Treylon Burks to the NFL (six receptions for 167 yards and a touchdown against the Aggies last year). Head coach Sam Pittman hopes that incoming Oklahoma transfer Jadon Haselwood (39 receptions, 399 yards, six touchdowns in 2021) helps fill the void left by Burks. The key difference in this game, compared to the Aggies' previous opponents, is that the Hogs' big uglies (OL) are significantly bigger, stronger, and more experienced. Arkansas returns four starters on their offensive line, including star center Ricky Stromberg. This game will provide a first look at how prepared Texas A&M's young and talented defensive line is for life in the SEC. Win in the trenches in this game and you can get to any quarterback in the country. Lose in the trenches, and well...we saw what happened to those poor Longhorns last year. On defense, the Aggies are significantly deeper and more talented than the 2021 Texas squad, so it is unlikely Arkansas can run up 333 yards on the ground. But, the young Aggie front will need to provide enough resistance to keep the Arkansas offense from getting to third and short with KJ Jefferson. Allowing the Hogs to repeatedly convert short third downs, move the ball, and eat up the time of possession shortens the game. The Aggies are far more likely to win over 100 possessions in this game than five possessions. Ultimately, this Aggie offense is on a different level than the Zach Calzada-led Aggies that put up 10 points against Arkansas a year ago. Even if King suffers another injury in the second game (knock on every source of wood near you), it is proven starter Max Johnson waiting in the wings. King, Johnson, or even Connor Weigman at this stage of his career will be more potent than Calzada. I'm not saying that man doesn't deserve a statue outside of Kyle Field for what he did against Alabama, but this Aggie offense is incapable of putting up only 10 points against Arkansas this year. Coaches and insiders are raving about freshman Evan Stewart. Noah Thomas and Chris Marshall are sneaky good. Ainias Smith returns. Devon Achane is a one-play touchdown waiting to happen. Max Wright, Jake Johnson, Donovan Green, and Theodor Melin Ohrstrom provide a more versatile and consistent presence at the tight end position than the (sometimes) drop-prone Jalen Wydermyer (even though we all love that classic celebration). Arkansas returns some dudes on defense, including LB Bumper Pool, DB Jalen Catalon, DB Myles Slusher, and DB Hudson Clark, but they are largely inexperienced up front. Jimbo will make it a point to establish the line of scrimmage with his strong (and still improving) offensive line and then let King and the playmakers grab chunks of yards off of Arkansas moving up to stop the run. Texas A&M 34 Arkansas 24 |
AuthorCole Dolan is a proud member of the Fightin' Texas Aggie class of 2014, and the Texas A&M School of Law class of 2019. Cole is a published columnist who previously wrote for Bleacher Report and Yahoo Sports before becoming a member of the State Bar of Texas and a practicing attorney. Cole prioritizes faith, family, and football in that order. He has visited a majority of SEC stadiums and will sadly make the trip to Austin to visit DKR when the Longhorns join their big brother in the SEC. 2023 Schedule
9/2 - vs New Mexico 9/9 - @ Miami 9/16 - vs ULM 9/23 - vs Auburn 9/30 - vs Arkansas* 10/7 - vs Alabama 10/14 - @ Tennessee 10/21 - Bye 10/28 - vs South Carolina 11/4 - @ Ole Miss 11/11 - vs Miss State 11/18 - vs ACU 11/25 - @ LSU *in Arlington (sadly) Archives
September 2023
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