With a 19-point win yesterday over the Mississippi State Bulldogs (largest in over 3 years in SEC play), the Aggies moved to 5-3 and won back to back games for the first time all season.  There is lots to unpack in this one so I will just get straight to it. 

The Good

• This offense seems to go the way that its quarterback goes, and on Saturday, Kellen Mond had a career day.  He was afforded plenty of time on pass plays to make plays and this resulted in him completing 73.9% (17-23) of his passes.  It was the highest completion percentage he has ever had, and he also accounted for five total touchdowns with three through the air and two on the ground while racking up 310 total yards (234 passing/76 yards rushing).  A very efficient performance by Mond where he made good decisions and did not turn the ball over. 
• A big part of the reason Kellen Mond and this offense looked so good on the way to putting up 49 points was because the offensive line did such a good job up front.  They gave up zero sacks and kept Kellen Mond upright while also paving the way for 207 rushing yards.  They have steadily improved throughout the season as evidenced by the rushing totals against Power 5 opponents (53 vs Clemson, 56 vs Auburn, 89 vs Arkansas, 125 vs Alabama, 165 vs Ole Miss, and 207 vs Miss State).
• I continue to be very impressed with Jalen Wydermyer as he led the team in receiving and flashed his playmaking ability on the 52-yard TD reception to open the third quarter.  He broke multiple tackles and showed how special he can be in this offense.  He also leads the team in touchdown catches with five.  This offense needs a playmaker at tight end and next year, with 5-star recruit Baylor Cupp coming back from injury, they will have two.
• Isaiah Spiller appears to be coming into his own and figuring out what it takes to be a productive back in the most physical conference in college football. He is running tough and led the team yesterday with 90 rushing yards. 
• The defense was tenacious in going after the ball and making plays.  Devin Morris was a relatively unknown recruit in 2017 just down the road from Kyle Field in Caldwell.  He played very sparingly over his first two years but has come out and played well the last two weeks reeling in his first interception of his career against the Bulldogs on a very impressive play.  Demani Richardson led the team in tackles and had a textbook strip tackle.  As Nick Gibson was held up by other members of the Aggie defense, Demani came in and ripped the ball out.  He will be a special player over the course of his career in the Aggie secondary. 
• Texas A&M won the turnover margin by +3 on Saturday by protecting the ball and creating 3 total turnovers.  All three of these turnovers were turned into touchdowns by the offense so great team effort in these momentum-changing opportunities.  As a matter of fact, the Aggies were 6-6 in red zone TD percentage as they never had to settle for a field goal.  Those two factors are a recipe for success and will win a lot of football games. 
• Third down was a deciding factor in this one as the Aggies were able to convert on 8 of 11 (72.7%) while holding the Bulldogs to just 4 conversions on 11 attempts (36.4%).  Getting off the field as a defense and keeping drives going on offense are the name of the game and Texas A&M was able to do both well on Saturday.

The Bad

• Even in the most lopsided conference win of the season, there is still plenty to critique for me and more importantly for the coaches.  I like that we won comfortably and got some confidence moving forward, but you can bet Jimbo and the coaching staff will have plenty of opportunities to get on this young team and improve this coming week of practice.
• I was not happy that the defense was not able to put this one away in the second half.  They allowed 30 points which was far too much to this average offense that Mississippi State has.  The defense did pretty well to start as the Aggies quickly jumped out to a two-score lead. The first six drives for the Bulldogs resulted in a punt, punt, interception, touchdown, punt, fumble. This built the Aggies a lead but they defense couldn’t finish them off as they finished by allowing a field goal, touchdown, touchdown, fumble, touchdown.  You would have liked to see them finish off the Bulldogs in a more convincing fashion. 
• The Aggie rush defense gave up 239 rushing yards on Saturday while allowing a shocking 6.3 yards per carry.  After fielding the third ranked rush defense in the nation last year at under 100 yards per game, Mike Elko’s crew is checking in at 53^rd this year with 148.3 yards per game.  This number has increased dramatically recently as they have allowed more than 200 yards the last two games. 
• I hate to single out one specific player in these sections, but Leon O’Neal has been playing very poorly of late.  After coming on strong late last season with a very impressive showing in the bowl game including an interception, he promptly followed that up with a pick in the season opener.  However, as the season has gone on, he has shown to be a liability on the back end of the defense as his pass coverage is below average.  Combine that with his less than stellar speed and his poor run fits and the results are pretty bad.  On Saturday, he was beaten over the middle a few times and sat back on several run plays which resulted in him looking like a fool as he was juked out of his shoes.  If he doesn’t turn things around quick, he will have to focus on gaining weight in the offseason so that he can learn a new position and play linebacker and closer to the line of scrimmage. 
• This is definitely not a bad thing, but I thought needed to be mentioned since I was wrong.  I have been a staunch supporter of giving more playing time to Ainias Smith and I wanted that to come at the expense of the inconsistent junior wide receiver, Kendrick Rogers.  Well Rogers proved me wrong by turning momentum right before half against Ole Miss with a play that only he can make with his massive frame.  Then he followed that up with one of the greatest displays of effort and “want-to” as he scored a touchdown after somehow not being dragged to the ground by several defenders.  I still would like to see more plays with the ball in the dynamic hands of Ainias Smith; the Aggies just might have to be more creative in how they make that happen.

What’s Next

The Aggies will take on a severely overmatched UTSA team next Saturday before a bye week on November 9^th.  This should be a great opportunity to get some young players and backups some playing experience as the game should be out of reach around half time.  This will push the win streak to three and then we have an extra week to prepare for the last home game of the year against the up-and-down South Carolina Gamecocks.  Win that one and then you have a lot of momentum heading into two road games against top teams in the SEC and things really start to get interesting!

The Aggies moved to .500 yesterday with a 19-point loss to #1 ranked Alabama.  The Aggies hung around and were able to make things interesting as they played Alabama closer than anyone else so far (it was their only game to be decided by less than 20 points).  However, it was evident that once Alabama wanted to put this game out of reach for good, that’s exactly what they did early in the fourth quarter as they blocked a punt for a touchdown that put them up 21 points.  That was the final nail in the coffin in what was a long day for the Aggies special teams’ unit. 

The Good

Jimbo Fisher normally likes to defer if he wins the coin toss so that he can steal an extra possession at the end of the first half/beginning of the third quarter.  But in this one, I was happy that he elected to receive the ball first.  With that explosive Crimson Tide offense, they would have scored and gone up 7-0 and had our offense playing from behind literally the entire game.  The first drive was scripted great and executed even better. 15 plays that covered 75 yards and took over eight minutes off the clock.  The Aggies were able to open up some running room as they got 44 yards on the ground with tough running by both Isaiah Spiller and Kellen Mond and even overcame a penalty in the red zone that negated a touchdown.  Coming off the bye week and very weak performances by the running game the last two games, it was nice to see some opportunities there for the young backs and Kellen Mond. 

I thought the defense played relatively well considering that is the most explosive offense we will see all season (although LSU looked really good last night as well).  The secondary held the best receiving corps and Heisman front-runner to 293 passing yards and managed to record the first interception Tua has thrown in six games.  Mike Elko called the perfect defense when we were backed up against our own endzone and true freshman Demani Richardson showed the savviness of a multi-year SEC starter and baited Tua into a bad throw.  It was Richardson’s first career interception but shows a glimpse of what he will be and where Jimbo and Mike Elko have this defense headed over the next couple of seasons. 

I would be remised if I did not mention the effort put forth by Kellen Mond.  In my opinion, he takes an unfair amount of criticism simply because he is the quarterback.  Aside for the first drive, he was under pressure for most of the afternoon as Alabama has had a problem getting to the quarterback this season (just 10 sacks in five games).  However, the Crimson Tide defense was able to sack Mond five times yesterday and he was under duress on many of his drop backs.  Add in the fact that he had hardly any help from stagnant running game as the two running backs combined for 35 yards on 12 carries (2.9 yards per carry) and its no wonder it looks like he has to do it all himself.  He accounted for 90 yards rushing (including the sacks he took) and totaled 354 yards of total offense which was 91% of the entire offensive production for the Aggies.  He finally was able to get some help from his receivers as Quartney Davis and company were able to go up and grab some of the tougher catches that they have not been able to reel in during the first five games.  Mond wasn’t perfect as he missed a couple of throws and still takes a little too long to go through his progressions, but he is one of our best playmakers on offense and we will probably watch him for another 18 games as he will most likely be the starter again next season. 

The Bad

Special teams can have a big impact on the game and the Crimson Tide exploited our lackluster kick and punt coverage units Saturday afternoon.  Their average starting field position was their own 43-yard line which was roughly 20 yards ahead of the Aggies.  This essentially meant that we had to get two more first downs to reach the endzone than they did.  The averaged 32 yards per punt return and just under that for kick returns.  All total, this amounted to 311 total yards on returns, or rather, 311 free yards given to an already dynamic offense.  Throw in a blocked punt for a touchdown and it was a miserable day for special teams.  Jimbo does not employ a specific “special teams” coach as he wants to use his limited number of assistants on other position groups.  However, several of the coaches have special teams coordinator experience on their resume and even the head man prides himself on this aspect.  It was frankly inexcusable how poor it was on Saturday and I did not understand why we kept punting it to Jaylen Waddle.  When you have a weapon like Braden Mann and his Ray Guy award-winning leg, I understand wanting to use it, but just let him kick it out of bounds deep down field that way there is no chance for a return. 

Our team speed is severely lacking.  We had no one on our entire roster that could stick with any of their speedy receivers, let alone any defensive backs.  Once they caught the ball in space, it was almost a done deal as we weren’t even able to get a hand on them.  We also don’t have a real burner on the offense that can stretch the defense at all.  All the defenses we play will not respect the deep ball because we don’t have anyone capable of getting behind the defense and haven’t shown the ability to complete many deep passes to our big-bodied receivers.  This can only be solved through recruiting so it will still be at least one if not two more classes to turn this roster over.  This is also the best way to fix the issues on the offensive line as they looked improved at times yesterday, but still seemed to lack the nasty streak that is required to get the tough yardage when necessary.

Lastly, our lack of pass rush is an absolute detriment in a game like this.  Tua Tagovailoa was only sacked once and had seemingly all day to complete throws and survey the field.  With how difficult it is to cover these receivers; it is that much harder when Tua can go through all his options and still have time.  Not being able to pressure the quarterback with only a four-man rush is something that needs to be fixed.  As good as the defensive line is at stopping the run, there is no real twitch at the defensive end position (like a Myles Garrett) and it is manifesting itself in our anemic pass rush.  Mike Elko can only bring pressure with the blitz so many times before he is burned on the back end.  He is having to expertly decide when to blitz and when to disguise his coverages but having nine sacks through six games so far this year is pretty paltry. 

What’s Next

The Aggies get a small reprieve on the schedule as their next 4 games will feature teams that are .500 or worse with three of those games at home.  This is the time when we need to see real growth from this young team and hopefully a 4-0 record against Ole Miss, Mississippi State (who just lost to Tennessee), UTSA, and South Carolina.  That would give us a 7-3 record going into the final two tough road games against Georgia and LSU.  Find a way to split those games and take an eight-win season and be pretty happy with it considering how the first half of the season has gone. 

Well, a win is a win, no matter how ugly it may happen.  The Aggies were able to stretch their winning streak to eight games over the Arkansas Razorbacks.  Win streaks like that, especially over an opponent in your own division, can never be taken for granted. However, the play that we have seen from the Maroon and White five games into this season does not instill confidence that we will be able to pull off a major upset and finish the year at a respectable 8-4.

The Good

As bad as we all felt after posting a four-point victory over a team that last week lost at home to San Jose State (1-11 last season), there were some positives to glean from the game.  I felt like our receivers played their best collective game of the season.  Jhamon Ausbon, Quartney Davis, and Ainias Smith combined to haul in 19 catches for 224 yards and 3 total TDs.  Those are the three best receivers and the most consistent as well, so in my opinion, they need to be taking a majority of the snaps.  I think Kendrick Rogers needs to take some time to get healthy or get his mind right, but five games into the season, I think its clear who the three best receivers are. 

Kellen Mond has played pretty good football since his Clemson debacle.  He has been far from perfect and has lots of room to improve, but his play at quarterback is not in the top five of issues that this team must address. What I really liked from him in this game was his willingness to use his legs and help out a struggling run game.  He actually had the second longest run of the day at 18 yards.  Jimbo did a good job of calling designed runs but Kellen picked good spots to scramble as well.  If he can continue to do that, and even scramble more, then this will place extra pressure on the defense to account for his running ability and hopefully open up some space for this stagnant offense. 

Kicker Seth Small has been up and down over his 18 games in an A&M uniform but on Saturday, he nailed a clutch 50-yard field goal.  This was late in the game and pushed the Aggie lead from 28-27 to 31-27.  This made Arkansas have to go 75 yards for the winning score, instead of just being able to settle for a game-winning kick of their own.  As we saw on the last drive, that final kick was huge as the Razorbacks were able to get inside the 30 on their final possession.  You know things aren’t going well when I have to point out the kicker as one of my positives.

The Bad

The offensive line has been the most frustrating aspect to me for this season.  I don’t think anyone accurately evaluated how big of a loss junior Erik McCoy was to this offensive line.  The early NFL departure was physical and flat-out nasty, while also making all the checks and calls at the line of scrimmage to get everyone in position.  These elements are sorely lacking from this year’s team.  The team managed 89 yards on the ground at only 2.7 yards per carry.  We could explain this away earlier in the year since we had faced two elite defenses in Clemson and Auburn, but Arkansas had given up over 200 yards on the ground to Colorado State and Ole Miss.  The offensive line also gave up four sacks and four more tackles for loss so Jimbo will have to figure out how to whip this group into shape because if this continues, the Aggies will be lucky to win seven games this season. 

Replacing the school’s all-time single season leading rusher is never an easy task, and it is made more difficult when the replacement (Jashaun Corbin) is lost for the year to an injury.  That leaves Jacob Kibodi and Isaiah Spiller to pick up the slack.  They combined for 38 total yards on 16 carries against a defense that will probably finish in the bottom of the SEC.  Spiller is the more talented of the two but is still a true freshman and has an issue with fumbles.  His turnover on Saturday was a huge momentum-changer as it felt like the Aggie offense had found a rhythm before he coughed it up and let Arkansas back in the game.  Throw in Kellen Mond’s interception in the endzone, and its obvious this team has an issue with the turnover bug.  After five games they are -2 in turnover margin which puts us at #90 nationally.  This issue is compounded by our undisciplined and untimely penalties that derail drives.  This offense is simply not good enough to overcome turnovers and playing behind the chains due to stupid, self-inflicted mistakes.  These are characteristics of an unfocused and undisciplined team and that is not something that you would ever expect from Jimbo Fisher. 

The last big issue (I don’t have time to address them all) was the team’s inability to overcome quick momentum changes.  When you play in a conference like the SEC, every team will have good athletes on both sides of the ball.  This will give every team the ability to turn the tables quickly on you if you don’t take care of business.  It felt to me that the Aggies were in a good position early in the second quarter as they forced the interception just as Arkansas was about to score to protect a 14-3 lead.  The offense had very little issues moving the ball and the defense had only given up a field goal about 20 minutes into the game.  This was the drive where we needed to go down the field and go up by three scores, or at least 14 points, and really start to put this one out of reach.  Instead, Spiller fumbles and the Arkansas defense takes the opportunity to scoop and score to trim the lead to four.  The Aggie offense gets the ball back and immediately goes three-and-out while losing 7 yards.  Not once did they get the ball in their playmakers’ hands on that drive.  They immediately follow that up by allowing a 32-yard punt return that set the Razorbacks up with a short field.  Give Arkansas credit as they took advantage of our blunders and scored a touchdown in 3 plays.  All of these mishaps happened within an eight-play window.  We went from having the potential to pull away in the game to being down four points in the blink of an eye.  I think a lot of this blame belongs with the coaching staff.  It’s difficult for the players, who are still just 18-22 year-olds, to not let their emotions get the best of them.  I expected more from Jimbo and Mike Elko.  Jimbo should have felt the momentum changing and immediately get the ball to one of his dynamic receivers in a simple play call like a screen or jet sweep.  When the chips are down, just simplify things for the young team and let your athletes go make plays. 

What’s Next

The bye week honestly couldn’t come at a better time as the Aggie football team has a lot to figure out.  My ray of hope comes from the fact that last year’s team also played poorly against Arkansas in a narrow victory but ended the year on a four game win streak and got big wins over ranked SEC teams in Kentucky and LSU.  Jimbo will be busy earning his 10 year, $75 million contract over the next two weeks as the new #1 ranked team in the nation, the Alabama Crimson Tide, will be coming to Kyle Field. I will be spending my bye week relaxing in Hawaii and I encourage everyone to take a step back, take a deep breath, and not give up on this team just yet.  Lots of football still to be played the year and things could be worse as we could have just lost 8 straight to a rival… or we could be Tennessee fans.

The game yesterday was not fun to watch, no other way around it.  Auburn came in and was more physical than us, out-coached us, and out-played us in all phases.  Their defensive line lived up to the hype as we could not run the ball all day.  The offense was inconsistent for most of the game until late in the third quarter, when Auburn was playing a preventative defense and the Aggies started playing with some tempo.  A lot of the blame is being placed on Mond, and while he doesn’t look comfortable out there, he did put up some solid numbers.  He was 31/49 for 335 yards, 2 TDs and no interceptions.  He also led the team in rushing yesterday with 26 yards on the ground.  This was a big momentum game for both teams, and it looked like Auburn was better prepared and wanted it more than the Aggies, and that might be the most disappointing aspect of yesterday.  We are now a third of the way into the season, so these issues are no longer minor, they are major issues.  The potential is there for this team to feature a dynamic offense, but at some point, you have to actually make the plays on the field.  The identity of this offense is still up in the air, but they better figure it out fast with a brutal schedule still ahead. 

The Bad

• The offense looks inept.  The offensive line got straight man-handled yesterday and failed to open up running lanes.  It is near impossible to win when you are only able to produce 56 yards rushing.  Even with the defensive line we were facing, I wanted to see more creativity out of Jimbo Fisher in getting the ball on the edge with jet sweeps to dynamic playmakers like Quartney Davis or Ainias Smith.  We could not continue to run into the teeth of the defense for no gain or negative yardage all afternoon. 
• Speaking of Ainias Smith, where was he all game? The offense is desperately missing some explosiveness and one of our most explosive playmakers didn’t touch the ball until late in the fourth quarter.  He had one catch and turned it into a touchdown.  With how anemic our receiving corps has looked, we simply need to insert players that have shown some burst, and right now, that guy is true freshman Ainias Smith. 
• The wide receiver group is probably the unit I am most disappointed in at this point.  Coming into the year, we had four juniors with a unique mixture of skillsets and a knack for making big plays in big games. Now, it looks like the only one who can consistently make plays is Jhamon Ausbon.  And even he has an issue with drops.  Quartney Davis needs to be rotated with Cam Buckley in the slot as they are pretty dynamic with the ball in their hands but both struggle with consistently making plays and drop too many passes.  Other than that, lets see more of Ainias Smith and start taking a look at big-bodied wide receivers Jalen Preston, Caleb Chapman, and Dylan Wright to take some of Kendrick Roger’s playing time.  He is the most inconsistent receiver of the bunch.  The defenses we face the rest of the year will not respect the deep ball as we don’t have anyone that will test them down the field.  Combine that with a lackluster run game, and it is no wonder Kellen Mond looks a little lost.
• The offense looked stagnant against the two great defenses we have faced this year in Auburn and Clemson. The trend of starting slow is becoming a bigger issue.  Jimbo wants to pound a defense with the run to set up play-action passes and dominate time of possession so that we can really wear down a defense late in the game.  However, our offensive line is simply not good enough and physical enough to impose our will on over half the teams still left on our schedule. He needs to come up with a better game plan.  Kellen looks too hesitant early in the game and just seems confused.  Later in the game against Clemson and yesterday against Auburn, he seemed much more comfortable when the tempo picked up and he was able to make 1-2 reads and then just sling it.  Jimbo has to make adjustments and play to his team’s strengths, which is not over-powering a defense with this subpar offensive line.  Kellen Mond is not a good enough quarterback to win you the game by himself, and the recipe for winning is not him throwing it 40+ times a game. 
• This team makes too many mistakes.  The number of drops and penalties are out of control.  The Aggies rank 94^th in total penalties so far. Combine that with a -1 overall turnover margin (82^nd in the nation) and it’s easy to see why we rate 93^rd in the nation in red zone TD percentage (54.5%) and convert only 42% of our third downs.  In crucial moments in the game like third downs and in the red zone, we too often beat ourselves. 
• Mike Elko’s defense failed to make Bo Nix look like a true freshman in a hostile environment as they rarely pressured him and managed one sack all day.
• We still have games against #2 Alabama, #3 Georgia, and #4 LSU so there is no time to waste in fixing these issues.  In a season where I was expecting a realistic shot at 9-3, we are now staring down the barrel of a 7-5 season and a mid-tier bowl game.  Even pulling a massive upset will have us equaling last season’s regular season record of 8-4. 

The Good

• I really like the Kellen Mond to Jhamon Ausbon connection.  The high school teammates often are able to make plays when no one else on the offense can. Ausbon is the only one who seems to have a chance to make a play more than 15 yards down field as he ranks second in the SEC among receivers with 4 plays over 30 yards. 
• This defense only allowed 299 total yards and exactly 100 yards passing.  Often, that effort should win you the ball game.  They fell victim to a couple of trick plays that resulted in 14 of Auburn’s 28 points, but they should at least keep us close in most of the games the rest of the season.  They just need to find a pass rush.

This team has the potential to be good and pull off an upset later in the year, but at some point, we must start playing like it instead of just talking about it.  If the offense doesn’t find a groove soon, this will be a long season.  Luckily, we have Arkansas next and even though we have played badly against the only two Power 5 teams we have faced this year, Arkansas has been way worse.  I realize they always play us close, but if we cannot beat them by at least 14 points, then I will be quite concerned moving forward.

The Aggies have another big game against a top ranked team this weekend, although this time it will be against an SEC foe and within the confines of Kyle Field.  The Auburn Tigers are ranked 8^th after getting a last-minute victory over Oregon at AT&T Stadium on the opening weekend of college football.  They are led by a true freshman quarterback named Bo Nix, who was the #1 ranked dual-threat quarterback in the 2019 recruiting class according to 247 Sports.  What is interesting is that Nix’s father, Patrick, was the Auburn quarterback from 1992-1995.  His quarterbacks’ coach during that time was none other than Jimbo Fisher.  Jimbo said this week that he believes Bo will be a better player than his father, but let’s hope that takes a few years to develop. 

Offense

The offense will face many tough defenses this year on their SEC schedule, but the head coach thinks this will be the toughest front four that the Aggies will face this year.  Defensive tackle Derrick Brown could have been a first-round pick in last year’s NFL draft, but chose to return for his senior year. Combine that with projected early NFL draft pick Nick Coe and another defensive lineman named Big Kat Bryant, and you can see why Darell Dickey and Jimbo have their work cut out for them.  One of the biggest concerns for me so far this season has been the relative struggles of the offensive line.  They will certainly be tested this week, so I look for Jimbo to do some different things to help them out.  He will likely move the pocket by rolling Mond outside, have some quick passes to not let the defense line have time to get to him, and then just run some counters and screen passes to confuse and get a numbers advantage against their vaunted defense. 

Our receivers have got to start catching the ball.  It is one of the most frustrating things and easiest thing they can control.  I have expected more out of our receivers this year, but there has been a lot of injuries throughout fall camp and early in the season and I think that has affected the chemistry between Mond and the veterans.  I definitely want to see more of Ainias Smith with either jet sweeps or screen passes just to get him the ball in space.  The secondary for Auburn is solid, but they can be beat if the receivers play like they did against LSU and Clemson last season.

Isaiah Spiller has passed every test so far, but this week he will face his toughest one of the season.  He will need to run very tough and grind out yardage, even if it is just for two or three yards rather than a no gain or loss of yardage.  He and Jacob Kibodi will need to do a good job of blitz pickups as well as Auburn’s defensive coordinator Kevin Steele is one of the most experienced and well-respected coordinators in the SEC.  You can bet that he will have some crazy stuff drawn up to confuse Kellen and the offensive line so it will be imperative that the running backs do their part and don’t miss assignments and late blitzes.

Defense

“Eye Violations” has been the buzz word from Jimbo Fisher this week when discussing the unique Auburn offense. Head coach Gus Malzahn loves to utilize a lot of pre-snap motions and even will have several players crossing directly in front of the quarterback after the snap.  This can get very hectic and tough to read for the linebackers and safeties.  For the Aggie defense, those are the groups that are the least experienced so it will be crucial that they play their keys and maintain their responsibilities. 

Auburn’s offense is predicated off the running game.  They have the 11^th ranked rushing offense and rolled up 467 yards on the ground last week in their blowout win over Kent State.  The Aggies will have to step up and stop Jatarvious Whitlow and company and it will start with the defensive line.  The Auburn offensive line will be overmatched in this game and it will need to show for us to be able to slow them down.  Our front four will need to blow up plays in the backfield and allow for the linebackers and safeties to come downhill and clean up the plays while making their correct run fits.  Bo Nix is a true freshman who is making his first career start on the road in front of 100,000+ fans, so we need to make him feel uncomfortable early and often.  Look for defensive coordinator Mike Elko to force him into third and longs and obvious passing downs and then confuse him with different blitzes and coverages on the back end. 

The secondary has been a pleasant surprise so far and that should continue this week.  Cornerback Myles Jones is playing the best football of his career.  Elijah Blades has also been impressive thus far and with Debione Renfro knocking off the rust last week after serving a two-game suspension to start the season, this position group has come a long way since last fall.  Throw in fifth year senior Roney Elam playing phenomenal and I feel really good about the back end being able to shut down the Auburn receivers.  The only issue would come from Anthony Schwartz, who has Olympic track speed. Auburn’s big, physical receiver Seth Williams, who last year torched the Aggies for two touchdowns in their come-from-behind victory, is banged up, but will still play.   If they can maintain their responsibilities and not get caught up in all the “eye violations” happening in front of them, they should be able to wreck some havoc.

Overall, these are two pretty evenly matched teams on paper. As usual, the game will come down to who protects the ball and doesn’t have the costly penalties. If Kellen Mond can take care of the football on offense and realize that with his defense and Braden Mann, we can win the battle of field position, then that will go a long way in deciding this one.  Whichever team is able to win the turnover battle, control the time of possession, and force the other team into a few mistakes, will wake away the winner and have a leg up early in the season in the SEC.  

The Aggie football team needed a game to get healthy and get their mind right while gaining some confidence back.  That’s exactly what happened last night as they dismantled an overmatched Lamar squad in a 62-3 final score.  Several younger players got valuable playing time and I think we learned some interesting things about this team. Now, SEC play will begin, and it starts with a home matchup with 8^th ranked Auburn.  It another chance for this team to prove its merit and move up in the rankings. 

What We Learned

This defense is legit enough to take over ballgames.  Yes, it was against Lamar, but anytime you can hold an opposing offense to 197 total yards while rotating in 2^nd and 3^rd stringers for a majority of the second half, that’s an impressive feat.  Bobby Brown blocked a field goal and was actually upset that they allowed the second one to be made and lost an opportunity at a shutout. The secondary is vastly improved, and the run defense is still great.  They will be tested big time next week as they face an Auburn team that amassed 467 yards rushing in their win over Kent State this week.  The Aggie defense only gave up one third down conversion in 16 tries, their best effort since 2000. 

Put me in the camp that wants to see more playing time for true freshman Ainias Smith.  The slot receiver is shifty and just a flat-out playmaker, something that the receiving corps is desperately searching for at this point.  He is explosive when he gets the ball in his hands in space and I think the coaches realized they needed a bit of a jolt from the wideouts and wanted to see what Smith could do this week.  Now that he performed well while scoring his first touchdown and leading the team in catches last night despite only playing for the last 18+ minutes, look for him to get some touches earlier against Auburn.

Isaiah Spiller is running like a grown man, not an 18-year-old true freshman.  He has looked good in every game but will really be tested next week against Auburn’s vaunted front four.  I like the patience he displays while still having enough burst to explode out of his cuts.  With him likely being the one to step up and replace Jashaun Corbin (while still using a committee approach with Jacob Kibodi and Cordarrian Richardson), this will help the Aggies play the ball control offense that Jimbo likes so much.  They currently rank 16^th in the nation in time of possession per game and I look for that trend to continue or even improve with the gauntlet of a schedule they have coming up. 

What’s Next

There were still a few lingering concerns for me as I watched the game unfold last night.  The lack of push that the offensive line produces has become a growing concern.  I do not think it can be as easily dismissed as early season jitters or the offensive line simply taking time to “gel.”  Jimbo Fisher and Darell Dickey will have to be creative in how they create a ground game next week against Auburn.  They will need to produce some form of a rushing attack to keep the defensive line from teeing off and just coming after Kellen Mond.  Still a lot of football yet to be played, but this week will be one of the toughest tests the offensive line faces, so it would bode well for the rest of the season if we could at least scratch out 100 rushing yards against Auburn.

With a fourth of the season already in the books, the Aggies rank 77^th in the nation in total penalties with 19 over three games.  Jimbo will have to clean this up moving forward as this offense is not explosive enough to overcome 10- or 15-yard self-inflicted setbacks on drives routinely. In games that are close, which the Aggies figure to be in many more times this season, these penalties can derail a drive and be momentum-changers.  The other aspect that needs to be fixed and should be addressed immediately is the number of drops from pass catchers.  Kellen Mond is a solid quarterback, but he cannot take over and win you games by himself, and he certainly can’t keep you competitive if the receivers cannot hang on to the ball.  With five more drops last night, that would have changed Mond’s completion percentage from 71.4% (20 of 28) to an absurd 89.3%.  Kendrick Rogers, Jhamon Ausbon, Quartney Davis (who was held out last night as a health precaution) and Camron Buckley are all juniors that have played a lot of football in pressure-packed situations.  They need to be able to help out their quarterback and just catch the simple ones while winning about half the 50-50 balls that are a higher degree of difficulty.  If they are able to do that, which is not asking much considering we have seen all of them do it at times, then Kellen Mond and this whole offense look significantly better. 

Overall, this team has the talent to make 2019 a special season, but it needs to start this week against a top 10 Auburn team.  The Tigers have their own limitations with a true freshman quarterback but feature a dominant ground game.  It will be strength against strength as head coach Guz Malzahn will want to grind out yards on the ground but Mike Elko’s best unit on a much-improved defense is still the defensive front four.  Looking forward to another great opportunity for the Aggies next week and glad we get to play at home in front of the 12^th man. 

It has been five days since the Aggies trip to Death Valley East in Clemson, South Carolina and I still don’t like how we played in that game.  I could not even bring myself to watch the full game again. But the schedule lines up well as we get a FCS opponent this week in the Lamar Cardinals.  This is exactly the type of “get-right” game that the Aggies need after a scorching afternoon in Clemson that saw lots of injuries, cramps, and poor play on the field. 

What I Am Looking For

This matchup amounts to a glorified practice due to the caliber of competition.  The game should never be in doubt.  You won’t be able to learn much from this game due to the talent differential.  However, there are several different things I am looking for that might help this team as they move into another top 10 matchup against Auburn next week.  This is a great opportunity to work on some of the flaws we saw last week and gain confidence back.

The aspect I am really looking forward to watching this week is the running game.  We have struggled in the early part of the season to move the ball on the ground even against Texas State.  Now with starting running back Jashaun Corbin out for the season with a hamstring injury, the battle for carries just got a lot more interesting.  I want to see the offensive line exert their will and just flat dominate the line of scrimmage.  They should be opening holes that are big enough for a Mack truck to fit through.  True freshman Isaiah Spiller will get the first crack at replacing Corbin, but the other running backs will get plenty of carries as well.  Jacob Kibodi is a redshirt sophomore that will have to step up and take some of the pressure off of Spiller.  He is a tough runner and a bigger body, but is versatile enough to still be a factor in the passing game out of the backfield.  Cordarrian Richardson is the transfer from UCF that has been puzzling thus far.  He is without a doubt the biggest back on the roster checking in at over 240 pounds and had offers from Clemson, Alabama, LSU, and Georgia but has gotten very limited carries this year. Both of these guys as well as fleet-footed Deneric Prince will all probably get a chance at showing what they can do so Jimbo and company can get a better idea of what they have in their arsenal moving forward.  The running back that is able to pick up blitz protections and do the little things well will be the one to split carries with Spiller for the foreseeable future. 

I am very interested to see many of the new players on the roster.  Jimbo brought in some highly rated recruits in the 2019 class (rated third in the nation) and many of them are just itching to get on the field and show the coaching staff what they can do.   This game should be practically over by half so the whole second half can be used to focus on getting the backups some work and building depth for later in the year.  Many of the players that were banged up and injured against Clemson should be sitting out entirely this game to give them two weeks to heal up for the big home game against 8^th ranked Auburn.  I will be keeping a particularly close eye on true freshman Zach Calzada as he was the one who came in as backup quarterback against Texas State.  His arm talent is elite, but I want to see how he controls the offense, makes his checks at the line of scrimmage, and how he handles the flow of the game.  I also want to see some of the young receivers step up and make some plays when they get their chance.  Jalen Preston and Caleb Chapman both are in their second year under Jimbo Fisher and should have a better grasp of the complicated offensive system at this point.  They have received high praise during fall camp and each possess a unique play-making ability so now is the time to let it show. 

The most important thing I want to see in this game is a clean, well-executed game from both sides of the ball.  Against Clemson, our own mistakes killed lots of drives and came at very bad times with false starts on third down, bad snaps, and the roughing-the-passer penalty.  Both the offense and defense need to come out and make sure they take care of the little things like avoiding dumb penalties, making the extra block, and protecting the ball and not turning it over.   It would not be encouraging for Kellen Mond to have his third straight game with a turnover.  Overall, should be a blowout win that sees lots of younger guys get experience while hopefully gaining confidence heading into the Auburn game.  

There is a reason that the Clemson Tigers have won two out of three of the past three national championships and joined Alabama as the premier football programs in college football the last few years.  They were one of the two most complete teams we will see all year and their talent level will only be matched by the Crimson Tide.  It was going to be a good litmus test to see where the Aggies were at in year two under Jimbo Fisher and to be honest, it was really a wakeup call for us.  As I was at the game and up in the third deck of the visiting section, I didn’t get the luxury of my normal viewing positions and have replays, so today will be more of an overview of the game and less analytical for certain plays.

The Bad

We must start here with the passing offense.  The leader of any Jimbo Fisher offense will be the signal caller and to be frank, Kellen Mond put forth one of his worst performances since his freshman year. His 23.8 quarterback rating was his lowest since November of 2017.  His stat line was skewed by the final drive in which he completed several passes and threw the only touchdown on the day.  Overall, his completion percentage was at 57% when he went 24 of 42 for 236 yards.  Like I said, not terrible, but definitely looks better than his actual performance. 

Mond came out and didn’t look comfortable from the start yesterday as his high throws and inaccuracy showed.  He started out with only five of his first 14 passing attempts being completed.  He even looked hesitant to run when the chances were there early and fumbled in a crucial spot in the game when he did decide to run. His first throw of the game was dropped and then his second throw was overthrown to a streaking Cam Buckley that had broken free on a seam route over the middle.  It was going to be a touchdown and would have stretched the defense from the get-go and was a huge missed opportunity.  The Aggies went three and out on the first drive after shooting themselves in the foot and that was a premonition of things to come as it was a long afternoon for the Aggies offense.

When your quarterback is struggling on the road against the defending national champions, it would be nice for one of the veteran receivers to step up and make a play to help his quarterback get on track.  Instead, they dropped several passes that never allowed for Mond to get into a rhythm.  The inability for this receiver corps to get separation and beat man coverage was evident again Saturday afternoon.  Combine that with no real vertical threat that can stretch the defense and it allowed Brent Venables and the Clemson defense to put the clamps down.  Only averaging 2.2 yards per carry didn’t allow for Jimbo to set up his play action schemes. Several times they had three safeties over the top, and they just kept everything in front of them and forced Mond to be accurate on his underneath throws, which he was unable to do. 

The two other factors that jumped out to me was a couple of the intangibles that championship level teams are able to do, but the Aggies were not.  When you’re playing a team that is elite, you have to do the little things right.  The Aggies committed too many penalties yesterday that either extended drives for the Tigers or knocked our drives off track.  The turning point in the game for me was the second quarter, where the Aggies gave up 17 points, only possessed the ball for four minutes, and gained 18 total yards of offense.  In the final drive before half, Trevor Lawrence led the Tigers on a drive of 90+ yards that really broke the back of the Aggie defense.  He was helped out with a bone-headed roughing the passer penalty when Justin Madubuike hit him late and gave up a free 15 yards.  When you are facing an offense as explosive as Clemson’s you cannot afford to help them out and give them extra yardage.  On the offensive side of the ball, a couple of false starts in that second quarter really made some medium range third downs become third and long.  I said in my game preview that the Aggies would need to win the turnover battle by +2, but Kellen Mond coughed up a fumble early and threw an interception late. Senior Roney Elam was able to pick off Trevor Lawrence late in the fourth quarter, but that is all the mistakes the Aggies were able to force.  The second issue is redzone scoring as the Tigers were able to turn four trips in the redzone into three touchdowns and a field goal and the Aggies only managed one touchdown at the end of the game in three trips into the redzone.  When you get down inside the 20s the field condenses so much and you have to be that much sharper on offense.  This lack of execution has plagued the Aggies since last season and needs to be fixed very quickly with still four top 10 opponents on the schedule. We could not afford to make a difficult task harder, and that’s exactly what we did with too many penalties and losing the turnover battle. 

The Good

I would be remised to not mention the solid effort put forth by the Aggie defense.  Holding Clemson to 389 yards (140 yards below their season average from a year ago) was great.  If you would have told me before the game that the Aggies would limit the most explosive offense in college football to just 24 points, their lowest total since their 2017 college football playoff game, I would have definitely signed up for that.  Travis Etienne was dangerous in space, as evidenced by his 52 yards receiving, but he was held in check with 53 yards rushing on 16 carries.  After he was able to get 17+ yards per carry in the opener, the front seven limited him to an average of 3.3 in this one.  The defensive line was able to win the battle at the line of scrimmage more often than not by bringing pressure and making Trevor Lawrence uncomfortable. They seemed to get a little tired later in the game as lots of injuries along the defensive front began to take their toll but overall not a bad effort from Mike Elko and the defense. 

Jashaun Corbin showed some real tough running at the beginning as he was able to keep the offense fairly balanced early in the game.  It was tough sledding, but I thought he and Isaiah Spiller looked pretty impressive with limited carries given the caliber of competition they faced.  Ultimately, their stats don’t reflect their performance as once it was evident that we could not connect on anything more than 15 yards down the field, the Clemson defense was able to stack the box and really sell out and play aggressive. 

Some true freshman and young guys got some great experience in a hostile environment as right guard Kenyon Green held his own on the offensive line.  Safety Demani Richardson was the team’s leading tackler with eight.  Defensive lineman Adarious Jones and Derrick Hunter got some valuable playing time going up against an elite offensive line.  Throw in Andre White at linebacker and Jalen Wydermyer catching his first touchdown in his career and that is five true freshman that played significant snaps against the best team in college football.  Hopefully this will help us build depth and pay dividends later in the year. 

Another positive from my own personal viewpoint was how amazing it was to travel to Death Valley in Clemson.  While walking through campus yesterday, so many Clemson fans were complimenting us on how our fans treated them last year when they visited Kyle Field and were impressed with the number of fans in maroon at the game.  It made me proud to wear the Aggie ring and was a trip worth taking to see their atmosphere.

What’s Next

I was disappointed in the performance of the A&M team yesterday.  When you are taking on the #1 ranked team and defending national champions at their place, you must put forth your best efforts across the board and that did not happen yesterday.  Even with a bad effort, the Aggies played Clemson to a 14-point margin of victory, which was their closest in the last 12 games.  I know Jimbo is not satisfied with the effort just like us fans.  Lots of improvements need to be made quickly as top 10 ranked Auburn will be coming to Kyle Field in two weeks so there is no time to sulk and dwell on the dismal effort this weekend.

The Aggies have their first huge opportunity to make a statement and shake up the college football world on Saturday afternoon in South Carolina.  Taking on the defending national champions and #1 ranked team in the nation on the road is a tall task, but this is something that Jimbo and the folks in the Bright Complex have been preparing for since last year’s matchup.  Clemson has won 16 games in a row, including the last 11 games by over 20 points (with big wins over Notre Dame in CFP and Alabama in the national championship) so we will have our work cut out for us. 

X-Factors

• Kellen Mond is the biggest x-factor in this game.  He needs to deliver another remarkable performance like he did last year against Clemson (333 passing yards in the second half, 3 TDs and no interceptions).  When he turned it on, the game completely turned and Clemson really had no way to stop him, it was just a little too late.  If he can be smart with the ball, run when he needs to, and make a few big-time throws, then that is step one to pulling off the upset.
• The other position group that needs to play at their best is the secondary.  This will be the toughest test of the season for them (Alabama is in the same elite tier) as Trevor Lawrence has the arm talent to carve them up.  Throw in two receivers that are over 6’4” and it has the makings of a long day for the defensive backfield.  They looked good in the opener, but the talent level ramps up tremendously this week and we will be without one of our top corners again in Debione Renfro (suspended).  There is no stopping the passing game for Clemson, it is just about limiting them.  We need to always have great coverage to where even if the pass is completed, we make the tackle immediately.  Last year, the yards after catch allowed to Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross were what ultimately broke our back as the defenders were in good position, but could not make a play on the ball, or at least make the tackle.    
• Our special teams need to be on their A-game Saturday afternoon.  We cannot afford to hang with Clemson on offense and defense just to lose the game due to a special teams blunder.  If you remember, last year the Aggies missed a 26-yard field goal and had another one blocked.  Make either one of those and the end result would have been different.  We also cannot afford to let them make a return that changes the game by giving that explosive offense an even shorter field.  Look for Braden Mann to flip the field and pin them deep when we need him to.
• The battle of the trenches will be a huge factor in deciding this game.  The defensive line is our strong point, but they will be taking on an offensive line that boasts four pre-season All-ACC selections.  Being able to neutralize the run game will go a long way in helping out the defense overall.  Last year, we held Travis Etienne to 44 yards rushing, but last week, he averaged over 17 yards per carry in a 200+yard, 3 TDs performance.  If we can force them into 3^rd and longs and obvious passing downs, that will allow defensive coordinator Mike Elko to get creative with blitzes and back end coverages.  On the flip side, we need to be able to get a little bit of running room to keep a balanced offense.  Last year, the Aggies were only able to manage 2.2 yards per carry with a grand total of 71 yards for the game.  That number will need to be north of 120 yards to help set up the play action passing game and to keep the defense honest.  Jashaun Corbin will face his first true test and will have to earn every yard.  It will be interesting to see if Isaiah Spiller is the #2 running back again and what production he might be able to provide. Most importantly, the offensive line needs to provide Kellen Mond time to make his reads and having a clean pocket to make good throws.

Keys to the Game

• The Aggies need to win the turnover battle by at least +2.  That’s a great way to change momentum and frustrate Trevor Lawrence and take the ball right out of the offense’s hands.  This means that the defense needs to be opportunistic by being in the right place in the right time.  Also, the offense cannot afford to give the Tigers more drives on offense than they will already have, so Kellen Mond and company will need to be very careful with the pigskin Saturday afternoon.
• Redzone offense and defense will go a long way in deciding this game.  Whichever team can turn their trips into the redzone into seven points instead of settling for field goals will be crucial.  If you remember, the Clemson defense gave up over 500 yards to Alabama in the national championship game but buckled down when it matters most and held them to 16 points. 
• Jimbo Fisher will need to do an excellent job of play calling again as winning the time of possession battle will be imperative.  There is no secret that we will be outmatched when the Clemson offense takes the field with Trevor Lawrence and those stud receivers, so best to limit the time that they have control of the ball.  This also goes hand in hand with getting the running game going as it will help dominate the flow of the game.
• Lastly, when taking on the #1 ranked team on the road, who also happens to be the defending national champions, having the correct mindset is crucial.  Too many times, the top ranked team in the nation has a leg up before the game even starts because the other team feels like they are just outmatched across the board.  With Jimbo Fisher coming in last season, any feelings of inferiority completely went out the window.  You know the head man believes he will have the better team in Death Valley on Saturday afternoon, and the players will resonate that same feeling.  The mindset for the football team and coaching staff is confident, now it is time to go prove it on the field and make the plays to pull off the first major upset of the 2019 season. 

The Aggies will be the toughest team that Clemson faces all year until they reach the playoffs.  Defensive coordinator Brent Venables even admitted that Kellen Mond will be the best quarterback they face all year.  Most of our position groups will have to put forth their best effort to be able to be competitive in this game.  Jimbo is notorious for keeping games close late by managing time of possession and the control of the game.  If that happens, then this will be a close game going into the fourth quarter and then it just comes down to who’s playmakers step up and make the game-changing plays late that will win the game.  I am very much looking forward to this game as I will be traveling out to South Carolina this weekend with my wife, sister-in-law, and brother to see this game and this electric atmosphere in person.