That was a disappointing first half. A lot of ups and downs, and maybe more ups than downs -- but the downs were costly.
Haynes King is 12-20 for 143 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs. He's thrown some beautiful passes, especially over the middle to Ainias Smith and Caleb Chapman, but also made some bad decisions. The first pick wasn't his fault -- he was trying to get the ball to Lane and Wydermyer deflected it on the way past -- but the second was inexcusable. Chapman was absolutely blanketed and he stared him down. That can't happen.
The arm strength is fine. The mobility is impressive. But he won the job because he kept mistakes to a minimum and he made two critical ones in the second quarter to kill scoring drives.
Isaiah Spiller has been good -- 74 yards on just 9 carries. Kent State can't handle him. They did much better against Achane, but I didn't like the playcalls when they utilized Achane. I'd like to see him get outside more.
The wideouts were ok. Ainias dropped a huge pass that killed a drive, but caught a few others. King really seems to have a good rapport with Chapman, who has done a good job getting open for the most part. Chase Lane was active early and then stopped getting looks. My big problem would be the lack of targets for Wydermyer.
The amazing thing here is that A&M has 275 yards of total offense. That's really good. But they've hurt themselves repeatedly. Blow a 4th down, two interceptions and a drop inside the 15 -- to say nothing of the blown call on the bomb to Chapman that was on the money.
The offensive line looks like a group that hasn't played together much. Bryce Foster was ok for the most part, but got blown up on several short yardage plays. He's a freshman and you can expect that, but it doesn't change the fact that it happened. Kenyon Green got nailed for a hold. Jahmir Johnson seems like he's done pretty well, but Ogunbiyi and Robinson both had some issues with the blitz.
On defense, I don't like the fact that they have repeatedly had trouble lining up and have run themselves out of position a bunch. But with the exception of Crum, Kent State has no rushing game. Crum is running for his life, but he's finding gaps. The longest completion for Kent State has been 19 yards, but Brian George has given up a couple of big completions on 3rd down. Crum isn't trying Jaylon Jones at all.
The defense has largely gone for speed, with 4 linemen, one linebacker (Edgerrin Cooper), 3 safeties, a nickel and 2 corners. Later in the half, Aaron Hansford came in and played for several series in the second quarter. They've had a few near interceptions, but only have the one from O'Neal.
The Aggies need to go out there and get the ball back quickly and shove it right down Kent's throat with Spiller. Get things moving again and then you get mess around with throwing the ball some more. If the Aggies tackle and don't run themselves out of position, Kent is going to have trouble moving the ball. A&M has had no such trouble, they just have killed themselves with unforced errors. Knock that crap off and you win going away.
Haynes King is 12-20 for 143 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs. He's thrown some beautiful passes, especially over the middle to Ainias Smith and Caleb Chapman, but also made some bad decisions. The first pick wasn't his fault -- he was trying to get the ball to Lane and Wydermyer deflected it on the way past -- but the second was inexcusable. Chapman was absolutely blanketed and he stared him down. That can't happen.
The arm strength is fine. The mobility is impressive. But he won the job because he kept mistakes to a minimum and he made two critical ones in the second quarter to kill scoring drives.
Isaiah Spiller has been good -- 74 yards on just 9 carries. Kent State can't handle him. They did much better against Achane, but I didn't like the playcalls when they utilized Achane. I'd like to see him get outside more.
The wideouts were ok. Ainias dropped a huge pass that killed a drive, but caught a few others. King really seems to have a good rapport with Chapman, who has done a good job getting open for the most part. Chase Lane was active early and then stopped getting looks. My big problem would be the lack of targets for Wydermyer.
The amazing thing here is that A&M has 275 yards of total offense. That's really good. But they've hurt themselves repeatedly. Blow a 4th down, two interceptions and a drop inside the 15 -- to say nothing of the blown call on the bomb to Chapman that was on the money.
The offensive line looks like a group that hasn't played together much. Bryce Foster was ok for the most part, but got blown up on several short yardage plays. He's a freshman and you can expect that, but it doesn't change the fact that it happened. Kenyon Green got nailed for a hold. Jahmir Johnson seems like he's done pretty well, but Ogunbiyi and Robinson both had some issues with the blitz.
On defense, I don't like the fact that they have repeatedly had trouble lining up and have run themselves out of position a bunch. But with the exception of Crum, Kent State has no rushing game. Crum is running for his life, but he's finding gaps. The longest completion for Kent State has been 19 yards, but Brian George has given up a couple of big completions on 3rd down. Crum isn't trying Jaylon Jones at all.
The defense has largely gone for speed, with 4 linemen, one linebacker (Edgerrin Cooper), 3 safeties, a nickel and 2 corners. Later in the half, Aaron Hansford came in and played for several series in the second quarter. They've had a few near interceptions, but only have the one from O'Neal.
The Aggies need to go out there and get the ball back quickly and shove it right down Kent's throat with Spiller. Get things moving again and then you get mess around with throwing the ball some more. If the Aggies tackle and don't run themselves out of position, Kent is going to have trouble moving the ball. A&M has had no such trouble, they just have killed themselves with unforced errors. Knock that crap off and you win going away.
