That was as solid a first half as we've seen on both sides of the ball. For a change, the Aggies aren't playing down to the level of their competition. They're crushing them.
Conner Weigman was much, much better today. He didn't have happy feet and was patient, almost to a fault. But he was 11-14 for 125 yards and a touchdown, with two drops. He missed a couple of guys who were running deep through the secondary, but he may have been overly cautious because of the competition. He looked good running the ball, picking up 39 yards on 4 carries. Could he have thrown the ball a couple of times when he ran? Possibly. And maybe he does next week. But he showed he can run, and that's good.
I wasn't really enthralled with the slow-developing patterns that we saw for most of the half, but during the last couple of drives, we started to see some Collin Klein offense. And Weigman handled it well. I liked the quick pull and get the ball out we saw on a couple of throws. That's what we want to see. We had a couple of guys get some separation, especially on two really deep crosses, but Weigman didn't let it rip. Again, maybe overly cautious considering the competition. If not, that's an issue.
The offensive line crushed McNeese, which is what they're supposed to do. Except they haven't the last two years. A&M is averaging 7.6 yards a carry and hasn't had a tackle for loss yet. The Aggies only suited up two scholarship backs, and if they want to, they'll both have 100 yards. Le'Veon Moss has 84 on 9 carries and Amari Daniels 44 on 8 carries. They're not only getting holes to run through, they're running through initial tacklers. McNeese can't handle them one-on-one.
The Aggies rotated a bunch of linemen in the first half. Deuce Fatheree, TJ Shanahan and Kam Dewberry got in with no dropoff. Again, a plus.
Defensively, A&M's not doing a lot special, they're just overwhelming McNeese. Solomon DeShields, who didn't play last week, has been awesome with 3 tackles and forcing the second interception. Shemar Turner had a great tackle here he did a hookslide behind the running back and pulled him down for a loss. The line isn't doing much special, they're just bullrushing and collapsing the pocket. I told you Kamden Sixkiller wasn't any good and he's been exactly as advertised -- 3-7, 24 yards and an interception. Trevonte Citizen had a 26-yard run that qualifies as A&M's only bust of the game, and that is literally more than 1/3 of their total offense for the game (76 yards total).
The secondary is doing their job again, and nobody's getting open. Will Lee and Marcus Ratcliffe have picks. I'd like to see more sacks, but they're getting pressure and forcing Sixkiller to make mistakes, so it could be a lot worse.
Overall, A&M is doing what it should and hopefully will continue to do so after halftime and they can rotate more guys in. They already started to do it in the first half, but you want to put this away decisively. Keep playing as they did and that should happen.
Conner Weigman was much, much better today. He didn't have happy feet and was patient, almost to a fault. But he was 11-14 for 125 yards and a touchdown, with two drops. He missed a couple of guys who were running deep through the secondary, but he may have been overly cautious because of the competition. He looked good running the ball, picking up 39 yards on 4 carries. Could he have thrown the ball a couple of times when he ran? Possibly. And maybe he does next week. But he showed he can run, and that's good.
I wasn't really enthralled with the slow-developing patterns that we saw for most of the half, but during the last couple of drives, we started to see some Collin Klein offense. And Weigman handled it well. I liked the quick pull and get the ball out we saw on a couple of throws. That's what we want to see. We had a couple of guys get some separation, especially on two really deep crosses, but Weigman didn't let it rip. Again, maybe overly cautious considering the competition. If not, that's an issue.
The offensive line crushed McNeese, which is what they're supposed to do. Except they haven't the last two years. A&M is averaging 7.6 yards a carry and hasn't had a tackle for loss yet. The Aggies only suited up two scholarship backs, and if they want to, they'll both have 100 yards. Le'Veon Moss has 84 on 9 carries and Amari Daniels 44 on 8 carries. They're not only getting holes to run through, they're running through initial tacklers. McNeese can't handle them one-on-one.
The Aggies rotated a bunch of linemen in the first half. Deuce Fatheree, TJ Shanahan and Kam Dewberry got in with no dropoff. Again, a plus.
Defensively, A&M's not doing a lot special, they're just overwhelming McNeese. Solomon DeShields, who didn't play last week, has been awesome with 3 tackles and forcing the second interception. Shemar Turner had a great tackle here he did a hookslide behind the running back and pulled him down for a loss. The line isn't doing much special, they're just bullrushing and collapsing the pocket. I told you Kamden Sixkiller wasn't any good and he's been exactly as advertised -- 3-7, 24 yards and an interception. Trevonte Citizen had a 26-yard run that qualifies as A&M's only bust of the game, and that is literally more than 1/3 of their total offense for the game (76 yards total).
The secondary is doing their job again, and nobody's getting open. Will Lee and Marcus Ratcliffe have picks. I'd like to see more sacks, but they're getting pressure and forcing Sixkiller to make mistakes, so it could be a lot worse.
Overall, A&M is doing what it should and hopefully will continue to do so after halftime and they can rotate more guys in. They already started to do it in the first half, but you want to put this away decisively. Keep playing as they did and that should happen.
