Let's start with the obvious: the targeting call on RSJ was bullshit. How a player can be "defenseless" as he is lowering the boom himself is beyond me. But it may actually work out in A&M's favor, because the defense came out with a fire and shut down MSU on the two possessions after that.
Offensively, it's the Kyle Allen show. He's been really good tonight to this point, going 19-25 for 226 yards and 2 TDs. He's made some really great throws, and he's using the whole field. The passes he threw on the last touchdown drive were absolute bullets. The one across the field to Reynolds was a thing of beauty. He's threaded the needle several times for big plays, especially on 3rd down. He's getting better every game, which is what you hope for.
The pass protection tonight has been solid, and got much better when Keaton Southerland came in in the middle of the second quarter. He made a couple of great blocks, including blowing up one defender when he was protecting Allen as he rolled to his left. Once Southerland came, the middle of the line overall got a lot more stout overall. They went behind him on Carson's touchdown run, and he wasn't even touched.
Tra Carson is running well tonight, and looked like he got angry after the RSJ ejection. James White looks like he's rusty and isn't really seeing holes well, but he's only gotten a couple of carries. But, you can't really complain when you put up 330 yards of offense in the first half.
On defense, things looked pretty blah until the ejection, and then they started playing with a fury. Daeshon Hall's sack really set the tone, and from there the Aggies were just teeing off. They need to keep playing with that level of emotion, because there were moments where the interior of the line was getting beat up again. Myles Garrett has another sack, when he pushed MSU's left tackle into Prescott. He's been getting held a lot (again), but running at him hasn't been nearly as effective as last year.
State's gameplan is pretty simple: it's going to be Prescott all the time, and if they can get something like they did on the long run from Dear, great. They've held him to 7-13 for 61 yards passing and 41 yards rushing, so it's a pretty decent start. But they cannot allow State to get any momentum, because it looked like they were about to do that immediately after the ejection.
This isn't the same MSU team from last year, which was so solid across the board. This isn't the same A&M team either, because they've faced down adversity tonight and haven't flinched. Last year, Qualen Cunningham got tossed and they folded. Now, let's see if they can close a tough foe out.
Offensively, it's the Kyle Allen show. He's been really good tonight to this point, going 19-25 for 226 yards and 2 TDs. He's made some really great throws, and he's using the whole field. The passes he threw on the last touchdown drive were absolute bullets. The one across the field to Reynolds was a thing of beauty. He's threaded the needle several times for big plays, especially on 3rd down. He's getting better every game, which is what you hope for.
The pass protection tonight has been solid, and got much better when Keaton Southerland came in in the middle of the second quarter. He made a couple of great blocks, including blowing up one defender when he was protecting Allen as he rolled to his left. Once Southerland came, the middle of the line overall got a lot more stout overall. They went behind him on Carson's touchdown run, and he wasn't even touched.
Tra Carson is running well tonight, and looked like he got angry after the RSJ ejection. James White looks like he's rusty and isn't really seeing holes well, but he's only gotten a couple of carries. But, you can't really complain when you put up 330 yards of offense in the first half.
On defense, things looked pretty blah until the ejection, and then they started playing with a fury. Daeshon Hall's sack really set the tone, and from there the Aggies were just teeing off. They need to keep playing with that level of emotion, because there were moments where the interior of the line was getting beat up again. Myles Garrett has another sack, when he pushed MSU's left tackle into Prescott. He's been getting held a lot (again), but running at him hasn't been nearly as effective as last year.
State's gameplan is pretty simple: it's going to be Prescott all the time, and if they can get something like they did on the long run from Dear, great. They've held him to 7-13 for 61 yards passing and 41 yards rushing, so it's a pretty decent start. But they cannot allow State to get any momentum, because it looked like they were about to do that immediately after the ejection.
This isn't the same MSU team from last year, which was so solid across the board. This isn't the same A&M team either, because they've faced down adversity tonight and haven't flinched. Last year, Qualen Cunningham got tossed and they folded. Now, let's see if they can close a tough foe out.
