TEXAS A&M
In lauding Aggies’ talent, Kiffin takes swipe at Fisher
By Brent Zwerneman STAFF WRITER
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TEXAS A&M AT MISSISSIPPIWhen/where: 11 a.m. Saturday, Oxford, Miss.
TV/radio:ESPN; 92.5 FM, 97.5 FM
COLLEGE STATION — Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin lavishly praised Texas A&M’s talent Monday, one more manner by which Kiffin enjoys digging at Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher. The feuding duo’s third meeting is scheduled for Saturday morning.
“I’ve said it a number of times. This is like an NFL roster of talent,” Kiffin said of the Aggies, who play the Rebels at 11 a.m. Saturday at Oxford, Miss. “Now it’s even harder than the last two years to beat them, because now they have Bobby Petrino running the offense. This can easily be a top-five team in the country.”
Kiffin, who’s long enjoyed poking the excitable Fisher with a proverbial stick, knows the Aggies (5-3, 3-2 Southeastern) are far from a top-five team. They eked above .500 in SEC play with a 30-17 home victory over South Carolina this past Saturday.
The No. 11 Rebels (7-1, 4-1) have won four consecutive league games since a 24-10 loss at No. 8 Alabama on Sept. 23, and they are five-point favorites over A&M. If the Aggies are to snap an eight-game losing streak in true road games dating back more than two years, they’ll have to be much better offensively in the second half against the Rebels than they have been in their last four games.
A&M did not score a touchdown on offense in the final two quarters against Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina, although the Aggies still defeated the Razorbacks and Gamecocks by double digits. They blew halftime leads against the Crimson Tide and Volunteers and wound up losing each game by a lone score.
Had the Aggies held on to the leads and scored second-half touchdowns on offense in those games? They might be inching toward that top-five status Kiffin enjoys invoking, although A&M hasn’t finished a season ranked in the top 25 since 2020 (No. 4) under Fisher.
“I think we’re just getting a little complacent in how the game is going,” A&M offensive lineman Trey Zuhn said. “We really need to focus on that in practice, continue that the whole practice, and finish the practice going 100% and not getting complacent.”
Part of that so-called complacency — or lack of offensive explosion in the second halves of late for the Aggies — is by design, quarterback Max Johnson said Monday.
“We were trying to run the ball a lot of the second half (against South Carolina) just to take away some of the clock,” Johnson said. “But (we also) know we’ve got to score more touchdowns in the second half, and we’ve been harping on that these past few weeks.
“We’ve got to finish practices, finish drives and finish games. We’ve got to be better at that.”
The Aggies nearly had a third-quarter touchdown against the Gamecocks, but tight end Max Wright was controversially ruled out of bounds on a catch on the left side of the end zone.
“We scored a touchdown,” Fisher insisted of what he considered a missed call. “When you review it, and the explanation (from the official) I got and the only problem I had with it was they said, ‘We couldn’t tell if the ball moved. … It didn’t move.’ So if his foot is down and the ball didn’t move, isn’t that a touchdown?”
A&M also could have perhaps punched in a touchdown late against the Gamecocks but instead allowed the clock to run out on the 13-point victory from the South Carolina 10-yard line. It adds up to why Kiffin says he’s wary of the (allegedly) talented Aggies rolling into Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday.
In addition, Fisher said starting running back Le’Veon Moss, who didn’t play against South Carolina with a hamstring injury, should be ready to go against the Rebels. This also marks the first time in their seven games in Oxford since joining the SEC in 2012 that the Aggies will play a morning or afternoon game.
“It’s a mind-blowing collection of talent when you watch them offensively, defensively, in the return game and on special teams,” Kiffin continued of the Aggies. “It really is like an NFL roster with height, weight, speed, explosiveness, receivers who can score at any time, and great running backs.”
Two years ago, and on the heels of an A&M loss at Ole Miss, Fisher swiped Kiffin’s defensive coordinator, D.J. Durkin, away from the Rebels. Kiffin promptly moved to 2-0 against Fisher last season with a 31-28 Rebels win at Kyle Field, with Durkin calling the shots on A&M’s defense.
The Aggies have been solid on defense this season under Durkin — especially along a star-studded front seven — but it hasn’t mattered in the race for the SEC West because of the Aggies’ oft-inept offense behind Fisher and Petrino, their first-year offensive coordinator who is the primary play-caller.
“Their defense is playing as well as anybody in the country, and that defensive line has to be one of the best ever,” Kiffin raved about the Aggies. “Their linebacker (Edgerrin Cooper) is playing like the SEC player of the year. (So) this will take a great week of practice, great preparation and great scheming to play these guys.”
