5-0, #9 in the nation...still improving
In 2012, when the Aggies started to put things together and started to make their big run, Kevin Sumlin kept saying, "We haven't played a complete game yet." There was always something -- special teams, the running game, mistakes by the defense on something or other. And then it all came together, when the Aggies played and stunned No. 1 Alabama 29-24 in Tuscaloosa.
I remember the press conference the week of that game, and the grin on Sumlin's face that looked like he was saying "I know something you don't know." I don't know if he knew Johnny Manziel was about to destroy the Crimson Tide or what, but he was extremely confident the week before the Aggies played Alabama. This time, we have a bye week, but he's been saying something very similar before the past few games.
"We haven't played our best game yet." Or, he'll talk about cutting down mental mistakes and staying healthy and add, "if we do that, we've got a chance to be good."
Again, maybe he knows something we don't. It's almost certain he does -- I mean, hell, he IS the head coach, after all. But let's look at some of the areas where the Aggies have improved so far from the start of the season to now.
Special Teams: Taylor Bertolet was the Lou Groza player of the week this week. Drew Kaser is 2nd in the nation with 51 yards a punt. Christian Kirk is tops in the nation with an average of 27.1 yards per return.
Mental errors: We saw a lot of those from Ball State to Arkansas, especially on defense. We saw one huge one Saturday, but that was about it. Dak Prescott put up 306 total yards of offense, but the two turnovers and a lot of hits took their toll. A&M largely limited Mississippi State to dink and dunk plays and eventually wore them out. They were disciplined defensively in terms of knowing their assignments and carrying them out.
Offensive line play: This is still not good, but it has improved. Saturday was their best performance all around, and pass protection has gotten a lot better. You don't put up 516 yards if you're not doing some things right.
Quarterback play: Leaps and bounds better since Arizona State. Kyle Allen is proving to be as advertised and Kyler Murray is a shot of adrenaline.
Secondary play: Nobody thought the Aggies would be getting this kind of solid play from a converted running back (Brandon Williams), a previously disgruntled sophomore (Nick Harvey) and a senior who has been picked on his entire career (Devante Harris). But all three have exceeded expectations.
This isn't a perfect team -- they need to run the ball better, need to get some more guys healthy and get better play from their linebackers. But they have improved week to week, and that's not something all teams do. And no, they haven't played their best game yet. They may not in 2015, for all we know. But they might.
Let's see if Kevin Sumlin has that grin next Tuesday.
Thank you, o Schedule Gods
Everyone always says the bye week comes at the perfect time for their team. In A&M's case, that may actually be true this year. You've got a week off before two of your toughest games of the season, and your first opponent faces what may be their most physical foe of the year while you rest up. The rest, both mental and physical, is huge for the Aggies. Sumlin doesn't discuss injuries, as we know by now and 50,000 reiterations of that, but the way he mentioned James White, Speedy Noil and Otaro Alaka Saturday night gave you the idea that they may be able to come back after a week-plus of rest. Jeremy Tabuyo is probably a couple of weeks away, but he'll be back soon. This team hasn't been healthy yet this year except for maybe the first 10 minutes of Arizona State (and you had two key rotation guys suspended), so maybe that will play a part in the best being yet to come. And now, A&M will sit back and hope Arkansas physically hammers away on Alabama like they did last year.
Two things from Saturday worth going back to
One was the pace of the offense in the first half. When they were clicking, they were moving as fast as the team has since Johnny was at the helm. It was far faster than last year, and while they've been quick this year at points, this was another gear. It caught State off guard, especially the first couple of series. If A&M can keep that pace up the whole game against Alabama, we know that will cause them fits because Kirby Smart won't be able to switch his guys out. It won't be as pronounced as 2012 because A&M does more substituting, but the pace of the first two offensive drives for A&M was seriously impressive.
What was also impressive was the fact that A&M really mauled a team that beat the crap out of them a year ago. I know State lost 15 starters, but all 22 of the guys they started Saturday night -- EVERY ONE -- was either a junior or a senior. At a minimum, they had three years in a college strength program. And A&M beat them up. It was just as physically dominating as last year's was for the Bulldogs. Zak Prescott took an absolute beating. Five guys got knocked out. The running game, with the exception of the Deer run, wasn't there for the backs. The Aggies now have the depth up front to rotate talented players in and out and not wear down. The secondary doesn't miss tackles and plays with aggression. It's very, very different from a year ago.
Another major difference from last year
Just the general demeanor of this team is different. Mike Matthews honestly discussed it Saturday night when I asked him what the difference is between this 5-0 team and last year's. "We were in a bad place last year (as a team)," he said, noting that State was where the wheels fell off and everything in the locker room really came apart.
Now, you can't always tell unless you're in there, but it seems like this year's team genuinely likes each other and operates well as a group. There are certainly a lot more guys showing leadership, from seniors like Julien Obioha, Tra Carson, Matthews and Brandon Williams to sophomores like Allen and Myles Garrett -- and, increasingly, Armani Watts. Watch him on the field.
I don't know what or who the problem was last year -- there are certainly a few guesses that can be made -- but there's more optimism and confidence with this bunch and it's probably helped on the field.
...And then there's the other guys.
I know some of you hate reading about Texas, but good grief, that program is giving dumpster fires a bad name today. You've got a head coach who has essentially admitted defeat, upperclassmen ripping on freshmen for not giving maximum effort in practice and freshmen responding by basically telling a team captain to go to hell. That's festive for a team that is 1-4, just got blown out by 43 and could have worse on the way.
I really liked Charlie Strong before he got the Texas job. I really didn't know how he'd fit, but those folks who thought the fit was bad have proven to be correct. He's been outworked, outcoached, outrecruited and now, he's got a team that is basically in a civil war or completely in denial about their situation.
I've put together a Strong as Fran scorecard, and I'm sure you guys can add to it, but check this out. There are some huge similarities here.
Uncharismatic coach replaces longtime, big winning coach: Check
Coach sees major opponent take off on recruiting trail behind charismatic coach: Check
Coach divides locker room between "his" players and "their" players: Check
Team gets humiliated in first season, coach tells opponents to get their licks in now: Check
Team comes out and gets beat thoroughly as expectations swing upward: This would be closer to Fran's third, but if you add in the Cotton Bowl, it still kind of works. Check.
Fanbase blames former coach for problems, steadfastly supports new coach: Check
Coach flip-flops QBs: Check
Coach plays "his" players over veterans, furthering alienation: Check
Coach fails to gain support of Texas high school coaches: Check
Recruiting falls off rapidly: Well on the way to check
The Fran era was bad enough, but it's good we didn't have Twitter or there'd be even more similarities. Eventually, A&M fans got enough of Fran's crap and he was largely reviled by the time he was forced out, but the Texas fanbase still appears to be largely in the "Blame R.C." (in their case, Mack) phase even though 50-7 should set off the warning bells that 77-0 did for many of you more intelligent folks.
Anyway, I was told very strongly before the start of the season that Strong was getting a third year no matter what. After the last couple of days, I wonder if that's still the case -- but it looks like the big donors are still with him. They're blaming Mack and Patterson. If you're A&M, so much the better. Let them learn the same painful mistakes the Aggie fanbase did a decade ago.
(more in the next post)
In 2012, when the Aggies started to put things together and started to make their big run, Kevin Sumlin kept saying, "We haven't played a complete game yet." There was always something -- special teams, the running game, mistakes by the defense on something or other. And then it all came together, when the Aggies played and stunned No. 1 Alabama 29-24 in Tuscaloosa.
I remember the press conference the week of that game, and the grin on Sumlin's face that looked like he was saying "I know something you don't know." I don't know if he knew Johnny Manziel was about to destroy the Crimson Tide or what, but he was extremely confident the week before the Aggies played Alabama. This time, we have a bye week, but he's been saying something very similar before the past few games.
"We haven't played our best game yet." Or, he'll talk about cutting down mental mistakes and staying healthy and add, "if we do that, we've got a chance to be good."
Again, maybe he knows something we don't. It's almost certain he does -- I mean, hell, he IS the head coach, after all. But let's look at some of the areas where the Aggies have improved so far from the start of the season to now.
Special Teams: Taylor Bertolet was the Lou Groza player of the week this week. Drew Kaser is 2nd in the nation with 51 yards a punt. Christian Kirk is tops in the nation with an average of 27.1 yards per return.
Mental errors: We saw a lot of those from Ball State to Arkansas, especially on defense. We saw one huge one Saturday, but that was about it. Dak Prescott put up 306 total yards of offense, but the two turnovers and a lot of hits took their toll. A&M largely limited Mississippi State to dink and dunk plays and eventually wore them out. They were disciplined defensively in terms of knowing their assignments and carrying them out.
Offensive line play: This is still not good, but it has improved. Saturday was their best performance all around, and pass protection has gotten a lot better. You don't put up 516 yards if you're not doing some things right.
Quarterback play: Leaps and bounds better since Arizona State. Kyle Allen is proving to be as advertised and Kyler Murray is a shot of adrenaline.
Secondary play: Nobody thought the Aggies would be getting this kind of solid play from a converted running back (Brandon Williams), a previously disgruntled sophomore (Nick Harvey) and a senior who has been picked on his entire career (Devante Harris). But all three have exceeded expectations.
This isn't a perfect team -- they need to run the ball better, need to get some more guys healthy and get better play from their linebackers. But they have improved week to week, and that's not something all teams do. And no, they haven't played their best game yet. They may not in 2015, for all we know. But they might.
Let's see if Kevin Sumlin has that grin next Tuesday.
Thank you, o Schedule Gods
Everyone always says the bye week comes at the perfect time for their team. In A&M's case, that may actually be true this year. You've got a week off before two of your toughest games of the season, and your first opponent faces what may be their most physical foe of the year while you rest up. The rest, both mental and physical, is huge for the Aggies. Sumlin doesn't discuss injuries, as we know by now and 50,000 reiterations of that, but the way he mentioned James White, Speedy Noil and Otaro Alaka Saturday night gave you the idea that they may be able to come back after a week-plus of rest. Jeremy Tabuyo is probably a couple of weeks away, but he'll be back soon. This team hasn't been healthy yet this year except for maybe the first 10 minutes of Arizona State (and you had two key rotation guys suspended), so maybe that will play a part in the best being yet to come. And now, A&M will sit back and hope Arkansas physically hammers away on Alabama like they did last year.
Two things from Saturday worth going back to
One was the pace of the offense in the first half. When they were clicking, they were moving as fast as the team has since Johnny was at the helm. It was far faster than last year, and while they've been quick this year at points, this was another gear. It caught State off guard, especially the first couple of series. If A&M can keep that pace up the whole game against Alabama, we know that will cause them fits because Kirby Smart won't be able to switch his guys out. It won't be as pronounced as 2012 because A&M does more substituting, but the pace of the first two offensive drives for A&M was seriously impressive.
What was also impressive was the fact that A&M really mauled a team that beat the crap out of them a year ago. I know State lost 15 starters, but all 22 of the guys they started Saturday night -- EVERY ONE -- was either a junior or a senior. At a minimum, they had three years in a college strength program. And A&M beat them up. It was just as physically dominating as last year's was for the Bulldogs. Zak Prescott took an absolute beating. Five guys got knocked out. The running game, with the exception of the Deer run, wasn't there for the backs. The Aggies now have the depth up front to rotate talented players in and out and not wear down. The secondary doesn't miss tackles and plays with aggression. It's very, very different from a year ago.
Another major difference from last year
Just the general demeanor of this team is different. Mike Matthews honestly discussed it Saturday night when I asked him what the difference is between this 5-0 team and last year's. "We were in a bad place last year (as a team)," he said, noting that State was where the wheels fell off and everything in the locker room really came apart.
Now, you can't always tell unless you're in there, but it seems like this year's team genuinely likes each other and operates well as a group. There are certainly a lot more guys showing leadership, from seniors like Julien Obioha, Tra Carson, Matthews and Brandon Williams to sophomores like Allen and Myles Garrett -- and, increasingly, Armani Watts. Watch him on the field.
I don't know what or who the problem was last year -- there are certainly a few guesses that can be made -- but there's more optimism and confidence with this bunch and it's probably helped on the field.
...And then there's the other guys.
I know some of you hate reading about Texas, but good grief, that program is giving dumpster fires a bad name today. You've got a head coach who has essentially admitted defeat, upperclassmen ripping on freshmen for not giving maximum effort in practice and freshmen responding by basically telling a team captain to go to hell. That's festive for a team that is 1-4, just got blown out by 43 and could have worse on the way.
I really liked Charlie Strong before he got the Texas job. I really didn't know how he'd fit, but those folks who thought the fit was bad have proven to be correct. He's been outworked, outcoached, outrecruited and now, he's got a team that is basically in a civil war or completely in denial about their situation.
I've put together a Strong as Fran scorecard, and I'm sure you guys can add to it, but check this out. There are some huge similarities here.
Uncharismatic coach replaces longtime, big winning coach: Check
Coach sees major opponent take off on recruiting trail behind charismatic coach: Check
Coach divides locker room between "his" players and "their" players: Check
Team gets humiliated in first season, coach tells opponents to get their licks in now: Check
Team comes out and gets beat thoroughly as expectations swing upward: This would be closer to Fran's third, but if you add in the Cotton Bowl, it still kind of works. Check.
Fanbase blames former coach for problems, steadfastly supports new coach: Check
Coach flip-flops QBs: Check
Coach plays "his" players over veterans, furthering alienation: Check
Coach fails to gain support of Texas high school coaches: Check
Recruiting falls off rapidly: Well on the way to check
The Fran era was bad enough, but it's good we didn't have Twitter or there'd be even more similarities. Eventually, A&M fans got enough of Fran's crap and he was largely reviled by the time he was forced out, but the Texas fanbase still appears to be largely in the "Blame R.C." (in their case, Mack) phase even though 50-7 should set off the warning bells that 77-0 did for many of you more intelligent folks.
Anyway, I was told very strongly before the start of the season that Strong was getting a third year no matter what. After the last couple of days, I wonder if that's still the case -- but it looks like the big donors are still with him. They're blaming Mack and Patterson. If you're A&M, so much the better. Let them learn the same painful mistakes the Aggie fanbase did a decade ago.
(more in the next post)
