It was interesting to hear Kevin Sumlin talk after the game. He seemed pretty happy with a number of things, but there was one phrase that stood out -- "We have to be honest with ourselves." And, if you are, you know you've got some problems you need to address this week before dealing with Arkansas.
The first, and biggest, is defensive consistency. Myles Garrett admitted that the team didn't play with as much intensity this week as they should and that allowed Nevada to hang around. That's not good. The Aggies are a good football team, but they're not good enough to flip the switch on or off. It has to be going all the time, and it was largely off for large parts of the last two weeks -- especially in the second half. Nevada was held to 3.4 yards a carry, which is good, but had a touchdown run on a blown assignment, two big runs when defensive tackles left their gaps and another that should have been stopped for a 7-yard game but nobody wrapped up. They had four pass interference penalties. The botched a pooch kick. There were just a lot of ugly plays and what Sumlin called "bad football." It's more like dumb football.
Now, on the positives. Myles Garrett is a MAN. He led the team in tackles (5.5), had 4 TFL and 3.5 sacks. He shut the door hard on Nevada when they thought they had a chance to come back in the 4th quarter after recovering the pooch kick with back to back sacks. Then it comes out after the game that not only was he fighting cramping from the first quarter on, he had his wisdom teeth pulled last Sunday and didn't practice until Friday. I can't imagine how crappy he must have felt, but he was still the best player on the field.
There's a lot to like from the interior line today. I know everyone's all agog about Daylon Mack and Zaycoven Henderson -- with reason -- but when Alonzo Williams and Julien Obioha were in the game, Nevada didn't move. Obioha seems to like his new role, and he was in the backfield a lot. Williams may not show up in the stat sheets much, but he's been strong all year long. Mack and Henderson both had big plays, but Sumlin said they also shot out of position and cost their team too. If those two get those mistakes taken care of, A&M's front is going to be deadly. Honestly, it already is against the pass -- quarterbacks are rolling out to avoid pressure almost constantly -- and when they bring the hustle. They had 16 TFL today to go with 5 sacks. It was just stupid errors, largely against the run, that helped Nevada out.
The corners need to play smarter too. Devante Harris was bad today, getting busted three times for holding or PI. Brandon Williams (the first two-way player since 1968) also got nailed once. Nick Harvey, I thought, had a nice day playing against some bigger guys. He also showed he's lost his fear of making hits, flying in a couple of times to make tackles.
AJ Hilliard had an up and down day in his return. He had 5.5 tackles, a sack and 2 TFL. He also ran himself out of position twice on big runs. Otaro Alaka was pretty good today, but he made a couple mistakes too. Shaan Washington, I thought, was solid and Claude George was MUCH improved today. He was where he needed to be and made a couple big TFLs.
Big stat: Nevada was 4 of 16 on 3rd downs. A&M has done a much better job getting teams off the field this year.
On offense...they should have had more than 44 and they know it. When you rack up 535 yards of total offense and go 7 of 8 in the red zone, you're thinking massive point totals. Instead, they had that one fumble and kicked three field goals (Bertolet remains perfect on the year in everything, btw). In SEC play, they're going to have to close the deal.
Kyle Allen was really good today, especially in the first half. He ended up 18-31 for 270 yards and 4 TDs. He threw some beautiful deep balls today, to Christian Kirk and Damion Ratley, and his TD pass to Josh Reynolds (the first one) came on his third read. He was also very efficient running the read option, picking up 73 yards by himself. He did make one key screwup, throwing an interception inside his own 20 in the third quarter. That was his first really bad decision in 7 quarters. He's still developing, but he's becoming the quarterback A&M expected.
Tra Carson had a massive day, carrying the ball 22 times for 137 yards. Considering how hot it was down on the field, that's a whole lot of work. After he dropped a short pass from Allen in the 3rd quarter, he got angry -- and that's when he does his best work. He beat up Nevada's front the rest of the quarter and ended up with better than 6 yards a carry.
The offensive line continues to be Jeckyll and Hyde. One possession they're very effective, run blocking well and giving Allen plenty of time, and the next it's a jailbreak. They need to be consistent, or the Aggies will struggle in SEC play. Both tackles, who were really good the first two games, were off today. The interior of the line was a little better, but they're going to have to decide on whether it's Stuckey or Sutherland at left guard and stick with one. It seems like the A&M offense, to date, operates best when they have 3 wides and a tight end or H-back in. It gets Allen more time and the running game is more effective. The 5-wide set showed up for one series and it was a disaster. Like I said at the half, I know they were doing some things solely to give Arkansas something to work on, but I'd really like to see them master the sets they're going to use before getting cute.
Even special teams wasn't immune to screwups. Drew Kaser was great, averaging 52.5 YPK (including one that was a 68-yarder) and Taylor Bertolet stayed perfect. But Christian Kirk took a fair catch inside the 10 and there was the botched pooch kick. That has to drive Jeff Banks insane.
So, net result: A&M scores 44 points and gives up 360 yards of offense. It puts up 535 of its own. It should have scored a whole lot more than 44 and shouldn't have given up as many as it did -- not nearly as many. This is a very talented team that plays very good football when it is engaged. It cannot be disengaged anymore, or it will get hammered.
The first, and biggest, is defensive consistency. Myles Garrett admitted that the team didn't play with as much intensity this week as they should and that allowed Nevada to hang around. That's not good. The Aggies are a good football team, but they're not good enough to flip the switch on or off. It has to be going all the time, and it was largely off for large parts of the last two weeks -- especially in the second half. Nevada was held to 3.4 yards a carry, which is good, but had a touchdown run on a blown assignment, two big runs when defensive tackles left their gaps and another that should have been stopped for a 7-yard game but nobody wrapped up. They had four pass interference penalties. The botched a pooch kick. There were just a lot of ugly plays and what Sumlin called "bad football." It's more like dumb football.
Now, on the positives. Myles Garrett is a MAN. He led the team in tackles (5.5), had 4 TFL and 3.5 sacks. He shut the door hard on Nevada when they thought they had a chance to come back in the 4th quarter after recovering the pooch kick with back to back sacks. Then it comes out after the game that not only was he fighting cramping from the first quarter on, he had his wisdom teeth pulled last Sunday and didn't practice until Friday. I can't imagine how crappy he must have felt, but he was still the best player on the field.
There's a lot to like from the interior line today. I know everyone's all agog about Daylon Mack and Zaycoven Henderson -- with reason -- but when Alonzo Williams and Julien Obioha were in the game, Nevada didn't move. Obioha seems to like his new role, and he was in the backfield a lot. Williams may not show up in the stat sheets much, but he's been strong all year long. Mack and Henderson both had big plays, but Sumlin said they also shot out of position and cost their team too. If those two get those mistakes taken care of, A&M's front is going to be deadly. Honestly, it already is against the pass -- quarterbacks are rolling out to avoid pressure almost constantly -- and when they bring the hustle. They had 16 TFL today to go with 5 sacks. It was just stupid errors, largely against the run, that helped Nevada out.
The corners need to play smarter too. Devante Harris was bad today, getting busted three times for holding or PI. Brandon Williams (the first two-way player since 1968) also got nailed once. Nick Harvey, I thought, had a nice day playing against some bigger guys. He also showed he's lost his fear of making hits, flying in a couple of times to make tackles.
AJ Hilliard had an up and down day in his return. He had 5.5 tackles, a sack and 2 TFL. He also ran himself out of position twice on big runs. Otaro Alaka was pretty good today, but he made a couple mistakes too. Shaan Washington, I thought, was solid and Claude George was MUCH improved today. He was where he needed to be and made a couple big TFLs.
Big stat: Nevada was 4 of 16 on 3rd downs. A&M has done a much better job getting teams off the field this year.
On offense...they should have had more than 44 and they know it. When you rack up 535 yards of total offense and go 7 of 8 in the red zone, you're thinking massive point totals. Instead, they had that one fumble and kicked three field goals (Bertolet remains perfect on the year in everything, btw). In SEC play, they're going to have to close the deal.
Kyle Allen was really good today, especially in the first half. He ended up 18-31 for 270 yards and 4 TDs. He threw some beautiful deep balls today, to Christian Kirk and Damion Ratley, and his TD pass to Josh Reynolds (the first one) came on his third read. He was also very efficient running the read option, picking up 73 yards by himself. He did make one key screwup, throwing an interception inside his own 20 in the third quarter. That was his first really bad decision in 7 quarters. He's still developing, but he's becoming the quarterback A&M expected.
Tra Carson had a massive day, carrying the ball 22 times for 137 yards. Considering how hot it was down on the field, that's a whole lot of work. After he dropped a short pass from Allen in the 3rd quarter, he got angry -- and that's when he does his best work. He beat up Nevada's front the rest of the quarter and ended up with better than 6 yards a carry.
The offensive line continues to be Jeckyll and Hyde. One possession they're very effective, run blocking well and giving Allen plenty of time, and the next it's a jailbreak. They need to be consistent, or the Aggies will struggle in SEC play. Both tackles, who were really good the first two games, were off today. The interior of the line was a little better, but they're going to have to decide on whether it's Stuckey or Sutherland at left guard and stick with one. It seems like the A&M offense, to date, operates best when they have 3 wides and a tight end or H-back in. It gets Allen more time and the running game is more effective. The 5-wide set showed up for one series and it was a disaster. Like I said at the half, I know they were doing some things solely to give Arkansas something to work on, but I'd really like to see them master the sets they're going to use before getting cute.
Even special teams wasn't immune to screwups. Drew Kaser was great, averaging 52.5 YPK (including one that was a 68-yarder) and Taylor Bertolet stayed perfect. But Christian Kirk took a fair catch inside the 10 and there was the botched pooch kick. That has to drive Jeff Banks insane.
So, net result: A&M scores 44 points and gives up 360 yards of offense. It puts up 535 of its own. It should have scored a whole lot more than 44 and shouldn't have given up as many as it did -- not nearly as many. This is a very talented team that plays very good football when it is engaged. It cannot be disengaged anymore, or it will get hammered.
