We came into this week wondering what exactly was different about this team as opposed to last year's, which came in to the Mississippi State game unbeaten and promptly got whipped. Well, we found out. While last year's team couldn't take a punch or any form of adversity without folding, this punch proved Saturday night that they can take a punch and hit back a lot harder. They soundly beat a physical opponent while dealing more than a little extra adversity in the process.
The Aggies played a very good first half, especially on offense. Their pace was as fast as it has been at any point since Johnny Manziel left, and you could tell Mississippi State wasn't ready to deal with it. They expected fast, but not track meet. In the second half, the offense struggled more as Allen started missing his throws (consistently high, which makes me wonder if it was mechanical), the running game ran hot and cold and the playcalls, especially when A&M should have been trying to kill clock, were baffling. But at the end of the game, A&M ended up racking up 516 yards of offense and ran 86 plays without turning the ball over. That's not shabby, especially when you figure that Speedy Noil and Jeremy Tabuyo didn't play, RSJ got tossed and James White got hurt again. That's a lot of weapons missing.
The offensive line did a very nice job in pass protection for the most part; honestly, the only sack MSU got was on Allen, because he should have gotten the ball out a lot faster. I get the sense we may see a change in the offensive line for Alabama, because when he coaches look at the film, they're going to see things worked better when Keaton Sutherland was in at left guard. He blew up the right side of the MSU line on Tra Carson's touchdown and made some huge blocks in pass protection for Allen. That was really the first time that we saw why the Aggies put him in the lineup to begin with.
One key complaint would be that A&M still settled for field goals when they need touchdowns. But that's as much on Damion Ratley and Christian Kirk dropping touchdowns as anything else. Still, they need to convert. Alabama won't be as generous.
Josh Reynolds had a big game tonight, with 7 catches for 141 yards. Allen looked to him several times for big third down conversions and he came through. He slipped several tackles to extend plays and took some regular catches and made them into big plays. Christian Kirk, as usual, was special. After not using the middle of the field for the first four games, the drag route with Kirk is becoming a major weapon for this team.
Tra Carson went for 110 yards tonight. He just kept on grinding, and he ran angry after RSJ's ejection. A lot has been placed on him the past few weeks, and he's come through. He may not bust off the big runs, but he helped key two early scoring drives before punching one in himself.
On defense, you can look at 406 yards and wince, or you can look at 17 points and +2 in turnover margin and feel a little better. State wanted to do exactly what they did last year, and just physically dominate the Aggies. They have a big line, but the Aggies did a respectable job limiting the damage Dak Prescott did, even if he did have 306 yards of total offense. State was 5 of 14 on third downs and never threatened in the fourth quarter after they got within 10 points. They also got short circuited at the end of the second quarter after they got to 17-10 and looked like they had momentum after RSJ's ejection. Daeshon Hall took care of that in exactly one play.
There were still some assignment busts, as evidenced by the 52-yard touchdown, but the idea tonight was to keep Prescott from breaking the huge play. His long run was 26 yards, and his long pass was 21. He was 20-34 for 210 yards, so he was essentially averaging 10 yards a completion. That's a whole lot of dink and dunk, which didn't translate into points. And Prescott took an absolute beating tonight, as opposed to last year when he only got hit if he was initiating things. Myles Garrett had another awesome night, with 7 tackles, 2 TFL, a sack, a forced fumble and a pass deflection. There was a whole lot of chipping and holding going on on his side, but he provided a constant pass rush and was strong against the run. Last year, State ran right at him and wore him out; this year, they tried a couple of times, he made plays and they stopped. That was a huge, and telling, difference.
A lot of guys in the secondary deserve a ton of credit tonight. Armani Watts may be a sophomore, but he's becoming a team leader. He was furious after the RSJ ejection and helped pump up his teammates on the first State possession after the ejection and subsequent punt. He got stuck one on one with Prescott several times and took him down in spite of giving up at least 30 pounds. Donovan Wilson is proving to be an absolute steal, with another forced fumble and fumble recovery. He's becoming someone teams have no choice but to account for. Brandon Williams had a fantastic game, with 4 tackles and 2 PBUs, and Nick Harvey was really good as well. What was supposed to be a weakness is actually looking like a strength halfway through the season.
The defense has a long way to go, but they're not letting adversity on one play carry over to the next. They stay aggressive, stay fast and hit. It's a long way from the discouraged bunch we saw this time last year.
This is the second consecutive physical team that A&M has faced off with and, in this case, the Aggies set the tone and gave much better than they got. Even though MSU stuck around and the final score was only a 13 point different, the Aggies dominated this game physically from nearly the entire time. That's a long way from last year, and a reason for optimism moving forward.
Think about this: the Aggies will likely crack the top 10 tomorrow. They haven't played their best football yet. That makes them a very intriguing bunch moving into the death march of the west.
The Aggies played a very good first half, especially on offense. Their pace was as fast as it has been at any point since Johnny Manziel left, and you could tell Mississippi State wasn't ready to deal with it. They expected fast, but not track meet. In the second half, the offense struggled more as Allen started missing his throws (consistently high, which makes me wonder if it was mechanical), the running game ran hot and cold and the playcalls, especially when A&M should have been trying to kill clock, were baffling. But at the end of the game, A&M ended up racking up 516 yards of offense and ran 86 plays without turning the ball over. That's not shabby, especially when you figure that Speedy Noil and Jeremy Tabuyo didn't play, RSJ got tossed and James White got hurt again. That's a lot of weapons missing.
The offensive line did a very nice job in pass protection for the most part; honestly, the only sack MSU got was on Allen, because he should have gotten the ball out a lot faster. I get the sense we may see a change in the offensive line for Alabama, because when he coaches look at the film, they're going to see things worked better when Keaton Sutherland was in at left guard. He blew up the right side of the MSU line on Tra Carson's touchdown and made some huge blocks in pass protection for Allen. That was really the first time that we saw why the Aggies put him in the lineup to begin with.
One key complaint would be that A&M still settled for field goals when they need touchdowns. But that's as much on Damion Ratley and Christian Kirk dropping touchdowns as anything else. Still, they need to convert. Alabama won't be as generous.
Josh Reynolds had a big game tonight, with 7 catches for 141 yards. Allen looked to him several times for big third down conversions and he came through. He slipped several tackles to extend plays and took some regular catches and made them into big plays. Christian Kirk, as usual, was special. After not using the middle of the field for the first four games, the drag route with Kirk is becoming a major weapon for this team.
Tra Carson went for 110 yards tonight. He just kept on grinding, and he ran angry after RSJ's ejection. A lot has been placed on him the past few weeks, and he's come through. He may not bust off the big runs, but he helped key two early scoring drives before punching one in himself.
On defense, you can look at 406 yards and wince, or you can look at 17 points and +2 in turnover margin and feel a little better. State wanted to do exactly what they did last year, and just physically dominate the Aggies. They have a big line, but the Aggies did a respectable job limiting the damage Dak Prescott did, even if he did have 306 yards of total offense. State was 5 of 14 on third downs and never threatened in the fourth quarter after they got within 10 points. They also got short circuited at the end of the second quarter after they got to 17-10 and looked like they had momentum after RSJ's ejection. Daeshon Hall took care of that in exactly one play.
There were still some assignment busts, as evidenced by the 52-yard touchdown, but the idea tonight was to keep Prescott from breaking the huge play. His long run was 26 yards, and his long pass was 21. He was 20-34 for 210 yards, so he was essentially averaging 10 yards a completion. That's a whole lot of dink and dunk, which didn't translate into points. And Prescott took an absolute beating tonight, as opposed to last year when he only got hit if he was initiating things. Myles Garrett had another awesome night, with 7 tackles, 2 TFL, a sack, a forced fumble and a pass deflection. There was a whole lot of chipping and holding going on on his side, but he provided a constant pass rush and was strong against the run. Last year, State ran right at him and wore him out; this year, they tried a couple of times, he made plays and they stopped. That was a huge, and telling, difference.
A lot of guys in the secondary deserve a ton of credit tonight. Armani Watts may be a sophomore, but he's becoming a team leader. He was furious after the RSJ ejection and helped pump up his teammates on the first State possession after the ejection and subsequent punt. He got stuck one on one with Prescott several times and took him down in spite of giving up at least 30 pounds. Donovan Wilson is proving to be an absolute steal, with another forced fumble and fumble recovery. He's becoming someone teams have no choice but to account for. Brandon Williams had a fantastic game, with 4 tackles and 2 PBUs, and Nick Harvey was really good as well. What was supposed to be a weakness is actually looking like a strength halfway through the season.
The defense has a long way to go, but they're not letting adversity on one play carry over to the next. They stay aggressive, stay fast and hit. It's a long way from the discouraged bunch we saw this time last year.
This is the second consecutive physical team that A&M has faced off with and, in this case, the Aggies set the tone and gave much better than they got. Even though MSU stuck around and the final score was only a 13 point different, the Aggies dominated this game physically from nearly the entire time. That's a long way from last year, and a reason for optimism moving forward.
Think about this: the Aggies will likely crack the top 10 tomorrow. They haven't played their best football yet. That makes them a very intriguing bunch moving into the death march of the west.
