Alabama17Tide
Member
Time for more than soul searching
Mark Passwaters | Editor
With tonight being senior night, the Texas A&M football team wanted to give them something to remember. And this loss to LSU will certainly be memorable.
Trevor Knight gave it his all, but it wasn't nearly enough.
Let's take a look at just why it will be remembered for a long time:
ā¢ For the first time in its history, LSU had a 300-yard passer and 200-yard rusher in the same game.
ā¢ Derrius Guice, with his 285 yards, now holds the all-time record for yards in a game against Texas A&M.
ā¢ LSU scored more than 50 points for the first time since 2013 and for the third time in the last 10 years. They averaged 25 points a game.
ā¢ LSU put up 622 yards. They averaged 406 a game.
In other words, it was a complete and total debacle, especially on defense. But it's the same old thing. A&M loses another conference game in November. For fear of bulleting you to death, check out these numbers:
ā¢ A&M has won one SEC West game at home since Johnny Manziel left (Mississippi State, 2015).
ā¢ The Aggies are 3-9 in SEC West games in November since 2013.
ā¢ The Aggies are 15-17 in SEC play since 2013.
All the players are different. All the coordinators are different. There's only one guy who has consistently been here to see one late season swoon after another: Kevin Sumlin.
These are Sumlin's guys, top to bottom. He recruited and signed them. They've been in his program and worked with coaches he hired. And every year, it's the same deal: in crunch time, when the cream rises to the top, A&M plays hesitant and scared on offense and confused and undisciplined on defense.
The defensive issues are by far the more glaring and concerning. When Mark Snyder was fired, there were no excuses left for him. The defense had been porous for two years. So Sumlin went out and got the best: John Chavis. Instead of improving over a middling 2015, they've gone backwards with a more experienced and, ostensibly, more talented unit. And the mistakes were the same, week after week: players trying to strip the ball or going for big hits instead of making solid tackles; linebackers running themselves out of position and cornerbacks just not doing basic things, like turning around to find the football.
The offense ended up putting up a lot of points -- far more than LSU had given up this year -- but it was far from blameless. Keith Ford had a splendid game, running for 100 yards and making the LSU front pay for tackling him, but he didn't get the ball enough. Trevor Knight gutted his way through the game, but without him being a threat in the running game, LSU could tee off on him.
The playcalling didn't help Knight out much. The Aggies would get rolling and then thrown that horrible horizontal quick out to Christian Kirk, which has been seen far too many times. Every time, it was a loss. The fourth down play in the fourth quarter was terribly designed and the routes didn't help Knight at all. Add in drops at key moments from Josh Reynolds and Speedy Noil to go with an offensive line that did a pretty poor job of pass protecting and you've got the formula for a team that fell behind early and couldn't claw back.
But still, you score 39 points on LSU and you should win in a walk. But the Aggies, as has become their custom, didn't play with fire, didn't play smart and largely abandoned basic fundamental football.
It happens every November. A team takes on the image of its coach, and it looks pretty clearly like Sumlin doesn't know how to motivate a team when it gets down to crunch time. Winning games in September and October is important and nice, but you make your bones when you beat the tough guys at the end of the schedule. In games against Mississippi State, Ole Miss and now LSU, the Aggies took on the role of a kicked dog, hesitant and not really willing to bite. With Knight back, they were more aggressive in the second half, but the game was really decided before the offense got hot.
Sumlin is a relaxed, laid-back guy. His players really like him. But they don't produce when it matters. They're repeatedly physically beaten up by SEC West opponents in November, even during seasons (like this) where they put a whipping on some very good teams early on. Maybe the finger can be pointed at Larry Jackson and the strength and conditioning program. Maybe it's a lack of depth -- but that falls on Sumlin's shoulders too.
I said before the season that all the excuses were gone. The success or failure of the team would rest on Sumlin's shoulders. Nothing has made me change that opinion. Tonight, the Aggies had a lot to play for -- the Sugar Bowl, a 10-win season and national respect. They came out flat, disinterested and got mauled by a team missing its starting running back, best wide receiver, best pass rusher, best linebacker and a real head coach.
They were outclassed by LSU's B team.
Now, it's up for the powers that be to decide what success or failure is. If they're content with 8-4, then let's move on to the bowl game. If they're not, then Sumlin is not the only one who needs to be doing a full review of the program starting tomorrow morning.
AggieYell.com - Time for more than soul searching
Mark Passwaters | Editor
With tonight being senior night, the Texas A&M football team wanted to give them something to remember. And this loss to LSU will certainly be memorable.
Trevor Knight gave it his all, but it wasn't nearly enough.
Let's take a look at just why it will be remembered for a long time:
ā¢ For the first time in its history, LSU had a 300-yard passer and 200-yard rusher in the same game.
ā¢ Derrius Guice, with his 285 yards, now holds the all-time record for yards in a game against Texas A&M.
ā¢ LSU scored more than 50 points for the first time since 2013 and for the third time in the last 10 years. They averaged 25 points a game.
ā¢ LSU put up 622 yards. They averaged 406 a game.
In other words, it was a complete and total debacle, especially on defense. But it's the same old thing. A&M loses another conference game in November. For fear of bulleting you to death, check out these numbers:
ā¢ A&M has won one SEC West game at home since Johnny Manziel left (Mississippi State, 2015).
ā¢ The Aggies are 3-9 in SEC West games in November since 2013.
ā¢ The Aggies are 15-17 in SEC play since 2013.
All the players are different. All the coordinators are different. There's only one guy who has consistently been here to see one late season swoon after another: Kevin Sumlin.
These are Sumlin's guys, top to bottom. He recruited and signed them. They've been in his program and worked with coaches he hired. And every year, it's the same deal: in crunch time, when the cream rises to the top, A&M plays hesitant and scared on offense and confused and undisciplined on defense.
The defensive issues are by far the more glaring and concerning. When Mark Snyder was fired, there were no excuses left for him. The defense had been porous for two years. So Sumlin went out and got the best: John Chavis. Instead of improving over a middling 2015, they've gone backwards with a more experienced and, ostensibly, more talented unit. And the mistakes were the same, week after week: players trying to strip the ball or going for big hits instead of making solid tackles; linebackers running themselves out of position and cornerbacks just not doing basic things, like turning around to find the football.
The offense ended up putting up a lot of points -- far more than LSU had given up this year -- but it was far from blameless. Keith Ford had a splendid game, running for 100 yards and making the LSU front pay for tackling him, but he didn't get the ball enough. Trevor Knight gutted his way through the game, but without him being a threat in the running game, LSU could tee off on him.
The playcalling didn't help Knight out much. The Aggies would get rolling and then thrown that horrible horizontal quick out to Christian Kirk, which has been seen far too many times. Every time, it was a loss. The fourth down play in the fourth quarter was terribly designed and the routes didn't help Knight at all. Add in drops at key moments from Josh Reynolds and Speedy Noil to go with an offensive line that did a pretty poor job of pass protecting and you've got the formula for a team that fell behind early and couldn't claw back.
But still, you score 39 points on LSU and you should win in a walk. But the Aggies, as has become their custom, didn't play with fire, didn't play smart and largely abandoned basic fundamental football.
It happens every November. A team takes on the image of its coach, and it looks pretty clearly like Sumlin doesn't know how to motivate a team when it gets down to crunch time. Winning games in September and October is important and nice, but you make your bones when you beat the tough guys at the end of the schedule. In games against Mississippi State, Ole Miss and now LSU, the Aggies took on the role of a kicked dog, hesitant and not really willing to bite. With Knight back, they were more aggressive in the second half, but the game was really decided before the offense got hot.
Sumlin is a relaxed, laid-back guy. His players really like him. But they don't produce when it matters. They're repeatedly physically beaten up by SEC West opponents in November, even during seasons (like this) where they put a whipping on some very good teams early on. Maybe the finger can be pointed at Larry Jackson and the strength and conditioning program. Maybe it's a lack of depth -- but that falls on Sumlin's shoulders too.
I said before the season that all the excuses were gone. The success or failure of the team would rest on Sumlin's shoulders. Nothing has made me change that opinion. Tonight, the Aggies had a lot to play for -- the Sugar Bowl, a 10-win season and national respect. They came out flat, disinterested and got mauled by a team missing its starting running back, best wide receiver, best pass rusher, best linebacker and a real head coach.
They were outclassed by LSU's B team.
Now, it's up for the powers that be to decide what success or failure is. If they're content with 8-4, then let's move on to the bowl game. If they're not, then Sumlin is not the only one who needs to be doing a full review of the program starting tomorrow morning.
AggieYell.com - Time for more than soul searching
