Your Fightin Texas Aggies took on a decent Mississippi State team in a game where we were favored by 2+TDs. It wasnt always pretty nor did it always go the way we wanted it to, but we walked away with a 3 TD win. I’m happy. Really happy. But I’m also going to be critical of this team too because if we are going to be as good as we want to be it’s ok to be critical. It’s ok to call out bad and celebrate good because we are a good team but we want to be a fucking great team. So let’s break this down
Mississippi State had 219 total yards. 83 of them came on the second drive in the first quarter (ended in a FG) and 75 came on the second quarter. Meaning aside from those two drives, this defense gave up 61 yards in 3+ quarters of work. I dont really care who you are playing that’s really damn good.
What pleased me most was the emergence of youngsters. We know about York and we know about Howell and we know about Ricks and we know about Will Lee. But guys like Sanford are coming into their own. Dalton Brooks looked like had been shot out of a cannon on his way to get a sack and then later had a great little take away. Jordan Shaw, transfer from Washington, had a takeaway. What I like to see is the guys that we dont hear about having a great game.
Now on to the critical part. That second drive that Miss. St had, Fluff Bothwell and Davon Booth just kicked our ass up the field. It’s classic Elko to give up a big drive early and then lock in but still. Shit like that cant happen. Similarly, in that drive in the 4th quarter, we gave up a 44 yard pass to Brenen Thompson on the heels of a 15 yard reception to Ayden Williams. That’s 60 yards in two plays. Cant do that. We have to be better.
Also shout out to Tyler White who averaged 45 yards a punt. Great night for him too.
Let’s talk about Marcel Reed. Reed finished the game 13/23 for 180 with 2 TDs/1 INT with 6 carries for 30 yards which isnt ideal but when you consider the fact that he started 3/10, and then went 10/13 the rest of the way it feels a little better.
Marcel is a rhythm guy. He needs three steps and then bang the balls out. He needs predictability. And he didn’t have that. Every time he double clutched the ball, it ends up in a sailed pass. Additionally, MARCEL REED NEEDS TO RUN THE BALL. This offense works best when Marcel is making good decisions and so many of that include Marcel not handing the ball off to his RBs and going to option 2. That 4th down stop they had was a TE zone read type shit. The defense crashed and Marcel didn’t see it. He has to be better.
But on the flip side OOOOOOHWEEEEEE THAT JUKE HE HAD. This team is better with Marcel making good decisions.
Part of him making good decisions means him an Klein need to get on the same page. We racked up 479 yards of offense, including 272 on the ground but it was tale of two halfs. 179 in the first half and then a whopping 300 in the second. Maybe it’s just getting on the same page but it seemed like the second half was less of a focus on Marcel dropping back, and rather giving him those rhythm throws built on the run.
Happy for Rueben Owens who finished with 21 carries for 142. and Super happy for Mario Craver who got revenge on his old team by going 6 catches for 80 with 35 on the ground.
Last thing—procedural penalties. I dont know what the fuck is going on there but we’ve got to figure that out. Too many procedural penalties with false starts. At some point it’s not about individual player performance but something related to scheme. I dont know if it’s our cadence or what but we’ve got to fix it ASAP.
Good solid win. Quality win. One that we can point to and say we didnt play as well as we could and look what Florida did today (lmao) so you guys have to get better. Everyone who knows ball continues to say that A&M is a good team that has yet to put together 4 complete quarters of work. We’re 5 games into the year and the fact that we havent done so is both exciting and a little scary at the same time. If ever there was a time to do it, it’s next weekend.
But enjoy the night. We’re 5-0. It was a perfect, and I mean PERFECT, day of football for a variety of reasons. Much to clean up but we’ve got a really really good squad.
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