Texas A&M has work to do. The Aggies simultaneously are and are not who we thought they were. They came into the season with reasonable expectations, only to be elevated to College Football Playoff contenders after a few early blowout wins over mediocre or worse teams.

The Aggies hit a serious rough patch, losing to three straight highly ranked SEC opponents in a row and tumbling out of the rankings for the first time since the early days of the Johnny Manziel era. It’s clear there’s a lot for Kevin Sumlin and his staff to get straightened out if Texas A&M is going to continue building toward the huge things their fan base and boosters expect in the future.

Coming out of a bye week after eight straight games to start the season, the Aggies had two full weeks of practice to shore up all that ails them. What should they have fixed? Let’s run down five areas of improvement.

  1. Tackling. At every level of the defense, A&M needs to start swarming to the ball and wrapping up ball carriers. The Alabama game was a study in passive defense, as defenders got nowhere close to Crimson Tide players until they were well past the line of scrimmage, and when they did get there they were simply falling off of them. Losing linebacker A.J. Hilliard to injury hasn’t helped, but neither has the inconsistent play from the secondary.
  2. Figure out the quarterback situation. Kenny Hill was phenomenal to start the season, but as he gets beat up by SEC defenses his numbers are looking more like a product of Sumlin’s offense and poor defense. Sumlin and Jake Spavital announced that there would be an open competition for every position on offense, including quarterback. If they’re going to ride with freshman Kyle Allen, they should get him as many reps as possible. There are more pressing issues on the roster, but Sumlin and Spavital have decided to reopen this one. Hill hasn’t be helped by a bevy of drops, something that should get better with a healthy Malcome Kennedy returning to the receiving corps.
  3. Blocking. The offensive line, a supposed strength before the season, has not been up to par. Cedric Ogbuehi has been okay at left tackle, but the Aggies haven’t gotten steady performances from any other spots. As a result, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see Spavital and Sumlin mix it up with multiple new starters when Texas A&M takes on Louisiana-Monroe.
  4. Protecting home field. A&M hasn’t fared well against SEC opponents at Kyle Field over the last two years, and if they want to salvage the season they’re going to have to step it up in front of the College Station faithful. Missouri isn’t as threatening as it was last year, but LSU comes to town to finish the season.
  5. Get some young faces in on defense. Sumlin and his staff have recruited well since joining the SEC, and plenty of young players have impacted the offense. For some reason, defensive coordinator hasn’t been able to get many of his touted freshman on the field. That needs to change. Four-star recruits like cornerback Nick Harvey, linebackers Otaro Alaka and Josh Walker, defensive lineman Zaycoven Henderson and others have yet to make much of a splash at all for the Aggies. At this point, if those guys aren’t going to be redshirted, the staff needs to see what it has.