Even though Texas A&M is in the middle of its best season in 3 decades, losing to in-state rival Texas on the national stage is never fun. Fortunately for the Aggieland faithful, their dream season is not over, as the Aggies will be in the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history.
Even though the loss to the Longhorns cost them a first-round bye, there is a blueprint successfully established for a team sitting in the very position they find themselves in.
Just last season Ohio State went from being in the doldrums of losing to bitter rival Michigan for the fourth consecutive year to regrouping and going on to beat Tennessee, Oregon, Texas and Notre Dame, all by double figures, while winning the national championship.
With the CFP 2 weeks away, here are 3 things A&M must improve upon to make a CFP run.
1. A&M must become more disciplined and cut down on penalties
Despite consistently being mentioned as one of the best teams in the nation for a majority of the season, Texas A&M has had one problem it hasn’t fixed all season long which must be dealt with if they plan on making noise in the Playoff.
Penalties.
Currently, A&M is the most penalized team, followed by Miami, of teams most likely to compete in the CFP as it finished ranked as the 124th most penalized team in the nation this season. The Aggies have had more penalties than their opponents in 8 of their 12 games despite racking up an impressive 11-1 record.
Early in the year, penalties almost cost the Aggies before SEC play even started in their season-defining win against Notre Dame (13 penalties, 86 yards) and made a conference win over Auburn (13 penalties, 119 yards) a much closer game than it needed to be. The penalty bug reared its ugly head again just last week against Texas. In the second half, A&M got a false start while attempting to go for it on 4th-and-1 and got a costly delay of game penalty while making a last-ditch desperation effort in the fourth quarter.
Both penalties led to A&M punts and snatched away any realistic chances the Aggies had of coming back against the Longhorns. If A&M plans on making major noise in the CFP it must cut its penalties in half, especially on defense, where allowing an extra play or 2 to a high-caliber Playoff team can get you in trouble.
2. Defense must recapture early season form
After starting the year as one of the most productive defenses in the nation, A&M’s defense ended the regular season with a whimper as it gave up 25 points or more in 4 of its final 5 SEC games. This is far cry from the beginning of the season where the Aggies held 5 of their first 6 opponents to 24 points or less.
Although they’ve struggled more later in the season than they would have preferred, the Aggies still led the nation by holding opponents to the worst third-down conversion rate on the season and tied with Oklahoma for most overall sacks on the season with 41.
If A&M plans on making a deep run during the postseason, the defense — specifically the secondary — must get more active and find ways to create turnovers after getting an SEC low 3 picks for the entire season. Head coach Mike Elko and his staff must use these 2 weeks off to incorporate more aggressive schemes.
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3. The Aggies need more explosive plays from running backs to open up passing game
Since senior running back Le’Veon Moss went down with a major injury in A&M’s victory over Florida, the Aggies’ big-play ability from their running game has disappeared as well. After Moss’s injury, A&M only has 3 explosive runs from running backs, with 2 coming against Mizzou and 1 coming against lowly Samford.
Star QB Marcel Reed has 5 explosive runs since the Moss injury and has been a problem for A&M opponents when he chooses to use his legs. If Reed is going to make explosive plays in the passing game by connecting with KC Concepcion, Mario Craver and company in the Playoff, the running back committee of Rueben Owens II, Amari Daniels and EJ Smith must make more explosive plays on the ground.
A&M will be a difficult challenge for whoever they see in the Playoff as it can win in a variety of ways. If the Aggies plan on making a successful run, they must become a more-disciplined team, consistently generate explosive plays on offense and find ways to create turnovers while creating havoc on defense.
Kendrick E. Johnson writes for various national outlets such as High School on SI, Yardbarker, ESPN Andscape and MMA Weekly. He is an independent print journalist, sports television reporter and multimedia journalist who has covered the NBA Finals, NFL, NCAA football, MLB, NHL, WWE and over 75 world championship boxing and UFC Fights nationally. Johnson has also covered every prep sport possible in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and all across the great state of Texas. He’s done numerous 1-on-1 interviews with some of the biggest names and personalities in sports from Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry and Shaq on the basketball side to Jon Jones, Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford on the combat sports side and John Cena, Jey and Jimmy Uso and Charlotte Flair in WWE.
