Aggies play without a pulse, struggle mightily on offense at Ole Miss
By Will Heath
Published:
Texas A&M fans went to Twitter to vent after Saturday’s humiliating 23-3 loss at Ole Miss and they want some heads to roll. That’s typical over-reacting the minute after the game, of course, but this kind of loss can bring out the haters. They were mad at coach Kevin Sumlin and offensive coordinator Jake Spavital and even quarterback Kyle Allen, who had a really rough day.
I assume the stance will have softened after Sunday morning’s hangover passes. Even so, A&M fans have a right to their disappointment. Saturday’s 23-3 loss at Ole Miss was one of the more listless performances of any SEC team in 2015.
TAKEAWAYS
• I’ll be honest: As a fan of college football, the result was disappointing for me from an entertainment standpoint. I was positive — even wrote it on Friday — that we were in for an offensive showcase, something similar to the battle between Bo Wallace and Johnny Manziel in 2013. It didn’t happen because the Rebels simply strangled the life out of A&M’s offense — at one point in the fourth quarter, backup quarterback Jake Hubenak completed a pass that prompted the following tweet from a reporter covering the game:
That’s A&M’s first pass for positive yardage since the second quarter.
— Aubrey Bloom (@aubreybloom) October 25, 2015
• Hubenak’s presence in the game at all was a key point of discussion in the postgame, as reporters wondered why the (presumed) backup QB Kyler Murray wasn’t the first man in after Kyle Allen was relieved. Sumlin — who is tight-lipped about such things normally — said it was due to practice reps and nothing else, but it seems only he believes that. Virtually everyone else who covers or watches the team has speculated that it’s discipline related. In either case, the game was well out of reach, no matter who was taking snaps.
• Of course, the main takeaway is that A&M is basically out of any realistic hope that it might have a chance in the SEC West — it seems unrealistic to hope Alabama and Ole Miss will lose two more times, and the Aggies still have LSU in November — which means that vocal fan base can begin wondering about a season of failure to reach expectations. The Aggies were probably always a year away from expectations that were too lofty, but the early success and top-10 ranking did raise everybody’s hopes. There’s no reason to label 2015 a “failure” just yet.
REPORT CARD
Offense: (F) — While we’re on the subject of quarterbacks, South Carolina simply can’t get here quickly enough for Allen, who faced two of the nation’s better pass defenses in consecutive weeks and looked rattled Saturday night. The receivers who were open, he missed. Early in the game he missed a wide open Ricky Seals-Jones — and at some point he stopped trusting his offensive line to give him any semblance of time. All you need to know about this game is that A&M’s three points were set up by a Myles Garrett interception.
Defense: (C) — The bad: They surrendered over 450 yards to the Rebels, including 192 yards on the ground (and Ole Miss doesn’t run the ball very well). The good: They kept many of those yards from turning into points, and the four turnovers they forced might have helped keep A&M in the game if the offense played like it had a heartbeat.
Special Teams: (B) — Drew Kaser punted well — a 47-yard average, including a 64-yarder — and Taylor Bertolet did make the one field goal attempt he had.
Coaching: (D) — It’s unclear what if anything A&M could have done differently from a scheme perspective, but the squad was clearly not in the right frame of mind to play this game. They looked like a team that knew it didn’t belong, and played that way. How the staff responds to the inevitable quarterback controversy this week will be a key point to watch.
GAME BALLS
• Armani Watts: 20 tackles (16 solo), 2 TFL, 7 yards
• Donovan Wilson: 10 tackles (8 solo), 2 TFL, 2 yards
• Drew Kaser: 10 punts (10 PUNTS!), 47.9 yard average
• Taylor Bertolet: 44-yard field goal, two kickoffs for touchbacks
Will Heath is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football.
