Texas A&M football: Did we learn anything from Aggies’ romp over Kent State?
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It went pretty much as expected. What did we learn from the No. 6 Aggies’ 41-10 victory over Kent State on Saturday night in Kyle Field that we didn’t already know?
Haynes King is a redshirt freshman. A very talented freshman, but a freshman nonetheless. He made plays with his arm. He was 21-of-33 for 292 yards and 2 TDs. He made plays with his feet. He rushed for 4.4 yards per carry on 5 attempts.
King threw 3 interceptions. That’s something that will definitely have to be cleaned up. But as we said, he’s a freshman. And it seems that no matter how talented a freshman is, he’s still a freshman.
Although King didn’t look like a freshman on the Aggies’ opening drive. He completed all 6 pass attempts (49 yards and a touchdown) and threw to 5 receivers, including a 27-yarder to Ainias Smith.
And speaking of Smith; he’s pretty fast. But we already knew that. With an even 100 receiving yards (2 TDs), Smith showed he is as good as advertised and just a lot of fun to watch.
And speaking of fast, two words: Devon Achane. He’s faster than fast. And we already knew that, too. You can’t average better than 10 yards per carry, as he did (10.2) — highlighted by a 63-yard dash — and score 2 touchdowns without being supremely talented.
That, and get good blocking from your offensive line. That is still a work in progress. But it looked pretty good for the most part, especially the later the game got and the more the Golden Flashes were worn down.
The Aggies ran for 303 yards, with Achane (124 yards) and Isaiah Spiller (113 yards), who surpassed the 2,000-yard mark for his career, leading the way. Sure, it was against Kent State, and we’ll know a little more next week when the Aggies play a Power 5 conference team in Colorado. But for the first game, regardless of the opponent, it didn’t suck. We knew it wouldn’t. And the Aggies have one of the most talented groups of running backs in the country. That’s another thing we already knew.
What else did we already know? Leon O’Neal Jr. is a difference-maker on defense. Two interceptions, one an 85-yard pick 6. That’s how you change games.
Yes, the game progressed pretty much as anticipated. Slow start on offense given a new QB, but talent eventually took over. And the defense held tough throughout, coming up with big plays when needed.
The Aggies were 29.5-point favorites, and they won by 31. So the game went about as anyone could have expected.
Sure, there’s work to do still, and you can bet that head coach Jimbo Fisher will be on top of it.
I would have liked to see Zach Calzada play a little more than he did, especially considering his only pass of the night was intercepted. I would have liked to see him play more minutes and leave with a positive feeling about the game. But it’s a long season, and perhaps there will be plenty of time for that.
I mean, I get it — you want your starter to get as many reps as possible now before conference play begins. But you also want your backup to play enough snaps in games like these to feel comfortable if he’s ever needed to come in and provide a spark.
So yes, the Aggies won in convincing fashion, and yes it, was a satisfying victory from a fan’s standpoint. But we really didn’t learn much from the experience, did we? Perhaps we shouldn’t have expected to.
Glenn Sattell is an award-winning freelance writer for Saturday Down South.
