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The Liberty Bowl started out as poorly as possible for Texas A&M’s defense.
After forcing a three-and-out on West Virginia’s first drive of the game, the Aggies were disastrous on the second drive of the game. First, there was a pass interference call on fourth-and-1, gifting West Virginia a first down. Just a few plays later, safety Howard Matthews — one of the Aggies’ leaders and few reliable players on the defense — was ejected for targeting.
The rest of the first half did not get any better for the Aggies. They showed why having a full-time defensive coordinator is generally a good idea, as the defense was undisciplined as ever to start the Liberty Bowl.
There were penalties. There were receivers streaking wide open through the secondary. There were missed tackles.
It was par for the course for this year’s A&M defense, a level of play that cost former defensive coordinator Mark Snyder his job.
The defense committed four penalties, all of the 15-yard variety, adding up to 60 free yards for the Mountaineers in the first half. Matthews’ helmet-to-helmet blow that got him ejected wasn’t the only ill-advised shot an A&M defender took, as linebacker Tommy Sanders blasted WVU quarterback Skyler Howard after he released a throw, earning a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty; he was lucky to avoid joining Matthews in the locker room.
The pass defense, which finished 13th in the SEC this year, was as troubled as ever. Both of West Virginia’s offensive touchdowns in the first half were microcosms of the problems the Aggies have had in that aspect. Mario Alford took a screen pass 45 yards for a score, dancing around the would-be A&M tacklers that entered his vicinity. On Kevin White’s 49-yard catch, the Biletnikoff finalist waltzed past Deshazor Everett, finding himself wide open for the score.
Interim defensive coordinator Mark Hagen tightened things up somewhat in the second half, as the defense limited the Mountaineers to 10 second-half points. The Aggies cleaned up the penalties and did their best to take away Howard’s deep options, although they allowed two passes for more than 40 yards and another run for 35 yards.
Part of the Aggies’ defensive success in the second half was West Virginia simply not executing. On WVU’s first drive of the fourth quarter, White put the ball on the ground while fighting for a first down while down two scores. On the next drive, the Mountaineers faced a fourth-and-1 from the Aggies 12-yard line early in the fourth quarter, but false started and then threw an incomplete pass. Texas A&M was certainly in the right spots for those two instances, but they can’t take all of the credit for the stops.
One thing the Aggies certainly did well that they haven’t all season: slow the running game. Texas A&M gave up at least 335 yards in each of its last three regular season games, but clamped down to limit the Mountaineers to 126 yards and 3.9 yards per carry. For a defense that ranked last in the SEC in run defense, that’s a huge accomplishment.
Help should be coming soon. Kevin Sumlin has made it sound like he has his man at defensive coordinator, saying Monday that a hire for the position is coming in the next week.
The talent to build a strong defense is there. Defensive end Myles Garrett looks to be a budding star, safety Armani Watts has flashed potential despite his tackling issues and linebacker Otaro Alaka emerged as a star in the making late in the season, winning the Defensive Player of the Game award for the Liberty Bowl.
Whoever Sumlin’s next defensive lieutenant is, there is much work to be done. The Aggies have been atrocious defensively over the last two seasons, keeping the bar for success relatively low. Even an average defense would make Texas A&M much more imposing in the SEC West.
The start of the Liberty Bowl will make the team and coaching staff shudder when they go back and watch film. The second half provides some encouragement. The defense did just enough to hang on to a victory to cap off 2014, but they’ll have to do much more for the Aggies to contend in 2015.
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.
