The road woes continued for Texas A&M on Saturday. The Aggies lost for the 9th straight in a true road contest.

With another loss away from Kyle Field, the Aggies drop to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in SEC play. Injuries are beginning to mount. Star receiver Evan Stewart did not play with a lower leg injury. RB Le’Veon Moss, DB Tyreek Chappell and DL Walter Nolen went down with injuries during the game. And to make matters worse, DL Shemar Turner was ejected for a personal foul.

A game the Aggies could have won turned into a 38-35 loss to No. 10 Mississippi. With each passing SEC loss of the narrow and painful variety, it becomes clearer and clearer that Jimbo Fisher isn’t the coach to take this program to the next level.

Player of the Week: WR Jahde Walker

The junior receiver turned in a career day filling in for the injured Stewart. Coming into the game with 10 catches since transferring in this season from Grand Valley State, Walker pulled down a team-high 8 for 100 yards.

Walker has played in all 9 games in 2023. Prior to Saturday, he had 174 yards on those 10 receptions, with 1 TD.

Freshman of the Week: RB Reuben Owens

The highly-regarded recruit continues to develop and get his reps. On Saturday, Owens carried another 6 times for 15 yards, with the longest run a 7-yard gain.

Biggest surprise: Lack of pass defense

What happened to the pass defense? Coming into the game, the Aggies led the SEC, giving up just 173.1 passing yards per game.

But Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart threw for 242 yards on Saturday — in the 1st half alone. And Dart had success over the final 2 periods as well, finishing with 387 yards (24-for-33, no interceptions). The Aggies simply could not cover Rebels WR Tre Harris, who hauled in 11 passes for 213 yards and a TD.

Biggest concern: Jimbo Fisher

I think we’ve figured out why the Aggies coach has had trouble recruiting and then developing quality quarterbacks to College Station.

Maybe Jimbo Fisher’s abrasive style can work with currently injured 5-star QB Conner Weigman. It worked well enough with Jameis Winston in 2013 as Fisher’s Florida State squad ran the table to the national title.

A decade later though, in his 6th season leading the Aggies after 8 in Tallahassee, Fisher’s act — which he puts on display very publicly on game days — is wearing thin.

Constantly criticizing his QBs’ decisions. Yelling at them, getting in their face. It’s one thing to offer constructive criticism, to coach and teach, but screaming at your team leader every time he comes off the field has to weigh on even the strongest of wills.

Developing trend: Max Johnson not taking care of the ball

He got away with a floater in the 1st half that should have been intercepted, but QB Max Johnson’s ill-advised lob to the end zone on the 1st possession of the 2nd half with the Aggies driving to a potential go-ahead touchdown got picked.

He can make some impressive plays. He threw for 305 yards on 31-for-42 passing Saturday, his 7th career 300-yard game, and he’s as tough as they come standing his ground in the pocket. But Johnson has a tendency to force things. He did it at LSU. One play in particular, while being chased and facing away from the line of scrimmage, he launched a no-look behind-his-back toss to nobody in particular toward the line of scrimmage that fortunately for him and the Tigers fell incomplete.

Key stat: Chunk plays

While the stats were fairly even, Ole Miss’s chunk plays in the passing game made the difference. Harris averaged 19.4 yards per reception on 11 catches with a 40-yard longest, and teammate Dayton Wade averaged 20.0 yards per grab with a long reception of 31 yards. Two other Ole Miss receivers had long catches of 29 and 24 yards.

First impression about Week 11: Must win

After dropping yet another road game, the Aggies return home to Kyle Field to host the Mississippi State Bulldogs. It’s their best opportunity to date to become bowl eligible. No, that’s not the Aggies’ long-term goal, or at least shouldn’t be, but this season, sitting at 5-4, getting to bowl eligibility appears to be the next step.

So it’s a must-win, because those chances are becoming fewer and fewer as the season winds down, and if they can’t win on the road then winning at home becomes an absolute must.