Ad Disclosure
Who would have thought that coming into the 2021 season, of all the teams on its schedule, that Mississippi State would be the must-win game for Texas A&M? Not Alabama, not LSU, not Ole Miss, but the pirate and his merry band of misfits.
The Bulldogs have to be considered the bottom of the SEC West barrel. After losing to LSU at home last Saturday, Mississippi State has sunk to the depths; a No. 12 showing in our latest SEC Power Rankings, and by far the lowest among SEC West teams (LSU is closest at No. 9).
So, beating Mississippi State on Saturday at Kyle Field is a must, otherwise — and I can’t believe this is even in play considering the expectations heading into the season — but if the unthinkable happens and the Aggies lose to the Bulldogs, it would pretty much ruin the season before it had a chance to even get started. It would put Texas A&M in the conversation of worst team in the SEC West, a topic most would have thought to be absurd prior to opening the season.
Granted, a victory over Mississippi State on Saturday would then make all subsequent games “must-win” situations, and that’s what you want, because a loss Saturday and all that goes out the window. Then it becomes a situation of how much of the season can be salvaged.
Any coach will tell you: “Don’t let 1 loss become 2.” That’s what the Aggies must guard against Saturday. And to his credit, coach Jimbo Fisher has done well in this regard. His teams have been able to bounce back after gut-punching losses.
That’s what last Saturday’s loss was, a gut-punch. A wake-up call, if you will, that not only is the SEC West the best division in the best conference in the country, but that any 1 of the 7 teams can knock off just about any other. And that’s what makes Saturday’s game so important. If the Aggies are still feeling sorry for themselves going into the game, they’re going to feel a lot worse coming out of it.
“It’s just one game,” Fisher said following the 20-10 setback at the hands of Arkansas. That comment seemed a bit flippant at the time, again especially given the expectations for the 2021 season. But in the bigger picture, it was the perfect comment. Don’t let 1 loss turn into 2. That’s what he was saying.
Don’t let the season go down the drain before it gets started. It teeters precariously on the outcome of Saturday’s game with the Bulldogs. Fisher has been around long enough to understand that.
It’s by far the biggest game of the year (who could have imagined that?) because the entire program could be at a crossroads. A loss and the season, for all intents and purposes, is over. No national championship. No SEC title. No SEC West crown. And what direction would that send the program moving forward? Not a good one, that much I can tell you.
However, a victory would get the Aggies right back on track with every expectation back in play. Just like that, beat the Bulldogs on Saturday and everything Aggieland hoped for at the beginning of the season, and the start of Fisher’s tenure, again is possible.
That’s because a win on Saturday makes the following week’s showdown with Alabama relevant again. It sets up the game that everyone pointed to when the 2021 schedule first came out. Yes, a win on Saturday and all the marbles are back on the table.
If Fisher truly is a $90 million man, he’ll have the Aggies ready to play on Saturday, not looking ahead to Alabama, and not still sulking over the previous week’s loss. That’s what the top coaches do, they get their team prepared under the most dire of straits. And make no mistake, that’s where this program is right now relative to expectations. Because a loss on Saturday would be catastrophic for a program willing to open its checkbook for a potential championship.
Glenn Sattell is an award-winning freelance writer for Saturday Down South.
