10 Things for Tuesday

1. Florida had a great game and great game plan for Texas, but people can’t be blamed if they think it might be a one-off coming out of a bye week. I’m going to skip their season opener against Long Island University (there is such a thing) and look at their FBS opponents and how they did:

USF: Lost 18-16. 355 yards total offense (222 passing, 133 rushing); 391 yards allowed (263 passing, 128 rushing). 1 turnover, no turnovers forced.

@LSU: Lost 20-10. 366 yards total offense (287 passing, 79 rushing); 316 yards allowed (220 passing, 96 rushing). 5 turnovers, 1 forced.

@Miami: Lost 26-7. 141 yards of total offense (61 passing, 80 rushing); 344 yards allowed (160 passing, 184 rushing). No turnovers, forced one. Also of note: this game was played in a driving rainstorm.

Texas: won 29-21. 457 yards of total offense (298 passing, 159 rushing); 341 yards allowed (289 passing, 52 rushing). Forced two turnovers, turned the ball over twice.

Clearly, one of these things is not like the other. The Gators were great Saturday and struggled mightily in the three games before that. So what’s the real Florida team — and can they compete on the road? Winning at Death Valley and against this Miami team is no mean feat, so again, we’ll see which is the real group of Gators Saturday night.

2. During his press conference yesterday, coach Mike Elko said Marcel Reed “still gets a little bit anxious in the beginning of games”, so I decided to take a look at the stats and see if they bear that out. During SEC play, they absolutely do. Reed has been much better after halftime against both Auburn and Mississippi State, even with the weird interception against the Tigers included. 

Here’s how it breaks down:

Vs. UTSA:

First half: 12-19, 160 yards, 2 TD

Second half: 11-17, 78 yards, 2 TD

Vs. Utah State:

First half: 11-18, 162 yards, 2 TD

Second half: 8-10, 58 yards, 1 TD (left early)

@Notre Dame:

First half: 9-16, 258 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

Second half: 8-21, 120 yards, 1 TD

Vs. Auburn:

First half: 5-10, 57 yards, 1 TD (started 5-7, missed the last three)

Second half: 8-10, 107 yards, 1 INT

Vs. Mississippi State:

First half: 5-12, 71 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

Second half: 8-11, 109 yards, 1 TD

So Reed has connected on 76% of his passes after halftime the past two games and on less than half in the first half. Yeah, I’d say Elko has a point.

3. For all the grief that Reed has taken for his poor throws downfield, the Aggies are still sixth in the nation in yards per completion at 15.08. Folks don’t realize his forte is the 15-25 yard range, which isn’t exactly a short pass.

4. How much better has A&M’s receiver play been this year over last? Mario Craver has 557 receiving yards and is averaging 18.6 yards a catch. If he has a single average catch against Florida, he will surpass Noah Thomas’ 2024 team-high 574 yards. KC Concepcion has already passed the #2 receiver from last year, Jabre Barber, who had 381 yards. Concepcion already has 401. The Aggies have the SEC’s leader in receiving yards and the guy in third place. That shows two things — how good Craver and Concepcion are and how bad the receivers were last year.

5. Last year, the Aggie offense had a total of 51 “explosive” plays, or plays over 20 yards. So far this season they have 40.

6. One area where A&M should have an advantage against Florida’s offense is 3rd down. Even after converting 7 of 14 3rd downs against Texas, the Gators are 113th in 3rd down conversion percentage. A&M is fifth nationally in 3rd down conversion defense and we all know about the 1 for 23 (or 1 for 25, if you want to add fourth downs) Auburn and Mississippi State threw up against the Aggie defense.

The Aggies are SO much better on 3rd down conversions. They’re 111th.

7. Something to watch for Saturday night: Taurean York and DJ Lagway going at each other. The Aggie linebacker and Florida quarterback um, to put it politely, really don’t like one another. This goes back to Temple playing Willis a few years back, and they got in each other’s face last year. If York can get Lagway’s attention and get him off his game, you can bet he’ll do it.

8. The NCAA officially announced today that there will be only one opening of the transfer portal from here on out, from Jan. 2 to Jan. 16. Doesn’t matter if you’re a grad student; that’s the only time you can go in UNLESS there’s a coaching change (or you’re on a playoff team). Honestly, this is about as good a deal as you can get as far as the portal goes. The spring portal created far too much havoc for teams as they couldn’t figure out their rosters or how to pay everyone. A&M was fortunate that their roster did not change after spring ball, but that really had to go. Now I hope they will limit players to one transfer before they have to sit out a year. 

9. The Athletic put out, and publicized heavily, one of the dumbest stories in the history of sportswriting today. In their description of the article, they said Texas QB Arch Manning is “having one of the worst” seasons of any college quarterback and his name is now “synonymous with failure.”

Let’s reset here: the kid has started five games this season and seven in his career. His offensive line is an absolute sieve (see six sacks to a Florida team that couldn’t find the quarterback with a roadmap before Saturday) and the Texas running game has been a joke. And yet, somehow, Texas is still only 51st in total offense. A lot of that has to do with the quarterback. 

I know a lot of Aggies grew to loathe Manning due to the offseason ego massage he got from the same media that’s now ripping him down, but to call him a failure is just utterly stupid. He’s dealing with a supporting cast that is surprisingly crap (though I called their line being bad before the season) and that’s not his fault. He’s doing the best he can with what he has — and what he has to work with had better improve in a hurry, or Texas might end up 7-5.

10. I’m seriously beginning to think Bill Belichick won’t make it beyond this season. Everything coming out of Chapel Hill is really, really bad.