10 Things for Tuesday
Here’s this week’s TTFT, as the Aggies prepare to face their hated rival, the South Carolina Gamecocks:
1. Texas A&M is either an 18 1/2 point or 19 1/2 point favorites going into Saturday’s game with South Carolina. Since beating Kentucky with a season-high 35 points, they’ve lost four straight and haven’t scored more than 22 points during that span. So how do you get a team that is going to be third or second in the CFP rankings up for an opponent that has one of the worst offenses in America? Simple: remind them of last year and how LaNorris Sellers personally embarrassed them.
“I see the same big, physical, athletic kid that ran all over us and threw all over us last year. So I see the same kid, and so our kids better see the same kid because he absolutely lit us up last year,” coach Mike Elko said Monday. “If we want to have any level of success on Saturday, we will do a much better job of understanding what the challenge actually is this year.”
The curbstomping South Carolina applied to Texas A&M last year should be ample warning — to say nothing of motivation — for the Aggies. Add in their chances at the SEC Championship and the CFP and motivation should not be an issue Saturday morning.
2. South Carolina coach Shane Beamer fired offensive coordinator Mike Shula during their bye week coming into this game, so wide receivers coach Mike Furrey will be calling the plays Saturday. That may adjust the scheme somewhat, and we may see more quarterback runs with Sellers, but there’s only so much they can do. The problem isn’t with Sellers, it’s with everyone else on the offense.
3. One thing the Aggies absolutely must do in this game is tackle better. Last year, their tackling was terrible, as they repeatedly tried to tackle Sellers (6-foot-3, 240 pounds) and Rocket Sanders (6 foot, 230 pounds) high. Mistake. Those two broke numerous tackles as they humiliated Texas A&M’s defense. Once again, the coaches probably have already put on the game film for last year and have reminded them of how bad that game was. They need to tackle low and gang tackle. No excuses.
4. I mentioned that South Carolina’s offense wasn’t good. Here’s how they rank in several offensive categories (there are 134 teams ranked, just for your information):
Total offense: 127
Scoring offense: 118th
Sacks allowed: 131st
Tackles for loss allowed: 127th
Rushing offense: 126th
Red zone offense: 109th
Passing offense: 102nd
3rd down conversions: 121st
First downs: 124th
That’s…bad. But Texas A&M cannot take this game lightly, because we know what happened last year. If anything, this should create a desire to worsen their stats even further.
5. It’s going to be hard to pick an Aggie Heart Award winner this year, because there are so many really good candidates. But I’m torn between a pair of running backs, Amari Daniels and EJ Smith. Daniels played well, and played hurt, after Le’Veon Moss went down this year. He’s not getting a lot of looks this year, but he’s not complaining. EJ was a non-factor last year and was buried on the depth chart coming into the season, but all he did was work his butt off, do everything asked of him and now he’s the guy the team turns to in critical situations (3rd and short, goal line). Having said all that, Albert Regis has a great shot at winning it. He’s already set a career high in tackles, has been a consistent performer in the middle and he’s respected by his teammaes.
6. Last night in Monday Thoughts, (hint hint subscribe for $1 for your first week) I took the stance that the Aggies are the best prepared team in the country and make the best in-game adjustments as well. Missouri left tackle Cayden Green said after the game that the Texas A&M defense started calling out their plays before the snap in the second half.
“They started to key on what we were doing. Call out plays at the line,” he said.
I’ve seen some Missouri folks walk around the idea that there was something nefarious going on, but that’s really unlikely. Odds are that A&M was that prepared, to the point where they’d figured out something that tipped off a certain play. This isn’t unheard of; heck, I watched RC Slocum’s and Jimbo’s offenses long enough that I started calling plays before they were snapped. Missouri simplified their playbook to the point A&M could figure out the play calls, and they were right.
When asked about it yesterday, Elko replied (with a sly smile), “I don’t know anything about that.”
7. And Mizzou’s playbook WAS simple. Outside zone run left, outside zone run right, quick passes at the line of scrimmage and go patterns down the sideline. That was seriously it. Once it became apparent Tyreek Chappell could shut down top receiver Kevin Coleman the quick game largely vanished. So yeah, A&M probably could tell what was coming because there were only a handful of plays left at Missouri’s disposal. And that’s 100% on them and their lack of confidence in Matt Zollers.
8. One thing Elko had done very well throughout his time at A&M — going back to his coordinator days — is prepare for any contingency. That was never more obvious than on Saturday, when Ar’maj Reed-Adams got hurt. Texas A&M shuffled three linemen — Mark Nabou to right guard, Trey Zuhn to center and Deuce Fatheree to left tackle. And you couldn’t tell any difference, because they’ve been practicing like that since the summer. With Fatheree performing at a level comparable to an All-SEC tackle, A&M has proven that they’re capable to adjust to just about any problem they’re faced with.
So far, at least.
9. The LSU situation is getting out of hand, and if you’re not a Tiger, it’s quality entertainment. LSU’s approach to this, if they can pull it, is to claim they fired Brian Kelly for cause and he isn’t owed anything. There are multiple issues to this, including that Scott Woodward did not say Kelly was fired for cause — apparently he said the opposite — and LSU is now trying to say, in essence, that he was not sacked before, the previous person responsible for the sacking has been sacked and NOW they’re sacking him and don’t want to pay anything. Problem: you already tried to pay him $25 million, then $30 million, to go away. He said no, that he wants his money, and now you’re trying to completely change the playing field in your favor.
In legal parlance, I believe this is known as a bunch of BS.
It’s more likely LSU wants to reduce the amount of money they pay out, and not shell out $53 million. They’re going to try to do this by ruining Kelly’s reputation through the discovery process and Kelly, knowing what he did or didn’t do, will settle to make sure the skeletons stay in the closet.
Good luck with that. Kelly’s 64, LSU owes him $53 million and he’s probably not going to give a crap what they throw at him. This seems like a desperate measure by LSU and one that has extremely heavy odds against it working.
10. Just about every good team has a fan that you can’t figure out why they’re rooting for who they do. In that competition, A&M is in great shape with Clayton Kershaw and…Jim Palmer?
For those of you who don’t know, Palmer is the greatest pitcher in Orioles history and a first ballot Hall of Famer. He had a career record of 268-152 with an ERA of 2.86. He won three Cy Young Awards and is the major reason Nolan Ryan doesn’t have one.
He has also become a redass Aggie fan.
His wife, Susan, is the daughter of an Aggie professor and an Aggie herself. Palmer signed with the Orioles out of high school, so he didn’t have a college team to back. So he has adopted Texas A&M — in a big way.
It may not impress anyone else, but to me it’s pretty darned cool.
