10 Things for Tuesday

Here’s the latest 10 Things for Tuesday, sponsored by Brent Campbell:

1) Yesterday, when I asked Coach Mike Elko how you handle an offense that largely operates with short passes but has the ability to go deep at times. He said the best thing to do is affect the quarterback (in this case, Carson Beck) and mess up the timing of things. Problem: Miami has only given up 11 sacks on the season, one fewer than A&M has. But how good have their opponents been at rushing the passer? Maybe not so hot.

Here’s their list of opponents, where they ranked nationally in sacks per game and how many sacks they got against the Hurricanes:

Notre Dame — 12th nationally, 1 sack (W, 27-24)

Bethune Cookman — 55th in FCS, 2 sacks (go figure.)

South Florida — 36th nationally, 1 sack (W, 49-12)

Florida — 58th nationally, 1 sack (W, 26-7)

Florida State — 28th nationally, 1 sack (W, 28-22)

Louisville — 52nd nationally, no sacks (L, 24-21)

Stanford — 80th nationally, no sacks (W, 42-7)

SMU — 17th nationally, no sacks (L, 26-20 (OT))

Syracuse — 101st nationally, 2 sacks (both on Miami’s first two possessions; W, 38-10)

NC State — 110th nationally, 1 sack (W, 41-7)

Virginia Tech — 105th nationally, no sacks (W, 34-17)

Pitt — 41st nationally, 2 sacks (W, 38-7)

So Miami played five teams who were in the top 50 in sacks per game and two in the top 20. Looking at the “quality” of the pass rush of opponents down the stretch, it’s no wonder Carson Beck ended the season on a high note. Those defense not only didn’t get to opponents a lot, their secondaries were also at the bottom of college football as well. (SMU was 135th, Virginia Tech 76th, NC State 134th and Pitt 104th).

For comparison’s sake, here’s what A&M dealt with:

UTSA — 95th nationally, no sacks

Utah State — 52nd nationally, 2 sacks (one of Miles O’Neill)

Notre Dame — 12th nationally, no sacks

Auburn — 33rd nationally, 4 sacks

Mississippi State — 101st nationally, 1 sack

Florida — 58th nationally, no sacks

Arkansas — 87th nationally, no sacks

LSU — 52nd nationally, no sacks

Missouri — Tied with Notre Dame for 12th nationally, 1 sack

South Carolina — 87th nationally, 2 sacks

Samford — 82nd FCS, 1 sack

Texas — 6th nationally, 1 sack

A&M played four top-50 sack teams, but three in the top 15. They also shut out Notre Dame, Arkansas and LSU on the road. It’s debatable, of course, but I think the Aggies had a tougher road to hoe when it comes to opposing pass rushes.

The Aggies will be, without question, the toughest pass rush Miami’s seen. The Hurricanes may have a little competition in that category against Texas A&M, but they can definitely get after the quarterback given a chance.

2) Not only are these two teams that are elite in protecting the quarterback, they’re also amongst the very best at getting to the quarterback. In fact, nobody had more sacks this year than A&M’s 41, and Miami was in the top 10 with 34.

So let’s do the same exercise, this time with Miami and A&M’s opponents, their rankings in terms of sacks allowed, how many they gave up on the season and how many they gave up to the Hurricanes and Aggies. First, for Miami:

Notre Dame — 11th nationally, 12 sacks allowed; 3 sacks for Miami

Bethune-Cookman — 57th FCS; 2 sacks for Miami

South Florida — 27th nationally, 17 sacks allowed; 2 sacks for Miami

Florida — 52nd nationally, 20 sacks allowed; 4 for Miami

FSU — 71st nationally, 23 sacks allowed; 2 for Miami

Louisville — Also 71st nationally; 1 sack for Miami

Stanford — 131st nationally, 41 sacks allowed; 2 sacks for Miami

SMU — 41st nationally, 19 sacks allowed; 2 for Miami

Syracuse — 125th nationally, 38 sacks allowed; 7 sacks for Miami

NC State — 61st nationally, 21 sacks allowed; 1 sack for Miami

Virginia Tech — 103rd nationally, 29 sacks allowed; 5 sacks for Miami

Pitt — 129th nationally, 40 sacks allowed; 4 sacks for Miami

Man, that’s some bad pass blocking, but A&M played some dogs as well:

UTSA — 33rd nationally, 18 sacks allowed; 1 for A&M

Utah State — 128th nationally, 40 sacks allowed; 6 for A&M

Notre Dame — 11th nationally, 12 sacks allowed; 2 for A&M

Auburn — 132nd nationally, 42 sacks allowed; 5 for A&M

Mississippi State — 129th nationally, 40 sacks allowed; 4 for A&M

Florida — 52nd nationally, 20 sacks allowed; 3 for A&M

Arkansas — 103rd nationally, 29 sacks allowed; 4 for A&M (they would have 9 against a normal human being)

LSU — 85th nationally, 25 sacks allowed; 7 for A&M. Ok, wait. Think about this. The Aggies racked up 28% of LSU’s sacks allowed for an entire season in one night.

Missouri — 98th nationally, 28 sacks allowed; 2 for A&M

South Carolina — 133rd nationally, 43 sacks allowed; 4 sacks for A&M

Samford — 126th FCS; 1 sack for A&M

Texas — 71st nationally, 23 sacks allowed; 2 for A&M

I guess if you squint hard enough you can find an advantage for A&M here, but it seems pretty even. And, if the two teams play to their averages, the Aggies come out on top.

3) One thing that I found interesting was that Miami played eight home games, only four road games and didn’t leave the state of Florida until Nov. 1, when they lost to SMU. The largest opposing crowd they played against was 65,632 at Virginia Tech’s Lane Stadium, and Hokie fans didn’t have much to cheer for. Now, they’re going to have to deal with about 110,000 yelling at them.

4) One reason the 12th Man could have a big role in this game is presnap penalties on the Miami offense. That is obvious, of course, but Miami has had serious issues with false starts all season long. A boisterous 12th Man could make that problem even greater.

5) The Aggies should get a boost in terms of personnel this weekend. Wideout Mario Craver said yesterday that he’s back to 100%, and he was struggling for at least the last four games with injuries. Linebacker Scooby Williams practiced today when the media was present, as did safety Bryce Anderson. Anderson did not play after the Florida game in order to preserve his redshirt, but postseason games don’t count against that total, so he should return. Not to get anyone’s hopes up, but Le’Veon Moss did practice today and looked fine. But, since I thought he’d be back about a month ago, I am hesitant to say he’s good to go. There will be a CFP-mandated injury report out tomorrow, and it will be interesting to see.

6) I’ve been meaning to bring this up for a couple of weeks, but coach Elko definitely helped prove a point I’ve been making for several years: if you’re wildly successful one season, the effect is not seen on the next recruiting class, but the one after that. In other words, this year’s success won’t be truly felt on the recruiting trail until the class of 2027. But here’s the boss explaining it, so maybe now you’ll take me seriously:

“I think the reality of it is if you’re recruiting the right kind of kids, they’ve gone through a lot of their decision-making process and I’m not sure that a couple extra wins impacts that. Now, when the ’27 class is looking at Texas A&M and starting to formulate their top 10s right now, who are the schools that we’re going to really take a good hard look at, and the ’28 class is just starting the process of looking into where do I want to check out? I think that’s where having the success that we’ve had being a nationally-visible program this year, being in the top 5 for the majority of the school year, being in the playoffs…I think those things will pay off when you start looking at that.”

You know who didn’t learn that lesson? Ed Orgeron. After LSU had their fantastic 2019 season, he actually cut players from his 2020 class in order to try to bring in bigger fish. It backfired, and LSU ended up signing fewer players than they had committed originally.

7) A&M’s offensive line had better be seriously ready to play, because intentionally or not, they’ve given Miami’s defensive front a good bit of bulletin board material. From Trey Zuhn saying he wasn’t concerned about All-American DE Rueben Bain to Miami media skewing Dametrious Crownover‘s answer to my question yesterday into fighting words (in reality, his answer was quite respectful), the Hurricanes have some motivation if they needed any. And if they did, they should be ashamed. Nobody should need the mouths of their opponents to fire them up in the College Football Playoff.

8) One Aggie who may need to step up their game Saturday is wide receiver Terry Bussey. Bussey’s targets went down as Ashton Bethel-Roman emerged. He will enter the CFP with fewer catches and yards than he had last year, but Bethel-Roman is not 100% after suffering an ankle injury against Texas. His ankle was heavily taped today, which you can see in videos from practice on X. If ABR is struggling, someone has to help out KC Concepcion and Craver. The most logical person for the job is Bussey.

9) One good thing for the Aggie defense about Carson Beck: He doesn’t run. One of A&M’s biggest problems this year remained quarterbacks who can run, like Taylen Green and Arch Manning. Beck’s stat line for this year: 38 carries, 39 yards, long of 11. Odds are real strong he’s not going to have any designed runs called for him.

10) Did you ever watch the movie Miracle? If you haven’t, you should. But the rest of you already know one of the biggest scenes, one that has remained in the American consciousness for 20 years

I think volleyball coach Jamie Morrison may have stolen a little bit from this in his pregame speech Sunday before his Aggies faced off against 33-0 Nebraska on their home court. While it may not have been equal to the Miracle on Ice, when the U.S. collegians beat the Soviet national team at the 1980 Winter Olympics, it was certainly one of the upsets of the year.

“I had one pregame speech that I gave with ESPN in the room and one out, and the main message was I was just tired of hearing about how good Nebraska was and nobody was talking about how good we are,” he said. “And I think the world knows now.”

Why do I get the sense that it was close to the volleyball version of “I’m sick and tired of hearing about what a great team the Soviets have. Screw ’em! This is your time. Now go out there and take it”?

I freaking love it.

Our sponsor

Sponsored by Brent Campbell, Fighting Texas Aggie Class of 1998. Brent is a Commercial Real Estate Broker, serving all of Central Texas and specializing in sales, leasing & development. He leads a retail acquisition and sales team and was recognized by the Austin Business Journal as a Commercial Real Estate Heavy Hitter in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020 & 2023.

In the last 22 years, he has closed deals with a total transactional value of over $375 million and has leased more than 4.5 million square feet. Brent currently serves as the president of the board of directors for Habitat Homes, Inc. and Pathways Youth and Family Services. He is a former president of the Heart of Round Rock Neighborhood Association and a former member of the Round Rock Zoning Advisory Committee, the Round Rock Business and Retention Committee, and the City of Round Rock Ethics Commission, which has led him to begin developing in Williamson and Travis County.

An Austin native, Brent lives in Round Rock where he and his wife have raised four boys. Brent works for Don Quick and Associates, Inc. in Round Rock, TX and can be reached at [email protected].