Texas A&M vs Mississippi State Recap
The Aggies fall to Mike Leach at Kyle Field. A story we know all too well. Texas A&M 22
Mississippi State 26
By: The Hammer
Painful to see an opposing team celebrate on Kyle Field. Photo by Sam Craft, AP Photo
This was a gut wrenching defeat. No way to spin in. Give credit to Mississippi State who played the best game they have all year, but this was not a game Texas A&M could afford to lose. A night game at Kyle Field against one of the bottom teams in the SEC West and we lose. Pitiful.
The Aggies have looked bad all year and it’s caught up with them. This is not a good football team, and we are staring down the barrel of a five or six loss season unless they can show some improvement. Unfortunately up to this point, there has been no improvement week to week, and the same struggles that showed up against Colorado are still plaguing this team almost a month later. The offense is in shambles. The defense is either regressing or is just not as good as we thought they were and better competition is exposing them.
Calzada needs to play better. The offensive line needs to block better so he isn’t constantly under pressure and our running backs aren't being hit behind the line of scrimmage. The wide receivers need to make plays for a struggling quarterback. Instead they are dropping catchable balls, one of which led directly to a Mississippi State interception. The only unit on offense who has played worth a damn so far is the running backs. Isaiah Spiller and Devon Achane have been good all year, despite a depleted offensive line. Why we aren’t feeding Spiller the ball 25 times a game is puzzling. He is the only thing that has worked.
From what I have seen, fans are furious with Calzada right now but the issues are much, much deeper than just QB play. On the night Calzada finished 12/20 for 135 yards with one touchdown, one interception (not his fault), and one beautiful 25 yard touchdown run. Right now, this offense has no rhythm at all, and it’s impossible to pinpoint the issue because there are so many of them. Obviously Calzada needs to play better, and he plays a big part in the struggles, but this offensive line can’t block for him as they continue to struggle, allowing three sacks and seven tackles for loss. I think the play calling and game plans remain suspect, and of course the execution across the board has been severely lacking.
Calzada escapes the pocket for a nice 25 yard touchdown run. Photo by Michael Miller, The Eagle.
I put most of the blame on Jimbo and this coaching staff. I realize the offense has been decimated by injuries, but Jimbo is supposed to be an offensive coach. Given the turn over at QB, offensive line and injuries, it was reasonable and expected to take a step back offensively. But this is no mere step back, this is a horrendous offense that has been one of the worst in the nation so far in three games against power 5 competition. And when you recruit at the level Texas A&M does, and you get paid as much as Jimbo does, it is your job to figure it out and put the players in position to be successful.
This is Calzada’s third year at A&M - how does he look this uncomfortable in the offense? Either he isn't that good, and Jimbo should have been searching for a transfer portal QB to backup Haynes King, or this staff has done a terrible job of developing Zach in his time on campus. How many weeks are we going to continue trying the same stuff offensively with terrible results? He has got to change things up either personnel or game plan wise and so far, he has not.
Defensively, this was the worst performance we’ve seen all year. Cowboy Will Rogers showed us what a real gunslinger looks like and torched the Aggie defense all night, throwing for 408 yards and three touchdowns on 46/59 attempts. It’s hard to have a more efficient night throwing the ball and Mike Leach’s offense was clicking on all cylinders, something it had not really done in his time at Mississippi State until Saturday night. The game plan was clearly to rush three and drop eight guys back into zone coverage and that did not work. The defensive line struggled to get pressure on Rogers and when Elko brought more guys on a blitz, Rogers knew exactly where his hot route was and got the ball out with ease. The secondary had been playing lights out most of the year, but they couldn’t keep up with the air raid attack and were leaving far too many Bulldog receivers open for easy completions. The defense also seemed tired to me at times, which is not really their fault because the offense can’t move the ball at all, so the defense is left out on the field all night long.
Jaylon Jones and this secondary had trouble stopping the Leach Air Raid attack. Photo by Michael Miller, The Eagle
One more concern from this defense - The Aggies have gone over two and half games against power five competition without forcing a turnover. Unfortunately, with the offense playing as poorly as they are, that is not good enough right now. The defense should still be able to keep A&M in games, as they did in this one despite allowing a ton of yards, but until the offense shows some improvement, the defense can’t just be solid or average. It has to be elite, and it was not Saturday night.
The bottomline is we just lost a night game in Kyle Field to a Mississippi State team who beat Louisiana Tech by one point, lost to Memphis and LSU, and had a solid win over NC State mixed in there. My point is: Mississippi State is not a very good team. Scrapy? Sure. Good enough to beat more talented teams that don’t play well? Obviously, they just did that. But good? No. That is not a word I would use to describe this Bulldog team. Problem is, Texas A&M is not a good team right now either. They just aren’t. And that sucks because of all the hype, talent and expectations this team had coming into the year, but they are playing terrible, undisciplined football. Without significant improvement, we will go 7-5 or 6-6 this year.
I still remain optimistic that will not happen, and some things will be figured out, but right now they have not shown much of anything to give Aggie fans optimism. I’m living on blind faith right now. It’s a dark place to be for this team as we welcome Alabama into Kyle Field for a primetime matchup next Saturday. I hope they have some pride and come out ready to compete next weekend. If that game is a blowout, the wheels could fall off this season quickly. Get your heads up and get back to work because there ain’t no rest for weary in this league, and right now there is no one to blame except the coaching staff and these players. They have a lot of work to do and not much time.
3-2.
#BTHOALABAMA
