Negative Recruiting Your Own School: The aggy Screenshot Megathread

[Blackcat00 759]

I went to the game with Marcus Freeman's brother (My first game at Kyle Feild)

Was like a funeral leaving the stadium. Freeman set that tone early. 

Edited September 3 by Blackcat00

[Beau Vine 54205]

 

[Vertigo 20276]

8 minutes ago, Blackcat00 said:

I went to the game with Marcus Freeman's brother (My first game at Kyle Feild)

Was like a funeral leaving the stadium. Freeman set that tone early. 

After some nice corps members walked you back to your car, did you happen to point the way to relevance?

[General Specific 3253]

Dude, the legit thought Weigman was a higher draft pick than Ewers. They're delusional. Oh, and their cute nicknames like SEWERS, but then ol Wiggy went out there and shat a turd that even they can't polish. 

Apparently, you can’t polish puke either!

[Funk Doctor Spock 12176]

Just now, General Specific said:

Apparently, you can’t polish puke either!

God, that was hilarious. That shit didn't look like gatorade to me. It looked like whatever was supposed to come out of his ass made it's way to his mouth. 

[hook me 2092]

1 hour ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

That's a visual I really didn't need in mind as I sit down for some BBQ. 

[Hagbard Celine 10849]

6 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

He was on Edmonton's practice squad earlier in the season.   He's now apparently on the active roster...as a backup linebacker:

Yes, that's right -- Leon is too slow to play secondary in Canada.

6 of 9 cfl teams make the playoffs

with 6 weeks remaining in the season, the elks are 1 of 3 on the outs

[Hagbard Celine 10849]

1 hour ago, Beau Vine said:

the greatest risk to the planet and civilization ended when the pirate prematurely passed 2 years ago

pirate at pyle would have been a real problem

[Hagbard Celine 10849]

i'm waiting for the ag fanfic story about finding/leaving pyle that involves sex

[Gut Wagon 8065]

1 minute ago, Hagbard Celine said:

pirate at pyle would have been a real problem

The R.C. win total might have been eclipsed by Argh Sea. 

[Butch Had Not 2969]

Klatt calling aggy average here is awesome. Starts at 11:20. He's nice enough though to not completely shit on Elko though.

 

 

 

[Funk Doctor Spock 12176]

1 hour ago, Hagbard Celine said:

6 of 9 cfl teams make the playoffs

with 6 weeks remaining in the season, the elks are 1 of 3 on the outs

I'm currently in a rut and need more football to get my mind right. Where can I catch some CFL? I used to love watching them. 

[Jebus 1305]

1 hour ago, Butch Had Not said:

Klatt calling aggy average here is awesome. Starts at 11:20. He's nice enough though to not completely shit on Elko though.

 

 

 

The part about Clemson basically being post colt mccoy Texas flared up my PTSD big time 

[TKthunder2 4985]

1 hour ago, Jebus said:

The part about Clemson basically being post colt mccoy Texas flared up my PTSD big time 

Yeah holy fuck man, how the fuck you post that and not give us a warning 

[linux 1660]

Forget the Clemson model can't wait to see how the Elko model of offering everyone and anyone in the portal pans out.

 

 

 

[Beau Vine 54205]

3 hours ago, Funk Doctor Spock said:

I'm currently in a rut and need more football to get my mind right. Where can I catch some CFL? I used to love watching them. 

CBS Sports Network, though you just missed out on the Labour Day Classic yesterday...

 

[Funk Doctor Spock 12176]

10 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

CBS Sports Network, though you just missed out on the Labour Day Classic yesterday...

 

Damn, tnat sucks. Thank you for the info on where to view. 

[Gil Bang 25907]

6 hours ago, Hagbard Celine said:

the greatest risk to the planet and civilization ended when the pirate prematurely passed 2 years ago

pirate at pyle would have been a real problem

not really.  He was pretty average.  

[ClubWhatever 12120]

12 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

not really.  He was pretty average.  

He had a 60% lifetime winning percentage at Tech, Wa St, and MS St.  Two of those programs are sub .500 all time and one is a perennial doormat.  Texas Tech will never again sniff a top 10 ranking in football.  He was not a great coach but definitely better than "pretty average"

[linux 1660]

8 minutes ago, ClubWhatever said:

He had a 60% lifetime winning percentage at Tech, Wa St, and MS St.  Two of those programs are sub .500 all time and one is a perennial doormat.  Texas Tech will never again sniff a top 10 ranking in football.  He was not a great coach but definitely better than "pretty average"

I just got into a slapfight over the exact definition of mediocre, but it was obvious that his teams really had a hard ceiling, having just 4 plays in your playbook feels so damn halfassed, like Leach was content with how little effort he was putting in.

At A&M he might have gotten them over the 10 win season bump, but he was not winning conf championships or national championships.

[Carl Spackler 3479]

11 hours ago, Jebus said:

The part about Clemson basically being post colt mccoy Texas flared up my PTSD big time 

It definitely counterbalanced his shot at Weigmann for being "totally fake" in the Dr. Oz Gameday segment.

[GlenFromTheMailRoom 1603]

6 hours ago, ClubWhatever said:

He had a 60% lifetime winning percentage at Tech, Wa St, and MS St.  Two of those programs are sub .500 all time and one is a perennial doormat.  Texas Tech will never again sniff a top 10 ranking in football.  He was not a great coach but definitely better than "pretty average"

If they can get their act together on the football side of things regarding NIL, I can see then winning this version of the big 12 every so often.  Their collective is well funded courtesy of the double eagle guys.  They just dropped big money on some softball pitcher I believe and who's to say they can't do the exact same in football.

https://frontofficesports.com/texas-tech-softball-million-deal/

[Getafix 28554]

 

Tarp's mood:

 

 

 

 

[closetojumping 62532]

16 minutes ago, Getafix said:

 

Tarp's mood:

 

 

 

 

I’m going to quote it later when I’m in front of a computer, unless you do it first, but he posted a damning article about big picture thoughts after thinking about the ND loss. You have to know how to read Tarpley, but it’s great when translated. 

[Getafix 28554]

25 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

I’m going to quote it later when I’m in front of a computer, unless you do it first, but he posted a damning article about big picture thoughts after thinking about the ND loss. You have to know how to read Tarpley, but it’s great when translated. 

 

 

 

Yep, the screenshot above was actually from the Q/A following that article :-).

I'll just post that article, plus two other Tarp articles on the ND game, below. 

On the unlikely chance that we would have ... a passing interest ... in the bitter introspection and self-loathing that follows an Aggie early-season loss 😈.

 

Gluttons for Aggie angst ... here's your smorgasboard.

 

 

Five bigger picture thoughts from Texas A&M's season opener

Tarp (Aggie 247)

 

Spoiler

 

Five bigger picture thoughts from Texas A&M's season opener

Tarp (Aggie 247)
 

1. Texas A&M kept everyone away from the team for a year dating back to the bowl practices in December after Mike Elko was hired. They gave the media access for the first 15-20 minutes and didn't show a lot for the most part (although in fairness to them there were more opportunities to see them in fall camp than spring ball).

Nonetheless, when you don't see something and it doesn't go well, the shock effect is greater than if you kind of prepare everyone for what's coming. It's one thing to lose to a top ten team but it's another when some bigger picture things didn't come to fruition.

Elko promised a culture with more accountability. He talked about how things were going to be a process, and that people had bought into that process. There was supposedly no greater example of this than the off season program.

I thought that the biggest deficiency last season was a lack of team speed. A&M's off season workouts were geared towards making the team bigger and stronger. There was a noticeable difference in appearance among the players from the spring to the fall that was also charted by the weight gains among the players on the roster during that time frame.

In addition, one of A&M's players posted top speeds of various players on the roster on social media (A&M had to be the source of the speed). It caught everyone's attention because you had two sources noting that not only were the Aggies bigger, but they were also faster, something that you usually don't see.

All of this was supposed to have resulted in a better conditioned team as well.

Instead, A&M players limped off the field more and went to the ground more. The team was outgained in the second half 217-119 and outscored 17-7.

With the game on the line, Notre Dame moved 85 yards for the go ahead score and the Aggies couldn't generate a first down to tie the game back up.

You would expect a different result based on the process.

If you want a picture of how a team should look coming out of the off season, check out spring ball 2018 A&M versus fall camp 2017 A&M. The difference was night and day and that's what kind of transformation you expect to see if the process is working.

2. Offensively, Collin Klein came to Aggieland with a great reputation for doing a lot with a little at Kansas State. He used multiple concepts to have a top ten scoring offense last season.

Those concepts comprise a mix of wing T (motion, misdirection, and gap blocking) and Air Raid/West Coast passing games. There's nothing new about them as you see them every Saturday but his ability to get the ball into the hands of players in space for chunk plays was certainly noteworthy.

However, A&M ran two-third zone runs on Saturday night and about one third pin and pull or gap blocking per Pro Football Focus.  A&M struggled with its physicality, technique, and coordination. They were able to execute double team blocks in the run game and push defenders to the second level at times in the first half. However, their zone blocks were bereft of the ability to get their hips and shoulders turned with any momentum, a problem that was an issue last season. They also called just two play action passes and didn't use Weigman on rollouts or bootlegs.

There were other instances as well where things didn't mesh….you chart Weigman as a passer and in 2023 most throws went in the middle and right side. A&M matched up backs on backers at times and made him throw out routes for short potential gains (as opposed to turning the back up the field and making the backer chase him). In particular, Notre Dame got enough pressure up the middle and the right side so that Weigman had to move around or hold the ball. The timing was off on some routes; he couldn't follow through the throw on others.

Yes, Notre Dame's secondary is really good but there didn't seem to be a mesh of what he could do versus what he was asked to do. Not only that, what did they see from him and the receivers in fall camp that suggested that they could build the offense around his arm and those players as much as they did?

Most of all, they didn't run Weigman and one of the hallmarks of wing T concepts is to make the quarterback a ball carrier. Under Klein, Kansas State ran its quarterbacks 146 times in 2022 and 133 times in 2023. Those weren't all designed runs, but they make the offense account for another potential ball carrier, especially on plays like QB dart (where there are lead blockers) and inverted veer (option based on the read of a interior lineman).

In contrast, another Big 12 program in Kansas ran its quarterbacks about 100 times each of the last two seasons.

Notre Dame used a lot of motion to the perimeter and ran quarterback Riley Leonard ran the ball 12 times. They weren't all called runs, but he did gain 64 yards and they generated some gains that helped move the chains.

3. A&M's defense rolled a safety into the box for most of the first quarter and that helped the Aggies stifle Notre Dame's running game (just ten yards in the first 15 minutes of the game). They got away from that in the second quarter and went to two high looks. This occurred even though the Irish weren't challenging A&M down the field at all in the passing game, preferring to throw their quick game and make things easier on their offensive line. In addition, the Irish's motion to the perimeter moved A&M defenders out of the box (a staple of ND offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock's scheme). That put the Aggies' second and third level players in worse angles against the run, made for big plays when their run fits broke down, and provided a young offensive line more hat on hat situations (as opposed to being minus one in the box).

It also didn't help that strong safety Dalton Brooks got tossed for targeting since he would be a box player.

Notre Dame's game plan wasn't genius as much as it simply reduced their margin for error, asked more of their experienced guys, and gave their younger guys time to prove themselves. A&M's wasn't bad as much as it didn't appear to be totally cognizant of the unit's limitations and strengths that you would have expected coming out of fall camp.

4. One of the things I pointed out a couple of weeks ago was that A&M had brought in about 30 transfers in 2024 to replace the 30 transfers that had left the program. While that was applauded, I also noted that 15 four and five stars had left and that they had been replaced by just five four and five stars.

They're not as deep (there was a drop off for the most part when both teams' backups were in the game) and there was a lack of big plays from the Aggies both offensively and defensively….no forced turnovers, no sacks, no long gains.

Most of the night, A&M had one five stars in the game on offense and two on defense. Notre Dame (per the 247 Team Talent Composite) has just one on its roster.

The margin of error that A&M enjoyed under Jimbo Fisher from a talent perspective is no longer there for the most part.  They may be ranked in seventh in the 247 Team Talent Composite, but they've got far more three stars playing key roles than they have in years.

5. Finally…there are some things that the Aggies can do for the rest of the year to make things better.  Simply being more gap sound on all levels of the defense would be a start. It would also help to have a better grasp of what everyone can and can't do.

It's also important to note that this is only Elko's third season as a head coach and Klein's third as an offensive coordinator. No matter what you thought of Jimbo Fisher or Kevin Sumlin or Mike Sherman, all of them had far more experience coming into their debuts as head coaches for A&M.  Bobby Petrino is a veteran play caller who has coached in the NFL and his ability to scheme and develop talent last season was excellent.

Things will probably look different not just next season but also later on in this one as everyone gets a better handle on game preparation and spend more time working together. It may be more incremental than drastic but incremental is a step in the right direction.

 

 

 

Instant analysis on Texas A&M football's season opening loss ot Notre Dame

Jeff Tarpley (Aggie 247)
 

 

Spoiler

 

Instant analysis on Texas A&M football's season opening loss ot Notre Dame

Jeff Tarpley (Aggie 247)
 

1. The biggest mismatch on paper coming into this game was Texas A&M's defensive front…a collection of four and five stars….against a Notre Dame offensive line that collectively featured six starts between them.  It was a matchup that A&M needed not to control but to dominate.

The Irish wound up rushing for 198 yards simply because they got the Aggies' safeties out of the box often enough to open up things on the inside. Their young offensive line blocked the Aggies on two crucial drives to generate touchdown runs by Jeremiah Love and Jadarian Price in the second half to generate a 23-13 win for the Irish.

2. You have to given Notre Dame credit for coming into a hostile environment and not turning it over. They reversed A&M's plans to run the ball and make Notre Dame come from behind in the fourth quarter with an inexperienced offensive line trying to protect the quarterback. Instead, A&M was the offense faced a touchdown deficit with under two minutes left and couldn't even get a first down.

3. The Aggies' offensive line struggled except at the start of the game and for one drive in the third quarter. The right tackle spot kept giving ground and so A&M quarterback Conner Weigman sometimes couldn't turn into his throws. They targeted the wrong defenders on both run game and pass protection. They moved the ball the best for the most part when the Irish had undersized backups in the game on the defensive line.  A&M ran zone and not much pin and pull. They spent too much time on the ground.

4. Weigman's inability to time and follow through on his throws to the outside, even to backs coming out versus backers on out routes, resulted in him throwing for only 100 yards. He held the ball too long and seemed confused on where to go with it (although his receivers struggled to get open at times as well). He was better between the hashes but not by much. In contrast, Riley Leonard was better…not great but better…at throwing to the outside to take advantage of man situations. The Irish also ran him more to outnumber the Aggies at the point of attack and move the chains.  A&M didn't move Weigman around at all or use much play action to slow the rush either.

5. Texas A&M and Notre Dame's defenses pretty much controlled the first half of the contest due to the inexperience of the Irish up front and the Aggies moving different people in and out of their front five due to either ineffectiveness or injury.  It didn't help that neither quarterback was that accurate due to the pass rush and had to get the ball out quickly on most plays.

6. A&M's best offensive plays came when they were able to get people in motion to the edge and attack the perimeter. They made it difficult for the Irish to come across the formation with the motion man. Their blocking from the wideouts was really good and they created creases. In addition, ball carriers (not just backs but wideouts) were patient and allowed blocks to develop by both the perimeter people and the linemen. Finally, when A&M was able to get double teams going (particularly behind the left side duo of Trey Zuhn and Chase Bisontis) they pushed people to the second level and made it difficult for the backers to fill.

But these things rarely happened.

 

7. A&M's backs ran hard and with good lean at times. First contact usually resulted in them continuing to move forward for another yard or two. This wasn't just true of the bigger Le'Veon Moss but his backup Amari Daniels as well. It just didn't generate much because A&M struggled to run zone and they couldn't turn Notre Dame's front (which allowed the Irish to string things out).

8. Both teams were less effective when they went to their benches on both lines. The Aggies got something going when lighter weight backup defensive tackles had to deal with A&M's size, particularly on those double teams. However, when A&M put in their second unit defensive linemen, the Irish probably had their best sustained drive of the night.

9. Safety Marcus Ratcliffe came in after Dalton Brooks was ejected for targeting. He doesn't have a big frame but the Aggies were able to roll him down into the B gap quite a bit early on. When the front six protected him, he was able to either fill or mirror the runner to an outside gap and not give ground after the hit.  Ratcliffe was able to get people to the ground and wrap them up well.

10. But…that didn't last for much of the game.  The Irish countered by using motion and getting the ball flowing to the perimeter on outside zone when eventually caused A&M to keep him in more of a two high look. In addition, the motion got him out of the box and gave Irish backs a few more creases.

11. On Notre Dame's biggest runs of the night, offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock was able to use motion to get even numbers in the box and A&M simply took bad angles to the inside or overpursued that direction. As a result, even when A&M got penetration, this allowed Irish backs to cut outside into space.

12. Notre Dame tried to help out its offensive line with quick throws and at times the Irish wideouts were able to drive A&M's corners off of the ball and give Leonard enough spacing to get the ball to them. However, he often didn't get a chance to set his feet even on the shorter throws or had to move around too much to deliver the ball accurately.  In addition, the Irish ran and threw away from Nic Scourton quite a bit but he still found ways to get involved on the backside of plays.  

13. Shemar Turner had seven stops and Taurean York had nine of them.

14. It was expected that Irish left tackle Anthonie Knapp was going to struggle and he did regardless of whether he was facing Scourton or Shemar Stewart. He simply anchored too deep or didn't extend outside wide enough on his kick step.  He also couldn't get Scourton to lower his hands enough on the pass rush and he was able to either obscure the passing lanes or bat the ball down. Center Ashton Craig struggled to snap the ball and get the proper people targeted for a while. In addition, you're only as strong as your weakest link up front and the Irish turned people loose too often (although they got better when they got A&M out of the box and had fewer folks to worry about).

15. It was anticipated that Notre Dame's offensive line would struggle with penalties but that spread to other parts of the team as well (11 for 99 yards).

16. Notre Dame had some defensive issues on early downs but their saving grace was the fact that they used delayed blitzes on passing downs that were difficult for A&M's line to pick up. This enabled them to force Weigman to face an untouched rusher coming late and deliver inaccurate throws down the field. They forced a couple of field goals and that kept the game close when A&M could have put some touchdowns on the board.

17. A&M had an advantage on special teams since Irish (and Australian) punter James Rendell had never kicked in an American football game before. His first punt was problematic and his second was a decent effort.  In contrast, Tyler White averaged over 50 yards a kick and had two kicks of over 60 yards that really flipped the field when the Aggies were backed up in their own end. However, kicker Mitch Jeter hit three field goals including the game clincher. 

18. A&M's stop of Notre Dame on the first possession of the third half near midfield on fourth down should have been a permament turn in the game. However, A&M faced a third and long and called a running play and then went for it on fourth and long. 

Punt the ball or better yet call something designed to get a first down on third down. 

 

 

 

 

Sunday morning breakdown of what happened between Texas A&M and Notre Dame..PFF grades, etc.

Jeff Tarpley (Aggie 247)

 

Spoiler

 

Sunday morning breakdown of what happened between Texas A&M and Notre Dame..PFF grades, etc.

Jeff Tarpley (Aggie 247)
 

This morning's writeup is going to be tactical and look backwards at last night. The afternoon one is going to be forward thinking and a strategic examination of the bigger picture.

On the surface, you can look at Texas A&M's game last night as a loss to a quality top ten team in a great atmosphere and state that it was primarily due to the team's quarterback play.

However, the Aggies gave up 198 yards on the ground at six yards a pop despite having seven tackles for loss.  This occurred despite the fact that A&M's defensive front consisted of all four and five stars coming out of high school. In addition, they were facing an offensive line that had just six starts between them and was playing a freshman at left tackle because their most promising offensive lineman had been lost for the season early in fall camp.

 

When Notre Dame got the ball back with just over six minutes left, a Tyler White punt left them 85 yards from their own goal line. It was the perfect chance for the Aggies' defense to hold them, get the ball back, and give it to the offense in pretty good field position. That way, A&M wouldn't have to drive far and could turn the contest over to an experienced field goal kicker who had booted a 49 yarder already.

Instead, the unit surrendered five gains of at least nine yards and got the Irish in just one third down situation.

The path to A&M winning the game lay in the ability of its defense to dominate and make the Irish have to travel the length of the field in the most critical point of the contest with over 100,000 fans making an insane amount of noise.

They got what everyone wished for and couldn't come through.

 

QUARTERBACK
A&M's Conner Weigman had an NFL passer rating of 21.5. He couldn't drive the ball, or time throws to the outside even when he had backs covered by backers. He wasn't used in the running game and rarely took off on his own. Pressure from the right side resulted in troubles following through on throws to that side of the field but even when he got time, he seemed to be looking for the rush to come to him. Most of all, he held the ball too long and that allowed Notre Dame defenders to play A&M's routes to either pick the ball off or break throws up.

They didn't move him or use much gap blocking schemes (just a third of all plays run). They didn't move him around or use much play action. Once A&M's script to start the game ended they struggled the rest of the night to get much going.

RUNNING BACK
A&M's backs ran hard, with balance, and with good lean in the first half regardless of who was up front or what scheme (zone versus man) was being used. However, A&M ran more zone in the second half and there weren't any cutback lanes or frontside seams. They ran for 160 yards but just 3.8 yards per carry. Their longest run was 15 yards.

WIDEOUTS
Noah Thomas is supposed to be a future star, but he was targeted four times and had just one completion. Notre Dame's twitch at corner made it difficult for him to get separation but being lined up in the slot 80% of the time didn't pay off for him at all. However, his issues were shared by the rest of the group which couldn't create much spacing, and they had to also extend for throws that were off target.

TIGHT ENDS
Tre Watson (53 snaps) and Theo Melin Ohrstrom (21 snaps) split the work at tight end. There were few if any two tight end sets. They were a non-factor as blockers as they were unable to seal on plays to the outside or pull and generate any power at the point of contact.

OFFENSIVE LINE
Other than on a couple of scoring drives, the unit couldn't seal to the edge, couldn't pull and deliver blows on the move with any power, and their zone blocking was reminiscent of the 2023 unit (inability to turn their shoulders and hips into defenders to create any seams). Pass protection at right tackle was reminiscent of 2023 as well with three pressures surrendered. However, the left side of the group (which was supposed to be the best part of the lineup) gave up five pressures themselves. The group missed on initial contact and got pushed around even though the off season regimen was supposed to be more rigorous, they were bigger than last season, and unlike the Irish they played people with a combined total of over 50 starts.

DEFENSIVE LINE
Notre Dame ran plays away from Nic Scourton which limited his impact (one assisted tackle) although he did his best to chase plays down from the backside. They also chipped at him in pass protection. Shemar Turner played with push from the inside versus the run but playing head up on the center on passing downs limited what he could do. Shemar Stewart's length enabled him to keep blockers at bay and be a stack and shed player versus the run. Cassius Howell and Rylan Kennedy were noticeable coming off of the edge because they were often uncovered. They had two pressures each but they didn't really finish plays.

A&M's penchant for rushing up field to tie up blockers limited their ability to escape and make more of an impact than what they did. In addition, in the second half, they were stalemated or didn't play low enough when taking on blocks (both on zone runs as well as gap runs).  They did keep Irish quarterback Riley Leonard contained in the pocket to an extent but they also gave him time to get the ball outside in one on one situations to sustain drives.

Stewart, Scourton, and Turner all graded out at a 68.8 or better overall per Pro Football Focus but the group needed to take advantage of a very inexperienced Irish front and that didn't happen. Leonard was able to distribute the ball, make the most of his moments as a runner, and not turn it over.

LINEBACKERS
Taurean York had nine tackles and Scooby Williams was the Aggies' highest graded run defender per PFF at 73.6. However, both also had their issues. York couldn't get stops near the line of scrimmage and committed too much and too fast inside which allowed the Irish multiple long runs. Williams missed two tackles and was hit or miss in terms of either getting there for no gain or allowing a long play.  York was actually better in coverage with his ability to stay with his man and make stops as soon as the ball was caught for a short gain.

SECONDARY
A&M's secondary played a lot of two high looks after safety Dalton Brooks went out for targeting and that limited big plays in the passing game. However, A&M corners allowed some completions in man coverage along the boundaries that kept the sticks moving. Most importantly, playing their safeties 10 yards or more deep took them out of the running game. When they did come up, there were way too many missed tackles due to inadequate angles which allowed runners to maneuver outside or cut back inside (11 missed tackles out of the group in all per PFF).

SPECIAL TEAMS
A&M punter Tyler White had a great debut with two kicks of over 60 yards that flipped the field but didn't end up making the impact they should have. Randy Bond had two field goals and Jared Zirkel had three touchbacks. However, Irish kicker Mitch Jeter had three field goals and his 46 yarder with 30 seconds left put the game away for good. 

 

 

 

 

[HuttNuts 55]

16 hours ago, Funk Doctor Spock said:

God, that was hilarious. That shit didn't look like gatorade to me. It looked like whatever was supposed to come out of his ass made it's way to his mouth. 

Why waste it when you can taste it

[HtownHorn 14663]

Interesting that Tarp mentioned something that every other person glossed over, aggy didn't do well in the portal at all.

[nnm 36340]

22 minutes ago, Getafix said:

 

 

 

Yep, the screenshot above was actually from the Q/A following that article :-).

I'll just post that article, plus two other Tarp articles on the ND game, below. 

On the unlikely chance that we would have ... a passing interest ... in the bitter introspection and self-loathing that follows an Aggie early-season loss 😈.

 

Gluttons for Aggie angst ... here's your smorgasboard.

 

 

Five bigger picture thoughts from Texas A&M's season opener

Tarp (Aggie 247)

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Five bigger picture thoughts from Texas A&M's season opener

Tarp (Aggie 247)
 

1. Texas A&M kept everyone away from the team for a year dating back to the bowl practices in December after Mike Elko was hired. They gave the media access for the first 15-20 minutes and didn't show a lot for the most part (although in fairness to them there were more opportunities to see them in fall camp than spring ball).

Nonetheless, when you don't see something and it doesn't go well, the shock effect is greater than if you kind of prepare everyone for what's coming. It's one thing to lose to a top ten team but it's another when some bigger picture things didn't come to fruition.

Elko promised a culture with more accountability. He talked about how things were going to be a process, and that people had bought into that process. There was supposedly no greater example of this than the off season program.

I thought that the biggest deficiency last season was a lack of team speed. A&M's off season workouts were geared towards making the team bigger and stronger. There was a noticeable difference in appearance among the players from the spring to the fall that was also charted by the weight gains among the players on the roster during that time frame.

In addition, one of A&M's players posted top speeds of various players on the roster on social media (A&M had to be the source of the speed). It caught everyone's attention because you had two sources noting that not only were the Aggies bigger, but they were also faster, something that you usually don't see.

All of this was supposed to have resulted in a better conditioned team as well.

Instead, A&M players limped off the field more and went to the ground more. The team was outgained in the second half 217-119 and outscored 17-7.

With the game on the line, Notre Dame moved 85 yards for the go ahead score and the Aggies couldn't generate a first down to tie the game back up.

You would expect a different result based on the process.

If you want a picture of how a team should look coming out of the off season, check out spring ball 2018 A&M versus fall camp 2017 A&M. The difference was night and day and that's what kind of transformation you expect to see if the process is working.

2. Offensively, Collin Klein came to Aggieland with a great reputation for doing a lot with a little at Kansas State. He used multiple concepts to have a top ten scoring offense last season.

Those concepts comprise a mix of wing T (motion, misdirection, and gap blocking) and Air Raid/West Coast passing games. There's nothing new about them as you see them every Saturday but his ability to get the ball into the hands of players in space for chunk plays was certainly noteworthy.

However, A&M ran two-third zone runs on Saturday night and about one third pin and pull or gap blocking per Pro Football Focus.  A&M struggled with its physicality, technique, and coordination. They were able to execute double team blocks in the run game and push defenders to the second level at times in the first half. However, their zone blocks were bereft of the ability to get their hips and shoulders turned with any momentum, a problem that was an issue last season. They also called just two play action passes and didn't use Weigman on rollouts or bootlegs.

There were other instances as well where things didn't mesh….you chart Weigman as a passer and in 2023 most throws went in the middle and right side. A&M matched up backs on backers at times and made him throw out routes for short potential gains (as opposed to turning the back up the field and making the backer chase him). In particular, Notre Dame got enough pressure up the middle and the right side so that Weigman had to move around or hold the ball. The timing was off on some routes; he couldn't follow through the throw on others.

Yes, Notre Dame's secondary is really good but there didn't seem to be a mesh of what he could do versus what he was asked to do. Not only that, what did they see from him and the receivers in fall camp that suggested that they could build the offense around his arm and those players as much as they did?

Most of all, they didn't run Weigman and one of the hallmarks of wing T concepts is to make the quarterback a ball carrier. Under Klein, Kansas State ran its quarterbacks 146 times in 2022 and 133 times in 2023. Those weren't all designed runs, but they make the offense account for another potential ball carrier, especially on plays like QB dart (where there are lead blockers) and inverted veer (option based on the read of a interior lineman).

In contrast, another Big 12 program in Kansas ran its quarterbacks about 100 times each of the last two seasons.

Notre Dame used a lot of motion to the perimeter and ran quarterback Riley Leonard ran the ball 12 times. They weren't all called runs, but he did gain 64 yards and they generated some gains that helped move the chains.

3. A&M's defense rolled a safety into the box for most of the first quarter and that helped the Aggies stifle Notre Dame's running game (just ten yards in the first 15 minutes of the game). They got away from that in the second quarter and went to two high looks. This occurred even though the Irish weren't challenging A&M down the field at all in the passing game, preferring to throw their quick game and make things easier on their offensive line. In addition, the Irish's motion to the perimeter moved A&M defenders out of the box (a staple of ND offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock's scheme). That put the Aggies' second and third level players in worse angles against the run, made for big plays when their run fits broke down, and provided a young offensive line more hat on hat situations (as opposed to being minus one in the box).

It also didn't help that strong safety Dalton Brooks got tossed for targeting since he would be a box player.

Notre Dame's game plan wasn't genius as much as it simply reduced their margin for error, asked more of their experienced guys, and gave their younger guys time to prove themselves. A&M's wasn't bad as much as it didn't appear to be totally cognizant of the unit's limitations and strengths that you would have expected coming out of fall camp.

4. One of the things I pointed out a couple of weeks ago was that A&M had brought in about 30 transfers in 2024 to replace the 30 transfers that had left the program. While that was applauded, I also noted that 15 four and five stars had left and that they had been replaced by just five four and five stars.

They're not as deep (there was a drop off for the most part when both teams' backups were in the game) and there was a lack of big plays from the Aggies both offensively and defensively….no forced turnovers, no sacks, no long gains.

Most of the night, A&M had one five stars in the game on offense and two on defense. Notre Dame (per the 247 Team Talent Composite) has just one on its roster.

The margin of error that A&M enjoyed under Jimbo Fisher from a talent perspective is no longer there for the most part.  They may be ranked in seventh in the 247 Team Talent Composite, but they've got far more three stars playing key roles than they have in years.

5. Finally…there are some things that the Aggies can do for the rest of the year to make things better.  Simply being more gap sound on all levels of the defense would be a start. It would also help to have a better grasp of what everyone can and can't do.

It's also important to note that this is only Elko's third season as a head coach and Klein's third as an offensive coordinator. No matter what you thought of Jimbo Fisher or Kevin Sumlin or Mike Sherman, all of them had far more experience coming into their debuts as head coaches for A&M.  Bobby Petrino is a veteran play caller who has coached in the NFL and his ability to scheme and develop talent last season was excellent.

Things will probably look different not just next season but also later on in this one as everyone gets a better handle on game preparation and spend more time working together. It may be more incremental than drastic but incremental is a step in the right direction.

 

 

 

Instant analysis on Texas A&M football's season opening loss ot Notre Dame

Jeff Tarpley (Aggie 247)
 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Instant analysis on Texas A&M football's season opening loss ot Notre Dame

Jeff Tarpley (Aggie 247)
 

1. The biggest mismatch on paper coming into this game was Texas A&M's defensive front…a collection of four and five stars….against a Notre Dame offensive line that collectively featured six starts between them.  It was a matchup that A&M needed not to control but to dominate.

The Irish wound up rushing for 198 yards simply because they got the Aggies' safeties out of the box often enough to open up things on the inside. Their young offensive line blocked the Aggies on two crucial drives to generate touchdown runs by Jeremiah Love and Jadarian Price in the second half to generate a 23-13 win for the Irish.

2. You have to given Notre Dame credit for coming into a hostile environment and not turning it over. They reversed A&M's plans to run the ball and make Notre Dame come from behind in the fourth quarter with an inexperienced offensive line trying to protect the quarterback. Instead, A&M was the offense faced a touchdown deficit with under two minutes left and couldn't even get a first down.

3. The Aggies' offensive line struggled except at the start of the game and for one drive in the third quarter. The right tackle spot kept giving ground and so A&M quarterback Conner Weigman sometimes couldn't turn into his throws. They targeted the wrong defenders on both run game and pass protection. They moved the ball the best for the most part when the Irish had undersized backups in the game on the defensive line.  A&M ran zone and not much pin and pull. They spent too much time on the ground.

4. Weigman's inability to time and follow through on his throws to the outside, even to backs coming out versus backers on out routes, resulted in him throwing for only 100 yards. He held the ball too long and seemed confused on where to go with it (although his receivers struggled to get open at times as well). He was better between the hashes but not by much. In contrast, Riley Leonard was better…not great but better…at throwing to the outside to take advantage of man situations. The Irish also ran him more to outnumber the Aggies at the point of attack and move the chains.  A&M didn't move Weigman around at all or use much play action to slow the rush either.

5. Texas A&M and Notre Dame's defenses pretty much controlled the first half of the contest due to the inexperience of the Irish up front and the Aggies moving different people in and out of their front five due to either ineffectiveness or injury.  It didn't help that neither quarterback was that accurate due to the pass rush and had to get the ball out quickly on most plays.

6. A&M's best offensive plays came when they were able to get people in motion to the edge and attack the perimeter. They made it difficult for the Irish to come across the formation with the motion man. Their blocking from the wideouts was really good and they created creases. In addition, ball carriers (not just backs but wideouts) were patient and allowed blocks to develop by both the perimeter people and the linemen. Finally, when A&M was able to get double teams going (particularly behind the left side duo of Trey Zuhn and Chase Bisontis) they pushed people to the second level and made it difficult for the backers to fill.

But these things rarely happened.

 

7. A&M's backs ran hard and with good lean at times. First contact usually resulted in them continuing to move forward for another yard or two. This wasn't just true of the bigger Le'Veon Moss but his backup Amari Daniels as well. It just didn't generate much because A&M struggled to run zone and they couldn't turn Notre Dame's front (which allowed the Irish to string things out).

8. Both teams were less effective when they went to their benches on both lines. The Aggies got something going when lighter weight backup defensive tackles had to deal with A&M's size, particularly on those double teams. However, when A&M put in their second unit defensive linemen, the Irish probably had their best sustained drive of the night.

9. Safety Marcus Ratcliffe came in after Dalton Brooks was ejected for targeting. He doesn't have a big frame but the Aggies were able to roll him down into the B gap quite a bit early on. When the front six protected him, he was able to either fill or mirror the runner to an outside gap and not give ground after the hit.  Ratcliffe was able to get people to the ground and wrap them up well.

10. But…that didn't last for much of the game.  The Irish countered by using motion and getting the ball flowing to the perimeter on outside zone when eventually caused A&M to keep him in more of a two high look. In addition, the motion got him out of the box and gave Irish backs a few more creases.

11. On Notre Dame's biggest runs of the night, offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock was able to use motion to get even numbers in the box and A&M simply took bad angles to the inside or overpursued that direction. As a result, even when A&M got penetration, this allowed Irish backs to cut outside into space.

12. Notre Dame tried to help out its offensive line with quick throws and at times the Irish wideouts were able to drive A&M's corners off of the ball and give Leonard enough spacing to get the ball to them. However, he often didn't get a chance to set his feet even on the shorter throws or had to move around too much to deliver the ball accurately.  In addition, the Irish ran and threw away from Nic Scourton quite a bit but he still found ways to get involved on the backside of plays.  

13. Shemar Turner had seven stops and Taurean York had nine of them.

14. It was expected that Irish left tackle Anthonie Knapp was going to struggle and he did regardless of whether he was facing Scourton or Shemar Stewart. He simply anchored too deep or didn't extend outside wide enough on his kick step.  He also couldn't get Scourton to lower his hands enough on the pass rush and he was able to either obscure the passing lanes or bat the ball down. Center Ashton Craig struggled to snap the ball and get the proper people targeted for a while. In addition, you're only as strong as your weakest link up front and the Irish turned people loose too often (although they got better when they got A&M out of the box and had fewer folks to worry about).

15. It was anticipated that Notre Dame's offensive line would struggle with penalties but that spread to other parts of the team as well (11 for 99 yards).

16. Notre Dame had some defensive issues on early downs but their saving grace was the fact that they used delayed blitzes on passing downs that were difficult for A&M's line to pick up. This enabled them to force Weigman to face an untouched rusher coming late and deliver inaccurate throws down the field. They forced a couple of field goals and that kept the game close when A&M could have put some touchdowns on the board.

17. A&M had an advantage on special teams since Irish (and Australian) punter James Rendell had never kicked in an American football game before. His first punt was problematic and his second was a decent effort.  In contrast, Tyler White averaged over 50 yards a kick and had two kicks of over 60 yards that really flipped the field when the Aggies were backed up in their own end. However, kicker Mitch Jeter hit three field goals including the game clincher. 

18. A&M's stop of Notre Dame on the first possession of the third half near midfield on fourth down should have been a permament turn in the game. However, A&M faced a third and long and called a running play and then went for it on fourth and long. 

Punt the ball or better yet call something designed to get a first down on third down. 

 

 

 

 

Sunday morning breakdown of what happened between Texas A&M and Notre Dame..PFF grades, etc.

Jeff Tarpley (Aggie 247)

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Sunday morning breakdown of what happened between Texas A&M and Notre Dame..PFF grades, etc.

Jeff Tarpley (Aggie 247)
 

This morning's writeup is going to be tactical and look backwards at last night. The afternoon one is going to be forward thinking and a strategic examination of the bigger picture.

On the surface, you can look at Texas A&M's game last night as a loss to a quality top ten team in a great atmosphere and state that it was primarily due to the team's quarterback play.

However, the Aggies gave up 198 yards on the ground at six yards a pop despite having seven tackles for loss.  This occurred despite the fact that A&M's defensive front consisted of all four and five stars coming out of high school. In addition, they were facing an offensive line that had just six starts between them and was playing a freshman at left tackle because their most promising offensive lineman had been lost for the season early in fall camp.

 

When Notre Dame got the ball back with just over six minutes left, a Tyler White punt left them 85 yards from their own goal line. It was the perfect chance for the Aggies' defense to hold them, get the ball back, and give it to the offense in pretty good field position. That way, A&M wouldn't have to drive far and could turn the contest over to an experienced field goal kicker who had booted a 49 yarder already.

Instead, the unit surrendered five gains of at least nine yards and got the Irish in just one third down situation.

The path to A&M winning the game lay in the ability of its defense to dominate and make the Irish have to travel the length of the field in the most critical point of the contest with over 100,000 fans making an insane amount of noise.

They got what everyone wished for and couldn't come through.

 

QUARTERBACK
A&M's Conner Weigman had an NFL passer rating of 21.5. He couldn't drive the ball, or time throws to the outside even when he had backs covered by backers. He wasn't used in the running game and rarely took off on his own. Pressure from the right side resulted in troubles following through on throws to that side of the field but even when he got time, he seemed to be looking for the rush to come to him. Most of all, he held the ball too long and that allowed Notre Dame defenders to play A&M's routes to either pick the ball off or break throws up.

They didn't move him or use much gap blocking schemes (just a third of all plays run). They didn't move him around or use much play action. Once A&M's script to start the game ended they struggled the rest of the night to get much going.

RUNNING BACK
A&M's backs ran hard, with balance, and with good lean in the first half regardless of who was up front or what scheme (zone versus man) was being used. However, A&M ran more zone in the second half and there weren't any cutback lanes or frontside seams. They ran for 160 yards but just 3.8 yards per carry. Their longest run was 15 yards.

WIDEOUTS
Noah Thomas is supposed to be a future star, but he was targeted four times and had just one completion. Notre Dame's twitch at corner made it difficult for him to get separation but being lined up in the slot 80% of the time didn't pay off for him at all. However, his issues were shared by the rest of the group which couldn't create much spacing, and they had to also extend for throws that were off target.

TIGHT ENDS
Tre Watson (53 snaps) and Theo Melin Ohrstrom (21 snaps) split the work at tight end. There were few if any two tight end sets. They were a non-factor as blockers as they were unable to seal on plays to the outside or pull and generate any power at the point of contact.

OFFENSIVE LINE
Other than on a couple of scoring drives, the unit couldn't seal to the edge, couldn't pull and deliver blows on the move with any power, and their zone blocking was reminiscent of the 2023 unit (inability to turn their shoulders and hips into defenders to create any seams). Pass protection at right tackle was reminiscent of 2023 as well with three pressures surrendered. However, the left side of the group (which was supposed to be the best part of the lineup) gave up five pressures themselves. The group missed on initial contact and got pushed around even though the off season regimen was supposed to be more rigorous, they were bigger than last season, and unlike the Irish they played people with a combined total of over 50 starts.

DEFENSIVE LINE
Notre Dame ran plays away from Nic Scourton which limited his impact (one assisted tackle) although he did his best to chase plays down from the backside. They also chipped at him in pass protection. Shemar Turner played with push from the inside versus the run but playing head up on the center on passing downs limited what he could do. Shemar Stewart's length enabled him to keep blockers at bay and be a stack and shed player versus the run. Cassius Howell and Rylan Kennedy were noticeable coming off of the edge because they were often uncovered. They had two pressures each but they didn't really finish plays.

A&M's penchant for rushing up field to tie up blockers limited their ability to escape and make more of an impact than what they did. In addition, in the second half, they were stalemated or didn't play low enough when taking on blocks (both on zone runs as well as gap runs).  They did keep Irish quarterback Riley Leonard contained in the pocket to an extent but they also gave him time to get the ball outside in one on one situations to sustain drives.

Stewart, Scourton, and Turner all graded out at a 68.8 or better overall per Pro Football Focus but the group needed to take advantage of a very inexperienced Irish front and that didn't happen. Leonard was able to distribute the ball, make the most of his moments as a runner, and not turn it over.

LINEBACKERS
Taurean York had nine tackles and Scooby Williams was the Aggies' highest graded run defender per PFF at 73.6. However, both also had their issues. York couldn't get stops near the line of scrimmage and committed too much and too fast inside which allowed the Irish multiple long runs. Williams missed two tackles and was hit or miss in terms of either getting there for no gain or allowing a long play.  York was actually better in coverage with his ability to stay with his man and make stops as soon as the ball was caught for a short gain.

SECONDARY
A&M's secondary played a lot of two high looks after safety Dalton Brooks went out for targeting and that limited big plays in the passing game. However, A&M corners allowed some completions in man coverage along the boundaries that kept the sticks moving. Most importantly, playing their safeties 10 yards or more deep took them out of the running game. When they did come up, there were way too many missed tackles due to inadequate angles which allowed runners to maneuver outside or cut back inside (11 missed tackles out of the group in all per PFF).

SPECIAL TEAMS
A&M punter Tyler White had a great debut with two kicks of over 60 yards that flipped the field but didn't end up making the impact they should have. Randy Bond had two field goals and Jared Zirkel had three touchbacks. However, Irish kicker Mitch Jeter had three field goals and his 46 yarder with 30 seconds left put the game away for good. 

 

 

 

 

That is bleak, bleak, bleak.  There appears to be no hope for TAMU.

And I'm here for it.  

[crash_davis 23096]

Tarp went No Lube on his write ups. I guess he quit dancing around all the elephants in the room and laid them bare.

It will be interesting to see how the imbecile cult reacts to it.

Edited September 4 by crash_davis

[Dondrysdale1 363]

2 hours ago, Carl Spackler said:

It definitely counterbalanced his shot at Weigmann for being "totally fake" in the Dr. Oz Gameday segment.

When I heard I could have sworn he said he was baked. Then immediately backtracked

[closetojumping 62532]

1 hour ago, HtownHorn said:

Interesting that Tarp mentioned something that every other person glossed over, aggy didn't do well in the portal at all.

To be fair, Tarp is basically the only aggie writer in the offseason that would even vaguely hint at what we’ve been hammering here the whole time - the value of the guys coming in from the portal didn’t even vaguely compensate for the talent drain leaving the program. 

To me, that will get examined more and more as the season goes on and the same asshats who promoted their “portal prowess” both directly to aggie netdom and also at the national football media levels will suddenly be showcasing their eurekas about the imbalance between the incoming and outgoing. Like they’ve discovered it and knew it the whole time and what was anyone else but them thinking in the offseason? Right. 

The aggies went from being unranked and unconsidered in the “way too early” polls late last winter to ranked #20 to open the season. Nothing changed. They did very little in the late portal cycle. So what happened?

The aggie PR team, led by Liucci, talked themselves into their usual “don’t sleep on the fighting Texas Aggies!” narrative, while pointing at the 247 portal ranking, and then fed it straight to Pate and others, and, magically, ATM became a media darling as a playoff darkhorse. 

[crash_davis 23096]

14 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

To be fair, Tarp is basically the only aggie writer in the offseason that would even vaguely hint at what we’ve been hammering here the whole time - the value of the guys coming in from the portal didn’t even vaguely compensate for the talent drain leaving the program. 

To me, that will get examined more and more as the season goes on and the same asshats who promoted their “portal prowess” both directly to aggie netdom and also at the national football media levels will suddenly be showcasing their eurekas about the imbalance between the incoming and outgoing. Like they’ve discovered it and knew it the whole time and what was anyone else but them thinking in the offseason? Right. 

The aggies went from being unranked and unconsidered in the “way too early” polls late last winter to ranked #20 to open the season. Nothing changed. They did very little in the late portal cycle. So what happened?

The aggie PR team, led by Liucci, talked themselves into their usual “don’t sleep on the fighting Texas Aggies!” narrative, while pointing at the 247 portal ranking, and then fed it straight to Pate and others, and, magically, ATM became a media darling as a playoff darkhorse. 

You and everyone realized that the vast majority of aggy's portal takes were warm bodies. They had so many people leave that they just had to backfill with JAGs to field a roster. All of the good players knew what a cancer aggy was and stayed the F away. Plus aggy had absolutely no money or deals to offer to portal players. They took JAGs because that's all they could "afford".

Looch and the 9.95s have to sell sunshine to the cult; otherwise, they'd revolt and label the 9.95s as 2%. That fan base simply cannot handle any bad news. They've survived on blind hope for 80 years. Fuck anyone who tries to diminish the only thing they have.

[Mitch Cumsteen 18547]

Their defensive line not dominating against the inexperienced ND offense has got to be an eye opener. If there was one thing that you thought you knew you could hang your hat on, it was that front being good. Especially after it was bolstered by the Purdue transfer. 

In the meantime, former 5-star Aggie recruit Anthony Lucas was doing this for USC against one of the more hyped tackles in the country:

 

 

[closetojumping 62532]

9 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

Their defensive line not dominating against the inexperienced ND offense has got to be an eye opener. If there was one thing that you thought you knew you could hang your hat on, it was that front being good. Especially after it was bolstered by the Purdue transfer. 

In the meantime, former 5-star Aggie recruit Anthony Lucas was doing this for USC against one of the more hyped tackles in the country:

 

 

Hate to go on a tangent but this reminded me of a similar issue to the "aggie front 7 is going to be a force!" talking point heading into the season. Just as the FSU DL was touted, in retrospect hilariously, as the best DL in the nation during the offseason, the LSU offensive line was called the best offensive line in the country literally right up to kickoff (Booger McFarland referenced them as much in the pregrame show). Whoops.

That OL was manhandled at times. Campbell had two different false starts, Jones got his ass beat on multiple occasions, and the team rushed for 117 yards, 39 of which came on one play. When they needed push in the second half, they couldn't get it. LSU was opting to throw on 3rd and short and to punt on 4th and short late in the game. That was against an improved but likely still mediocre USC defense. I'm sure the rest of the LSU schedule will be more gentle. 

[Ricky's one-hitter 9084]

24 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

Their defensive line not dominating against the inexperienced ND offense has got to be an eye opener. If there was one thing that you thought you knew you could hang your hat on, it was that front being good. Especially after it was bolstered by the Purdue transfer. 

In the meantime, former 5-star Aggie recruit Anthony Lucas was doing this for USC against one of the more hyped tackles in the country:

 

 

Both Lucas and Fadil Diggs are going to be drafted in the first few rounds. Ironically, ERob and crew did a good job developing Diggs and the spoils for those efforts followed Robinson to Syracuse. 

[Mitch Cumsteen 18547]

3 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Hate to go on a tangent but this reminded me of a similar issue to the "aggie front 7 is going to be a force!" talking point heading into the season. Just as the FSU DL was touted, in retrospect hilariously, as the best DL in the nation during the offseason, the LSU offensive line was called the best offensive line in the country literally right up to kickoff (Booger McFarland referenced them as much in the pregrame show). Whoops.

That OL was manhandled at times. Campbell had two different false starts, Jones got his ass beat on multiple occasions, and the team rushed for 117 yards, 39 of which came on one play. When they needed push in the second half, they couldn't get it. LSU was opting to throw on 3rd and short and to punt on 4th and short late in the game. That was against an improved but likely still mediocre USC defense. I'm sure the rest of the LSU schedule will be more gentle. 

I absolutely expected the LSU offensive line to control the game. It seemed like they finally started to get their running game untracked about midway through the third quarter, and then it just fizzled out. Maybe having Jayden Daniels doing crazy shit play after play last year covered up some of their weaknesses?

I do think USC has made some major strides on defense. If they can be that competent week in and week out, I like them as much as anybody in the Big 10. They are always going to scheme well on offense, they have some real playmakers catching the ball, and Moss was impressive.

The pieces can change so quickly in college football through graduation eligibility running out, early draft entrants, transfers, coaching moves, and straight up voodoo that it amazes me every year what I think I know about teams vs. what actually shows up on the field. 

[Foosters 17823]

Our players are slow?

We'll just make them faster in the offseason!

Brilliant! Hope no one else thinks of this.

Edited September 4 by Foosters

[Navin R. Johnson 705]

I had forgotten about how aggy paid ERob to steal their own players. Classic aggy.

[Pato del Muerto 52485]

33 minutes ago, Navin R. Johnson said:

I had forgotten about how aggy paid ERob to steal their own players. Classic aggy.

Our players got bigger, stronger, and faster.  No cap. 
 

And they just accept it because moffitt. 

Edited September 4 by Pato del Muerto
Wrong quote, sue me

[linux 1660]

5 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Our players got bigger, stronger, and faster.  No cap. 
 

And they just accept it because moffitt. 

At least the bigger part is right, chunky boy did his part to reach that 7000 lb collective goal.

[BornAndRaised 12281]

With regards to LSU, I wish they were on the schedule this year for recruiting reasons. It may not help with Brown or Zion Williamson based on Gerrys read but touting our DL over them for a season would be great.

[ClubWhatever 12120]

3 hours ago, Getafix said:

Most of all, they didn't run Weigman and one of the hallmarks of wing T concepts is to make the quarterback a ball carrier. Under Klein, Kansas State ran its quarterbacks 146 times in 2022 and 133 times in 2023.

Yeah that ain't gonna work.  Weigman is either done at A&M or it's gonna be a long fucking season.

[PTINS 3459]

4 hours ago, Getafix said:

Five bigger picture thoughts from Texas A&M's season opener

Tarp (Aggie 247)

  Hide contents

1. Texas A&M kept everyone away from the team for a year dating back to the bowl practices in December after Mike Elko was hired. 

Nonetheless, when you don't see something and it doesn't go well, the shock effect is greater than if you kind of prepare everyone for what's coming. 

  Hide contents

The biggest mismatch on paper coming into this game was Texas A&M's defensive front…a collection of four and five stars….against a Notre Dame offensive line that collectively featured six starts between them.  It was a matchup that A&M needed not to control but to dominate.

However, the Aggies gave up 198 yards on the ground simply because they got the Aggies' safeties out of the box often enough to open up things on the inside. This occurred despite the fact that A&M's defensive front consisted of all four and five stars coming out of high school. In addition, they were facing an offensive line that had just six starts between them and was playing a freshman at left tackle 

When Notre Dame got the ball back with just over six minutes left, a Tyler White punt left them 85 yards from their own goal line. It was the perfect chance for the Aggies' defense to hold them, get the ball back, and give it to the offense in pretty good field position. 

Instead, the unit surrendered five gains of at least nine yards and got the Irish in just one third down situation.

The path to A&M winning the game lay in the ability of its defense to dominate and make the Irish have to travel the length of the field in the most critical point of the contest with over 100,000 fans making an insane amount of noise.

They got what everyone wished for and couldn't come through.

DEFENSIVE LINE: Stewart, Scourton, and Turner all graded out at a 68.8 or better overall per Pro Football Focus but the group needed to take advantage of a very inexperienced Irish front and that didn't happen.

 

Was CW ever "cleared" to take snap's with the 1's in practice? When?

I wonder if his rare foot injury is still causing him to protect it, and that is why he threw the ball so poorly. Timing, footwork, arm, it all looked bad.

Stewart, Scourton, and Turner all graded out at a 68.8 or better overall...  How much better? Sweat & Murphy graded ~ 90 all year long.  That's a pretty big gap.

If A&M's best position group got neutralized to the point they needed safeties in the box to stop the run, that's a big red flag that puts a lot of pressure on the DB's that are nowhere near as talented. 

They got what everyone wished for and couldn't come through.

Jimbo said it every week, just have to execute better.

 

 

 

Edited September 4 by PTINS
double image

[BornAndRaised 12281]

[irishtexan 11512]

Fuckin' dorks

[Vertigo 20276]

Liucci is going into his sock drawer again. 

[texifornia 56859]

11 minutes ago, BornAndRaised said:

Elko's come a long way from that fresh faced young Quaker.

[Longhornfrenzy 5675]

Evidently the town drunk doesn't know that Jonah committed to Texas

[Junior Bonner 6242]

Aggy recruits thought the whistle. This one's going to signing day, stupid sip... 

[HtownHorn 14663]

I agree with Daddy98, Jonah is a hell of a prospect. He's a lot faster than I thought he would be given the tweener status. Maybe he can play safety in the SEC.