Texas A&M Football: Belk Bowl report card and position grades
By Robert Ford
Texas A&M Football (7-6) finished out the 2017 season with a loss to Wake Forest in the Belk Bowl. Here’s the report card for the bowl game.
The 2017 Texas A&M football season is finally over. Back in October we handed out the mid-season grades and in early December we handed out the final grades for 2017. Now that the Belk Bowl is over, here are the postseason final grades. Let’s see if any of them changed.
Here’s the recap from mid-season.
Quarterback: B-
Running Backs: B
Wide Receivers / Tight Ends: C+
Offensive Line: D+
Defensive Line: A
Linebackers: B
Secondary: B-
Specialists: A
Here’s the recap at the end of the regular season.
Quarterback: C
Running Backs: C
Wide Receivers / Tight Ends: C
Offensive Line: D+
Defensive Line: B-
Linebackers: B-
Secondary: C+
Specialists: A
The Belk Bowl was a wild game, the Aggies opened up with a blocked punt recovered for a touchdown and then blocked a second punt. A&M would go up 14-0, but Wake Forest would score 31 unanswered. Nick Starkel and Christian Kirk would connect twice to cut the lead to 38-28 at halftime.
The third quarter started with Starkel and Kirk connecting for a third time. Wake would answer with a field goal to lead 41-35. The Aggies would finally take the lead back 42-41 on a Keith Ford touchdown.
The Aggies had a chance early in the fourth to push the lead to eight, but Ford was called down at the one. I’m sure all of Aggieland including myself thought he scored, but after review, the play stayed as called on the field. A&M would lose a yard on third down which now looking back was the play of the game.
Wake and the Aggies would trade scores to give the Aggies the lead 52-48. The Demon Deacons would take the lead 55-52 with 2:18 to go on a 69 yard drive. The Aggies final possession would stall after a big no call on pass interference. After a delay of game call, the Aggies missed on third and fourth down to give Wake the victory.
The game will end of being one of the best this bowl season. Let’s hand out the final position and team grades as we head into the Jimbo Fisher era in 2018.