Texas A&M football: 4 takeaways from embarrassing loss to Mississippi State
By Jeff Shull
Offensive line misses Keaton Sutherland
Some of it is the fact that South Carolina sold out to stop the run and Mississippi State has an elite defense, but the Aggies have missed Keaton Sutherland these last two weeks as he sat out with an injury.
Texas A&M mustered only 61 yards on 22 carries against Mississippi State last night and 105 yards on 40 attempts against South Carolina last weekend. It has been a huge problem and especially contributed to the problems in the red zone (more on this later).
Making matters worse in the Mississippi State game was starting left guard Jared Hocker leaving the game with a knee injury in the first half. A&M wasn’t running the ball particularly well even before he went out, but missing both starting guards for the majority of this game was killer for the offense.
A&M struggled to get movement in the run game and Mond was pressured all night by the Bulldogs’ stout front seven. State brought pressure often and the inexperienced group couldn’t handle it.
Sutherland was probable before the game but sat out as a precaution. Hopefully he’s back against Auburn.