If you’re a Texas A&M football fan, you’re probably not in the best mood this week. The top-ten Aggies took a 20-10 loss to a team that has been among the worst in Power Five football over the past few seasons.
It sounds worst when you put it that way though — in reality, the Razorbacks look like one of the best teams in college football this season. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about Texas A&M, who is playing with a mismatched offense full of injuries and a defense that spends way too much time on the field.
It hurts to say, but anybody could have seen this loss coming from a mile away. Yes, there were reasons for optimism, but this team was being held back in so many ways.
Texas A&M football fans shouldn’t jump ship yet, as the Aggies still have the potential for greatness this season
Even though an early-season loss to Arkansas sounds bad, it’s an early season loss. Yes, the expectations of this year, when Texas A&M was supposed to beat ‘Bama and make the College Football Playoff, made the loss even tougher, there is still a long list of reasons why you should stick around on the bandwagon.
Today, I’m going to be going over three reasons why you shouldn’t panic as a Texas A&M football fan yet. I’ll kick things off with an obvious point that fans can lose sight of after a let down like Saturday.
Reason No. 1: The Texas A&M football team still controls their own destiny. . . sort of
Okay, technically speaking, the Aggies don’t entirely control their destiny. If the Arkansas Razorbacks win out, A&M has no chance of going to the SEC Championship game. This, in turn, would shrink their chances of making the College Football Playoff.
Heck, even if Arkansas takes a loss in SEC play, they’ll win the tie-breaker over A&M and make the College Football Playoff game. That said, it seems entirely possible that the Razorbacks lose those two games that Texas A&M needs them to.
I mentioned the SEC gauntlet that A&M recently entered, which gave them a tricky three-game stretch. This gauntlet was nothing compared to what the Hogs have ahead of them. After defeating top ten Texas A&M, Arkansas now has to take on second-ranked Georgia next Saturday, followed by an away game against top-15 Ole Miss, which is then followed by a game against a ranked Auburn team. Oh, and they still have LSU and Alabama on the docket.
I have nothing bad to say about Arkansas, but it’s hard to see a scenario where they come out of SEC play with anything less than two losses, especially considering the fact that their quarterback in KJ Jefferson is banged up.
If Arkansas loses those two games and Texas A&M wins out, the Aggies will earn a spot in the SEC title game.
Reason No. 2: The defense is still elite and the offense is still capable
Look at this Texas A&M football team from an honest and rational perspective — what do you see?
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by this squad’s lack of offense, and in turn, lack of defense. In reality, however, this squad might be better than we expected. It seems ridiculous to say those words, but allow me to explain.
The defense this season, despite some hype, was somewhat of a question mark. The Aggies lost a key interior lineman in Bobby Brown III and his replacement was suspended for the first few games. Even defensive end Micheal Clemons was suspended for a while, crippling the team’s offensive line.
In the secondary, there were no proven players.
Still, nobody expected the Aggies to have the best passing defense in the country. Okay, maybe they dropped to the the fourth spot after a tough week against a team that now resides in the top ten of college football, but this is still an elite defensive unit.
People don’t often entertain the fact that poor offense makes defenses look worst than they are, but that’s exactly the case with this Aggie football team. Mike Elko’s squad, with an offense that can’t score more than a single touchdown in a game, has one of the most productive defenses statistically in the nation.
The offense doesn’t even have to be good — if Jimbo Fisher can reach the point where his attack is average, the Aggies will be a contender again.
Reason No. 3: The Texas A&M football team’s offense isn’t as bad as it looks
The nice thing about the Aggies’ current offensive situation is that the issues at hand are not as complicated as they may seem. Heck, the game plan wasn’t terrible against Arkansas at all — with Haynes King in the game, I think the Aggies would win.
I won’t sit here and pretend like Texas A&M would have dropped 40 points on the Razorbacks, but they could have scored at least another pair of touchdowns. Instead, they had Zach Calzada in the game, who seemingly superglued the football to his hand before the game.
At the start, it seemed like it wasn’t Calzada’s fault. Through a TV, it appeared as though the receivers weren’t getting separation. Calzada didn’t have much time, but when he did, he seemed extremely hesitant to throw the ball, which usually lands on the receivers.
The issue here is that they began showing the replays, which often displayed multiple wide open receivers with Calzada looking directly at them. Granted, they weren’t wide open, but a Power Five quarterback should be making those throws. It could be drawn up to a lack of confidence, but one thing is clear — the Aggie backup quarterback was scared to throw the ball.
I’ll go to the grave saying that the Aggies would have scored at least 20 points if Calzada simply releases the ball more frequently. I’m not sure what he’s afraid of — with just a 55.6% completion percentage and an interception, he can’t do too much worse.
The offense still has the potential to be okay. As previously mentioned, if it can get to a point where its average, the Aggies have a chance.