Texas A&M Football: 3 takeaways from a wild win over the Arkansas Razorbacks

The offense has a pulse

You could see the offense grow up as this game went on. It seemed like a nightmare scenario early on— the passing attack was ineffective, the ground game was going nowhere, and pressure was in Max’s face almost immediately following the snap almost every down. It seemed like it was going to be another long night for the Aggie offense.

But man, Devon Achane. He’s on another level. He broke that 63-yarder that I already mentioned, and from there it seemed like the whole unit gained more and more confidence with every snap.  The Aggies began to consistently gain ground up front against a vaunted Razorback rushing defense, ending with 5.6 YPC against a defense that had only been allowing 2.2 YPC.

Max was hitting guys in stride and completing passes under duress. The drive coming right out of the half was the best drive I’ve seen from the A&M offense all year— a great mix of efficiency and explosivity, culminating in a score. This is something to build on going forward.

Of course, there’s a lot to clean up as well. Penalties stymied several Aggie drives throughout the game (all told, the Aggies committed nine for 65 yards). Mental mistakes happened far too often.  But, like I said before, you have to think, as this line continues to gel, freshmen continue to mature, and Max gets more and more comfortable, the arrow is pointed up for this unit.

A word has to be said, though, for Ainias Smith. That injury sure didn’t look good, nor did the fact that he was on crutches. The guy has been a warrior for this team, and has come up clutch so many times— notably, in this game, converting a 2nd-and-30 all by himself. Every Aggie fan is sending prayers and well-wishes for him and his recovery, and hopefully it’s nothing season-ending. A&M needs him and his leadership as they continue to mature throughout the season.