Texas A&M Football vs. Miami: Halftime Thoughts

Halftime is here for Texas A&M football against Miami, and it’s been a back-and-forth contest so far. Those special teams plays were so huge, leading to a quick score. What a way to set the tone for the game. The defense forced two three-and-outs on the first two Hurricane possessions, getting off to a good start. Amari Daniels ran really hard in the first and early second half as well.

I don’t love using two timeouts before even half the first quarter is gone. That second one should have been kept, as it seemed pretty obvious that Owens dropped that ball. That said, I loved Petrino using formation to draw a linebacker against Noah Thomas, and it paid off pretty immediately with that defensive holding flag.

You could tell the emphasis from Texas A&M football was to show their physical dominance right away, with a heavy helping of rushing plays in both of the first two drives. I love that from Petrino—not only are you demoralizing the Canes, I imagine he’s setting up some play action shots for later.

Demani has to be better than giving that long pass up to Restrepo. He got caught flat footed and wasn’t able to flip around in time. He’s an experienced safety, though, and will doubtless bounce back quickly.

Miami has been undisciplined in the first quarter as I write this, giving the Aggies multiple chances several times. Other than that, Guidry has his defense playing downhill and playing hard. If the Aggies can protect up front, I would not be surprised to see Petrino take advantage with a deep shot soon into the second half.

The Aggies keep getting new life, it seems, with the muffed punt and several drives extended by penalty. Getting those breaks is one thing, though; capitalizing on them is another. It seemed last year, whenever the rare break went A&M’s way, they had a tough time capitalizing. Not so today. This Texas A&M football team has cashed in on everything they’ve been given.

The run defense has been stout, only giving up 2.9 YPC after the first half. The explosive plays in the pass game have to be addressed, however. The down-to-down defense has been okay thus far, but the long pass has killed the Ags for both of the Miami scores.

The defensive pressure that Guidry has brought seems like it’s bearing fruit; the presnap protection calls seem to be out of line with where the pressure is actually coming from. That’s likely the result of a young QB on the road, but credit to Guidry for what he’s doing with disguising the alignments.

The defensive line finally started to make their presence felt on the Canes’ fifth drive, with two big sacks moving Miami back far enough to force a missed field goal. We need to see more of that.

The blitz pickup by the OL has not been nearly as good as it was in game one thus far, however. Like they’ve mentioned several times on the broadcast, the corner blitz has absolutely killed us several times. Yes, Guidry is skilled at his craft, but it seems like the OL needs a bit more time to gel at the very least. Passing against those blitzes has similarly looked worse than last game, with the coverages giving Weigman pause more often than it did against the Lobos.

This Texas A&M football team needs to take this break to regroup. The first quarter was great, but the second quarter was a disaster. They need two tone-setting possessions coming out of the half—score and stop. Buckle down, Aggies.