Are the Problems with Texas A&M Football Fixable?

Can the Issues Be Fixed Quickly for Texas A&M Football?

This loss to Miami was a tough one for Texas A&M football fans to swallow. Not just the plain fact of the loss, but the way in which it happened. For two years (and from time to time previous to that), Aggie fans have had a constant refrain of “if the offense could just…” A championship-level defenses under former DC Mike Elko felt wasted in 2021 due to offensive ineptitude. Last year, despised as Durkin may be at times due to his use of odd fronts (which, again, is an oversimplification of A&M’s issues but is a popular talking point), the Aggies still were the 25th-ranked scoring defense in the nation, the 4th-ranked defense by YPA allowed, and the 7th-ranked defense by opponent red zone conversion rate. Those numbers are more than good enough to constitute a solid unit.

Of course, despite what happened in the Ole Miss game, we all know that the defense wasn’t the problem last year. Time and time again, the Aggies failed to move the ball with any semblance of efficiency in 2022—hence Fisher’s offseason move to bring on Bobby Petrino. This move is one that, through two games, has already borne fruit for the Aggie offense.

All this contributes to the frustration for Texas A&M football fans because, for the first time since early October 2020, the Aggies lost a game where the offense wasn’t actually that bad. Now, it wasn’t necessarily that efficient, to be clear, but putting up 30+ points and 400+ yards on the road—especially against a defense the quality of Miami’s—is not something that A&M has done really at all since Jimbo has been here. As a matter of fact, it’s the first time the Aggies have reached both of those marks in a road game for his whole tenure.

But it was the defense that lost this game.