Why Tennessee is a Must Win for Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M Football

Texas A&M Football Faces Must-Win Game This Week

I wrote last week about how important the Alabama game was for Texas A&M football. It represented an opportunity to move forward; a chance to step up into the upper echelon of the league. In that respect, it was the biggest opportunity that Jimbo had yet faced as the coach of Texas A&M football; however, it was not necessarily the biggest swing game, as far as direction of the program, with what a win would do versus a loss.

This weekend’s contest against Tennessee is much bigger in that regard. There is so much on the line for this Texas A&M football team: think about, for example, how going into the break at 5-2 (3-1 in league play) would feel compared to going into it at 4-3 (2-2 in league play) with road trips to both LSU and Ole Miss ahead. From a momentum standpoint, there’s a lot riding on this game.

There’s also a lot riding on this game as far as how it will function as a test for how much this team has room to improve in their deficiencies. Anyone who has paid any attention to Tennessee over the past two years knows that one of the strong points for their offense is the deep ball. Anyone who has paid any attention to the Aggies this year knows that one of the weak points for their defense is defending that deep ball. Additionally, the Aggies—believe it or not—are coming up on the two-year anniversary of their last true road game that they won (October 23, 2021 at Missouri). Now, we only have one data point on how this team can perform in road games so far this year, but the fact remains that they were abysmal on the road (and, for that matter, often at home too) last season. They also lacked consistency in the final two road games of the ’21 season, so bucking what has become an unfortunate trend over the last two years would be massive.

A win in Neyland would lend a lot of optimism going forward for the rest of the season. A loss, and those LSU and Ole Miss road trips loom far larger than you’d like. Shrugging off the mental mantle of “road woes” would help this Texas A&M football team as the rest of the season comes up, and showing improvement against a team with far lesser talent, proficient as they may be in an area against which you are weak, is sorely needed.

Texas A&M football needs this win. Whether they can put it together is something we’ll have to wait to find out.