Mike Elko and Texas A&M are in the midst of a watershed moment. The promise of the offseason looks like it has completely failed to pay off in any meaningful way (though we are only four games into this season), and some things have to change in a huge way for the Aggies going forward— the question is how.
The Aggies, after losing by ten to the Kentucky Wildcats at home last week, just got completely blown out by the LSU Tigers in Death Valley tonight. There's a lot to talk about with this— none of it good, really— but it does appear that the biggest issue is the Aggie offense's complete inability to move the ball with any consistency.
Last year, there were issues, but they were masked by the Aggies being able to hit some huge plays when the time came through the passing attack. The run game for Texas A&M was helpful, too, last year— and it was tonight, too, recording a 50% success rate against one of the toughest rush defenses to this point in the country.
However, the issue is clear to anyone who watches this team: if you cannot consistently connect through the air on offense, then you cannot have a successful offense. Marcel Reed right now— and really dating back to late last year— is not able to do that. Tonight's effort— 10/26 for 106 yards and 1 INT— shows that clearly.
Texas A&M's Death Valley embarrassment shows something has to change quick
There were opportunities tonight, but the Aggies were simply unable to keep up. Eventually, the dam began to break, and it was all too much for this team. The pass rush kept the Aggies' pass game way off track, and though the rushing attack was making some hay, A&M was unable to sustain drives outside of one possession.
There are essentially two paths you can take right now. The first would be to roll Marcel back out there for the game against Arkansas next week and hope that a game against a terrible Hogs team will be one where he can get back on track. The other would be to cut your losses right now and to start Brady Hart or Helaman Casuga against the Hogs.
If you go with the latter, it's probably a step that you cannot take back. However, if you go with the former, based on the way that Reed is playing right now, you run the risk of losing at home to the worst team in the conference— one who's defense is the best part of their team.
There are plenty of fans who are ready to see Marcel benched for the rest of the year (though fewer than there would have been had Brady Hart not thrown an interception at the end of the game). It's hard to know if that is a step that Elko is prepared to take— he certainly didn't seem like he was as of this week, and one wonders if a bad performance in one of the toughest places to play in the country is enough to move him off of that.
There are issues with what happened on defense tonight, too. The plus would be that there was much better physicality tonight compared to what we saw last week against the Wildcats. But the lack of pass rush continues to be a huge issue for the Aggies: a lot of the ills that we saw tonight could have been helped had an injured Sam Leavitt not seemed so comfortable back there in the pocket.
That can be created schematically a little bit, but it's clear that there's no Cashius Howell out there that opposing offensive lines have to deal with. Maybe one of the freshmen, like Tristian Givens or Bryce Perry-Wright, can step into that pass-rush specialist role here soon— but that's far from certain.
It's also far from the biggest issue. Had Texas A&M been able to hold onto the ball and make some things happen on the offensive end tonight, then this game could have unfolded a lot differently. That's not a moral victory, but a wake-up call for the kinds of changes that need to be made here, up to and including at the quarterback position.
Reed played really well for the majority of last year— the numbers show that. But the numbers, along with the tape, also show that he is not playing like the same guy right now. A&M is out of buffer for their chance to compete for the College Football Playoff: they need to get back on schedule or this team will continue to spiral. If that means benching Reed, then that's what needs to happen.
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