Now that Texas A&M fans have had a day to mull this one over, it's time to start talking takeaways from this last game. It was a loss that came in a surprising way, from one perspective, but there were certainly some warning signs coming in— it just didn't seem likely that the Aggies would bottom out in each of these areas.
So what was real and what was a mirage from this game? Let's take a look and find out what we can take away from the Aggies' disappointing rivalry loss.
Figuring out Marcel Reed's regression
Let's be clear— this is not something that is a function of the road environment down in Austin, such as it is. A more soulless 100K+-capacity environment would be hard to find outside of the NFL ranks, and the Aggies have faced down much more intimidating stadiums even just this year.
This is something that extends further back than Friday night, even to the Aggies' first half against South Carolina. You could point to certain parts of the Missouri game as well— it looks at times like Marcel is simply pressing rather than taking the opportunities that the defense affords him.
That's something that feels more redolent of the early season rather than this later stretch. Particularly in the LSU game, it looked like Reed had finally figured things out, taking underneath plays when they were there and taking timely shots. Now, though, in several of the previous games, he's gone back to hunting the big play.
You don't want to say the Heisman push has something to do with it, but it's possible that Reed was too much in his own head once the buzz for that award really started picking up after the LSU game. That will not really be a consideration going forward, so hopefully he can get back to his best form.