Instant reaction: Texas A&M football clobbers Florida, cuing deja vu in the best way

Texas A&M football trounces Florida in the Swamp; Dominant run game brings fans back to identity-defining 2020 win

What a win for Texas A&M football. There was a lot of worry coming into the game about how difficult of an environment this would be for the Aggies, and that was only heightened when it became clear that A&M would be starting a redshirt freshman at quarterback.

Maybe that’s the best place to start. Marcel Reed looked great today against Florida—though, of course, this doesn’t exactly appear to be a stout defense thus far this year, it’s no easy task to start on the road in the SEC.

Reed appeared more than up to the task, however. In both the run and pass game, he was a big contributor, and looked poised behind center.

That said, I have something to say that will no doubt make many mad. I still think this job is Weigman’s, and I think that’s the right thing for the Aggies to do.

I’ll get into it later in the week, no doubt, but I’m going ahead and staking this position out when it likely to be at it‘s least popular. Reed looked better than a lot of what we saw under Jimbo, but when Weigman is on—and the ND game was a huge outlier—he can make throws that no one else on the roster and very few in the nation can.

Anyway, this isn’t about that. This is about the Aggies’ big win—their first on the road since 2021. After a ten-game road skid to end the Fisher era, Elko moves to 1-0 away from Kyle. That’s a storyline in and of itself.

But my biggest takeaway here was the deja vu I felt near the end of the second quarter. The Aggies had just gone an incredible 99.5 yards on 15 plays, nearly all of them on the ground, to score a touchdown before the half.

It brought me right back to the Aggies’ game against UF in 2020. Though this one looked far different in a lot of ways, there was a moment that was very similar. Late in the third quarter in that 2020 game, the Aggies rolled out a long drive to score, one where every single play save one was a run.

That drive is the moment that the dominant 2020 team really found their identity. It was built around an impressive offensive line and gritty run game, along with a physical defense. That’s exactly what we saw out of the Aggies today.

Have they found an identity in that same way? If so, it would be the first time since 2020 that they’ve really done that on offense. We’ve seen a lot of aimless units since that Orange Bowl-winning squad, but this one just seems different.

Here’s hoping that what we’re seeing is just that. I have a feeling that it might be.