Texas A&M (8-4, 5-3) looked absolutely miserable on offense during Saturday’s 17-7 loss to rival Texas (11-1, 7-1 SEC), and outside of head coach Mike Elko’s questionable decision-making, offensive coordinator Collin Klein deserves a bulk of the blame.
When arguing why an assistant coach should or should not be retained for the following season, it is fair to observe how the coordinator dealt with personnel changes. In this case, Collin Klein’s lack of adjustment in his play calling after the loss of star running back Le’Veon Moss resulted in A&M’s 1-3 finish on the year.
Moss’s importance as a reliable first —and third-down option was virtually eliminated after his injury, as backup Amari Daniels wasn’t big enough or strong enough to take defenders stuffing the gaps.
This forced redshirt freshman quarterback Marcel Reed to develop as a passer quickly and create a less balanced offense despite Daniels’ impressive effort, while the passing game didn’t create “lay-up” options for Reed to gain any real rhythm through the air.
Reed’s worst game unsurprisingly came against the Longhorns, passing for 143 yards and an interception, looking lost in the pocket despite wide receiver Noah Thomas gaining separation against Texas’s stout secondary. However, nothing compared to Klein’s play calls on two 4th down attempts, including the final goal-line stand with just under four minutes in the fourth quarter.
Noting Amari Daniel’s lack of power in the running back, Klein called inside zone on both 4th down attempts, as the first-year coordinator confusingly trusted the O-line to suddenly overwhelm the Longhorn’s defensive line, resulting in Daniels being pushing back five yards and virtually ending the game.
Klein’s play-calling history is mixed during his time at Kansas State. He implemented the same QB-centric scheme, relying on QB runs and 12 or 13 personnel with little imagination in the passing game. Again, as we saw after Moss’s injury, the offense never looked right, and every pass had to be perfect to find any success.
While quarterback Conner Weigman failed to fit in said scheme, Reed’s dual-threat skill set is the only positive to come out of the play calling, showing what it could look like during A&M’s 38-23 win over LSU.
That isn’t sustainable, and the lack of adjustment will result in 8-4 or worse finishes.
I don’t expect Mike Elko to go in a different direction after one season, but I can safely say that Collin Klein is one thin ice, especially if the Aggies load up on enough offensive options to compete in 2025.
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