They did it! The Aggies finally showed up, and put a full 60-minute football game together. I the process, they showed everyone why they were ranked so highly coming into the 2022 season.
They faced a mountain of adversity in 2022, but with one opportunity left, they did what many thought they’d never be able to do.
Running back Devon Achane returned after missing two games due to injury and rushed for over 200 yards and 2 touchdowns, and quarterback Conner Weigman showed the poise, and the ability that he had flashed in prior games, and threw 2 touchdowns of his own. Wide receiver Moose Muhammad made several huge plays, and Evan Stewart got in on the act as well.
Defensively, Demani Richardson made the play of the night, scooping up a Jayden Daniels fumble and raced 27 yards for a massive Aggie touchdown.
Jimbo Fisher couldn’t have asked for a better way for his program to finish the season, and they’ll likely ride this momentum all the way into the 2023 season.
Aggies go toe to toe with #5 LSU in first half, lead the Tigers 17-10
The Aggies forgettable 2022 season is coming to an end Saturday night, with an opportunity to end LSU’s hopes for a national title. Through the first half, it’s gone as well as you can imagine.
With close to their full complement of offensive talent available for the first time all season, Jimbo Fishers’ offense is showing promise. Quarterback Conner Weigman has connected with Evan Stewart, Moose Muhammad, and Donovan Green, and running back Devon Achane has been terrific, gaining 120 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
The Aggies offense gave up a couple of long drives of their own, but they got a couple of important stops, including shutting down an LSU two minute drive at the end of the half.
You have to believe that when Jimbo Fisher imagined his 2022 offense before the season this is close to what he imagined.
If A&M can continue this in the second half, they’ll have a chance to pull off a huge upset.
Aggies notch 4th victory of the 2022 season winning 20-3 over UMass
The weather wasn’t pretty, the game wasn’t any more attractive, and they certainly didn’t cover the 33.5 point spread, but the Aggies beat UMass handily on Saturday 20-3.
Behind the arm and legs of Conner Weigman, the Aggies moved the ball extremely well on offense, but with the weather factor leading to ball security issues (three lost fumbles in UMass territory) and two missed field goals, the points on the scoreboard didn’t really follow.
On defense the Aggies did what you would expect them to do. keeping the Minutemen’s offense out of the end zone, and allowing only 1 scoring drive on the game, and holding the Minutemen to 2 of 11 on third down, and 2.8 yards per rush.
The Aggies will now turn their attention towards LSU for the final game of this disappointing season, hoping to spoil LSU’s playoff hopes.
With no 2022 bowl game, what do A&M players have left to play for?
The Texas A&M Aggies are officially out of contention for a bowl game for the 2022 season. With the question of “will they even make a bowl?” now answered, it’s time to answer the next question.
What do the Aggies have left to play for in 2022?
Especially guys who have already solidified their status as prospects for the 2023 NFL draft, or guys who might have bumps and bruises that are keeping them from playing at their peak?
What do those guys have left to play for?
Jimbo Fisher was asked that question in his weekly press availability this week, and his answer is illuminating into the culture of the program.
“Play for each other, and for Texas A&M, you’ve got Texas A&M on your jersey, and you play for your teammates, and you play for yourself because you’re sending a message of who you are and what you are.”
For as critical as we’ve been of the job Jimbo Fisher has done this year, if he can keep these guys playing hard the last two weeks, and they can get a win against UMass on Saturday, and give LSU a tough game, there will certainly be signs that despite the lost 2022 season, the future could still be bright for the Aggies.
As unbelieve as it feels to say it, it’s time for Texas A&M to move on from Jimbo Fisher as their head football coach.
Eighty-Six Million…. Yes, you read that right..
An eight, a six and six zeroes. $86,000,000!
That is what it would cost Texas A&M to move on from Jimbo Fisher as their head football coach following this debacle of a football season.
Even up to a few days ago it was unthinkable that the program would be in this position. The #1 recruiting class in the world in 2022, a young potential star quarterback, and oh yeah, that $86 Million thing. But here we are, with two games left in the 2022 season, officially eliminated from bowl contention, after losing their 6th straight game in a pathetic 13-10 loss to a bad Auburn team who already fired their coach.
It’s time to say it, it’s time for Jimbo to go.
The numbers are staggering really. Out of 131 FBS programs, on a per game basis the Aggies rank:
108th in scoring
68th in passing yards
78th in passing touchdowns
60th in yards per rush
87th in first downs gained
111th in completion percentage
If a head coach is going to have his stamp firmly placed on one side of the ball, as Jimbo Fisher does on the Aggies’ offense, he has to be accountable for their performance, and the Texas A&M offense has been anemic all year. In a year in which 56 teams have averaged 30 points or more per game, the Aggies barely managed to score over 30 points against week 1 FCS opponent Sam Houston State, and haven’t reached that number since.
As much as Jimbo wants to tell you that the players aren’t executing, it’s the play callers job to put his players in position to execute. Just look at the stack of papers Jimbo holds on the sideline when he’s calling plays. How can you possibly believe you have a cohesive plan and thought process with all that chaos in your hands?
Oct 8, 2022; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher tries to call a timeout during the first half against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports
Combine that with the multiple timeouts he has to burn on a weekly basis because he was too busy arguing with an official, or digging through his papers and couldn’t get the right personnel on the field, or get the play called in time, and it’s easy to see why the offense is so disorganized and flat out bad.
Then there’s the locker room and discipline problems. Over the course of the year, somewhere around 10 different players have been subject to some level of program discipline, whether it’s breaking curfew the night before a massive primetime game or vaping in the locker room after a road loss, there’s been consistent problems. Then on Saturday night against Auburn, Moose Muhammad III was dressed, and on the sideline but didn’t play a single snap because he was wearing sleeves that he refused to take off.
After building what seemed to be a massive amount of momentum as a program the last two years, the bottom has fallen out, and there’s only one man to blame, and if the program is going to bounce back, they’ll need to move on from the head coach.
A season wrought with disappointment only continues to get worse for the Aggies, as they have lost their 6th straight game of the 2022 season, falling to 3-7 under head coach Jimbo Fisher and are officially disqualified from bowl eligibility.
With Devon Achane out of the game with a foot injury, and wide receiver Moose Muhammad dressed out for the game but not seeing any playing time, Conner Weigman and the Aggies offense never really got off the ground, netting negative total yardage in the 3rd quarter before finally scoring 10 points in the 4th driven mostly by turnovers forced by the Aggies defense.
But as it has been too many times for the AGgies this year, it was too little too late.
There is real change needed in the Aggies football program, and it’s only a matter of time until we find out how much of that change will come this year.
Despite struggles on both sides of the ball, the Aggies trail the Auburn Tigers only 7-0 at the half.
The story of the last few weeks for the Aggies as continued in the first half against the Auburn Tigers. With Devon Achane out of the game with a foot injury, the Aggies have struggled to get anything going consistently on offense, and the Texas A&M defense has looked pitiful trying to slow down Tank Bigsby, Robby Ashford, and the rest of the Tigers offense.
But despite the struggles on both sides of the ball, the Aggies trail only 7-0 at the half.
Second halves have not been abundantly friendly to the Aggies this year, but they’re staring at an opportunity to make a comeback against the Tigers to end their five game losing streak.
Texas A&M vs Auburn Tigers: Injury Report, broadcast info for Saturday Nov. 12th
In what has become a lost season for both programs, the Texas A&M Aggies, led by 5th year head coach Jimbo Fisher and freshman quarterback Conner Weigman will take on the Auburn Tigers, led by interim head coach Carnell “Cadillac” Williams.
Both teams hold 3-6 overall records, and are 1-5 in conference play, nursing 5 game losing streaks. The winner of this week’s matchup will hold out hope for a bowl berth for atleast one more week, while the loser will be on the outside looking in come December.
The amount of adversity the Aggies have had to attempt to over come in the 2022 season is almost unbelievable at this point, but the team has seemed to remain bought in and competitive.
Here is what you need to know headed into the matchup:
Conner Weigman and Evan Stewart honored for Week 9 performances
It should come as no surprise, but the Aggies 2022 freshman recruiting class is showing out on the field, even if the teams results haven’t matched over the last several weeks.
The two most prominent performers from Jimbo Fisher’s renowned 2022 class, quarterback Conner Weigman and wide receiver Evan Stewart are getting notoriety at the national level for their play in Week 9 against Ole Miss.
Weigman posted the best performance by an Aggies’ Quarterback in years, completing 28-of-44 passes for 338 yards and 4 touchdowns, and Evans continued his ascent to elite play-maker status, catching 6 balls for 88 yards and an unbelievable one-handed touchdown catch.
On Monday, Weigman and Evans were honored by On3’s Charles Power as True Freshman Standouts, and Weigman was named 247Sports’ True Freshman of the week.
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Weigman’s stat line, 28 completions on 44 attempts (64%), 338 yards, 4 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Weigman’s favorite targets on the night, were sophomore Moose Muhammad III who hauled in 8 catches for 112 yards and a touchdown, and fellow freshman Evan Stewart, who racked up 6 catches for 88 yards and an unbelievable score of his own.
Devon Achane wasn’t left out of the party either, as the only steady part of the Aggies offense rushed 25 times for 138 yards, and added 7 catches for 41 yards and a touchdown.
It was really the first time the Aggies offense had looked like a confident and competent bunch in the entire season, and they broke a 9 game streak of failing to score more than 24 points against an FBS opponent.
All of this life couldn’t have come at a better time for Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher, who has been hearing calls for his job, and criticisms of his contract structure for weeks, and who has failed to secure a single commitment from an offensive skill player or quarterback in the 2023 recruiting class.
It’s hard to blame a young player for being hesitant to sign up to play in an offense that has been one of the worst in college football this year, no matter how much they may admire the program or how good their relationship is with the coaching staff.
But if the Aggies can string together more positive offensive outcomes over the last month of the season, perhaps they can point to the positive trending performances and their young core with Weigman, Evans, and others returning for 2023 and beyond, and maybe even a new offensive coordinator and lure some high profile pass catchers and running backs to College Station.
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Joey on Twitter: @JoeyIckes
