Texas A&M (8-3, 5-2) can thank the football gods and Alabama for losing to Oklahoma in Week 14. This loss gave the Aggies another shot at making the SEC Championship game and a potential berth to the College Football Playoff.
After losing to Auburn in quadruple overtime, the Aggies left Jordan-Hare Stadium feeling like their postseason dreams had died on the vine, but knowing that everything is now on the line this week against rival Texas in the renewal of the Lone Star Showdown, head coach Mike Elko has three days to get his team ready for the biggest challenge of the season.
After trailing 21-0 in the first half against Auburn, slow starts on offense, combined with struggles in the secondary, allowing too many explosive passing plays, need to come to a head this week before facing quarterback Quinn Ewers and the Longhorns’ elite playmakers.
“We’ve been trying to fix things all year. They’ve shown up in different ways and maybe hadn’t hurt us. The last three weeks, they’ve really hurt us.”
“It has been an inconsistency for us in leveraging the football and keeping it in front of us in many different levels. … We’ve given up way too many explosive plays for us to be good on defense, and that has been the Achilles heel on this defense and this team this year.”
On offense, the loss of star running back Le’Veon Moss placed a hole in the running game, though junior Amari Daniels has been more than adequate. However, starting quarterback Marcel Reed has continued to improve in the passing game, producing 360 total yards and three touchdowns against the Tigers.
At the same time, defensive coordinator Jay Bateman’s early defensive calls, especially on the road, have led to a combined 28-3 first-quarter deficit against South Carolina and Auburn. Bateman’s early play-calling is fixable, but against Texas’s receiving speedy corps, Texas A&M’s pass rush, especially Nic Scourton and Shemar Stewart, needs to pressure Ewers early and often.
No. 19 Texas A&M will host No. 3 Texas on Saturday, Nov. 30 at 6:30 pm. CT. The game will air on ABC.
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