Sticking with the new line

Texas A&M’s offensive line was the big concern I had before the season. It turned out to be a valid concern, because it hasn’t been good — at least in pass protection. The running game, on the other hand, has shown signs of life the past three games.

The Aggies ran for 187 yards at 5 yards a carry against Kentucky, which makes it even more embarrassing that they lost. They ran the ball decently against LSU if you take away the sacks — 142 yards on 28 carries, or 5.1 a carry. And then Saturday, A&M ran the ball 49 times for 236 yards, or 4.7 a carry. That’s not bad.

They also haven’t given up a sack in two of the last three games — even though giving up five to LSU will, and should, overshadow that. But the Aggies are going to play bullyball as much as they can from here on out. It may be ugly, but it’s also their best chance to win.

There are a lot of big offensive lines out there, but A&M’s is massive. Tyree Adams is 305 pounds, Trovon Baugh is 335 pounds, Mark Nabou is 307, Wilkin Formby is 320 and Lamont Rogers is 340. In case you were wondering, that’s an average of 321 pounds per lineman.

I watched the right side of the line, and Rogers in particular, quite a bit Saturday night. And they move people. The tight ends are blocking better, so they can put three or four players to the right of Nabou and go right at opponents.

Let’s face it; until Marcel Reed stops playing mind games with himself, this offense is going to go back to 2024 and run the football as much as humanly possible. Pass protection must get better, but that’s going to have to be worked on as the season goes. Right now, A&M’s best option is to punch opponents in the mouth, control the clock and hope the work Tommy Moffitt has done allows them to be the more physical football team for 60 minutes.

See, I told you so

There are not very many 285-pound tight ends out there. In fact, there may be only one: Kiotti Armstrong. I’ve been saying since he was a senior in high school that he was a freak of nature and, honestly, I expected him to play a lot as a freshman last year.

I was not counting on Nate Boerkircher. I stand corrected.

I had hope that he would see more playing time this season, but it didn’t look like that was happening either with Houston Thomas, Richie Anderson and Micah Riley appearing to be ahead of him on the depth chart. But, as coach Mike Elko said today, he’s taken a path similar to Rogers’ and needed more time to develop. Now, he’s starting to earn his snaps.

Armstrong was in on A&M’s third scoring drive of the first half as a blocker and did solid work. Then, of course, he caught a 54-yard pass where he just ran over a linebacker and was shifty enough to make a safety completely whiff. Shock of shocks, nobody seemed overly interested in trying to tackle him.

If Armstrong really has picked things up, he can be a real danger to opponents. He can block now and he still has pretty good speed for a player of his size. Maybe he’s on his way to being that freak of nature at A&M.

IT’s KJ time

KJ Edwards had the best game of his young career Saturday, with 11 carries for 66 yards and two touchdowns. It’s time to keep giving him the ball.

Rueben Owens has had problems hitting holes his entire career. During his freshman season, he was indecisive and got caught behind the line a lot. Since then, it’s been damn the torpedoes, even if the hole really isn’t there.

This is frustrating because Owens averaged 5.6 yards a carry last year. This year, it’s down to 4.2. His long carry of the year is 16 yards. Edwards, in 40% of the carries, has a longer run (20 yards) and two scores to Owens’ one. He’s also averaging 6.5 yards a carry.

I don’t think that Edwards is a 20 carry a game back at this point in his career; he’s just not big enough and he has been dealing with injuries since he got to campus. But you can’t keep him in bubble wrap, either. He’s explosive, gets up to speed fast and has excellent vision — as in he’s not only seeing the holes, he’s hitting them. He’s also run with a more physical style than I expected, battering his way to first downs in short yardage situations.

If Elko and Holmon Wiggins were willing to shake up the offensive line for a spark, maybe they should do the same with the backs they block for. I know the sample size for Jamarion Morrow is small and Owens isn’t going anywhere, but Edwards has shown enough that he should be getting more carries than the other backs right now. He just brings a big play ability the other backs have not shown this season.

The Bottom 10

10. Stanford (2-3). They do have two wins, but their losses — yikes. 45-6 to Miami, 35-7 to Duke, and 57-3 to WAKE FOREST?

9. Colorado (2-3). Deion’s got quarterbacks throwing interceptions in their end zone. Not like the quarterback was in the end zone, the defender was too. Deion won’t take responsibility. As someone said online the other night, in their three losses, Colorado has scored 7, 13 and 7 points — all prime numbers.

8. Rutgers (1-4). Ok, it was Indiana, but losing 47-15 on your home turf is inexcusable. 

7. Western Kentucky (1-4). Their glow after a big win over Mercyhurst was wiped off by New Mexico State, which walloped them 34-13.

6. Bowling Green (1-4). The worst team in FBS last weekend has a pulse after beating Miami (Ohio). Who should probably be on this list.

5. Ball State (1-4). Losing at home to Toledo is never a good look. 

4. Sacramento State (1-4). Fresh off a 35-6 pounding from UMass, they will travel to Bowling Green for an epic clash this weekend. 

3. UTEP (1-4). The Miners are going to make a run for the bottom. They have now given up more than 50 points three times this season, to two no-offense teams (OU and Michigan) and, this past weekend 61 to New Mexico. They haven’t scored more than 17 points against FBS opponents.

2. ULM (0-5). Everything about this program is sad. Giving up 97 points in the last two games is sad.

1. Charlotte (0-5). The 49ers showed up in a big way for their conference opener. Ha! I lied. Memphis beat them 59-8.

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