The grand dilemma
A lot of you guys have been with me for a long time and know that I’m not just covering the Aggies, I am an Aggie. While that means I get to cover the team I root for, it also means prolonged periods of hell when they’re bad. And right now, they are bad.
It’s a difficult balance, because there’s professional me and personal me. Professional me is looking at this situation and saying:
Here we are again, with A&M screwing up what looked to be a great situation.
And personal me is saying:
Here we are again, with A&M screwing up what looked to be a great situation.
Professional me: It’s going to be fascinating to determine how Mike Elko, who has been spot-on with just about every evaluation he’s made, has missed so badly with this team.
Personal me:
Professional me: How on earth did the Aggies go from stomping LSU and Missouri, on their home fields, a year ago to a team that had three yards of total offense in the third quarter Saturday?
Personal me:
And it really does suck. You’ve got some players being paid a whole lot that aren’t performing even remotely close to decent. Most of the the new transfers have failed to produce. The offense is completely discombobulated (and I did spell that right the first time) — like I said Saturday, that was the crappiest offensive performance i’ve seen live in 24 years. And R.C. gave Kevin Sumlin the play sheet the next week.
Professional me: I see what Holmon Wiggins is trying to do with this offense, but does he really have the personnel to do it?
Personal me: WHAT’S IT TAKE TO GET A DAMN FIRST DOWN I NEED A SODA.
It’s bipolar, and that’s at the best of times. This is, without question, not the best of times.
Trust me, I get the frustration. I’m pissed off on two levels: one, the Aggie in me doesn’t want to hear about another flop, and the professional part of me wants to know how the hell I missed so badly with this football team.
But, on we go. Even though I’m past the stage of my life where I scream at games (the pressbox will take that habit from you REAL fast), games like Saturday’s leave me so depressed that I don’t watch football for the rest of that day and, usually, Sunday.
You guys aren’t here for my sob stories. You’re here for what I see and what I think, and I’m going to keep doing that as dispassionately as possible so you get a full picture. But, rest assured, in my mind I’m thinking:
Enter the cesspool
Now that the Mike Elko comments on TexAgs has essentially run through its newscycle, here I come to throw a little more gas on the fire. I know nobody asked for my opinion, but here it comes anyway.
First, do not listen to any coach who says they don’t read what gets written about them. They lie. They all lie. And they all read. It’s an ego thing, and while coaches have it bad, they’re not alone. Who hasn’t googled themselves?
As soon as I heard the words “Billy’s cesspool” come out of Elko’s mouth, I thought, “ooooh, bad idea.” And yeah, it was a bad idea. There’s no more loyal fanbase in America than Texas A&M’s, as evidenced by 108,000 people showing up to watch them play Arkansas two weekends ago. But Elko’s a Jersey guy, he really does put his heart and soul into this job and he was pissed off.
For those of you who don’t know (and if you don’t, why), folks from New Jersey are not known for their diplomacy at the best of times.
Which I get. I’d be pissed off too if I put my reputation on this team and it flopped like a slinky. I also get that there are segments of this fanbase, as there are with all others that are worth a damn, who are utterly blanking insane. TexAgs, by its size alone, has to have the largest number of a small minority.
I can’t honestly say that message boards can’t be cesspools. It just depends on whether they’re good cesspools are bad cesspools.
I haven’t been on TexAgs in 23 years, but I get the sense that most of their subscriber base is pretty supportive of the party line — probably more than The Huddle or two corporate sites. But I’ll tell you why calling TexAgs a cesspool is a really bad idea, beyond that.
First is the sheer number of subscribers. Second, the site has a direct tie to the 12th Man Foundation and A&M’s NIL efforts. So, outside of the fact that thou shalt night bite the hand that feeds thee, thou shalt also not bite the hand that feeds your boss and players.
So, as soon as Elko said that, I knew an apology of some sort was coming. I though the one that he gave today — “In the heat of the moment, I think I answered a question in a way I certainly regret” — was about right. I think most people recognized that fact when he did it. Still, that’s one you can’t just wait out. You have to address it, fast, and he did.
He’s not getting fired, so stop.
Calling TexAgs a cesspool was a dumb move and out of character for a smart guy. It’s going to cost him some fans. But if you win ballgames, nobody gives a crap.
But buddy, you’d better win.
All that being said, though, I would appreciate a shoutout to “Mark’s cesspool” next time. We do have a $1 for the first month special going.
Things I’d do Saturday
Ok, you’ve got The Citadel Saturday. That should be an easy ballgame. So here’s a few things I’d do.
- Make a change at quarterback. Elko said today that everything is on the table. Then Brady Hart should start Saturday. What they’re getting out of Marcel Reed just isn’t acceptable and he has a confidence problem.
- If you’re not going to make that change, start using tempo. Again, Reed looked better against Missouri — faint praise though that may be — when the Aggies were moving quick in the fourth quarter. Don’t give him time to think. Just make him react.
- KJ Edwards starts, Jamarion Morrow is next. They get the majority of the carries. I hate that for Rueben Owens, but he’s not getting it done.
- More snaps for Aaron Gregory. Ashton Bethel-Roman’s performance Saturday in Columbia sits worse with me each time I think about it.
- Bryce Perry-Wright goes into the rotation and stays there. Ryan Henderson made some critical mistakes than a veteran can’t make against Missouri. If that’s what you’re going to get, then let the kid play.
- Play Rickey Gibson more. Julio Humphrey is doing his best, but he’s getting picked on. Cayden Lee made him look horrible Saturday on Mizzou’s first touchdown. Gibson was supposed to be legit, but we haven’t seen much of him (admittedly, what we did see wasn’t good).
Schadenfreude
The defiition: is the feeling of pleasure, joy, or satisfaction you get when something bad happens to another person.
Or, in this case, football program. And, when your team is playing like crap, it becomes a lot more important to one’s sanity. Thankfully, we had a fair amount of it this weekend.
The only way Texas could lose to Oklahoma Saturday was to literally give them the game. And that is exactly what they did, bless them. Arch Manning was 19-31 fror 260 yards and 3 touchdowns, but also threw two interceptions in the fourth quarter that were decisive. One was returned for a touchdown and the other led directly to OU’s game-winning field goal as time expired.
On of Oklahoma’s other two touchdowns came on special teams, courtesy of a blocked punt. That put the onus on former A&M special teams coach Nick Banks, who may be wearing out his welcome on the 40 Acres of Urban Sprawl.
There are also grumbles that Steve Sarkisian’s offense is getting stale and his playcalling is becoming an issue for Texas. He seems very defensive about that idea — which sounds very familiar.
Let’s not kid ourselves, even the most optimistic observer — me — saw the Aggies as a 10-2, 9-3 sort of team this year. When asked if this was the year, my response was “nah.” On the other hand, the idea for Texas was this has to be the year. They got some serious badasses in the portal to go with Manning and Colin Simmons, but now they’ve gone down to a team they should have mopped up. And, honestly, outside of the fourth quarter against Ohio State — I am looking squarely at you, Ryan Day — they haven’t looked like world-beaters.
This is a key stretch for Texas. They play Florida next weekend, then they play Ole Miss, Mississippi State and go on the road to CoMo and Baton Rouge. One more loss and they’re teetering on the brink of not making the CFP either. And if they don’t? Whoooboy.
Now, speaking of Baton Rouge, Lane Kiffin has gone and done it again. He’s talked his big game, he’s whipped A&M and he’s…4-2 at the midpoint. He lost to Kentucky, which has only beaten LSU three times this century. He already lost to Ole Miss. LSU has Mississippi State this weekend (Kamario Taylor is iffy, by the way), then they have Alabama, Texas and Tennessee in order after Auburn.
So, for all that crap Kiffin put college football through, odds are real high he doesn’t even get a chance to coach a playoff game.
Heh. Heh. Heh.
The Bottom 10
10. Maryland (2-4): In their last three games (UCLA, Nebraska, Ohio State), they’ve been outscored 147-42. That’s 49-14. And it takes some work to get outscored by 100 points in just three games.
9. Stanford (2-4): Maybe I was too harsh on the Terps. Stanford got outscored by 100 points in two games (57-3 to Wake Forest, 58-7 to Notre Dame). Oof.
8. Rice (1-5): Their defense keeps them in games, but their offense is completely inept. Yes, worse than A&M’s.
7. Ball State (1-5). Riding a four-game losing streak with an epic clash with Bowling Green (2-4) on tap Saturday. Good seats still available.
6. Sam Houston (1-4): I kept on making excuses for them — they’re losing close games, they played tough opponents — 35-3 to Liberty? You’re in.
5. Sacramento State (1-5): They’ve lost four in a row and each one is a little worse than the one before.
4. UTEP (1-5): The Most Terrible Defense in the World (patent pending) is at it again, getting crunched 30-13 by normal Bottom 10 resident Nevada. They have been outscored 90-20 in conference play.
They’ve played two conference games.
3. Northern Illinois (0-5): Lost to Air Force 28-7. Air Force did not complete a pass.
2. ULM (0-5): Scored 35 against South Alabama. Still lost by 17.
1. Charlotte (0-6): There have been few teams in the Pantheon of Suck (also Patent Pending) to compare to these 49ers. They have been outscored 109-18 in conference play — again, that’s just two games. They’ve given up 40 or more points to four of the six teams they’ve played and have been outscored 253-96. And they don’t even get to play Rice.
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