Something that should never happen

I have been around the Aggie football program now for 15 years — how the hell did that happen? — and Mike Elko is the smartest head coach I’ve been around. By a pretty wide margin. Normally, his adjustments are the reasons the Aggies win ballgames. That was the case when he was defensive coordinator under Jimbo and it’s been the case his first two years as the head coach.

He and his coaching staff got flat whipped Saturday by Kalen DeBoer’s group. They understood the Aggies better than A&M’s own staff did, and they exploited the weaknesses they found.

We saw that on the first possession A&M had. They knew two things: one, Marcel Reed wanted to get the ball out fast. Two, that means his looks would be limited. So, on the second play from scrimmage, Alabama lined up in what’s called a 0 coverage — where everyone’s coming and the middle of the field is likely open. If you can get the ball out in time. But it also means man coverage across the board.

Then the Tide pulled an Elko on Elko. They didn’t blitz; they dropped everyone and went into a cover-2 zone, meaning there was another defensive back covering the area outside the hashes. Reed had immediately looked to his left to go to KJ Edwards, so he doesn’t even realize what’s happening. And Dijon Lee jumps the route and it’s six.

Alabama was short a lot of players Saturday, and it got even more bleak for them when Red Morgan got tossed for targeting. But they out-schemed the Aggies, especially in the second half when Holmon Wiggins went away from what was working and went very conservative in a game that didn’t call for it.

Offensive coordinator Alex Grubb took Lyle Hemphill to the cleaners. Without Ryan Coleman-Williams, the Crimson Tide felt like the Aggies had an advantage on the outside with Julio Humphrey and Dezz Ricks. So they basically stayed away from them, exploiting A&M’s nickels and linebackers. Any time they had Rico Scott or Lotzier Brooks on a nickel, they felt like they had an advantage. They also knew when Dalton Brooks or Tawfiq Byard was up, they’d have a chance to go to the middle of the field. And they did. They absolutely abused A&M right over the middle.

Keelon Russell completed 19 passes on 30 attempts for 311 yards. 238 of those 311 came on eight receptions. In other words, Alabama ran 58 plays. They really were successful on 11 of them — the chunk plays and three touchdown passes.

On those three touchdowns, Alabama got either a tight end or a running back on a linebacker not named Daymion Sanford. Noah Mikhail and Ray Coney are really good going downhill; they’re not as good in coverage. And when they’re manned up on a tight end or back, that can be a problem. I can’t fault Hemphill too much because A&M was at least trying to blitz, but Grubb was better.

Then there’s the two blunders that have to go on Elko. The first was the game-changing fumble at the A&M 45 when no play was called. If that’s the case, and you’re trying to draw them offsides, shouldn’t you at least look like you’re trying to draw them off? And shouldn’t you make absolutely sure nobody thinks a play’s being run? If you’re not even going to try to fool them, just punt the darned thing.

And then the punt with 3:42 left down 11 — I can’t even come up with a reason for that. Yes, your offense was sputtering, but you have to at least give them a chance. The time, and the math, just doesn’t work for a punt there.

Alabama outcoached A&M Saturday. With the little margin for error this team has, that can’t happen. And then they outcoached themselves, which made a winnable game into a disaster.

What do you do this bye week?

There has to be some serious soul-searching. The status quo can’t continue.

I didn’t think Marcel Reed played terribly against Alabama. The analytical sites apparently do not agree with me. I thought he played well when he was given Collin Klein-ish plays to work with. But 20 points is still only 20 points and they had chances for much more. And his pick-six was still the difference in the game.

So, if you’re going to change quarterbacks, you have to do it now. If you’re going to change playcallers, you have to do it now. If you’re going to start using more and different players, it has to happen this week.

I do think some things will change. I don’t know what yet. But most bye week Mondays are reserved for the coordinators to come out and talk to the media. Not this week. Not a peep from the Bright-Slocum Building.

I don’t know how you can sit here at this point and say the season is salvageable. If it’s already down the drain, flush it and see what you’ve got to work with for next year. That probably won’t happen, but I’d sure consider it.

THe clear mistakes

We’re two-third of the way through the season. A top-10 preseason team is now looking like they won’t make a bowl (again). That’s humiliating. So what went wrong?

A lot of things.

• Elko made a mistake he hadn’t made before and stayed in his comfort zone promoting Wiggins and Hemphill. Hemphill probably gets another year, but Wiggins, sadly, has been overmatched. I don’t think you can put it any other way at this point.
• Poor evaluation of offensive linemen, both in the portal and in recruiting. I think you guys knew I wasn’t as excited about Trovon Baugh and Coen Echols as some folks were. I didn’t understand why A&M would want a player off the worst line in God’s creation last year (South Carolina’s), and Echols didn’t exactly distinguish himself at LSU. Tyree Adams was average at LSU and has been average at A&M. Wilkin Formby is good. They hit on that one. But look at the signees from the first two classes (2024 and 2025) — not good. Blake Ivy won the starting left guard job and looked totally lost. Nelson McGuire is gone. Ashton Funk has already been passed up as the backup center of the future. Papa Ahfua has barely played at all. From the 2025 class, it looks like Lamont Rogers and maybe Tyler Thomas. Marcus Garcia and Josh Moses don’t play at all and Jonte Newman transferred to Texas (where he doesn’t play at all). Now, the 2026 class is already looking pretty good with Sam Roseborough and Zaden Krempin and 2027 could be a monster. But if you miss one year, it’s a problem. You miss two and you’d better nail the portal.
• I thought the depth at defensive tackle was going to be tremendous. By season’s end, it’s probably going to be Landon Rink and DJ Sanders starting. DJ Hicks has been a crushing disappointment and CJ Mims is nowhere near what I expected. Angelo McCullom has brought nothing. Brandon Davis-Swain looks like he’s a player, but they’ll probably be portal-ing again this offseason.
• Losing Terry Bussey has been a much bigger loss than anyone expected. Ashton Bethel-Roman has basically vanished. Kelshuan Johnson looked good early and now he’s hurt. So the vaunted depth is being tested, and they’ve found TK Norman is a player. But there’s no explosiveness.
• They hitched their wagon to the wrong quarterback. It’s painful to say, but Marcel Reed has regressed terribly. I don’t know if anyone could have foreseen this kind of collapse, but decent quarterback play still has this team at 6-2 at least. They haven’t had it. They absolutely must be players in the portal this offseason.
• They put too much faith in the secondary. The safeties have been monumental disappointments, the nickels were exposed Saturday and Julio Humphrey gets picked on a lot because nobody will throw at Dezz Ricks. But the coverage busts are massive and they’re repeated. Either they’re not getting coached right or someone’s not learning. Considering the same coaches are back from last year save for Jordan Peterson, I’m not sure what to think.

Outside of that, everything’s been just peachy.

Our SPonSor

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