After the first quarter last saturday against Alabama, Texas A&M coach Mike Elko said he felt good about how the Aggies were playing, but they needed to avoid giving up explosive plays on defense. They didn’t.
The Aggies ended up giving up five explosive plays — for the purposes of this study, plays over 20 yards. Those explosive plays, all through the air, ended up covering 182 yards. Alabama picked up 378 yards for the entire game, meaning just under half of Alabama’s yardage came on five plays.
Some observers consider rushing plays over 15 yards to be explosives, but in this case, I went for consistency. Had I not, the numbers would be even worse.
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It has been an ongoing problem for the Aggies all season. They force three and outs, get off the field on third down, then on the next possession give up a huge play that almost invariably leads to points.
Here’s a look at the explosive plays and whether the opponent scored as a result from each of the games against Power 4 opponents:
Arizona State
21-yard touchdown pass
35-yard completion (field goal)
21-yard pass (field goal)
58-yard touchdown pass
23-yard completion (interception)
Yards via explosive plays: 158
Total yards: 369
Percentage: 43%
Kentucky
28-yard completion (missed field goal)
53-yard completion (touchdown)
42-yard touchdown pass
22-yard completion (touchdown)
22-yard run (touchdown; same drive as previous 22-yard completion)
32-yard completion (field goal)
Yards via explosive plays: 199
Total yards: 409
Percentage: 48.7%
LSU
26-yard pass (punt)
36-yard run (touchdown)
35-yard pass (touchdown)
36-yard pass (touchdown; save drive as previous pass)
57-yard touchdown pass
36-yard pass (touchdown)
Yards via explosive plays: 226
Total yards: 506
Percentage: 44.6%
Arkansas
26-yard touchdown pass
30-yard run (turnover on downs)
Yards via explosive plays: 56
Total yards:24
Percentage: 26%
Missouri
32-yard touchdown pass
20-yard pass (blocked field goal)
25-yard pass (field goal)
54-yard touchdown run
Yards via explosive plays: 131
Total yards: 394
Percentage: 33.2%
Alabama
36-yard pass (field goal)
48-yard pass (touchdown)
35-yard pass (missed field goal)
38-yard pass (touchdown)
25-yard pass (end of game)
Yards via explosive plays: 182
Total yards: 378
Percentage: 48%
For the season, the Aggies have given up 940 of their 2,270 yards allowed to Power 4 opponents via explosive plays. That is 41.7% of their overall total. They are giving up, on average, 4.67 explosive plays per game versus Power 4 opponents.
42% percent.
Of the 28 plays listed, 23 of them lead to a touchdown of field goal. That’s 82.1% of the time. Of the five that did not lead to points, two were the result of missed field goals, one was a turnover on downs, one was a blocked field goal and the fifth was because Alabama took a knee.
If that makes you sick to your stomach, you’re not alone.
Last year’s team in 10 games against Power 4 opponents, gave up 41 explosive plays — 20 of them in three games (Notre Dame, Arkansas and South Carolina). So the Aggies are giving up 13.6% more explosive plays so far this year (4.67 to 4.1 per game). And more than eight of 10 have led to points.
Feel free to feel ill.
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