Aggies escape with a much needed win
Texas A&M held on to defeat Miami 17-9 in front of a sold out crowd at Kyle Field.
By: The Hammer
Photo via Jack Gorman, Getty Images
My heart skipped a beat several times in this one, but the Aggies got out of this game with a win. After the debacle last week with Appalachian State, I’ll take a win any way we can get one. The offense still struggled, but the defense bailed them out and special teams came up huge. The atmosphere was electric with over 107,000 fans in attendance and it felt really good to get a win at night in Kyle Field, especially with all the suspensions, injuries and ejections that A&M faced.
I saw some things out of Max Johnson that I really liked, but there is still a ton of room for improvement at QB and the entire offense. Johnson looked so much more poised, confident and decisive than he predecessor. He even made a couple of plays with his feet, something King struggled to do despite his athletic ability. I thought Johnson was more accurate with the ball most of the time, despite only going 10/20 for 140 yards and one TD on the night. He took what the Miami defense gave him, and his receivers were getting absolutely no separation. They were blanketed most of the night, and Johnson never put the ball in harm's way.
Although the offense looked better this week than it did against App State, that isn't saying much unfortunately considering how anemic that App State game was. There was no downfield threat against the Hurricanes and A&M didn't even try to go over the top. Wide receivers have to do a better job getting open and the offensive line is still inconsistent. They can be shaky in pass protection and aren’t opening holes on the ground consistently. Bryce Foster was an absolute warrior in this one at center, coming off his bout with mono, and making an impact. I think this offensive line will continue to improve week over week, and it will need to with the upcoming schedule. I’m not sure where the offense turns from here but Jimbo has to figure out a way to get the passing game going.
I will give credit to Jimbo for feeding his playmakers in this game. The impetus to get the ball to Devon Achane and Ainias Smith was clear. Achane accounted for most of A&M’s offense, running for 88 yards on 18 carries and catching 4 passes for 42 yards and a touchdown. Smith added 4 catches for 74 yards. Overall, the offense only managed 264 total yards, which will not cut it moving forward. I’m really interested to see how much this offense can improve ahead of next week’s matchup with Arkansas, because it’s got to be better if the Ags want to beat the Hogs.
Thank goodness for this defense though. What a game this unit played with a depleted secondary. Tyler Van Dyke looked rattled all night, despite A&M not recording a sack. The Aggies got some pressure at times, but really the story was the coverage on the back end. Van Dyke didn't have receivers running free very often, and when he did, he wasn't accurate enough to make the Aggies pay. The A&M secondary was missing Myles Jones, Demani Richardson, Tyreek Chappell, Brian George, Antonio Johnson, and Denver Harris by the end of the game and yet Miami still couldn't get anything going through the air. True freshmen like Bryce Anderson and Jared Kerr stepped up and held the line. No matter how you look at it, this was a gritty performance and win led by the defense. Holding a team like Miami without a touchdown is outstanding. The defense has a lot to clean up as well, primarily in the run game and rushing the passer. But the bend don’t break style worked against what many think is a first round quarterback and explosive Miami offense.
I’m happy with the win, but this team is a week to week proposition at this point. I loved the effort and heart we saw from everyone on Saturday night. The bounce back win was desperately needed and a loss Saturday night would have been catastrophic. We sent Miami and their cocky, fairweather fans back to South Florida with a big, fat loss. So let’s enjoy that. We can break down the Arkansas matchup later on, but I’m going to enjoy this win for a while.