Texas A&M vs. Alabama recap
Both teams, in this case. Alabama continued its dominance and the Aggies just don’t have it. Alabama looked like a team bound for the College Football Playoff and while A&M looks about the same as they’ve always been. Talented but not elite. A step below the best teams in college football, and a large step at that.
Remember 50-7 from LSU last year? A&M has given up over 100 points in the last two games against top SEC West opponents. While I was not expecting the Aggies to win this game, I thought they would be competitive. I thought in year three under Jimbo, with two top-six recruiting classes filled with his guys, we could show improvement and compete. Show we were close. That was not the case and any hope we had of A&M taking a big step forward appears to be gone.
Mac Jones stepped right in for Tua and the Alabama offense has not missed a beat. Their receiving corps is lethal. Najee Harris is a stud. It’s pick your poison, and the A&M defense was not ready for the challenge. Despite holding Alabama to 109 yards rushing, the Tide hung 52 on A&M. And it looked easy. Receivers running open all over the field and Mac Jones throwing dimes. Myles Jones still hasn’t made the next step and Jaylon Jones looked like a true freshman. The Aggie secondary is clearly the weakest part of their defense and they were exploited yesterday.
One of the keys to competing with Alabama was to get pressure on Mac Jones. He’s not as mobile as Tua, but so far he is just as accurate down the field if given time. The front seven stifled the Tide running game but was not able to get consistent pressure on Jones. The numbers don’t lie here either. When Jones was pressured, he went 1-4 for 35 yards and an interception. Without pressure, Jones was 19-23 for 400 yards and four touchdowns. Sheesh.
Photo: Gary Cosby Jr, The Tuscaloosa News-USA TODAY Sports
I’m not ready to turn on Jimbo, but the beginning of this season has really concerned me. Mond has not shown any improvement, despite all the experience and time in Jimbo’s system. The offense looks disjointed and for some reason, Jimbo refuses to take deep shots. His stubbornness and refusal to adapt are proving costly. Just look at the head coach on the other side - Nick Saban has completely changed his offense. This is no longer a running team who wears you down with physicality. They throw the ball all over the yard as evidenced by the game yesterday.
So why won’t Jimbo? Does he not trust his quarterback or receivers? If that is the case then get them out. Put in Haynes King, Demond Demas, Moose Muhammed, whoever! We can't be playing scared. It’s hard to methodically move the ball down the field against a defense like Alabama’s, especially for this offense that constantly shoots itself in the foot. I continue to be confused about why he runs the offense how he does. Look 24 points is not bad, but you know Bama can score in bunches. If A&M was going to win, we needed to have some big plays through the air and it felt like we didn’t even try to go deep, for the second week in a row. We’ll see if he makes any adjustments moving forward this year.
Ainias Smith continues to be a bright spot. He can play with the best of them and showed it again today. His drop on 4th down really hurt, but he made a huge impact and the A&M offense would be lost without him. He is the only one showing big play ability on offense right now. There was little push up front and A&M couldn’t really get the running game going, which hurts. I said going into the game you can’t expect to run all over Bama, but a little more than 115 yards would have been nice. Although it was tough sledding in the run game, the offensive line played pretty well. Mond actually had more time that I thought he would, just seems impossible to run on the Tide.
Many of the 115 yards rushing were racked up by freshman QB Hayseed Haynes King after the game was in hand and Bama was playing very softly to prevent big plays. I loved the way King looked. He went out there with no fear and drove down the field. I’m not saying he is the answer and Jimbo needs to bench Mond because I don't know. No one has seen the kid practice and playing garbage time in a blowout loss isn't the best gauge. But he seemed to have that it factor that we know Kellen is lacking. He just had a look in his eye that I have not seen from Kellen in four years. I assume Jimbo will stick with Kellen, especially against a stout opponent like Florida, but King appears to be nipping at his heels.
Photo: David J. Phillip, AP Photo
As disappointed as I was watching the Aggies get rolled by the Tide, there was one thing during the game that actually angered me. Why in the world are we fair-catching every kick and punt? You kiddin’ me Jimbo? That is playing scared. I get that the return game was pitiful against Vanderbilt but come on man. How is that your solution? Just wimp and don't return anything? Bull crap. Grow a pair and let your playmakers return it. I don't care who we are playing, we need to have the mentality of a winner. Impose our will, not bow down to the competition. Play our game, regardless of the opponent. If A&M continues to be scared of Alabama, then they’ll get their ass kicked like this every year. At least go down swinging.
Bottom line, A&M is not on par with Alabama and they are a lot farther away than I thought. We lost to a better team, with more talent, more buy-in, and a better coach. No, the season is not lost and the sky isn't falling. Alabama is just better than A&M, and better by a long shot right now. I still think A&M is a good team and we can have a solid season, but we are not close to competing for the SEC title yet. That's just reality at the moment. Nothing left to do but get back after it and take out the anger and disappointment on Florida next week.
#BTHOFLORIDA
