Of all that went wrong....

My personal opinion, our lack of touchdowns inside the 10. We got down there plenty. But left 3 touchdowns off the board. If that didn’t happen, then we would have been right there in the game with all the crap that happened. I love Enos as a play caller but I think he screwed the pooch on his calls inside the 10.

Agreed, left to many points on the field.
Way to many mental mistakes.
Enos really called the red zone poorly.
Team just wilted after the goal line stand in the 3rd.

Yep

:idea: Well as expected whoever owned the redzone would win this game. Quite impressed with A&M’s D down in tight spaces so I give them tremendous credit. They got several 1st round talent on the edges and 3rd level of their defense starting with their star ends who can move around at different spots on their line. We just were better off attacking A&M’s impressive playmakers with aggressive downfield pass plays from the 40 yard line of A&M or beyond.

The RZ down beyond 20 yard in to goal line was just not enough room to offset their speed at just about all of their def. positions. You also need homerun hitters with 4.4 speed at running back to get those sure TDs against them this year if you can’t overpower them. Thus, Coach Sumlin just may have a good thing going this season if his star players stay healthy after yet another physical game and beating from these ‘still good’ Hawgs football team.

I also walk away highly impressed wirh Austin Allen. Mr. Williams may shape into yet another outstanding physical RB for the Hogs. The Hogs will be alright as he and Austin Allen are the real deal. Combatting with a bit more speed and explosiveness was the only difference maker in this game against a unique A&M team not many team in CFB may not match up with for 60 minutes.

Maybe another TD to go up 24-17 would keep the game in the balance to favor the Hogs but still give credit to A&M’s defensive and offensive playmakers for those 5 or 6 plays to separate themselves from the very game and talented Hogs! This loss is not a bad thing! Hogs are still good!!! Woopig!!!

aTm should get a lot of credit for the win tonight. Yes, we shot ourselves in the foot more times than I can count. But, aTm is a very impressive team.

“This loss is not a bad thing” ??? I don’t comprehend this statement.
All losses are bad. They are failures to do what you set out to do. If a team doesn’t play to win they’re in the wrong business. (I am NOT saying that who the Hogs are for a minute). If losses especially like this don’t leave pain to a team’s core, they’re a participant and irrelevant.
A&M defense was solid. Offensively they played consistently enough to do the job. I don’t see enough there to earn a playoff spot- yet. They need some help from other teams falling.
The BIG 10 is the league to beat this year. They’ll have two teams in the mix this year. Louisville is unconscious, Houston interesting, one SEC team. Stanford is -well Stanford and they’re due as the Aggies are.
The Hogs showed they can give games away as usual. Another case of poor red zone performance. You can’t beat quality opponents anywhere without capitalizing inside the five. They were in trouble with kicking a field goal, behind with goal line fumble, destroyed with 4th down effort. 8-4 7-5 the Hogs are not built to overcome being exposed. And they are tripping over their pants around their ankles. They can’t run anywhere but to the woodshed.
Good Ugly victory by the Aggies, wish we had shown up better when it counted. Or maybe, in your view, this was “a bad win” for them?

I felt that we did a pretty good job taking what they were giving us (passing) and really only failed when we got to the 1 yard line three times and didn’t score. We went from being a balanced team to a predictable run-run-run team and they had the personnel to keep us out. It almost would have been better if we were on the 10 or 5 yard line. It was a frustrating game to watch but I honestly wasn’t that impressed with A&M - they have “the best receiver group in the SEC” but looked anemic through the air. They did a good job taking what we were giving them (right up the gut to the end zone, frustratingly enough) but I think they will struggle against Ole Miss and Bama. Their run defense was stout but they were vulnerable all night through the air.

The thing that I am most upset about was not pulling Allen at the end. He was clearly rattled, hurt, and maybe even insubordinate and there is no reason to keep him in and keep throwing it downfield. I am of the mind that it isn’t over until it is over but down three scores with two minutes left maybe you can get your back-up some chances rather than further exposing your top QB to hits on obvious passing downs.

Hogs lost to a pretty good team last night. Credit A &Ms ability to make big plays and stop us in the red zone.

Plenty of issues to address after this one, but I see more to be excited about than not. Our QB is a keeper and his team believes in him. The O-line must get settled, Whaley needs to work himself into spliting more time with RW, and we all need to remember this was only week 4. Going to be fun to watch…

It could be a “bad win” as even Coach Sumlin has stated himself that in previous very intense games with these Hogs, the Aggies would not be the same “physically” after these CBB-styled physical brand football matchups with the Hogs.

aTm’s D line will still be “feeling” some pain going into the next two weeks more than likely as those very “abnormally” numerous goal stands for one game will still take it’s toll for awhile on their talented defenders. Combined with the fact the Hogs had the ball for 39:45 which should linger on aTm’s defensive players as a result.

Recruiting cycle of ours and theirs are currently mismatched as the Hogs were starting a couple of newcomers on the offensive line in this game versus the past two years. A&M had been recruiting for those past four years to shore up their interioir weakness in the D line given media scrutiny and criticism from those years about “softness”. With all things considered, the score would be another OT game at 38-38 and likely 45-38 A&M or Hog victory either way. The main difference was more team speed on A&M’s defense (also offensively w/ track star 6-4 Josh Reynolds beating really good coverage by Dean for 92 yard score which was a great play and throw following epic goaline stand) that IMO affected pass play calling inside the 5 yard line which was really not enough space as their safeties and perimeter linebackers were already very speedy in space throughout the game and in their blitzes culminating in culmulative hits on a very game and composed Austin Allan.

Coach Sumlin had to recruit well defensively to stay off the hot seat in the state of Texas thus an Arkansas win is just as important for him in recruiting purposes against CBB’s brand of style for which the Hogs also recuit from the state of Texas. Now you know what you need recruiting-wise to combat Coach Sumlin. I don’t know to concern myself about what may be down the road for “extremely” talented aTm this season success-wise but I do know that the Arlington game should be intense for a Long time. Specific type recruiting can still create a formula for success under any specific coaching system. Executing this is just as important as in-game execution as ANY fan surely knows : ) I still see a realistically possible 9-3 if not a stretch of a 10-2 season.

Core5 I enjoyed your assessment very much. I would add however that Santos gets caught looking in and leaves a hammy sore Dean to contend with the track master alone.