Texas A&M Football: Grading the Aggies' Game vs. Arkansas

Courtesy of Bleacher Report

Michael Taglienti (Featured Columnist) on October 2, 2011

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  The Texas A&M Aggies lost to the Arkansas Razorbacks by 42-38 score in Arlington on Saturday.

For the second week in a row the Aggies went into halftime with a large lead only to lose it and the game in the second half.
Against Oklahoma State the Aggies' third-quarter turnovers allowed OSU to get back into the game. In the Arkansas game the Aggies conservative play-calling stalled drives and put their porous secondary back on the field.
And again for the second week in a row, the Aggies are left to wonder what went wrong after dominating a game for the first half but failing to close it out.
Let's take a look at the performance of the team in a position-by-position breakdown.

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Quarterback: A

Ryan Tannehill finished 25 for 35 for 247 yards no touchdowns with one interception.
Tannehill distributed the ball and efficiently ran an offense that piled up 628 yards on the day.
The one interception he threw was a deep ball to Fuller where the ball was inside and Fuller was outside. Hard to tell if that was a mistake by Tannehill or Fuller.
Tannehill had a solid game and limited turnovers. He was able to effectively mix the pass in with the run in order to keep the Razorback defense off balance.

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Running Back: A

This would have been an A+ but Christine Michael had a fumble.
Michael and Cyrus Gray sliced through the Arkansas defense to the tune of 325 combined rushing yards and five touchdowns.
Michael had a career day with 230 yards on 32 carries and three touchdowns. Gray had 95 yards on 17 carries with two touchdowns.
The Aggies were able to dominate the game with their running game which made some of their play calling in the second half all the more curious.
Gray and Michael showed everyone why many consider them to be the top running back duo in the country.

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Wide Receivers: B

Ryan Swope led the Aggies with 92 yards on five receptions.
Jeff Fuller added 82 yards on nine catches.
The wide receivers had a workman like performance but were nothing special.
Fuller failed to turn into a DB when a long pass was thrown to him on the inside and he had outside position. That led the an interception.
If the Ags want to end this two game losing streak they need more big plays on offense and defense. Other than Ryan Swope the Aggie receivers are not getting many yards after catch. They need to step it up.

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Tight End: A

 

The Aggies only threw to the TE twice and Hutson Prioleau caught both passes for short gains.
The tight ends did a great job in run blocking. They did what they were asked to do in this game.
One has to wonder why Nehemiah Hicks has not been a larger part of the offense. He is a mismatch for linebackers and could be very effective down the middle of a defense.

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Offensive Line: A+

The OL played the best game by an Aggie OL in recent memory. The Aggies OL dominated the LOS all day long.
A&M rushed for 381 yards in the game and did not allow a sack.
You cannot ask for anything more from your OL. If the coaches had a little more faith in their OL the Aggies might not be sitting here at 2-2 today.
The move of Cedric Ogbuehi to starter at RG ahead of Shep Klinke was obviously a success.
Only negative all day was not picking up two yards on 4th and two on the last drive of the game.

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Defensive Line: B

The defensive line had a solid game. During the first half they put a lot of pressure on Arkansas QB Tyler Wilson. The Razorbacks did a better job of adjusting in the second half.
The Aggies only allowed 2.4 yards rushing per carry. That is getting it done on the line of scrimmage.
Spencer Nealy saw his first extensive action of the season and responded with a tackle for loss.
There was no noticeable drop off with Ben Bass replacing the injured Jonathan Mathis in the starting lineup.
The Aggies do need to get more sacks and tackles for loss from this group as a whole.

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Defensive Line: B

The defensive line had a solid game. During the first half they put a lot of pressure on Arkansas QB Tyler Wilson. The Razorbacks did a better job of adjusting in the second half.
The Aggies only allowed 2.4 yards rushing per carry. That is getting it done on the line of scrimmage.
Spencer Nealy saw his first extensive action of the season and responded with a tackle for loss.
There was no noticeable drop off with Ben Bass replacing the injured Jonathan Mathis in the starting lineup.
The Aggies do need to get more sacks and tackles for loss from this group as a whole.

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Defensive Backs: F-

The Aggies now have the worst pass defense in the country.
They gave up 510 yards passing to Tyler Wilson. That means two weeks in a row the secondary has given up record pass yardage to the opposing QB.
Garrick Williams is at fault for not jamming Jarius Wright at the line of scrimmage but Lionel Smith gets the blame for simply not being in the same zip code.
Smith has played terribly since the 4th quarter of the OSU game. He got juked by Arkansas WRs and repeatedly failed to deliver when he had coverage over the top on Wright. Smith played so poorly that he should ride the bench for the rest of the year.
Itis unknown whether Steve Campbell will be back for the Tech game. The Aggies obviously missed his physical presence and ability to cover ground against Arkansas.
I thought for the most part that Coryell Judie and Dustin Harris had solid games.
Trent Hunter had a good game save one play where he failed to wrap up on a tackle.
In the last two weeks the Aggie secondary has had 111 passes thrown against it and has failed to get one interception. Right now the secondary simply lacks play makers.

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Special Teams: C

Other than the punter the special teams had a solid day.
Randy Bullock made his only field goal attempt which gave the Aggies the lead. He was solid on kickoffs.
The Aggies coverage unit did allow a 19 yard punt return but other than that were solid.
Ryan Epperson had a 12 yard punt. That is all that needs to be said.
The coaches gave a scholarship to a punter in the 2011 recruiting class and it is time that they use him.
Aggies still need to get some explosive plays in the return game.

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Coaching: F-

The coaches got an F- because there is no grade of G.
I will start with the most obvious item, deciding not to go for it three times on 4th and short when you are averaging over seven yards per carry. Not only are you killing your momentum you are telling your team that you do not believe in them. Mike Sherman needs to realize this is not the NFL and stop coaching like it is.
The excuse that he was worried about the defense and wanted to give Arkansas a longer field holds no water because you know how poor your punter is. If you are worried about the defense then why not keep them off the field by letting your offense extend drives?
I have no idea why Sherman decided to go to the hurry up offense when the Aggies were driving down the field with the game tied. It gave the ball back to Arkansas with four minutes on the clock.
You have run the zone read with great success two games in a row. Why not use it more?
Tim Deruyter has proven pretty good at making halftime adjustments since he arrived in Aggieland. The issue is when the opponent is lighting up the middle of your zone in the first half and you fail to make any kinds of adjustments in that half. Deruyter needs to do a better job of mixing up his blitzes.
Also, the team simply needs to play some of the younger players. If the upperclassmen have not got it done up till now then get a look at the freshmen who are going to be major contributors next year anyways.
Howard Matthews and Floyd Raven need to see the field in the secondary.
The Aggies have lost two games in a row because of coaching mistakes. They need to get this thing turned around of they will lose this team and season.
The bright side for Aggie fans is that these coaches went through the exact same thing last year and should know how to react.