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| Sarah Glenn/Getty Images |
The Texas A&M Football Team lost 38-31 to the Missouri Tigers at Kyle Field on Saturday.
The loss dropped the Aggies record to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the conference. Missouri improved their record to 4-4 and 2-3.
This
is the third year in a row that A&M has lost to Missouri and the
second year in a row they have lost at Kyle Field. The Aggies simply
found a way to lose this game at home.
This a position-by-position breakdown of the Ags' performance against Missouri.
Begin Slideshow
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Quarterback: A
This was a tough grade. On the one hand, quarterbacks should be
judged by wins and losses, and on the other hand, Ryan Tannehill did
everything possible to put his team in position to win the game.
Tannehill
was 35-of-53 for 317 yards and three touchdowns. Tannehill threw one
interception when he was hit in the arm and the ball floated.
Tannehill had a fumble late in the fourth quarter when the Aggies were trying to drive for a winning field goal.
Both turnovers were caused when the OL got beat, and neither can be blamed on Tannehill.
Tannehill
put the ball where it needed to be all game, only to see his WRs drop
it. He played well enough to beat Mizzou. He did not get enough help
from his teammates.
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Running Back: B
Christine Michael and Cyrus Gray were their usual dependable selves.
Michael rushed for 104 yards on 21 carries. He also had one reception for nine yards.
Gray had 58 yards on 16 carries and added six catches for 46 yards and a touchdown.
A
very good argument could be made that the Aggies need to rely on their
running back duo more. It is not a secret that the Aggies defense is the
weakness of their team. Feeding the ball to their running backs will
keep the defense on the sideline.
It should be a goal of the
coaches entering every game to make sure that Gray has at least 20
carries. Gray showed in 2010 that he is a much better back the more
carries he gets. They need to feed him the ball and let him and Michael
take over games.
The Aggies have arguably the best RB duo in the country. They might as well use them.
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Wide Receivers: D-
The Aggies start three wide receivers who will play on Sundays.
Yesterday they did not look like they belonged on a field on Saturdays.
The
wide receivers dropped at least eight passes as a group. Jeff Fuller
looked like his head was somewhere else. He dropped at least four passes
that hit him in the hands.
For some reason Ryan Swope continues to have issues catching passes that are over his head.
Swope led the Aggies with eight catches for 66 yards and a touchdown.
Uzoma Nwachukwu had six receptions for 49 yards.
Jeff Fuller had five catches for only 42 yards.
Malcome Kennedy was the only bright spot with three catches for 38 yards including two to convert third downs.
It
is painfully obvious from these statistics that the Aggies did not
throw the ball deep against Missouri. There was only one long attempt
and Fuller broke off the route almost allowing an interception.
The Aggies have too much talent on the field to play this poorly.
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Tight Ends: A
This was really the bright spot for the entire team. The Aggies
finally tested an opposing defense over the middle with their tight
ends, for a half. The tight ends responded with a great performance and
then the coaches went away from it in the second half.
Nehemiah
Hicks had two receptions for 47 yards. Michael Lamothe had a two-yard
catch for a touchdown. Huston Prioleau had three catches for 18 yards.
A&M has the tight ends to make a difference in the passing game. It would be nice if they would use them for four quarters.
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Offensive Line: D
The offensive line only had two big mistakes in the game. Those two mistakes created two turnovers and cost the Aggies the game.
Missouri
DE Jacques Smith beat Aggie RT Jake Matthews in the fourth quarter and
caused a fumble ending the drive for possibly the winning field goal.
The offensive line had multiple false start penalties that put the offense behind the chains and off schedule.
The OL is the strongest part of the Aggies team and they had a bad day yesterday. The result was a loss.
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Defensive Line: F
The Missouri offense rushed for 284 yards on 5.7 yards per carry. That is really all you need to know.
The
DL did not do a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage and other
than the first series of the game, was pretty much a non-factor.
With the injuries in the secondary the Aggies need the DL to get penetration and wreak havoc. They did not do this at all.
Eddie Brown had 1.5 tackles for loss including a sack.
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Defensive Backs: D
Howard Matthews had a huge missed tackle on James Franklin's touchdown run.
The
secondary played so far off of the Missouri wide receivers that they
did not give up any big plays, but they did not make any plays either.
A
lot of people will point to Franklin's touchdown pass to Marcus Lucas
as poor coverage by Dustin Harris. I thought it was simply a good throw
and catch.
The Aggies played it safe in the secondary. You do not win football games by playing it safe.
Bob Levey/Getty Images
Special Teams: C
Randy Bullock had his usual solid game hitting his only field goal attempt from 35 yards.
Dustin Harris gave A&M a little spark on kickoff returns.
The Aggies allowed Jerrel Jackson a 46-yard kickoff return which is not acceptable.
In a close game like this the special teams need to provide a spark and they did not.
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Coaching: F-
The most obvious area of concern in the play calling on
offense. When it is 3rd-and-2 and you run a counter to your slot WR when
Mizzou has been unable to stop Christine Michael all day, there are
some issues.
It has already been mentioned many times this season,
but Mike Sherman needs to realize that there is no reason to play
finesse football when you're a pounding a team. It is almost as if
Sherman decides what plays he is going to run before a game and decides
to run them come hell or high water.
There is no reason to pass
the ball 53 times against Missouri when your defense is as questionable
as the Aggies' defense is right now. You pound the ball and shorten the
game. If you are afraid they are stacking the box, then run play-action
and throw to your TEs in the seem. If you want to see how to properly
use your tight ends then go watch Stanford play.
The Aggies played
defense like they were afraid to give up a big play. They routinely
kept five in the box against a running team and kept the safeties back.
They played right into Missouri's hands.
When you know James
Franklin struggles the most when pressured, why not pressure him? If
your DBs are going to struggle in coverage, then you might as well bring
pressure.
The Aggies have lost three games this year because the
offense has not shown up in the second half. The coaches need to get
this fixed because they are headed to Norman on Saturday.
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