SEC football fits Texas A&M to a 'T'

Courtesy of USA Today
George Schroeder, USA TODAY Sports

 EST November 9. 2012 - Like so many other Aggies, R.C. Slocum hoped for success in the SEC. He never dreamed it could happen so soon.

"I would hate to say I'm surprised," the former Texas A&M coach says. "But if you look at going with a brand new coaching staff, and going with a freshman quarterback, and going into a new league and all of that – maybe 'surprised' is a good word."

'Stunned' might fit, too.

Remember all of the questions from last spring and summer about how the Aggies would possibly compete in the SEC? Yeah, they remember, too. 

"I said from Day One, we were the new guys, we had to prove ourselves," A&M coach Kevin Sumlin says. "In a way, I think it's helped us."

Fueled by a precocious kid quarterback – former coach Jackie Sherrill calls Johnny Manziel a "modern-day Fran Tarkenton" – the Aggies (No. 15 in the BCS standings, No. 14 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll) are 7-2 overall, 4-2 in league play heading into a matchup Saturday with top-ranked Alabama in Tuscaloosa. 

"I wouldn't have been surprised if they'd have had more trouble along the way," Slocum says.

Neither would anybody. And more trouble arrives Saturday. The Tide represents a significant step up from the Aggies' first six league games; but then, the Tide is a step up from almost any opponent. But while longtime A&M observers like Slocum and Sherrill believe the Aggies will compete, they're even more ecstatic about the bigger picture. 

When Texas A&M announced its conference switch, the cultural fit seemed fine. Start with the large, fervent fan base. If some of their traditions were unique (midnight yell practices, yell leaders, the Corps of
Cadets, all that swaying in the stands, and so on) they were also reflective of a shared passion for football that mirrored the SEC's.

"Down deep, I think we're Southerners," Slocum says. "The dialect is a little different as you move toward the Deep South, but the lifestyles and the values are very similar."

Slocum notes the school's size, and its location in a fertile recruiting ground, in adding: "On paper, A&M ought to be pretty good."

But on paper, A&M ought to have been pretty good in the Big 12, too. For most of the past decade, the Aggies weren't. They won a conference championship in 1998, but have been ranked in the final USA TODAY Sports Coaches poll just twice since. A&M ranked perennially behind Oklahoma and archrival Texas in what was then the Big 12's South Division, and struggled to remain ahead of Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Baylor.

The Sooners and Longhorns were usually very good; some years the Big 12 South was as strong as any division in college football. But Slocum understands why many questioned the move to the SEC, wondering, as he puts it: "I don't know, that's a pretty big bite they're taking."

A year ago, Texas A&M hoped to build off a 2010 season that included a share of the division championship. With quarterback Ryan Tannehill, a future NFL first-rounder, the Aggies started the 2011 season ranked No. 9 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, highest since 1999. But five times, they
lost halftime leads en route to losses.

A 7-6 finish – or rather, all of those horrific finishes – cost Mike Sherman his job and led to Sumlin's arrival from Houston, where he'd built a successful Conference USA program with a prolific spread offense. But
given the new coaching staff, a new quarterback, and especially the new league, the Aggies' immediate future seemed uncertain. They were picked fifth in the SEC West in the preseason, ahead of only the Mississippi schools. And Sumlin endured countless variations of the question: How are you going to compete?

"How do you answer that?" he says. "If I didn't think we could win, I wouldn't have come here."

But he knows others weren't so sure: "The perception was we were gonna get shoved around all over the place, all year."

Instead, they've more than held their own. The implosion by Arkansas, and Auburn's continuing downward spiral, haven't hurt. But even in losses to Florida (20-17 in the season opener) and LSU (24-19), the Aggies had opportunities to win.

Although Sumlin praises the team's senior leadership, it's a fairly young bunch, especially at the skill positions. The defense has been better than advertised, but the biggest asset – the biggest surprise – is
undoubtedly Manziel, the catalyst for an offense that leads the SEC and ranks fourth nationally at 44.7 points a game.

The redshirt freshman wasn't expected to win the job, but he's averaging 383.2 total yards, and is on pace to rewrite the SEC's record book. It's not just the statistics, but the spectacular way he produces them, freelancing in a mode that teeters at all times on the edge of reckless.

"Probably 50 percent of the time, he doesn't know what the hell he's gonna do," Sherrill says. "But the kid is amazing."

Still, Sumlin calls the current team a "work in progress." But he's confident about what lies ahead. Rivals.com has Texas A&M's incoming recruiting class ranked 10th nationally. Sumlin said some prospects were attracted because of previous relationships with the coaches or the allure of the SEC. Others have become interested because of the Aggies' success in the SEC.

"With an uptick in talent, we can compete for championships in this league," he says.

While the future looks bright, they're savoring the present.

"It's been the best thing for Texas A&M," says Sherrill of the move to the SEC. "They can compete with anybody."

And Slocum adds: "I didn't know the exact timetable but I felt we would be a good fit for the league and the league would be a good fit for us. I might have doubted it would be this quick.

"We've had a great season – and you can say, 'Hey, we're just getting started.' "