Texas A&M post Auburn thoughts

I am still not over last night, and won’t be for a very long time. I try to not be very dramatic after losses, but man I am still sick to my stomach. I have not felt that kind of hurt from a sports game in a while. In a season where you finally had everything right in front of you, you let it slip away. What a rollercoaster this team constantly straps me to every single year. I have so many thoughts that will be very difficult to write in one article, but I will try my best. But man, this one is going to hurt for a longgggg time. 

Overall thoughts on the game

I honestly don’t know where to begin. All season up until South Carolina we have prided ourselves on being a defensive team. Yes you are flawed, but to go down 21-0 that quick to a team who has struggled to put up 20 points all year is beyond inexcusable. Just unbelievable. I just don’t know what the hell happened. To put it bluntly, we played scared defensively. It was almost as if we didn’t know the game had started. 

Like the South Carolina game, our offense decided to bail us out. In my lone bright spot of the entire night, our offense found a way to comeback from a 21-0 deficit. Credit to Marcel, in your first year as a starter you are tasked to come back in back to back road environments and you got us back without our best offensive weapon in Le’veon Moss. The kid is an absolute gamer, and I tip my hat to him. But it just wasn’t enough. 

As we finally got the lead late in the 4th it looked as if Auburn was giving the game to us. You got the ball with 3 minutes left only needing a few first downs. Instead you drop the snap and get stuffed on back to back plays. Absolutely no killer instinct (which I will get to soon). You were settled down and thought you had the game won. Instead you give the ball back to Auburn and they drive it down your throat in one of the easiest 2 minute drives I’ve witnessed and they tie the game. That was the gut punch. It was honestly a blessing they didn’t score a touchdown and we even got to play overtime. 

Overtime begins and you get a quick touchdown. All you have to do is stop them and you walk out with a gutsy win. Instead, our defense absolutely lays down on their back. Two chances for this defense to impose its will and end the game, they fail. Again, just no sign of killer instinct. No sign of saying you know what I’m going to show up and win this game. Nope, you decide to play scared to lose instead of playing to win. 

After two field goal exchanges we entered what is one of the dumbest changes in college football, and I would’ve said the same thing had we won. The two point exchanges. You play a full 60 minutes and two overtimes for the game to be decided by an essential coin flip. Auburn converted the first attempt on an incredible play by their receiver so it was up to us to respond. Klein decided to dial up one of the ballsiest plays I’ve witnessed as an Aggie. Perfectly called and executed, and it’s dropped. The game is over. 

A game where you coughed up 21 quick points, found a way to comeback, had a chance to end it in regulation, and you lose it on a wide open dropped pass. Pure heartbreak, pure anger, pure everything. A game that will give me nightmares for a long time.

We are who we are ?

Let me explain before I get blasted with 8-4 references, as I don’t mean that. I’m talking about our mentality as a team. We are not killers. We are a team that is not used to winning. We are a team that is trying to figure out what winning truly feels like on the fly. And it’s beyond frustrating. Winning is a habit created by culture, which is not created in a day. 

I don’t care who you play in this league, you can get hit with a buzz saw on any given Saturday. Our culture is simply not at the point to hit that buzz saw with a killer mentality.

Just look at the way this season has gone. Offensively dominated out the gate vs Notre Dame at home, scratched teeth and nail to get out with a win vs Bowling freaking Green, barely escaped vs a bad Arkansas team, should’ve been down 23-7 at half to a bad LSU team at home, flat out dominated by South Carolina, and finally you were down 21-0 in the 2nd quarter to a team who barely has put up 20 points all year. My point being, the writing has been on the wall all freaking year. 

But what happens when you mix in a good win vs Florida, mizzou, and a comeback win vs LSU? You forget EVERY flaw your team has shown. Then the age-old question arises, “what happened to the team I saw a few weeks ago?” Guess what, it was always there. You just haven’t faced a team who was ready and able to take advantage of your flaws yet. Now I don’t have all the answers and I don’t know who to blame, but it sucks that these truths have to be told. In a year that lined up so perfectly for you to make it to Atlanta, no matter how flawed you seemed. You now are on the cusp of going 8-4. 

Where do we go from here ?

Short answer, I don’t know. But by the grace of God you have been given yet again another mulligan. Since Alabama got shell shocked by OU last night, the SEC championship is still decided by our game vs Texas. Win and you're in. But man, after last night my hope is at an all time low. The only reason I even have a sliver of hope is because we are playing at home. And the way this unthinkable season has gone, anything is possible. We are going to have to drop this mentality our team possesses quickly if we are even going to want to compete. Is this the game we finally decide to play to win ? Is this the culture changing game our entire fanbase has been waiting to see ? We will find out in 6 short days.

-AA/GC