Texas A&M vs Mizzou Breakdown

Texas A&M vs Mizzou Breakdown

After an ugly but necessary win last week against Arkansas, the presumed game of the week was set. The undefeated Tigers of Missouri were headed into Kyle Field with a lot to prove after 2 ugly wins against inferior opponents. I said last week in the breakdown that we would learn a lot from this game. The questions remained the same. Is Mizzou worthy of their top 10 ranking ? Are the Aggies going to start 3-0 in the SEC for the first time in 8 years ? I think a lot of the country's questions were answered. Let’s break it down, this will be fun.

My thoughts leading up -

Following last week's game, it was evident that our offense was doing just enough to get by. Though we could look at things to be excited about, there were also a lot of glaring questions. I knew having a healthy Conner back could answer / fix our struggles, specifically in the passing game. Rumors throughout the week began to swirl that Conner was basically back to 100% and practicing with the 1’s. With that in mind, I still knew the advantages of having Marcel as our QB. So my thought going into the game was that Marcel would ultimately start with Conner going in periodically, especially if Marcel was struggling with the pass attack. As for the defense, the obvious questions were how would we defend the weapons that Mizzou has. Luther Burden and Theo Wease are known as one of the best receiver duos in the conference, so our DLine had to establish pressure on Brady Cook and continue stopping the run.

Offensive Review -

After being absent with injury since his one half of play in week 2, Conner is back as the Aggie starter. The rest is history. What a showing from 15. After weeks and weeks of criticism (some earned, some undoubtedly uncalled for) he comes out and has his best game of his limited sample size as an Aggie. Making the right decisions with the ball, putting the ball on the money, and scrambling for 8+ yards when needed. Just an amazing display against the #9 team in the country. It was absolute bully ball. We haven’t even mentioned yet the continuing dominance by Le’veon Moss. 138 yards and 3 tuddy’s with one of which coming on the first play of the 2nd half for 75 yards. With our pass game finally matching our run efforts, this is an offense that could be more difficult to stop than many assumed. Also let’s all give a round of applause to Collin Klein. After receiving a lot of criticism for the past 2 performances (not at all warranted if you truly watched the plays develop) he finally dialed up a dangerous / successful attack. 41 points against a top 10 team, not a bad day at the office. I hope people truly appreciate and understand what Conner did out there Saturday. It was good, stupid good stuff.

My main takeaway -

After re watching the game, more times already than I would like to admit. It was so obvious that Mizzou prepped for Marcel to be the starter. Not only do I think they only prepared for Marcel, they didn’t make ANY changes throughout the game defensively, even though Conner was killing them through the air. Just an abysmal coaching effort for Mr. Drink, especially considering they came off of a bye week. Not only did you assume Marcel would be the guy, but you clearly didn’t do your homework on Conner outside of his Notre Dame performance. Simply put, Drink didn’t think we were going to be able to pass no matter who the QB was. So his game plan was similar to Arkansas. Stack the box, play man to man, and force them to try and pass. And we did, very very easily. 

Defensive Review -

Leading up to the game, the consensus coming from the Mizzou fan base was nothing but pure confidence about their offense. Though they had a few question marks about Brady Cook, they believed they had enough weapons to beat us on that alone. Then they were introduced to an Elko defense. A defense with a disruptive DLine led by Nic Scourton and secondary led by Will “the Blanket” Lee. The wrecking crew was on full display on Saturday. They forced Brady Cook into a 40% completion percentage and held their rushing attack to 2 yards per rush. That is DOMINANT stuff. Let’s also not forget the one touchdown Mizzou had was a 60+ yard touchdown that included a blatant hold. (I’m never the one to complain about missed calls, but it was too obvious) So negate that play and you are looking at almost shutting out the #9 team in the country. Like I said in my first ever write up. You are going to get a defense that will very much improve week to week. We are seeing it as such, and it is amazing to see. 

Looking ahead -

I tell it how it is. I’m never the one to show bias going into any game. I feel as though people can trust me for what I say because I don’t sugarcoat my thoughts about our team / coaches. So know this when I say it, this is an ELITE coaching staff across the board. Growing pains can and will happen, hence why I wasn’t too concerned after Notre Dame. I will continue to have trust in this team with Elko leading the way. 

Now that we have established that, Saturday was an absolute ass beating. Everything any Aggie has wanted to see for years was on display and it was tremendous. You can tell me Mizzou was overrated and I will agree, but miss me with that **** saying that was the sole reason we dominated. Generating 500+ yards of offense while only giving up 250 is a complete embarrassment for Mizzou fans and especially coaches. This was the largest margin of victory against a top 10 team in our programs HISTORY. Conner finally played to his potential and the defense played as they should. Now, where does this team go from here ? Much needed bye this week before we begin the 2nd half of the season. We still have a lot to improve on but the main focus is being consistent with how we played yesterday. This team is finally figuring out how to win games in different ways while also progressing in many areas. But we got to be consistent, as that’s what separates teams in this gauntlet of a league. If we can get the performance we saw out of them on Saturday on a consistent basis, this is a team that can be extremely hard to beat. I will be enjoying this bye week while I get to sit back and watch the rest of the SEC kill each other. Depending on how the LSU / Ole Miss game shakes out this weekend, October 26 could end up being that much more important. See you in 2 weeks.

Thanks,

AA / GC