Photo by: Russell James/Texas A&M Athletics
After Math: LSU
Nov 28, 2016 | Football
Each Monday, 12th Man Productions' Will Johnson goes inside the numbers of the weekend's game with "After Math".
Texas A&M stepped into Thanksgiving night with high hopes for its postseason destination.
The Aggies welcomed LSU's Tigers to College Station, and with a win, had a chance to make a holiday trip to the bayou themselves for the Sugar Bowl.
LSU's offense 'grinched' any thoughts of the Big Easy around New Year's, grinding out 54 points.
John Chavis arrived from Baton Rouge as the A&M defensive coordinator prior to 2015. In his first 18 games, no opposing offense reached 30 points versus the Aggies. Three of the last seven have gotten there, including LSU's 50-plus on Thursday.
"We had some misalignments, we tackled poorly early," laments Kevin Sumlin. "We gave up big plays. It was first and second down with chunk plays that really hurt us. They really didn't have to get to third down."
What's particularly troubling was the Aggies' close against SEC offenses.
In A&M's last five SEC games, foes averaged 564.2 total yards. The Aggies played four Power-5 opponents prior to that stretch, none of which reached 500 total yards.
"The last few weeks the ability to get off the field defensively has hurt us," states Sumlin.
On the other side of the ball, quite the feat was accomplished.
Texas A&M's offense was the first this year to top 21 points against the Tiger defense…yet they were forced to play from behind all night.
A huge turnover right before halftime ensured that. LSU's Devin White raked the football from Trayveon Williams at the Aggie 20-yard line, with 43 seconds remaining in the 2nd quarter. The Tigers cashed in for a touchdown and A&M was suddenly down two scores.
"It was crucial," says Sumlin. "It was a great play by their guy. If we'd kept them out of the end zone things might have been different."
What does it all add up too?
1-3 certainly does not equal the number four.
The Aggies entered November ranked 4th in the country. Three defeats in the month sent them to an 8-4 finish to the regular season.
Interestingly enough, the eight wins currently ties for the second most in the SEC. Auburn, Florida and Tennessee also have eight, and the Gators would have to beat Alabama in the SEC Championship Game for No. 9. Remember, though, that LSU (7-4 overall) and Florida had non-conference games in which they'd have been heavy favorites cancelled.
Alabama was clearly the class of the league, and many will have opinions about no other SEC team reaching 10 wins or challenging for a second spot in the College Football Playoff.
But look past the surface, and dig a little deeper.
Nine SEC teams end the regular season with a true winning record (above .500). That's guaranteed to be the most of any FBS league. Not all conferences are the same size, so when looking at it percentage-wise it still favors the SEC, as 64 percent of its teams head to the postseason above .500 overall.
Those figures support the fact this remains the hardest league to win games in.
November wasn't easy. The sting of it remains. However nothing keeps this program from moving on to what's next. There's always something to play for out in front of the Aggies.
A&M will learn its bowl destination and opponent soon enough. The Aggies entered this campaign as one of 16 teams nationally averaging nine wins the previous four seasons (since joining the SEC). A win keeps them among that lofty grouping.
So whether the postseason destination is Houston, Jacksonville, Charlotte or Tampa, a lot is up for grabs and on the line in the bowl game.
Why?
Because it's next.
Players Mentioned
RB
/ FootballOne-on-One: Ishmael Aristide
Thursday, October 02
The Aggie Football Hour (Ep 5)
Wednesday, October 01
The Pulse #12.4 | You Gotta Want It
Wednesday, October 01
One-on-One: Mario Craver
Wednesday, October 01
