POST GAME THOUGHTS - LSU BEATS TEXAS A&M

Today, Kevin Sumlin’s Aggies suffered a double digit loss to an LSU program led by an interim coach that was missing most of its stars. Not only did the Aggies lose, but we did so in embarrassing fashion, giving up 622 yards...including a new school record 298 rushing yards...and 50 points to team that struggled to score 10 points last week against Florida.

This was an atrocious, indefensible loss...and one that Sumlin could not afford.

OFFENSE

The offense struggled in the first half through poor play calling and untimely mistakes that led directly to LSU points. The first half was not good at all...but bless their hearts they put it together in the second half. After putting up only 7 in the first half, the Aggies were able to adjust and put up an impressive 32 in the second. I don’t blame the offense for this game.

Specific points: I haaaaaaaaaaaate the horizontal passing game on second and short. On numerous occasions it resulted in 3rd and long. We seemed to go away from it in the second half, resulting in more lasting and productive drives. But it’s another illustration of how confusing and frustrating a Mazzone led offense can be at times.

I wouldn’t say Trevor had a good game today, but this was a ballsy performance by the senior QB. Despite being dinged up, he managed to lead this team down the field in the second half. As the TV announcers said, he was on the sideline keeping everyone’s spirits up. Trev did his part.

DEFENSE

This has to be one of the worst nights in Chavis’s career. The game wasn’t out of reach in the second half provided that we could get just 1 stop....but over and over again the LSU offense lined up and ran us over to the tune of 7-8 yards on first down. And then to add insult to injury, Danny Etling (not very good) managed to throw for 300+ yards.

I’m not smart enough to know if this was scheme/personnel. But even I could see that we were not nearly as physical as LSU. I hate to use the “soft” moniker that’s been tossed around, but really what other word is there? We got hit in the mouth over and over again, and couldn’t do anything about it.

SUMLIN

You cannot for one single second tell me that this team doesn’t have talent or heart. The players on this team are good enough to start at a bunch of other schools. What we don’t seem to have right now is competent, consistent coaching. I like Kevin Sumlin...and he’s done a lot to upgrade the overall facade of our football program, but the substance...his record in November is atrocious and the fact that he’s won one (!!!!!) SEC West game at home at Kyle Field since 2013 (Mississippi State, 2015) is just ridiculously bad. The numbers and facts simply don’t support the assertion that Kevin Sumlin is worth the 5 million dollars we pay him to be our head coach. This isn’t about feelings, this is about facts.

He’s been given money to hire coordinators. He’s switched assistant coaches. He’s changed S&C philosophies, and offensive schemes and everything else under the sun. We’ve had first year QB starts and graduate transfers. He’s done everything he’s capable of doing to field a championship quality program. And none of it has worked consistently.

And yes, it’s scary to think about firing a coach that wins us 8 games a year, but good is the enemy of great. And right now I’d say we aren’t even very good right now. This isn’t a kneejerk reaction to 5 straight losses to LSU...this is about his body of work in the post-Johnny Manziel era. It’s just not good enough.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE

The only thing that gives me any respite right now is that our athletic department is being led by the guy that was able to get Chris Petersen from Boise to Washington. In fact if we want to throw our hat in to the Herman ring, one thing we have going for us is that we are the only school led by a competent AD (sorry Joe Alleva).

I don’t know if we’ll fire Kevin Sumlin this year. I do know that there are jobs out there that he could get...Purdue for one. I suppose some of it depends on who we can land. Whether it’s this year, or maybe next year if/when Chad Morris wins 10 at SMU (assuming he doesn’t take the Baylor job?)...the truth is that tonight’s game was the final data point in making a determination on Sumlin’s fate. As much as we wanted him to have a statue up after winning multiple conference championships, we know it’s not going to happen. So I guess the only question to ask now is..who’s next?