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The opposite of love isnt hate. It’s indifference. What we thought was going to happen today happened. Beyond the fact that the home team never wins in this series...the fact is that Kevin Sumlin coached teams dont win big SEC games at home...and certainly not in the month of November. So right now I’m not sad. I’m just kind of numb. Three quick thoughts.
1) Starkel
Do we have a QB? There’s no doubt that the offense seemed to click when he came in to the game. Both Ratley and Kirk seemed to find their stride with someone who could somewhat accurately and adequately get the ball to them. The running game seemed to take off now that there was a threat of a decent passing game. I’d be surprised if Starkel didn’t start next week. He didn’t have a great game (11/22 for 184, 2 TDs) but it was better than what we have seen.
Mond is still really talented. He’s just not ready to run this offense and we’re not willing to change it. So there you go.
2) Stidham
The winding story of Stidham and Sumlin seems to have come to a definitive end with Stidham getting the final upper hand. Stidham finished 20/27 for 268 yards and 3TDs.
A&M could have had Stidham in 2015 but went with Murray for a variety of reasons. A&M could have again had Stidham in 2017 but went with Mond for a variety of reasons. You make the call on how those decisions worked out for us.
3) Sumlin
I’m trying to bite my tongue right now but that stretch to end the half where we went conservative (all while Starkel had some momentum) and ended up with a blocked punt might have been the most gutless football I’ve seen in a long time. Let your players play and play to win on every single drive. We played like we were content going into to half down 1 and ended up going there down 8. Frustrating as hell.
Not much else to say. The Sumlin era is over and this loss definitively makes it a matter of when and not if. Now we just wait and see when the other shoe drops so we can move forward in hopes of a better football program.
BTHO new mexico