POST GAME THOUGHTS: A&M loses to Miss. State 28-13

Another year, another loss to Mississippi State. We officially came back down to earth today. I’ve heard folks talk about us as playoff caliber, and Herbie today said that we wouldn’t lose another game...that’s not who we are. We’re still building. We’ll still figuring things out. And in the process of figuring things out, sometimes you make mistakes. Huge mistakes. Today was a day that we made mistakes. Let’s break it down

NICK FITZGERALD

There’s a nightmarish Mount Rushmore of people who have kept me up at nights based on their performances against A&M. Nick joins his buddy Larry on this pantheon of hellish pain with his performance over the past three years. Tonight he was 14/22 for 241 yards and 88 yards rushing. He’s now accounted for close to 400 yards rushing, and damn near just as many yards passing against us over the past three years. He’s kicked our ass. What more can you say. Hat’s off to you Nick. Glad you’re graduating.

MISSISSIPPI STATE DEFENSIVE LINE

I mean they whipped our ass tonight. What more can you say than that? We had 57 yards rushing. FIFTY SEVEN YARDS RUSHING. Jeffrey Simmons and his crew just flat out whipped our offensive line and won the line of scrimmage. We always knew our offensive line was a liability and today it showed itself in a major way.

DROPS ON DROPS ON DROPS

We have a WR issue on this campus: the issue is that we don’t have a single reliable WR that we can count on day in and day out. I thought we could count on Jace but tonight proved that we couldn’t. We had at least 6 drops of perfectly catchable balls. I don’t know what to do about that but you cannot win close games without clutch performances by your skill players. I’m not saying that Kellen Mond was perfect, but dadgummit he was good enough. Our WRs were absolutely not. Huge glaring issue.

SECONDARY

I’ll be shocked if we don’t see at least 2 true freshmen starting next year. This secondary is bad. Nick Fitzgerald hasnt thrown for a 100 yards in three straight games yet tonight he had 240. He didn’t just learn how to pass, we just suck in the back four. We absolutely suck. And it’s not only a talent issue but also a coaching one. Elko’s background is in the back four and yet we are horrible there. Maurice Linguist is a great recruiter, but the unit he’s responsible for let us down today in a big way.

Are we a young team? I don’t know, but I know we’re building something. Tonight was a setback in all three facets of the game. Time to regroup, refocus, and get ready to beat the hell outta auburn.