Monday Morning QB: In my feelings

The game happened close to 48 hours ago and I’m still thinking about it so I might as well write about it even though I want separation from football (more on that in a bit). But a couple of quick thoughts about what happened Tuesday and how it affects us moving forward.

If you haven't read Jake’s piece from this morning please do so, he’s much better at knowing football things than any of the rest of us are.

App State

I don't think I gave them enough credit for being incredibly well-coached and coming to what I thought would be a hostile environment (not a shot at the fans more at the team) and just straight up whipping our ass. All of 2020 we made our living by owning time of possession and the line of scrimmage and choking teams out. And this game was the equivalent of the App State coach grabbing Jimbo's hand and slapping him with it and saying “why are you hitting yourself why are you hitting yourself.” They knew we currently don't have the capacity to score quickly, so the fewer opportunities they gave us the better off they were. 4th down and 3? No brainer...forget yards this game is about the clock. Helluva gameplan.

Jimbo

I am struggling with the notion that Jimbo’s scheme is outdated. Before you yell at me, please let me explain. This is the same scheme that befuddled Bama last year. The plays are in the playbook, but this is about tempo, timing, sequencing of plays and overall play-calling philosophy. I believe firmly that there are some games that Jimbo is intimidated by and schemes his ass off, and others where he wants to run our base offense and do we what we do, to trust the process. Well, what happens when the process doesn't work?

EDIT: I forgot one thing that is driving me bananas about this game...and it’s about this tweet

In a second I’ll talk about Jimbo’s vision vs circumstances quote (sorry I know this is now all out of order)...but like...if you’re worried about not having enough plays to where you cant make a decision on who needs to be QB...then why not speed the game up? How can you say “well maybe if we had more possessions” when you’re snapping the ball with 3 seconds left on the clock?

ok that’s enough back to the piece.

Similarly, Haynes is a great kid who won this QB job mainly based on his depth of knowledge of the offense. But knowing the offense doesn't mean you’re gonna be the best person to run the offense (sound familiar?).

Will Jimbo hire an offensive coordinator? I don't know. How do you hold a guy with a 100 million dollar contract and a national championship accountable? No dang clue.

Jimbo likes to say that you either live in the world of vision or in the world of circumstance. There’s an opportunity in front of him to re-envision what this offense, this program, and his relationship to the success of Texas A&M football can look like. Will he take it? Or will he continue to live in circumstance?

Mental Health

This morning I woke up at 5 a.m. to get my kids ready to go. My oldest son had cross country so he had to wake up at 5:30 and I get my middle son up by 5:45. My middle son’s bus is supposed to get here by 6:02, but it wasn't there which stressed me out because I had to leave to drop my son off at practice by 6:15. My wife and I figured it out and I headed out the door and dropped my oldest son off (the bus was half an hour late).

This week we’ve got three cross country practices at 6:30 am, dance on Friday, an ARD meeting Wednesday afternoon, and then a therapy appointment for my middle son in the middle of downtown Austin on Friday. I don't say any of this to be all woe is me and shit because all of us have this stuff. We all have stuff going on in our lives and football is supposed to be an escape from it.

In the midst of all that I woke up this morning and my first thought was about that App State game. That’s not Aggie Football’s fault, that’s my own.

This team and this program occupy way too much of my headspace...and perhaps it would be different if like this was my job but no this is my hobby...which is weird because I bet woodworking has never left you so morose that you’re watching old highlights of previous woodworking years just to feel something after a bad woodworking loss.

And this isn't about the loss. This is just about having a healthy relationship with this program, and I don't think I have that right now...and I don't know what to do about that.

Moving Forward

I don’t know where we go from here. Will a QB change make all the difference? Will Foster coming back magically fix the OL? No dang clue.

I do know that there’s a helluva opportunity in front of us this weekend to frame this App State game as a fluke and not who we are...even if we might be lying to ourselves.

You either live in the world of possibility or circumstance. I wish I could say that I won't be watching with hopeful eyes this Saturday night against top 15 Miami, but you and I both know that would be a lie.