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Young teams, man. Young freaking teams. One week they come out and lay an egg against ULM and the next they take down the number 3 ranked team on the road. Young freaking teams. I don't even know how to digest all of this so I'm going to keep this short. But before I do...do yall realize how much the odds were stacked against us? True frosh QB playing behind a retooled OL. Freshmen starting everywhere. Walking wounded in the defensive secondary...yet, man. We still came out on top. Young freaking teams. Holy hell.
Let's go into some quick thoughts
Defense
I thought our defensive line had an outstanding day. I thought they played their absolute asses off. Myles Garrett, as a true freshman, might be the best defensive player we've had at A&M in recent memory...and I dont think that's hyperbole. He's just that good...and we missed him when he got dinged up. But he is absolutely Von-esque in his ability to shape the flow of the game. How about Julian Obioha? Coming through in the clutch after getting dinged up. Just an outstanding effort all around by our DL.
LBs played well for the most part too. Justin Bass is limited physically, but when he can he'll give you a play or two. The two true freshmen, Walker and Alaka (Boom Walk Alaka) are going to be stars for us. Hell they're stars already. What I like about them is that they attack the damn ball. Forget waiting for the ball carrier to come to them, they attack. Did we take poor angles from time to time? Yes. And that's something that's been plaguing us all year long. But I'd rather take a poor angle here and there and be aggressive.
Secondary struggled a bit. Devante Harris is good, but man they don't let him get away with anything at all. Deshazor is an absolute gamer. Think about this...he has a ruptured elbow. Is there anything that sounds more painful? A ruptured freaking elbow. Yet he was still able to make a crucial play by picking up the blocked FG to run it back. Man.
Offense
This is Kyle Allen's team. Man, is he poised and man is he talented. Did he make a couple of boneheaded plays? Sure. But that's what true freshmen do. I remember him on the sideline bouncing around to Sandstorm and thinking to myself " that dude might want to calm down a bit...he's coming in a little hot"...and then he promptly threw an awful pick. Whatever. He was the perfect combination of game manager and game winner tonight. One thing about Allen...you know those offsides penalties that Auburn had? Pretty sure Kyle was tweaking the snap count to draw them. Heady plays by the young man.
RBs played balls out. Every single one had a big play. The way we use them perplexes the hell out of me, but they definitely got used tonight. Especially great to see Trey Williams running all over Auburn, the team that we beat him for.
WRs...what would you say if I told you that we'd still win this game despite a pretty unproductive game by Speedy? You'd call me crazy right? Well we did in large part to RSJ playing like the 5 star he is. We saw a level of effort out of RSJ that we haven't seen in a while. Malcome Kennedy shook me out of my drawers on that toss play. Our WRs finally FINALLY played like a Beatty-coached squad.
OL played their best game all year. Not all that surprising. Ced is a natural RT and the transition to LT has been difficult for him. Jarvis, I thought, played some of his best ball last year when he played at LT. Also, the unsung hero of the night was Mike Matthews. I thought the interior of the line played incredibly well and all of the snaps were on target. Great great job.
Last thing I'll mention....I don't agree with that 3rd and 8 call on our own goal line. Maybe it's the right call...Maybe it's the safe call to run the ball. Maybe if Malcome picks up a block Trey gets the first. But I don't know. Felt weird.
Overall
I had a feeling about this game. Same kind of feeling I had for South Carolina. No clue why...I really really thought from the get go that we had a chance. This was a signature win, that demonstrates to everyone, recruits, fans, whomever...that Kevin Sumlin is a damn good coach, and the Texas A&M Football program is for real. Even in a down year we are still a threat on the field. Make no mistake. This was not a fluke victory.
On to the next one. BTHO mizzou.