Texas
Why Texas A&M’s \nCollege Football Playoff, SEC title hopes dissolved in November
COLLEGE STATION — At the conclusion of Week 9, Texas A&M football had just used a second-half comeback to beat the LSU Tigers showing the SEC and the rest of the country that they were a force to be reckoned with.
A&M was 5-0 in the SEC and in the driver’s seat for a playoff berth and a conference championship appearance. Pundits and analysts around the nation began to praise head coach Mike Elko and the job he had done in his first year with the program.
From that point on, things unraveled for the Aggies.
A&M went 1-3 to finish out the last month of the season, with all three of their losses coming at the hands of SEC foes. They finished 8-4 and missed the SEC championship and the playoffs altogether.
“Losing our last three conference games and not being able to close the deal and going to Atlanta. Yeah. I mean, it sucks,” Elko told reporters Saturday following the loss to the Texas Longhorns. “There’s no sugarcoating it. There’s no soft words around it. We had our opportunities, and we didn’t get it done. And so it’s disappointing.”
Each loss to South Carolina, Auburn, and Texas was unique in the way A&M failed. Let’s take a look at what ailed A&M in each of those disappointing results.
Gamecocks run over the Aggies
Texas A&M’s fatal flaw: Tackling
Heading into the matchup, some believed the Gamecocks were better than their 2-3 conference record indicated. South Carolina was led by a big-bodied freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers, and a proven running back in Raheim Sanders.
Despite that, if the Aggies were as good as many believed they were, winning a night game at William-Brice Stadium would be a challenge but something they would be able to overcome.
However, South Carolina jumped on Texas A&M early, using the running game to score two first-quarter touchdowns. The Aggies were able to head into halftime tied 20-20, but thanks to 24 unanswered points by the Gamecocks, A&M was stunned for its first SEC loss of the season.
South Carolina rushed for 286 yards on the ground and exasperated A&M’s poor tackling in what would become the defense’s Achilles heal, missing 25 tackles in the game, according to Pro Football Focus.
Tigers light Aggies up
Texas A&M’s fatal flaw: Pass defense
Following the South Carolina loss, the Aggies had its final bye week of the season then an inferior New Mexico State team. Despite the sound win over the other Aggies, A&M’s road test against Auburn on the Tigers’ senior night would paint a clearer picture of Texas A&M.
A&M went down 21-0 against Auburn, stunned early by chunk plays in the passing game. They would respond, ended up tying the game, and eventually took the lead late.
It wouldn’t be enough, though, as the Aggies and Tigers went back and forth for a four-overtime thriller. A&M was unable to make one final stop (on a pass play, fittingly enough) while running back Amari Daniels dropped a pass in the endzone to seal its second SEC loss.
The Tigers finished with 301 passing yards while running back Jarquez Hunter added four receptions and three scores on the ground.
Longhorns were just too much
Texas A&M’s fatal flaw: Line play
Despite the downward spiral that was the Aggies’ late-season collapse, all of their goals were still within range ahead of a massive rivalry-renewing matchup against the Longhorns.
All eyes were upon Kyle Field for the highly anticipated matchup. Then the game became a perfect storm of frustration for A&M as much of what has hurt them this season became abundantly clear against its in-state foe.
A&M’s offense was held scoreless, turning the ball over three times. An offensive line that paved the way for at least 134 yards on the ground in every game this season managed just 98 total, and most of that came from the quarterback. A&M had its worst offensive output since Week 1 against Notre Dame, when then-starting quarterback Conner Weigman passed for a measly 100 yards, the Aggies mustering just 13 points in the process.
As bad as the offense was, the defense had very little answers as well. Texas tallied 458 total yards, highlighted by 240 rushing yards, with running back Quintrevion Wisner racking up 186 of them himself. Even backup quarterback Arch Manning ran in for a touchdown.
While A&M was trying to mount a comeback at 17-7, Texas was able to drain almost three minutes of the game clock and picked up a key first down by running the ball with Wisner four straight plays. The next Texas drive: six straight run plays, 20 yards, and 2:30 more gone from the clock.
A&M’s defensive line, thought to be a strength of the team, sacked a hobbling Quinn Ewers just once on 28 dropbacks.
There is a lot to be excited about when it comes to the future of Texas A&M football. The Aggies, in a sense, outperformed what many had thought they would in Year 1 of the Mike Elko era. There is plenty to work on still, much of it highlighted in the final month of the year.
But the Aggies head into 2025 understanding what they have and, perhaps even more so, what they don’t.
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