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Longhornfrenzy

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  1. Lots of words Billy Liucci The Southeastern Conference motto is “It just means more.” Greg Sankey could just as easily make the league's new slogan, “What a difference a week makes.” That's never been more true than during the 2024 season when a team like LSU can come into Kyle Field with a head of steam, build a 17-7 halftime lead and leave wondering if they have what it takes to even contend. Or Tennessee, who can drop an inexplicable game at Arkansas (where LSU and Ole Miss put up a combined 97 points on Sam Pittman's Hogs) and then bounce back to beat Alabama just a couple of games later. We could come up with a dozen other examples from this season alone, but, unfortunately, this is one of those Sundays when a prime example of this year's inter-conference carnage can be found right here in good old Aggieland. From one magical Saturday night to the next (depending on who you're asking), Mike Elko's Aggies went from closing out a top-10 team with a stunning 31-6 run to being closed out as a top-10 team thanks to an equally as stunning 27-0 run. In beating LSU a week ago, A&M scored what many considered the long-awaited “breakthrough win.” Everyone in College Station and most around the country agreed, as the Ags suddenly found themselves squarely in seemingly every College Football Playoff discussion and debate. The Aggies were so impressive in taking down Brian Kelly's Tigers that most of the country's talking heads spent the week predicting A&M earning a tough win at Carolina and improving to 6-0 in the SEC, taking a giant step closer to the anticipated Aggie-Longhorn showdown on November 30. On Saturday night, however, it was Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks securing the signature win that had proven elusive since the end of the 2022 season (more on that in a bit), and it was 80,000-plus Sandstorm-loving fans who tore through the Williams-Brice shrubbery and stormed the field following a resounding and trajectory-turning 44-20 top-10 thrashing. Who knows if South Carolina can do what the Aggies (and Tigers and Alabama and most others in the league) could not following “momentum-changing” wins this fall and knock off Diego Pavia and Vanderbilt next weekend, but none of that matters to Texas A&M today. The fact is, the Gamecocks played like a top-10 team last night at home in an environment that was every bit as raucous as Kyle Field was a week ago or places like Death Valley and Bryant-Denny are for the biggest games on the schedule. With Cocky looking on, Beamer's bunch ran over, around and through Elko's Aggies en route to turning a 20-20 halftime stalemate into a 24-point beatdown. The Ags fell behind early, recovered nicely but then fell apart in the second half as momentum just continued to build as the home team made seemingly every meaningful stop and every big play on offense. Life in this league can be and usually is tough on the road, especially in the type of environment the Ags were unable to manage last night. That said, it's fair to have expected more from the Aggies based on where Elko and his squad had the arrow pointed heading into what anyone with half a brain knew was a daunting matchup. To a man, the Aggies knew what they were walking into in Columbia. Mike Elko hammered the point home before the Aggies could even begin celebrating last week's top-10 win over LSU. And if the guys in Maroon & White had any doubt, there were plenty in the visiting locker room that could have explained in great detail what happened two years ago at Williams-Brice Stadium. In that one, Xavier Legette took the opening kickoff back for a score. Jimbo Fisher's squad fell apart early, falling behind 17-0 just minutes into the game and eventually lost to a USC squad that was 4-2 entering the game. Last night's start didn't feel much different, as LaNorris Sellers and Raheim Sanders sparked an offense that rolled down the field for two all-too-easy scores to open the game. Two possessions, 109 yards and a 14-0 lead that had the rooster crowing and Aggie-haters across the SEC tasting a blowout. The defense settled down, and Marcel Reed and the Aggie offense finally got things going. Four straight scoring drives to end the first half and a tie game going into the locker room had to feel pretty damn good, considering the start. However, there were plenty of red flags in the first thirty minutes of action that proved to be a sign of things to come. Red flags that Elko and even the most optimistic among us were aware of even after A&M improved to 7-1 after last weekend's statement win. Throughout the first two quarters in Columbia, the Aggie defense missed too many tackles to count, the downfield passing game wasn't respected at all by the Gamecock defense, the offensive line really missed Chase Bisontis on the inside, and Le'Veon Moss leaving the game took away the only consistent threat on that side of the ball. South Carolina also did a terrific job of taking away the Reed running threat, making him give the ball up on zone-read plays and also essentially daring #10 to connect with what is still an underwhelming group of playmakers at receiver (by SEC standards, at least). Those were areas that, even while winning, stood out as obvious concerns when it came to closing the season out without a potentially devastating setback or two. To make matters worse, South Carolina was clearly the more physical football team, thanks in large part to a 6-foot-6, 250-plus pound quarterback in Sellers, a former 1,400-yard back in Sanders who finally looked healthy and a defensive front that was every bit as good as advertised. The Gamecocks also believed they had identified an obvious defensive weakness for the Ags, as they routinely ran the ball outside with the vaunted A&M run defense, unable to set the edge time and time again. Another unexpected, bad sign was A&M's inability to convert on pivotal short-yardage situations, something they've been so good at all season up until last night. The Aggies were on their heels and frustrated early but, once again, showed they're a tremendously resilient bunch by fighting back to take a brief lead and enter halftime tied on the road in as hostile an environment as you'll find in college football. A great place to be, all things considered. While the Ags hung in right up until the time Reed threw his first interception of the season with A&M threatening to cut the lead to 30-27 a few minutes into the fourth quarter, the reality is that most of the same issues plaguing the visitors in the first half were again exploited by the Cocks in the game's final thirty minutes. And things really came unraveled late, as a game that probably should have ended 30-20 spiraled into what amounted to a fourth-quarter party for South Carolina players and fans at the Ags' expense. Unfortunately, the end result isn't much different than what we saw take place at the same venue two years ago. The difference? That was in year five for Fisher, with the program on a clear and obvious descent. At the same time, Shane Beamer was essentially hanging on by a thread in Columbia. The Cocks beat A&M on a feel-good night but then made a major statement by knocking off then No. 5 Tennessee and No. 7 Clemson to close out that '22 season. Come to think of it, the win over the Vols exactly two years ago looked very much like last night's upset win. Josh Heupel's squad came in riding the high of a breakthrough win on Rocky Top over top-ranked Alabama, Hendon Hooker was the Heisman front-runner, and it all came crashing down as Spencer Rattler and the Cocks ran the Vols out of the stadium by a shocking 63-38 margin. That and the ensuing win over Clemson were the last breakthrough moments for Beamer and USC but anyone who has paid attention to South Carolina this fall knew a signature win was coming. The Gamecocks were up 17-0 against LSU earlier this season before Sellers left the game in the second quarter. A needless block behind the play kept the Gamecocks from putting the Tigers away late before Alex Herrera's 49-yard missed field goal as time expired, letting the visitors from Baton Rouge escape with a win. Beamer Ball also took Alabama to the wire, with a failed two-point conversion in the game's final minute keeping the Cocks from forcing overtime at Bryant-Denny. What I'm getting at is this: South Carolina is a damn good SEC football team that could easily have been in the position the Aggies were heading into last night's game. They were literally two plays away from that being the case and Beamer's team might be the most experienced in the conference. Mix in some big, physical ball-handlers on offense, and the pieces are there. It just hadn't come together for sixty full minutes. A bye week to prepare, a prime-time night game at home and getting the Aggies after an emotional and intensely physical four-quarter win seven days prior? There's a reason Elko tried all week to impress upon his players how tough it was going to be to fly home with a perfect SEC record still intact.. Of course, none of that changes the fact that, after fighting back from a disastrous start, the Aggies were well-positioned to steal a road win had they simply played 30 minutes of high-end football. Instead, the guys in Maroon & White played as poorly as we've seen all season and, if we're being honest, did so in virtually every phase of the game. Run defense, tackling, short-yardage offense, the passing game, offensive line play, punting and ball security. Defense? South Carolina ran roughshod over the Ags, amassing 286 yards on the ground and making it look way too easy. The Aggies missed dropping Sellers probably eight times. I know he's tough to take down, but other teams had done it 25 times entering last night's game. We're talking about drive-killing and game-changing plays, including on the second play from scrimmage when Scooby Williams missed the big quarterback for what would have been a drive-killing sack. Instead, USC picked up 25 yards, and the crowd exploded when the Cocks were in the end zone nine plays later. Missed tackles in space led to massive gains in the running and passing game, including a 57-yard Joshua Simon catch-and-run that put the game on ice. Linebackers and safeties with bad run fits that resulted in gash plays like Sanders' 52-yard touchdown run on 3rd-and-1 in the third quarter. It was that kind of night for an A&M defense coming off of an absolutely dominant second half against arguably the best offense in the SEC just seven days prior. On offense, the Aggies seemed to find a rhythm as the first half progressed, with Amari Daniels finding some creases and Reed eluding the Gamecock pass rush and oftentimes finding receivers while fleeing the pocket. By halftime, things were certainly looking up, but that all changed after the break. The South Carolina defensive line eventually took over the game, and Dylan Stewart and USC's linebacking corps started playing downhill against a run game that simply isn't the same without Moss on the field. South Carolina did what LSU couldn't by taking the ball out of Reed's hands in the designed run game, and the Aggies simply aren't consistent enough to successfully attack secondaries without setting things up via the run. Mix in three pivotal short-yardage stops, including a pair of risky fourth-down gambles that backfired and resulted in 10 South Carolina points, and a couple of second-half turnovers and a night that somehow saw the Ags on pace to put up 40 points at halftime result in a second-half shutout. The reality is that Elko and his team would be the first to tell you that the Aggies were outperformed on every level imaginable Saturday night. No one is immune to critique or criticism. I hate to tell you this, but it happens in this league. It sucks, but it happens. It's happened to what is supposed to be the best Ole Miss team ever twice. It happened to LSU last weekend at Kyle Field. To Alabama at Vandy and in Knoxville. To Georgia at Alabama, when the Bulldogs inexplicably fell behind 28-0 at Bryant-Denny. To Tennessee at Arkansas and to Texas when the top-ranked Horns found themselves trailing UGA 23-0 at halftime. Coaches and fan bases from Tuscaloosa to Knoxville to Baton Rouge are adjusting to “SEC parity” in real time. It also tends to happen in year one of a coaching regime. No matter how much the season results up until last night led us to believe Elko and the Aggies were above having, all things considered, a pretty dreadful showing.. Excuses? No, that's simply reality. If you're looking around at some of the highest-profile head coaches right now, Dan Lanning and Brian Kelly went 9-3 in year one (Lanning in the Pac-12), Josh Heupel 7-5, Steve Sarkisian (Big 12) and Mario Cristobal 5-7. The point I'm making here is that what happened last night to the Aggies happens to all but the most powerful of power programs and to virtually every first-year coach that has done it. See Kelly's LSU team led by Jayden Daniels being obliterated by a down-and-out A&M team two years ago this month. From where I sit, it seems as if Aggie fans understandably got their hopes up and expected their team to handle business on Saturday night in Columbia. Hell, for all we know, the A&M players went in feeling the same way before being popped in the mouth early and again late. That's always very tough to tell when talking about evenly-matched SEC football teams. And, yes, the Gamecocks matched up pretty well with the Ags on paper and in terms of All-SEC and NFL talent. That team is every bit as good as LSU, and the big differences were home-field advantage and the element of surprise at quarterback, with the Ags inserting Reed late versus the Tigers and Sellers being much, much tougher to take down than A&M defenders ever imagined. So be disappointed, as I'm sure the A&M players and coaches are as we sit here assessing the Sunday-after damage. The Ags showed fight, and I'm sure they will watch the game tape and realize how a should've-been sack here or fourth-and-one conversion or two there would have changed the game, but the reality is that was a disappointing effort from the Ags. A disappointing effort and outcome does not equate to a disappointing season, coach or team, however...and certainly not in the SEC, not in 2024 and not in year one under a new boss. Just like I said when everyone was ready to call year one of the Elko era a painful rebuild following the Notre Dame loss, the message today is it's the way this team responds that will determine how this season is remembered. Just seven days ago, most in Maroon & White were throwing around words like “special,” “resilient,” “tough,” or even “elite” when talking about this same team. Folks were peeping early December flights to Atlanta and debating where the Ags deserved to land in this week's initial CFP rankings throughout the week. Despite last night's showing and outcome, everything is still on the table for Texas A&M, as Elko was quick to point out in last night's post-game presser. The Aggies are a win as a road favorite at Auburn (a tough venue and dangerous opponent, if for no other reason than roster talent) away from taking the field in the regular-season finale in a “win and you're in” showdown against Texas. In what should be a 9-2 vs 10-1 showdown at Kyle Field, the winner will advance to Atlanta to play for an SEC title. As of today, the race for Atlanta is wide open, with five teams sitting on a single league loss and four more with two, including contenders Ole Miss and Alabama. By the time the Aggies play another SEC game (November 23 at Jordan-Hare), the list of contenders will be pared considerably, with marquee matchups like Georgia at Ole Miss, Tennessee at Georgia and Alabama at LSU likely paring the field of one-loss contenders to the Aggies, Longhorns and — at most — Georgia and/or LSU. The Aggies are still in a position that most would envy... Unless you're of the belief that too many weaknesses were exposed last night and, as a result, winning at Auburn and beating a very good Texas team (I say very good only because the Horns are anything but elite) at Kyle Field isn't doable. If that's the case, you're willfully throwing out whatever you saw through the LSU game that had you believing and ignoring what the last two Saturdays have shown when it comes to the home-field advantage in this league. And we are still talking about the 12th Man here, aren't we? But while throwing out a season's worth of evidence — not just in Aggieland but around the entire league — isn't a smart way to assess the Ags' chances, neither is ignoring what we saw last night and casting it aside as an anomaly. The Ags have been good but they're also far from great and have had to play as close to their ceiling as possible en route to reaching this point. Poor tackling and defensive busts due to poor run fits or failed blitzes don't mesh well with an offense that is largely dependent on staying ahead of the chains and keeping a gifted but still very inexperienced quarterback from playing from behind and trying to do too much. That's especially difficult to overcome when you're playing without First-Team All-SEC caliber talents at left guard and tailback (probably the two best players on the Aggie offense). Yet, here we are. The finish line is in sight, and Elko's Aggies are still sitting atop the league leaderboard alongside Georgia. The South Carolina Gamecocks humbled Texas A&M in a way that should have the Aggie players counting the hours until they can get back on the field. It'll be a long two weeks until the Ags take the field against New Mexico State following the upcoming bye, but the reality is this team could use a bit of a reset after a couple of physically and emotionally taxing weeks. Reed could use the extra practice time as QB1. A&M defenders could benefit from getting back to the tackling basics. Fingers crossed, a couple of key dudes could use the three full weeks between South Carolina and Auburn to get healthy and back on the field. Painful on-field lessons always feel tougher in the Southeastern Conference, don't they? Only time will tell what the Aggies learned from their ill-fated trip to Columbia, but time is exactly what Elko's squad has with an off week followed by an out-of-conference date. Time to get better, but no time to look back. It may not seem like it today, and certainly didn't feel that way during a disastrous second half at Williams-Brice last night, but the Aggies still have the opportunity to do something pretty special. To steal a storyline from my friends over at SEC Shorts, it's “Hope vs. BAS” in College Station and considering how wild and wide open this season of SEC football has been already, the Aggies have no reason not to shake last night's disappointing result off and keep their sights set on Atlanta
  2. Liucci Segment 1 (00:00:00 - 16:56:05) I don't know what losing the first game has to do with the SEC since Notre Dame is not in it. You would not include Notre Dame when talking about an easy schedule, considering that they will probably be in the playoffs. I never once said that Texas A&M did not get a great schedule. I said Texas has an easy schedule by SEC standards. The league gifted them a great situation in years one and two. Oklahoma and Brent Venables will have difficulty recovering from their first two years in the league. I believe they will ultimately undergo a coaching change. A lot of that is because they let Dillon Gabriel go, and the schedule is nearly unmanageable. The same thing can be said for Billy Napier. Those two schedules will result in two firings. It is not a coincidence. A&M has an easy schedule by SEC standards, and so does Texas. Both can be true. So does Ole Miss, and they are struggling. South Carolina is a better team than their record says. People in Austin are crowing about a tough Kentucky team. Have you checked who beat Kentucky 31-6? South Carolina would have beaten LSU by two scores if LaNorris Sellers did not get hurt. They almost beat Alabama. Nothing is easy in the SEC. Texas is going to learn that. I don't think anyone out of Austin can say that A&M has the easiest schedule in the SEC. LSU is sitting in the top ten. Missouri is ranked. Notre Dame is knocking on the door of the top ten. The schedule makers did Texas and A&M a favor. The biggest difference between Texas' and A&M's schedules are the road games. Texas has to come to Kyle Field, and they have to go to Fayetteville. Arkansas is twice as good at home. Texas A&M has to go to South Carolina, Starkville, Auburn and "The Swamp." That is night and day different. I would enjoy a Big Ten-SEC non-conference challenge. Football fans would enjoy that. I am sure plenty of people disagree. Coaches in both leagues would say their schedules are tough enough. I am all for it. I am all for A&M-Oregon or Texas-Ohio State. Imagine Kalen DeBoer traveling back to Washington. Sign me up for all of those types of games. It would be better than bowl games now. It is like Texas fans going to Ann Arbor this year and Michigan fans going to Austin in 2027. A&M fans get to plan a trip to South Bend. The Irish were looking forward to this one. The coaches aren't going to like opening a season with a power conference opponent. If A&M played Wake Forest to begin the year, they would be 6-0 and possibly ranked in the top five. It is a guaranteed win at home. As a coach, you don't want to play more of those games. You don't need it in the SEC. In 12 years in the SEC, Texas A&M is about .500 against Mississippi State. We like to think that it is way lower than A&M's rightful place and that we should never lose to them. That is not true based on what Texas has been on the field. Do I want A&M to win 75 percent of them moving forward? Absolutely, because .500 is way too low. That is why you have had two coaches fired. Losses against Ole Miss and Mississippi State played very big roles in Kevin Sumlin and Jimbo Fisher not making it. These are pivotal games. It is no secret that A&M has had some costly losses to Mississippi State. The most costly one was when A&M went up there ranked No. 4. Trevor Knight got hurt, but they were getting outplayed to that point. There is no telling if A&M would have won that game with a healthy Knight. The offense was struggling mightily. Outside of that year, Mississippi State has been on a fairly even level as Texas A&M and winning at home. When Mississippi State beat an undefeated and top-10 A&M team, they were clearly the better team. They beat A&M, LSU, and Auburn all in a row. They ascended to No. 1. Starkville is a tough place to play. I think you better take this game very seriously. The two times Texas A&M went into Starkville and won are the two best years in the league. If you go in there and win, it is fair to start wondering if this could be one of those kind of seasons. Segment 2 (16:56:06 - 23:56:13) Based on everything you just said about their history in Starkville, improvements from Mississippi State and what we've seen in the SEC this year, I would say signs that A&M has turned a corner would be winning the football game. If it's a 60-minute game that's close, I think they have just as much chance of coming back the next week and beating a top-10 LSU. I'm looking at Georgia now and saying, "What are they?" We're going to find out this weekend. Even if Georgia loses, it's a 60-minute game. They could still win out and be 10-2. If they're not very good, you have a Georgia team that doesn't make the playoffs. It's tough to judge everyone right now, and I think you need to judge based on wins and losses. If A&M beats Mississippi State handily, they will be 4-0 in the conference with a massive home game coming up. If they beat them comfortably, that will be three out of the four games in the SEC. Before people start talking, we don't know how good Missouri is, but they beat Vanderbilt, which is something that Kentucky and Alabama couldn't do. If they win the game against Mississippi State, it's good for the program. If they win comfortably, you have to start saying, "Is A&M playing as good of football as we're seeing in the SEC other than the school in Austin?" Texas has played no one. Is Michigan even ranked now? Oklahoma is unranked now. They have played no one. A&M has played Notre Dame and lost. They played Missouri and won, and I think Arkansas is better than people think. Segment 3 (23:56:14 - 31:30:29) Conner Weigman played fine against McNeese. It was a quarter and a half. All the criticism was based on Notre Dame. The reality was, yes, you should have been concerned and critical of that performance. Where it went wrong was assuming that it was the end of this quarterback who had a body of work that said it was an outlier. It wasn't guaranteed, but it was a "we have to see it." You expected it to go back to what it was coming into the season because we saw it enough prior. It would be significant for Weigman to stack really good games, including a road win this week. I don't believe he has had a road win. I think he'll go out and get it, just like A&M got one against Florida. It would be significant for A&M to win a third game away from Kyle Field. That would be significant because you have to win at Auburn and South Carolina. If Weigman, the offense and the passing game go out and play well and look like an efficient unit for two weeks in a row, you could keep saying that's what you expect to take the field every week. Still, there will be ups and downs. South Carolina has a better defense than Missouri and Mississippi State. Texas is a better defense than everybody else on the schedule. It might not always be up, but if he plays like he did against Mizzou, it will be good for him and his confidence. It would represent another step for an offense that keeps going on an upward trajectory. Cade Klubnik is a big reason why Clemson is one of the biggest surprise teams of the season. I said that Clemson would be, but I also said the same thing about Oklahoma. I had said for the last two years that Oklahoma was moving in the wrong direction, and I also said Steve Sarkisian was doing a better job of building an SEC football team than Venables was. That was a real assessment, and now, the Sooner fans are recognizing it. Their fans don't think they'll win seven games. They have Maine, and who else? Where are the other two wins? They have South Carolina this week, and that's a must-win for Oklahoma. Their defense got exposed. Look up Payton Thorne's passing yards vs. Oklahoma. I think he threw for like 350 vs. that defense. People who went to the game on Saturday are saying Texas is bigger, faster and stronger. People are starting to believe it. That's going to be the case for a lot of teams in this league. They'll be bigger, faster and stronger than the Sooners, and it's a failure by Venables. The schedule next year is no easier for him. The defense has been exposed for the last couple of weeks. Segment 4 ( 31:30:30 - 37:41:27) Texas still has a path to navigate as well to get there. Florida is a good team, and Georgia is as well. I'm still not buying Vanderbilt or Kentucky being capable of beating Texas. There is one caveat if I'm a Texas fan. Converting a lot of third-and-2s to third-and-4s and keeping that explosive offense off the field for a long period of time. I don't know if this is the Iowa State or Kansas method, but Texas is too overwhelmingly talented for Vandy. Maybe not for Kentucky with the way that Kentucky plays. For A&M, if the Aggies lose the game this weekend, then it's alarming and concerning. If they were to lose to LSU, South Carolina or Auburn, everyone would be off the ship. If they go 3-1 in these four starting this weekend, in year one under Mike Elko, you will still be playing in your final game of the regular season for an SEC title berth. You are first in the conference for the first time since you joined 13 years ago. You are first in any conference since 1998. You'd be playing for that in your final game of the regular season. A&M has never played in game 12 to where they would be in the title game if they won. I think it would almost be a certainty if you were 6-1 with the chance to get 7-1 in the league. In your last game, and with a new head coach. That would be a hell of a first season for Mike Elko. If they look good or win in Starkville and if they just figure out a way to beat LSU. Look at the upcoming games. One that should be a toss-up, and the other where you're frankly just a better football team. That's when I'll start taking a realistic look at the things other teams are talking about. I got to see a little more. I need to see A&M beat two top-10 teams in the country at home with not only Missouri but LSU, too. I need to see them win another road game, and I need to see that path shrink. I don't think this team will be good enough to survive an off or a down week. The challenge for Elko and the Aggies is exactly what he said yesterday. They know it's going to be a tough environment, and they know they have to play their asses off in Starkville
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