When this football season opened, there were questions as to how well newcomers Missouri and Texas A&M would fare in the Southeastern Conference.
As of now those questions have been answered.Missourihasn’t exactly blown away the SEC East, but the Tigers are still in position to land a postseason bowl with two more wins.
Texas A&M is another matter. The Aggies have proved they can not only compete in the SEC West, which is considered the best division in college football, but with three weeks left in the regular season they are still in position to win the division championship. Admittedly it is a long shot, but nobody else in the West other than Alabama can make that claim.
What will it take for Texas A&M to win the West you might ask? Well, the Aggies need to upset Alabama then beat Missouri and hope Auburn can also upset the Crimson Tide. If the stars line up just right and those scenarios happen, then Texas A&M will tie Alabama for the West title but will play in the SEC Championship game due to its win over Nick Saban’s team.
That’s all Kevin Sumlin’s team needs. It is not likely that all will fall in place for the Aggies to tie for the West championship. But even if it doesn’t, Texas A&M has accomplished what many thought impossible — the Aggies can stand toe-to-toe with most of the SEC. Even though they didn’t beat SEC heavyweights Florida and LSU, the Aggies have proven that their move to the SEC wasn’t the death blow many assumed it would be.
According to Sumlin, who is in his first year with Texas A&M after a successful four-year run atHouston, the credit goes to a solid group of seniors.
“The whole group of seniors has done a great job this year,” Sumlin said. “Transition is hard for everybody. It’s hardest on seniors. Those guys didn’t sign up for me, it’s their last year and there are new systems across the boards. The sooner you get a buy-in from seniors and the experienced players, the sooner you can have success.”
“I know a lot of our young guys are getting the credit, like Johnny and Mike Evans and a lot of our juniors, but without the leadership of Ryan Swope, Pat Lewis, Sean Porter, Jonathan Stewart and Steven Terrell, those kinds of guys, we wouldn’t be where we are right now.
“We haven’t really accomplished anything yet. What they have done is played good enough football to put us in a position to play meaningful games in November and that’s all you can ask for as a coach,” Sumlin said.
Before the season started, about the only people who didn’t feel like playing in the SEC would be overwhelming were the A&M players and coaches. They felt the excitement around campus about changing leagues and they looked forward to playing against the best of college football in the SEC, home of the last six national champions.
“It’s been a lot of fun because you can actually walk around and people actually like you,” said senior defensive lineman Spencer Nealy. “I dropped my dry cleaning off because I got a stain on my brand new pair of jeans and the guy comes out and was like, ‘Hey let’s get after them. We’re proud of y’all.’ If we were having a bad season, he probably would have kicked me out and sent me somewhere else.
“That’s been the nice thing about it. It has been a blast. Everyone is a lot closer because one, we love being up here. It’s not like we’re up here all day. We’ll stay here until 9 o’clock eating dinner, just kicking it.”
Texas A&M is facing its biggest road game of the SEC season this Saturday at No. 1 Alabama. The Aggies know what playing on the road is like in the conference — they’ve already been to Ole Miss,AuburnandMississippiStateand came away with wins in all those places.
“I think it’s definitely going to help this week,” said defensive coordinator Mark Snyder. “I think Coach Sumlin has definitely done a good job with our routine. The kids are used to our routine, I like our routine and we’re not going to change it. I think we’re gaining confidence — I don’t think there’s any doubt about that — and the fast starts have really helped us on both sides of the ball.”
A fast start would come in handy againstAlabama, the No. 1 team in the country.Alabamahas outscored its opponents 104-6 in the nine first quarters this season.
Texas A&M figured moving to the SEC would give the Aggies the chance to face a No. 1 team, they just didn’t know which team that would be — Alabamaor LSU. So now they know it is Alabama and they’re excited about the opportunity of being across the field from the Crimson Tide on Saturday.
“Philosophically, everybody is a bit different,” Sumlin said. “I think if there’s anything out of it that we’ve gotten as a team, even though we were disappointed to lose those games, there was a little bit of confidence out of our football team of being able to handle the physical nature of this league.
“The guys also understood that the Florida and LSU games had a lot to do with our mistakes and we can certainly play better. Our guys understand that. We haven’t played a complete game yet. I’m not talking about playing a perfect game. I’m talking about playing a complete game.”
Snyder, who was a defensive coach in the Big Ten atMinnesotaand a defensive coordinator atOhioState, has been in games where a No. 1 ranking was on the line.
“I’ve been on both sides. I’ve been on No. 1 and I’ve played No. 1 a few times,” said Snyder. “Everybody is amped and geared toward you when you are No. 1, and when you’re going against No. 1, there’s a certain buzz in the air, a certain excitement. For us coaches, there’s a reason they’re No. 1 — because they’re pretty good.”
“I haven’t looked at their defense very much but they have no weaknesses in their offense. All the way across the board, there are no weaknesses in this offense. Each week when you go into a game, you see a weakness here-or-there that you may be able to attack. They’re good across the board. AJ (McCarron) is playing really well. The offensive line is huge and really good at what they do. They’ve got two really good running backs and they’ve got tons of speed outside. They’re a complete offense.”
Senior linebacker Jonathan Stewart admits that the Aggies have a huge task in front of them but he believes they learned from their losses to Florida and LSU.
“We know that we’re going to have to play up to the part. We’re going against the No. 1 team in the nation. As we saw when we lost toFloridaand we lost to LSU, our two losses this year, we can’t beat ourselves,” he said. “When we’re going against top 10 teams, they don’t beat themselves. Unfortunately, in our two losses, we beat ourselves. We made crucial mistakes and we had crucial penalties and we didn’t beat them.
“We’re looking at it as just another week. We’ve got to go out there and do what we do and prepare, regardless of whether we’re playingSouth CarolinaState,Sam Houston State,Alabama, LSU orFlorida.”
Regardless of the outcome against Alabama, Sumlin is proud that his team can stand right up there with the best teams in the Southeastern Conference.
“I think it’s important the way that we have progressed and the way we have won and had the opportunity to win has been consistency,” he said. “One of the things you learn early as a coach is that you want to avoid the rollercoaster, the up and down. You try to develop a team that is consistent in effort and consistent in their quality of play.”