Texas A&M learns about itself and will continue to learn from last year
HOUSTON — If any program in college football knows the danger of putting too much stock into one late summer night, it’s Texas A&M. If any coach knows the peril that awaited his players when they turned on their phones late Saturday night at NRG Stadium and started scrolling through the Instagram posts and Twitter tributes, it’s Kevin Sumlin.
Only a year ago, the Aggies were the toast of the sport after thrashing South Carolina, and they soaked in all the glory that came with an out-of-nowhere dominant performance against a team they weren’t supposed to beat. But reality eventually came for the Texas A&M, slowly at first then with the force of an avalanche, leaving the program miles farther from an SEC championship than it was when Sumlin and a kid named Johnny Manziel stormed into the league.
“If you learn anything, you learn from last year,” Sumlin said.
So nobody here, particularly Sumlin, was going to make too much of what happened Saturday in a 38-17 victory against No. 16 Arizona State. It was a nice night for the program, no doubt. It was a tremendous debut for speedy freshman wide receiver Christian Kirk, who had two game-changing touchdowns, and a confidence-building fourth quarter for quarterback Kyle Allen, who was shaky for much of the game. Most of all, it was early validation of Sumlin’s decision to lure defensive coordinator John Chavis from LSU with a $1.7 million contract.
“He’s a guy I’ve always had respect for as a coach playing against his defenses and the way that he philosophically does things,” Sumlin said. “The buy-in was immediate by our kids.”
On that point, there can be no doubt.
Texas A&M has never looked better defensively in the Sumlin era, holding Arizona State and its typically high-powered offense to 291 yards. More than the numbers, the Aggies’ pass rush was relentless and its secondary looked fundamentally sound; a complete turnaround from the Mark Snyder-led defenses of the last three years that lacked physicality, routinely had coverage breakdowns and struggled to tackle.
“We really just executed well,” said sophomore defensive end Myles Garrett, who may be the SEC’s most gifted player at any position. “Coach Chavis put us in the right position to make plays, and we just got it done.”
Once Garrett and fellow end Daeshon Hall started shedding blocks, Arizona State barely had a chance. The Aggies sacked Sun Devils quarterback Mike Bercovici nine times and allowed 92 rushing yards on 41 carries. A defense that could always be counted on to give up a handful of big plays didn’t allow a play of more than 20 yards until the fourth quarter.
“We were just letting them tee off,” Arizona State coach Todd Graham said. “(Garrett) was across the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped. He was getting off the ball better than we were on offense. We didn’t see much we didn’t prepare for; they were just doing it fast and hard and you could see their defensive coordinator has had a big impact on them because they played really good tonight.”
Eventually, Sumlin will have to confront some issues with this team, starting with quarterback and a potentially burgeoning controversy. Allen looked pedestrian much of the night and committed two bad turnovers but righted himself late. Highly-touted freshman Kyler Murray gave the team a spark with his legs, but he has a long way to go throwing the ball. Sumlin acknowledged he played it by feel Saturday and will need to move forward with a better plan for how to use them both. Moreover, the Aggies didn’t get explosive plays out of their running game, and their receivers dropped several passes, which could be chalked up to typical first-game sloppiness.
The fact Texas A&M doesn’t play Alabama until Oct. 17 and won’t leave the state of Texas until Oct. 24 gives Sumlin some time.
If anything, they leave with more questions about their offense than their defense, which hasn’t been the case at any time since Sumlin arrived in 2012.
“It was a hell of a performance by a number of people,” Sumlin said. “Our d-line was active and our secondary was extremely active and our safeties and corners challenged balls. There weren’t a whole lot of wide open people and when they were open, our guys came up and were physical. We tackled well tonight and it had a lot to do with our safeties covering a lot of ground out there and letting our corners run man to man.”
It also had a lot to do with Chavis, who appears to be worth every penny Texas A&M is paying him and the ongoing headache of a legal battle with LSU over his buyout money. Nobody doubted one of the most accomplished coordinators in the history of the SEC was going to make a difference for the Aggies, who weren’t even in the top 100 last year in total defense. But if he has indeed made up as much ground as it appeared Saturday, this victory will serve as a warning that the Aggies finally mean business.
“He’s just an honest guy,” Garrett said. “He gets after us. He’s never going to tell us wrong, and he changed the demeanor around here. You have to have effort and physicality and we showed that tonight. Everyone has been down on us, and there was no place for us to go but up, so we have to take it from there and keep on going.”
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