ESPN's Matt Stinchcomb talks A&M/Louisiana before calling the game

Key notes from Matt Stinchcomb interview

• I’ve been on teams where things aren’t going the way you want. A&M is 1-1 right now, but it’s an ugly 1-1. From the outside looking in it seems that things are off the rails a bit. The challenge is working with what you have. And right now it’s not the ‘A’ plan.
  
  
• Having to recharge at the receiver position, a new face at quarterback and retooling up front makes things tough. Replacing your top defensive play makers is never easy. Then once the season hits and your guys start going down, it’s easy for things to get away from you.
  
  
• As an A&M fan you should be happy to get the win against Nicholls State not because you shouldn’t have, but because you needed to get back on the winning side of things. With all the turmoil going on, you have to play the cards you’ve been dealt and right now it’s not the best looking hand.
  
  
• A quarterback's best friend is a good front. That opens up everything else. If you can protect, eventually something is going to be able to break open. The offensive front can only block for so long but the same is true of the defensive secondary. If you can extend a play, someone will be open. The hard part for A&M right now is having free radicals in the equation. We don’t know what’s going on with the offensive line or young receivers who aren’t scaring a lot of defenses.
  
  
• The offensive front is compromising what A&M is able to do on the ground. The run element from the quarterback position forces the defense to block another gap and unsettles what the defensive scheme can be. The question becomes, what does A&M think they need to work on? The run or passing game?
  
  
• You need someone who can either ignite the running game or passing game. That could be at quarterback or by unlocking the potential in the receiving corps in the passing game. If you don’t have it at the receiving end, then you need a mobile quarterback. You have to be a threat at one of these things and make the defense pick their poison.
  
  
• I’m not sure this is the year of the quarterback in the SEC. You have an entire division in the SEC East that doesn’t know exactly what they have at quarterback. It could be more accurate to say that this is the year of the running back.