Momentum Shifts: Four keys to taking the fight to the Tide

Trying to come up with something that the team will use as momentum moving forward is a tall task this week. Anyone who has ever read my writing would be quick to point out that I’m typically optimistic to a fault. Especially when you know the guys on the team and what they are capable of, you tend to have this belief that everyone else will get to see it too. For the first time since Jimbo arrived in Aggieland, I’m starting to get a little worried. 

There were a lot of expectations coming into this year, probably the most that there have been since Johnny returning in 2013 after winning the Heisman (not quite that level, but you get the point). With the college football and SEC landscape so wide open, we felt good about our veteran team coming back. Suddenly one game into the season, we feel like we’re young all over again and are coming off of probably one of our worst performances in a while. We didn’t exactly dominate the line of scrimmage, our quarterback and wide receivers weren’t always on the same page, we sat back at times on defense and we didn’t protect the football. 

So where do we go from here?

We’re heading to Tuscaloosa coming off of a five-point win against a consistent bottom-of-the-barrel SEC team. Concerns are flying all over the place and the fanbase is getting impatient. We aren’t looking to the future anymore; we are in win-now mode. My hope is that this team and coaching staff feel that sense of urgency and prove to the rest of the country and most of us that we may have given up a little too early. We’re definitely past the point of going into Alabama searching for moral victories. It’s time to step up and be the team we are capable of being. 

Kirby Clarke, TexAgs

Former A&M special teams coach Jeff Banks is working with elite weapons at Alabama.

Since we have little to no momentum coming from last week, I have four ways that we can create some on the road this week.

The first is to win the special teams battle. Facing Alabama’s talent on the other sideline is hard enough, but throwing Jeff Banks into that mix makes things even more difficult. We have to make sure our special teams are on point from the opening kickoff. If we let one thing slip in this area, Alabama will pounce quickly. Our punt team will be huge, and we have to be able to flip the field and not let Jaylen Waddle take over the game. Obviously, it is on our offense to stay on the field and not leave us backed up, but the guys on that unit have one of the biggest jobs of the weekend. If we can do those things, we can halt Alabama’s momentum and win the field position battle. 

Second, we have to be aggressive on third downs and in the red zone. I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir here, but sometimes I feel like we’re trying to be too safe. As someone who coaches, I’m all about doing the stuff you work the most and feel comfortable with, but at the same time, at this level, you have to be able to adjust. We can’t be afraid to take shots in critical situations. At some point you have to let your dudes be dudes and see if they can make the big plays.

I also want to see us make Alabama uncomfortable when they are on offense. Mac Jones is a good quarterback and he’s only going to get better, but I think he is somebody we can rattle if we get after him and give him different looks. We know who he is comfortable giving the ball to, so we have to try and take those guys away or trick him into forcing a ball to them. If he sits back with a clean pocket and our defense playing 10 yards off of his receivers, it will be a long day for us. An occasional flag is worth it if it means we are bringing the fight to them.

Third, and maybe most critical: Kellen has to use his legs. He is too natural a runner to be caged up in the pocket all of the time. If we call designed run plays for him, that means we are adding another blocker and don’t have to worry about free defenders. If we never present the threat of him running, Alabama can sit back in what they are comfortable doing and try to shut down our young running backs and receivers. Kellen has the most experience on our team, and we need to live and die by him. At this point in his career, the game plan must be centered around him, and if that doesn’t work out, then maybe we look elsewhere. Until we give him that freedom, I don’t think we’ll ever know his potential and the potential of the team. I think if we really let him loose, the team can feed off of that.

Finally, we can’t hold anything back in our gameplan. If we need to pull out the bag of tricks on offense, what is there to lose? In my time playing and even after, I’ve always thought that if we stick to our guns we can beat these guys. I was wrong. You have to throw everything you have at them, and when you’re done with that, throw some more. There’s absolutely nothing that should hold us back from trying to go in and tear Bryant-Denny to the ground. If you want to throw a deep ball, I hope to see Demas flying down the sideline to go catch one. If you want to bring the house at Mac Jones, do it. There’s this feeling you always get going into the Bama game that those guys are just different, and that’s exactly right, so we might as well go be a little different too. 

I hope we don’t hold anything back. Gig’Em!

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