Is bye week good or bad for Aggies?
12:53 PM CDT on Thursday, September 23, 2004
It makes so much sense. Take a bye after wrapping up non-conference
play, the perfect time to get healthy and ready for the Big 12 schedule.
But was there any Texas A&M player celebrating after Saturday's upset of
Clemson who wanted to wait two weeks to take the field again?
Not that it won't be nice for Aggies such as receiver Terrence Murphy to
have an extra week to get healthy. Still, this is the largest wave of
momentum this group has had to ride under coach Dennis Franchione, and
everyone must hope it hasn't fizzled out by the time the Kansas State
Wildcats roll into town.
A&M's players appeared to have acquired some new-found mental toughness
against Clemson. And the coaches did an excellent job keeping everyone
focused after the embarrassing season-opening loss at Utah. Now here
comes another test of their heads and hearts.
But there's an interesting twist. This wasn't supposed to be a bye week.
The Aggies were set to face Utah Saturday, before the game was moved to
Sept. 2 to be televised by ESPN. How would A&M's season have played out
with that schedule?
Several Aggies have said that the Utah loss might wind up being a good
thing in the long run. They certainly have seemed driven since.
Opening at home against Wyoming would have been a good opportunity for
all of A&M's newcomers to get out the jitters before taking on a tougher
opponent in Clemson. Then again, would they have been as prepared for
Clemson's talent without having seen Utah first?
The Aggies would certainly be more prepared to compete with Utah now
than they were in the opener. Ready to beat the Utes? Maybe not. Utah is
a very good team, and we still don't know if A&M can win on the road.
Right now, though, the most important question about the Aggies'
schedule is whether they're prepared to play Kansas State.
Q: What do you think the Aggies' chances are against the Sooners
this year? I know that the fact that the game is at Kyle Field is
definitely an advantage for the Aggies, but will it be the slaughter
that it was last year?
Lauren Latimer
COHEN: From a revenge standpoint, the roles are reversed from
last season. A year ago, Oklahoma badly wanted to retaliate for the
costly 2002 upset loss. Now, A&M looks for redemption from the 2003
humiliation. The Sooners are still the much better team, but between the
Aggies' apparent improvement and the fact that the game is in College
Station, it should at least be competitive this time around.
•••
Q: Given the goals of (1) improving, (2) going to a bowl game,
and (3) winning a game they aren't expected to win, could the game
against Clemson be considered the biggest game yet for the Aggies in
Coach Fran's short tenure? I see the “goal trifecta” being a long shot
if they can't come up with a W this week.
Doug Andreasen
COHEN: This question, obviously, came in before the Clemson win,
but it's still an interesting topic. It was definitely a valuable
opportunity for A&M for those three reasons. Not only did the victory
increase confidence, but it made a bowl berth a whole lot more
realistic. Plus, it should set up a huge crowd for the conference opener
against Kansas State, and every little bit helps in trying to win games
against that caliber of opponent. At the same time, Franchione is going
to have many other important games in the rebuilding process—the Aggies
need four more wins to become bowl eligible, and although the odds are
better now, it's still not a cakewalk. One of these days, A&M has to
beat a good team on the road. And defeating a school such as Oklahoma
State or Texas Tech that has climbed ahead of the Aggies in the Big 12
South would also be a key moment. But Saturday's victory was certainly
the biggest win of Franchione's tenure.
•••
Q: With all the youth getting significant playing time in A&M's
first two games, how does the Aggie two-deep roster stack up against the
other Big 12 teams? In other words, do many other teams have so much
youth regularly seeing the field?
Kris Heckmann
COHEN: Here are the figures for the Big 12 South schools, based
on the most recent depth charts available. (Note that teams often
include more than 44 names on their two-deep because more than 11
positions are listed to account for different formations or because two
players share first-string or second-string designations.)
|
School
|
Players on two-deep
|
Freshmen/redshirt
freshmen
|
Sophomores
|
Total
underclassmen
|
Percentage
underclassmen
|
|
Baylor
|
46
|
7
|
17
|
24
|
52.2
|
|
Oklahoma
|
50
|
7
|
7
|
14
|
28.0
|
|
Oklahoma State
|
47
|
8
|
13
|
21
|
44.7
|
|
Texas
|
48
|
8
|
14
|
22
|
45.8
|
|
Texas A&M
|
54
|
17
|
10
|
27
|
50.0
|
|
Texas Tech
|
46
|
13
|
10
|
23
|
50.0
|
If you're looking at just freshmen (in A&M's case, mostly redshirt
freshmen), the Aggies are playing a lot more than the rest of the
division. Add in sophomores, and A&M's percentage of underclassmen is
not much different from anyone else's - except Oklahoma. Yet another
reason the Sooners are so successful.
•••
Q: The Aggies can play well and beat the teams they are supposed
to beat, but they have not fared so well against tougher opponents
(i.e., Utah, Oklahoma, Texas or even Tech). They just do not seem to be
able to overcome adversity. Is this a characteristic of a
Franchione-coached team or just a young A&M squad?
David
COHEN: Another pre-Clemson topic (sorry, just got a lot of good
questions that week and couldn't fit them all in), but it's still
interesting to look at Franchione's past. The simplest answer is that
Franchione wouldn't have built a reputation as a turnaround artist if
his teams hadn't won games they weren't supposed to. The most famous is
probably his first TCU team in 1998, which beat Southern Cal in the Sun
Bowl as a 16-point underdog. According to information in the TCU and
Alabama media guides, Franchione was a combined 6-6 against ranked teams
in his tenures at those schools. (The only time his squad had the better
ranking was when No. 10 Alabama won at No. 11 LSU in 2002.)
•••
Q: What is the experience level of the offensive line starters
and can we really expect improvement?
Robert Irwin
COHEN: Strong-side tackle Geoff Hangartner is a third-year
starter, but this is his first season playing tackle after two at
center. He was also suspended during spring practice. Strong-side guard
Aldo De La Garza is a second-year starter. Center Chris Yoder is a
redshirt freshman. Weak-side guard Kirk Elder is a redshirt freshman who
didn't become a starter until the second game. Weak-side tackle Jami
Hightower is in his third season as a starter but missed last year with
a staph infection. So only one of the five was in the same position in
2003. Two others are playing their first season of college football,
another didn't play last year, and the fourth is playing his position
for the first time in college. Plus, a lot of shuffling occurred during
preseason practice, so these five have not played together a whole lot.
That left reason to believe there could be significant improvement from
game to game early in the season, and we've seen evidence of that. (This
was another pre-Clemson question.)
•••
Q: Will Fran put the players' names back on the jerseys when he
thinks they are playing for the name on the front? Or is that a
permanent thing leaving them off?
James Fields
COHEN: Franchione hopes that at some point this season, the team
will prove worthy of being awarded the return of the names to the back
of players' jerseys.
•••
Q: Did R.C. really leave the cupboard that bare? If so, how did
so many Aggies get drafted in recent drafts? Was the previous coaching
staff that poor at utilizing the talent we had?
Jesse
COHEN: At the very least, the cupboard of senior talent that
Franchione inherited last season was pretty bare. The 2004 NFL Draft
marked the first time since 1974 that fewer than two A&M players were
picked. WR Jamaar Taylor, taken in the sixth round, was the only Aggie
selected. It was also the first time since 1978 that no A&M player was
picked in the first three rounds. In the previous five years, the Aggies
had an average of almost five players taken per draft. Slocum was 117-41
in his first 13 seasons—it's open to debate whether A&M should have won
more with the number of future NFL players, but the Aggies still won a
lot with that personnel. The fact that Slocum's last team in 2002 was
perceived to be very talented and went just 6-6 certainly did not help
his cause, though. That squad produced six draft picks, including two in
the first round and two more in the second.
•••
Q: Do you know what happened to Cody Wallace, a redshirt
freshman? He was projected as a starter at the beginning of the season
but I've seen nothing of him. Hope it's not an injury.
COHEN: Two issues have set back Wallace, who was projected as a
starter at offensive tackle coming out of the spring. During preseason
practice, he was dealing with an injured thumb and a switch to guard.
Franchione said Wallace is close to competing for a starting position.
•••
Q: I'm wondering how Dustin Long and Derek Farmer are doing at
their new schools.
COHEN: Long is 56 of 87 passing for 889 yards with five
interceptions and seven touchdowns for Sam Houston State (2-1). He was
26 of 33 for 329 yards with no interceptions and two touchdowns in a
41-29 upset of Division I-AA's top-ranked team, Montana, Saturday. Long
earned some national Division I-AA offensive player of the week honors
for that performance. He was 19 of 39 for 329 yards with four
interceptions and two touchdowns in a 33-31 loss at Southwest Missouri
State a week earlier. Farmer has 72 carries for 347 yards and four
touchdowns for Stephen F. Austin (3-0). He also has five catches for 33
yards and a touchdown.
•••
Q: Jorrie Adams was reported to be A&M's top recruit in their
recruiting class two years ago and yet he is not even listed as a
starter in Coach Fran's current lineup. How is Jorrie progressing, and
what is his chance of making a significant contribution to this year's
team?
Tom
COHEN: Adams was projected as an offensive tackle coming out of
high school, but at 6-7, 275 pounds, he wasn't big enough yet to play
that position in college. The coaching staff shifted him to tight end
before last season. Then, this past spring, he was switched to defensive
end. Both moves were attempts to utilize his unique combination of
height and athleticism and to fill team needs. Adams appears to have the
metabolism we all wish we had—although he has built strength, he's still
"only" 282 pounds. Not quite an offensive tackle frame yet. But he's
progressing well at end and is a significant contributor. He's playing
behind Jason Jack, another big-time recruit who has more experience at
end than Adams. And A&M's defensive line rotation affords plenty playing
time for second-teamers. Adams has one-and-a-half tackles for loss and
half a sack this season as a redshirt freshman.
•••
Q: Why does A&M have different cornerback and safety coaches? How
do they ensure the defensive backfield is coordinated, especially in
zone pass defenses?
Joe Brunt
COHEN: As the Utah game showed, when a defensive back makes a
mistake, it usually turns into a big play for the opposing offense. So
that's Franchione's reasoning for assigning two coaches to the
secondary. He said the cornerbacks and safeties watch film together and
do some drills together, and the coaches communicate well, so he has no
concerns about coordination.
