Another Saturday, another opportunity to bounce back from a lopsided loss.
The Aggies have had too many of those over the past couple of seasons.
The Aggies are on a disturbing trend, losing seven of their last 22 games by at least 20 points and four of those by 30 or more.
During that stretch, the Aggies are 9-13, which means more than half of the defeats have been the kind that empties stadiums and gets TVs shut off early.
Only three BCS conference teams -- Washington, Washington State and Syracuse -- have had more 20-plus point losses in the last two years than A&M. Three others -- Baylor, Iowa State and Indiana -- are tied with seven.
None of those are places where ESPN's Game Day plans to frequent any time soon. It's also not the company A&M wants to keep for too long.
One positive for A&M and its fans is that it appears this team has been able to put one-sided losses to Arkansas and Kansas State behind them. The Aggies were one play away from having two bounce-back victories after the first of three big losses this season, nearly defeating a very good Oklahoma State team before exorcising those demons with a victory over Texas Tech in Lubbock.
Rebounding that way speaks highly for their character and for their commitment to head coach Mike Sherman and his staff.
It doesn't speak highly for where the program is, however, since losses like last week's 65-10 rout to an Oklahoma team having a down season continues a bad trend. Even Duke, a perennial ACC doormat, has only been outscored by 30 or more once in the past two seasons.
Although it doesn't soften the blow, there are some legitimate reasons for the landslides. The biggest of these is the Aggies' depth chart, which lists 28 underclassmen, 11 of which are starters. It's difficult for young teams to stop the bleeding once it begins, especially on the road.
The last time A&M started this many freshmen and sophomores was in 2005. The Aggies went 5-6 that season and had three losses of 20 points or more.
The following season, the Aggies went 9-4 and made it to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego.
Another reason A&M may be the victim of some lopsided games is that the Big 12 is one of the highest-scoring conferences in the country. Three of the seven teams with the most lopsided defeats are in the Big 12. Two more teams from that list are from the Pac-10, another conference known for lighting up the scoreboard.
Then again, neither OU nor Texas has suffered a 20-point loss over the past two seasons, including 28 combined Big 12 games. Tech has the second-fewest on that list with three and a handful of schools have four, including Colorado, which owns the worst record in the Big 12 this season.
What's truly alarming is one of A&M's 20-point losses over the past two seasons came against Baylor. That 41-21 loss late last season in Waco was arguably the worst of all the recent blowouts. The Bears have only won four games in each of the last two seasons, a high-water mark for them as a member of the Big 12, and yet the game wasn't as close as the score. The Bears dominated, leading 41-7 at one point.
But the Aggies have another chance for a bounce-back victory this Saturday, and this one can get them into a bowl game.
Richard Croome's e-mail address is richard.croome@theeagle.com.
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