By ROBERT CESSNAMike Sherman knew he'd have to help his players handle frustrating losses, just not this soon.
Arkansas State's 18-14 upset of Texas A&M on Saturday night also delayed Sherman's first chance to acknowledge a victorious crowd at Kyle Field. And many of the 79,000-plus fans turned into arm-chair quarterbacks by game's end.
"I am fairly resilient," Sherman said. "I've been doing this long enough to have been in these situations before. [But] I have complete confidence in how we do things, what we're doing and the manner in which we do them. I have no doubt that we will win."
The sooner the better, but Sherman said sometimes it's like the weather in Texas -- you have to handle the heat of August to enjoy the cool weather of November and December.
"We'll have some cool weather, when that is exactly -- I can't pinpoint," Sherman said. "[But] I know for a fact we'll have it."
Until then, there might be some more rocky times during this transition period.
"That wasn't part of my contract," he said, showing he hadn't lost his sense of humor.
Sherman told his players at Sunday's meeting they needed to be accountable, then showed them how.
A&M's offensive braintrust made a couple bad calls at crucial points.
The Aggies had a chance to put the game away just before halftime after Arkansas State's lone turnover. Cornerback Jordan Pugh caused a fumble on a blitz with defensive end Michael Bennett recovering, halting a promising ASU drive.
Just for a split second, the crowd was thinking Wrecking Crew.
A run and pass by tailback Mike Goodson gained 19 yards as the Aggies started their 2-minute drill impressively, but A&M eventually faced fourth-and-one at the ASU 33.
The Aggies opted for Goodson, who was tackled behind the line as ASU's defense strung out the play.
Goodson had 12 rushes and two receptions before that for 103 yards.
"We probably should have gone up the middle," Sherman said.
Then A&M failed miserably in goal-line offense early in the fourth quarter.
Goodson lost a yard on second down from the 2, and McGee was sacked, leading to a missed 25-yard field goal.
"That's ridiculous we didn't get it in," Sherman said.
That would have made it 21-9. Instead, ASU went 80 yards in 10 plays for a 15-14 lead.
Those plays magnified A&M's inability to score on its last eight possessions, which were stifled by sacks and turnovers.
They weren't the things that caused Sherman to miss sleep the night before the game. He was worried about delay of game penalties, jumping offside, not having the right personnel on the field or not lining up correctly. The lone penalty A&M had was roughing the passer.
"We functioned well," Sherman said.
They just didn't function effectively, especially in the second half when ASU outgained A&M 225-103 in yardage.
All the little things added up to a colossal loss.
Quarterback Stephen McGee pulled off his first read too quick, a receiver didn't run the route deep enough, someone missed a blitzing linebacker, the running back didn't follow his block or a defender missed a tackle or went the wrong way.
Sherman said the players did a tremendous job during spring and fall practice, buying into his system. They are about 80 percent there, but they have to add that final 20 percent.
"I told them to trust the call and don't ad-lib," Sherman said.
Trust takes time, or in this case, a win or two wouldn't hurt.
*
NOTES -- Sherman said freshman walk-on Randy Bullock would have attempted a field goal in the fourth quarter had the opportunity presented itself, but the coach won't name a starter for New Mexico until after this week's practices. ... Injury update: Sherman expects safety Devin Gregg to return against New Mexico, but doesn't know about cornerback Danny Gorrer. ... Middle linebacker Matt Featherston said the defense missed only nine tackles, but most of them came in the second half when ASU scored 15 unanswered points.
Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.
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Posted by: On: 9/3/2008
Comment Title:
Help me out here. Fran came to us in December 2002. Byrne came along in January 2003. Who initially contacted, negotiated with, and hired Fran ?????
Posted by: Florida Mike On: 9/3/2008
Comment Title: Heat on Sherman should be Byrne
Bill Byrne has given us yet another reason to question his judgment. We've gone from Frangate to Sherman's Follies! Wake up aggieland...it's very possible that we will have a long, painful season. There are 3 teams that can put up huge numbers on us, TX, TT & OK. I remember the 77 points hung on us by OK, the pitiful Cotton Bowl performance and then Holiday Bowl. Wow, what memories Bill Byrne's coaches brought us!
Posted by: AgClassof01 On: 9/2/2008
Comment Title: miller58=perpetual downer
I'm so tired of seeing your name pop up at any opportunity to bash the Ags. You are a cancer that should be cut off the Aggie body of fans. It was an upset, it sucks that it happened the first game of the season but it did. Get over it, crawl back to your troll cave, and stfu.
Posted by: AggieReport On: 9/2/2008
Comment Title: Look forward to NM
Howdy! Yes that Ark St game was bit of a disappointment. I'm a bit concerned that the offense only knows %80 percent of Shermans scheme. But lets try and get back on track against NM! If interested go checkout a video message to NM that's out of this world! Goto www.aggiereport.com to see it!
Posted by: On: 9/2/2008
Comment Title: Low benchmark Ags
RedAss79, although I appreciate and admire your ability to support this team "no matter what" I have also come to realize that it's because fans and doners like yourself that our football team is in the current mire that we are in. After years of hearing my fellow Ags yell "support RC, He's our coach!!!" with maroon-colored glasses and then doing the same with 'ennis Franchione I've quickly realized that Ag fans as a whole need to raise their bar and expectations ALOT and put unfounded loyalties aside! Enough with "patience", wait till next year, the worm is turning, enough with unwaivering support of our coach, enough with bashing our fellow Ags who happen to have higher expectactions than you do...WIN, no excuses, or get the heck out of College Station and make room for someone who will... And for GOD's sake NEVER try and tell me Arkansas State has more on-field talent than the Texas Aggies!!
Posted by: Frustrated Aggie On: 9/2/2008
Comment Title: Look how low we have sunk
This is what our Aggies have sunk to ... Posted on CBS Sports Line For every team that makes a huge move up the rankings, there are always a few that make a big dive. And this week's biggest dive was Texas A&M, which lost to a Sun Belt school. The Aggies were preseason ranked No. 50 and fell all the way to No. 105. I don't think this is what new coach Mike Sherman had in mind when looking at the schedule before the season started. Things get even rougher this week as they play at New Mexico, which has been to four bowl games in the past five years. "Well, you know I've been in situations like this before, and I told the guys you can learn more about yourself from adversity than you even can from winning a football game," Sherman said after the game. Dig in Aggies fans, its going to be a long season.
Posted by: RedAss79 On: 9/2/2008
Comment Title: Go home...
How on Earth can you people call yourself fans?!? I have never seen such a bunch of bandwagon jumping 2%ers in my whole life! Until the team has a fan base that supports them 110%, win or lose, day or night, in sickness and in health -- they'll never be "top tier". Personally, my entire family wore maroon ALL DAY Saturday. Not just during the game. I proudly put on my Aggie cap Sunday morning -- knowing that people would ask "what happened?" when I walked outside (I live just outside of Austin so you can imagine). Why did I do this? Because I'm an Aggie dammit! And I support my team NO MATTER WHAT! Until you can say the same, maybe you should take your posts over to the t-sip's forum.
Posted by: aggie92 On: 9/2/2008
Comment Title: miller58 is right?!?!?
miller58, I argued back & forth with you a couple of weeks ago about how Sherman & staff would have this team more competitive (even with a lack of talent). Saturday night I was proved wrong. It appears that this group of players cannot seem to grasp the simple basics of football, blocking & tackling. What was more surprising is the lack of foresight in play calling. ASU was always one step ahead of Sherm, Cromwell, & Kines on every play. I will still support my Ags, yell my head of at each home game, but I have realized that A&M football is light years away from being relevant in college football. aggie92
Posted by: miller58 On: 9/2/2008
Comment Title: No Turn Around in Ag Football, Just Going Down Very Fast!
MY personal opinions: Byrne and Sherman have turned A&M around into a bad Aggie joke in the national and local press! Successful coaches out of the nfl recruit well, starting their first year while playing their schedule. Shermans O five star and only 3 four star players in this recruiting class will have A&M playing for last place in the Big 12 when they are red shirt seniors in 2013! Sherman's Saturday night coaching debacle will provide opposing coaches with ammunition to kill us in recruiting the next several years class's, as if they needed it.
