While watching ESPN's College GameDay on Saturday morning, I couldn't help but think back to two years ago, almost to the day.
Kyle Field was the backdrop for Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler's pregame show. The matchup between Texas A&M and Oklahoma in 2006 was considered the best in the country that week by the sports conglomerate.
The Sooners were 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big 12, while the Aggies were 8-1 and 4-1. OU had a controversial defeat at Oregon and had lost by 10 points to Texas. The Aggies' lone slip-up came in the final seconds to Texas Tech.
The game was as advertised. OU won 17-16.
Turn the calendar forward two years, and ESPN would have to go some 40 games deep if they were to visit College Station this time around.
Things have changed since Corso donned the Sooner Schooner headgear while picking OU to win that Saturday, and it's not the Sooners' fault.
In two years, A&M has gone from a fourth-down call away from controlling its own destiny in the Big 12 South race to winning only one conference game at home, where the Aggies lost just four times in the 1990s.
A school-record five losses in one season at Kyle Field is not a building block for championship football. Colorado and Army should ask for a do-over.
It's not just the win-loss record. It's surrendering 66 points Saturday against a team that left points out on the field and took out many of its first-stringers a minute into the fourth quarter.
While rolling up 653 yards of offense, the Sooners never took more than 3 minutes, 27 seconds to score. Six of the touchdown drives took six plays or less.
OU missed two field goals and had what would have been a touchdown pass go right through the hands of one of their most reliable receivers. It also could be argued that Heisman Trophy-hopeful quarterback Sam Bradford was off his game in the first half.
A second-quarter stalemate kept the home fans interested, at least, but with each Sooner touchdown in the third quarter more and more bleachers were exposed.
Not even an animated team huddle by Mike Sherman at the end of the first quarter could stop the Sooners, who scored three plays later.
A&M sophomore quarterback Jerrod Johnson, who has proven since taking over for the injured Stephen McGee that the offense is in good hands going forward, suffered through his worst game. With freshman Jeff Fuller unable to play, Johnson's favorite receiver became the sideline.
Throwing the ball away was his only alternative to negative plays, and even then he was penalized twice for intentional grounding.
More importantly, the ground game must do a 180-degree turn if the Aggies' win-loss record is to do the same. The Sooners, behind their senior-laden line, came in averaging a respectable 179 yards rushing per game and 4.2 yards per carry. They left College Station averaging 194 and 4.6, respectively, considerable jumps for this late in the season.
What's worse, A&M averaged less than a yard per carry Saturday -- 29 rushes for 26 yards. Tailback Mike Goodson had 9 yards on seven carries, and the backs averaged 2.5 yards per carry, with a long of 9.
But perhaps the most alarming stat is this: A&M had more kickoff return yards than total yards, 319 to 278.
Everything is out of whack at Kyle Field. Even the cannon misfired again, going off when the Aggies reached the OU 6.
All this came on the heels of A&M winning two straight games. But Iowa State and Colorado are not Oklahoma. Obviously, neither is A&M.
That doesn't mean Sherman can't turn it around. Remember, it was only a couple of years before the 17-16 loss to OU that the Sooners embarrassed the Aggies 77-0.
At the moment, though, A&M can only say it's tops among the lower-tier teams in the Big 12. At best.
That won't bring the boys from ESPN back any time soon.
Richard Croome's e-mail address is richard.croome@theeagle.com.
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Posted by: jw cass 70 On: 11/15/2008
Comment Title: Turn around
Hoping for a turn around, That seems to be the problem A&M is always hoping for a turn around year after year-- coach after coach
Posted by: On: 11/12/2008
Comment Title: Recruits
I was just looking at the Rivals top 100 recruits for next year. UT has 5 so far, A&M none. What does that tell us about the future!
Posted by: miller58 On: 11/11/2008
Comment Title: 10's of thousands of tickets available next year!
My personal opinions: (1) with our terrible recruiting and coaching, we will be an even worse team on offense, defense, and special teams next year, if that's possible! (2) Ags realize that the quickest way to get a good head coach that will sign 22 four and five star difference makers his first season, and have us compeating for the Big 12 and the mnc the second season, is to have 86,000 empty seats. No ticket sales to any Ag sport is the only way to get their attention! miller58. " not buying another ticket to any A&M sport until we sign a minimum of 14 difference makers in (some future?) February!"
Posted by: On: 11/10/2008
Comment Title: Bill 95
Tickets, What can you use up to several hundred?
Posted by: Bill Scrivener '95 On: 11/10/2008
Comment Title: To the Unknown Fan
Really? Going to give up your seats? I'll take em!
Posted by: On: 11/10/2008
Comment Title:
i have not seen anything on defense to convince me that next year will be any better than this year. for you all that think sherman is the answer you can have my seats, i will not continue to spend $4000 for that mess.
Posted by: drlgsideways On: 11/9/2008
Comment Title: Turn Around
Our offensive line was inexperienced and low in numbers of scholarship players at the beginning of Sherman's first spring practice. This fall the injuries have very numerous. After seeing our guys playing through so much pain Saturday all I can say is I know those guys are warriors. Our only option would be to play more true freshmen and the staff has apparently chosen not to do that. They must be holding them back and building for the future. The situation against OU yesterday on both offense and defense shows that we have a long ways to go as a program. Yesterday was a step backwards compared to the showing against Texas Tech. But that happens when you have to rebuild especially in the face of the best offense in OU history.