And we all scoffed at Army coach Stan Brock for being concerned about Jorvorskie Lane.
"All you have to do is watch film on him and watch him run. I think it will be pretty self-explanatory when they get out there," Brock said when asked early in the week about attempting to bring down the self-proclaimed 280-pound Lane.
Most wondered what game film Brock was watching, because it wasn't this season's. Lane entered Saturday's game with seven carries in three contests.
Was Brock watching last year's film? Or was he watching video from Texas A&M's 2006 victory over Army, when Lane had 24 carries for 101 yards and three touchdowns at the Alamodome in San Antonio?
Whatever he was watching, it was the right channel. Lane got his most action of the season, closing the deal on a 21-17 A&M victory by running out the clock with six straight carries for 34 yards. Army couldn't stop him from picking up first downs, despite knowing he was coming.
It was one of few bright spots for the Aggies, who again had to stop Army on a fourth down late in the game to salvage a victory over the Black Knights. Two years ago in San Antonio it was much more dramatic. The Aggies needed a goal-line stop with time expiring to save a 28-24 victory.
That tussle with Army propelled the Aggies to a 9-4 record and a Holiday Bowl appearance.
With the Big 12 schedule up next, which includes three games against top 10 teams, there were no signs Saturday at Kyle Field of good things to come. Not for 2008, anyway.
Yeah, it was a win and coaches were happy to be sending fans home with that in hand. The freshmen were glad to be walking off Kyle Field smiling for the first time.
But this was Army, 0-3 Army, a team that hadn't scored a touchdown in seven quarters entering the game.
Army, which lost to 1-3 Temple 35-7 at home.
Army, which had scored 20 points in three games, one of which was against a Football Championship Subdivision team.
Despite looking explosive at times on offense with passes to Jeff Fuller and Ryan Tannehill and a run by Cyrus Gray, A&M didn't get a first down until its fourth possession. On defense, A&M gave up 21 first downs and had trouble getting the ball back, allowing Army to hold it for 36 minutes, 46 seconds.
A&M coach Mike Sherman said he was disappointed in the fact that the Aggies didn't sustain any drives in the loss to Miami. He won't be any happier after Saturday. The Aggies couldn't begin a drive, let alone sustain one. They had nine possessions, and five times they were punting within four plays.
Army's parachute team that entertained the 84,090 on hand before kickoff crossed midfield more often than the Aggies.
In all of the frustration, there were two telling moments that must really trouble the A&M staff.
The first came in the second quarter when the Aggies allowed a team that had two touchdowns all year drive 84 yards to tie the game at 7.
The Black Knights obviously hadn't had many sustained drives themselves this season, and instead of making them earn every yard, the Aggies had three personal foul penalties, giving Army 39 free yards. Just to top it off, A&M added a fourth personal foul on the extra point, allowing Army to kick off from its 45-yard line.
Then, with an opportunity to put the game away late in the third quarter, the Aggies cratered. Tannehill made a great individual effort to pull down a Jerrod Johnson pass for 26 yards at the Army 26. The Aggies went backward on three straight plays, and instead of being in field goal range at the 26 or driving for a touchdown, the Aggies lost 10 yards and sent Justin Brantly out to punt.
If that wasn't bad enough, the always dependable Brantly shanked the punt and Army started on the 26.
The Aggies can play this off -- and for the most part did after the game -- as a win that will build confidence going into the Big 12 schedule.
That's a hard sell if you break down what should have happened Saturday in comparison to what did happen.
Even with the injuries at quarterback, A&M should have dominated. Instead, Army played the Aggies straight up in every phase of the game. And for the third time in four games, the Aggies were outplayed in the second half by what was thought to be an inferior team.
One could argue the difference on Saturday was one play: Freeney's fumble recovery and 58-yard touchdown return.
Army had no gamebreakers. A&M can at least claim a couple, witnessed by the four big plays that accounted for more than half of the Aggies' 290 total yards of offense.
That advantage ends next week with the start of Big 12 play.
Richard Croome's e-mail address is richard.croome@theeagle.com
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Posted by: miller58 On: 10/1/2008
Comment Title: Spud87 - A new coach now!
My personal opnions: Quite simply put spud 87, Sherman has failed miserably to meet my realistic standards in the very realistic time frame I've set for an acceptable coach. Just A few examples: Failing to hold and re-recruite most of the 4-5 star difference makers out of the 17 decommits was a gross failure of coaching. Failing to hold and re-recruit two 5 star and four 4 star difference makers that A&M was in th final cut was also gross failure of coaching, Both failures cost us a complete fish defensive team made up of 4-5 star difference makers plus other need positions , and a #2-3 ranked recruiting class. A second gross failure of coaching is this current recruiting class with only 4 difference makers; we've already experienced 3 difference makers decommitting and a fourth is visiting Alabama, soon to decommit? The hiring of unqualified assistants, the really bad inputs from Greenbay on the number of games lost just due to Shermans failure to instill discipline, and failure to evaluate players, a team on the field for four games that appears to have not been through spring training, his associations with inept last century has been's, his image projected, and ranked 109 today. It would take pages, or I'll tell you what I really feel in private. miller58.
Posted by: spud87 On: 9/30/2008
Comment Title: re: miller58
interesting you say "i would not try to please them (aggie nation) short term". yet in every post you write about "sherman must go right now"...based on what? short term performance. so if you really were in charge of hiring the coach, would you have to fire yourself if he went 2-2 in his first 4 games?
Posted by: miller58 On: 9/30/2008
Comment Title: spud87 - To Get A&M a coach that can sign a mimimum of 14 difference makers immediately and win!
My personal opinions: I would be happy to take on this task; I've done this type of thing many times before successfully. First I would require an unlimited operating budget, a small staff, Dictator of football status, an approved requisition with the authority to make final decisions on all matters football. Right now there are hundreds of canidates at the the division 1,2 and 3 level, head coaches and 9 assistant coaches for each. nobody is eliminated at this point. I would not suggest anyone at this point because to do so would be halfa--! For example when I first read Sherman's resume, I said he has a chance only if he hires 9 assistants that are strong proven recruiters. Hundreds of thousands of Aggies would be depending on me and I take that very seriously. I would not try to please them short term. Only off the cuff, I liked Butch Davis of the names previously mentioned, the firt thing Butch did was hire John Blate, the nations top recruiter and I thought that's intelligent. Butch reportedly is saddled with cancer now, butch would get further invetigation along with 1300 or so other canidates! miller58.
Posted by: Seeing Stars On: 9/30/2008
Comment Title: p.s.
The immediate problem is winning, turning the program around. The secondary problem is keeping the coach after you do that. I believe if you are waiting for someone with ties to accomplish the first task, you may have a long wait. Who's to say the young up-and-commer WITH ties who turns this thing around won't bolt at HIS first offer from an "elite" program. One gamble is enough, don't think we should try for two. And to me, that's why the top programs do not attempt both.
Posted by: Seeing Stars On: 9/30/2008
Comment Title: RE: spud/bigronnie
Unfortunately, that is EXACTLY what we may have to do (hire the up-and-commer to have him move on) because we are NOT an upper tier program any longer. Think about it....the lower tier school where we get this guy feels the same way. Why should they hire the guy just to have him bolt to someplace like A&M ???? WE have had a slide since we left the SWC (first couple of years removed). It remains a problem for the reasons I, you, and ronnie acknowledge. We must get a coach that can win with the 2/3 talent to make us more desirable to 4/5 talent. That coaching selection will be an educated gamble on our part; not a fraternal, political, good ole' boy hire.
Posted by: spud87 On: 9/30/2008
Comment Title: re: miller58
i'm STILL WAITING on that great sales pitch to a new coach, should be an easy sell. oh and while your at it, give me a list of viable coaches so i can pass it along to AD byrne.
Posted by: spud87 On: 9/30/2008
Comment Title: re: big ronnie
i couldn't have said it better myself. and to "seeing stars"- you lost me after the first sentence "the top programs don't seem to look for those with ties" that is exactly why we need to look for someone with ties-because we're NOT a top program. and while i can't disagree with your ideas of getting young hot coaches, to have them move on, i can't imagine a worst scenario for an AD. that is probably the toughest part of their job already, hiring what, 20/30 coaches for the various sports on a campus, getting heat for probably 1/2 the hires, what, and then have a coach leave after 2-5 years and repeat the process over and over. i gotta think whey want a good 5-15 years out of each coach they hire. hey, good luck finding that AD, much less that hot coach.
Posted by: BigRonnie On: 9/30/2008
Comment Title: The reality of Aggieland
The reality most people in the area fail to accept is that A&M does not have the reputation nationally that many closed in Aggie fans would like to believe. Our only national title was almost 70 years ago, and A&M will always be the third or fourth choice of prime time recruits. How many big name recruits would choose an area like College Station over Austin, Baton Rouge, or even Lubbock now? It simply is not going to happen. A&M wants players who have that "Aggie Spirit", which is fine and dandy. Unfortunately, unless you come from an Aggie family, why in the world would you come here when you have other options in bigger, more progressive cities, and schools which will do more to cater to big time athletes rather than run a boring and ineffective offense? Not trying to be a jerk about any of this, but it is fact and cannot be disputed. Tradition is great, and Kyle Field is a magical place to watch a game. TAMU is just simply not a top tier program nationally.
Posted by: Seeing Stars On: 9/29/2008
Comment Title: RE:Spud87
The top programs don't seem to look for those with ties and if we do that me thinks we will be "looking" for a long time. I still like the young "gillespi" because even if he bolts he does it based on success in building our program and taking it to a new level. We are left with a much better product than we started with and I am sold on the idea that it would take less talent to keep the program going than it does to build it. Building programs and moving up is what the coaching profession should be about.
Posted by: spud87 On: 9/29/2008
Comment Title: RE:seeing stars
a point i've made before also,and his name was billie gillespie. think byrne wants that to happen again. get the hot young coach in-then bolt for a better job. doesn't make him or the school look very...uhhhmmm.. what ever he wants our school to look like...oh yes, world class that's it. i think it has to be narrowed down to someone with aggie ties (like sherman) who will not jump ship.
Posted by: Seeing Stars On: 9/29/2008
Comment Title: RE;Spud87
What I've been sayin'......who in the world would take this on ? The challenges of a program in repair, recruits who want rock star perks (beaches, babes,etc.).......we've been over it all before. Sounds like we need to get lucky with a young, up-and-coming coach that we take a chance on. It's worth the gamble to him, not worth it to a proven, experienced coach. If you agree, when do we start? Better yet, HOW do we start?
Posted by: Newbie On: 9/29/2008
Comment Title:
Finally someone asks for an entire solution. Fire him and hire who?
Posted by: spud87 On: 9/29/2008
Comment Title: ok miller i'll bite once again...
so we get rid of sherman. and who exactly do we bring in. start ticking off some viable names that would A) leave their current program and B) come to c.s. where if you haven't noticed -4 teams in the south division alone are in the top 25, and all come in and take texas players freely. so let me hear your sales pitch to convince a coach to come in and take over a program that has SUCKED going on 10 years now. come on really...give it your best pitch. i'm waiting.
Posted by: On: 9/29/2008
Comment Title:
Defensive 2-deep roster loses 9 of 22 and that's if just the seniors leave. Also, the 1 and punter (leaving tannehill) and the kicker. What are we waiting for to get some "commits"....how long did you say for turn-around?? If you say less than 4 years I for one would like to see the names you have penciled in at each defensive spot.
Posted by: miller58 On: 9/29/2008
Comment Title: Bear Bryant and Nick Saban both brought in a team of studs their first year!
My personal opinions: Both Bear and Nick lost games their first year, but they both brought a whole team of 4-5 star difference makers so they could win next year. The difference is while losing in his first year, Mike sherman is only bringing in a team of leftover losers. Where we really get double killed is tu and lsu at the same time are bringing in three times as many. Remember when Tim and RC brought in 6 difference makers and ou 18, or when they brought in 7, tu brought in 21. Sherman is creating the exact kind of hole RC did, and it takes years to crawl out of the bottom. This is why Sherman must go now! miller58
Posted by: On: 9/29/2008
Comment Title:
.......and sherrill would have been run out of town earlier had he not recruited players illegally which got us on probation !!!!! Maybe that IS the answer....panic !!!
Posted by: On: 9/29/2008
Comment Title: It takes time
Give Sherman some time (2011). Jackie Sherril would have been ran out of town before turning around the Aggies if miller58 would have been the one making the decision.
Posted by: miller58 On: 9/28/2008
Comment Title: my personal opinion
mumble mumble mumble...4 and 5 star... mumble mumble mumble...highway 6....mumble mumble mumble....green bay experts...mumble mumble mumble....i really should should lay off uuhh eerrr the tequila til noon...mummmmmmble
Posted by: miller58 On: 9/28/2008
Comment Title: Greenbay: "Two Biggest Reasons Sherman Fired", " Inability to Evaluate Players", Inability to instill Discipline"!
My personal opinions: Lane is just a super stud! If you think the coaches are putting a crappy last place product on the field now, just wait: All the stud players in the junior and senior classes will run, not walk from this coaching staff to the nfl in 2009, and keep us on bottom; then the 17 difference makers that decommitted and Sherman couldn't re-recruit will be starting in 2010, keeping us on bottom; and then the current class of leftovers will be leading us to stay on bottom in 2011; and then the great class we will recruit after seeing Sherman's product on the field (more leftovers) will lift us in 2012. And that's an optomistic view. miller58. Highway 6 runs both ways.
