Texas A&M quarterback Jerrod Johnson says head coach Mike Sherman refers to boats during many of his speeches to the team.
Mostly, it has to do with everyone being in the same one.
Well, Sherman did some heavy bailing at halftime Saturday to keep the boat he's gotten his team onboard from sinking.
Before the second-half kickoff, Sherman sat his offense down at the far end of the bench and let the unit know he wasn't pleased. Not with their effort, their focus nor pretty much anything else that goes hand-in-hand with winning football.
"I was pretty upset with the offense," Sherman said. "I thought we were just slopping around out there and weren't really performing to our level of capability. We talked to them at halftime, but I thought it was better suited to talk to them right there on the field, re-emphasize my message to them that the first half was totally unacceptable and that they were not living up to their part of the bargain."
Sherman only need blurt out one stat -- 76 yards of total offense -- to support his case. Never mind A&M had just three points and trailed by seven to a team that was pasted 58-0 a week earlier at Missouri.
What had to make it more frustrating was how often A&M had the Colorado defense confused in the first half. Before the snap, the Buffaloes were running from side to side, pointing at receivers that appeared not to be accounted for, and yet the Aggies could do nothing to take advantage of the situation.
Sherman's Aggies haven't fared well in the third quarter this season, and it seemed they were on their way to a record fifth loss at home this season.
But Sherman, his staff and the players have worked too hard to get everybody onboard the same ship for Sherman to let it sink so quickly. And he may want to bottle that halftime speech, because within 3 minutes the Aggies were on their way to the best quarter of football they've had all season.
Freshman receiver Ryan Tannehill made a sensational 6-yard catch between D.J. Dykes and Gardner McKay to keep the Aggies from opening with a three-and-out. Then he tied the game on a 32-yard reception over the middle that senior safety Ryan Walters misjudged trying to defend.
Johnson says Sherman's message came through loud and clear.
"He's a passionate coach and shows his emotions," Johnson said. "He knew he could get more out of us. He knew we weren't playing to our potential. Basically, he said get your heads together and play loose, and he said he had a lot of faith in us."
Johnson looked loose after CU gave A&M good field position with a poor punt.
Johnson picked on the Buffaloes' top cornerback, Cha'pelle Brown, and found Jeff Fuller in stride down the right sideline for a 59-yard touchdown. On A&M's next series, it was Fuller again with a 10-yard diving reception for the score.
In 15 minutes, the Aggies had more than doubled their first-half yardage with 152 yards.
It wasn't just attitude and concentration, though, that made for A&M's turnaround. The Aggies went to the pass, their more dominant mode of attack, in the third quarter.
The Aggies had 16 rush attempts -- a few of which were Johnson scrambles -- to 14 passes in the opening 30 minutes. In the decisive third quarter, Johnson threw 13 times compared to just six called rushing plays.
The threat of the pass opened up the running game, which produced two key rushes: a 54-yarder by Cyrus Gray and a 10-yarder by Keondra Smith.
As an ex-NFL guy and offensive line coach, Sherman would love to establish the run. For now, he may have to go at it in reverse.
It helped keep his ship sailing Saturday.
Richard Croome's e-mail address is richard.croome@theeagle.com.
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