A&M drops opener to Notre Dame | ALL IN AGGIES

Allin Sports Network we love sports not the start we all envisioned we all hoped for for Mike Elco and the agies but still a long way to go welcome into all in agies Ben peek here uh listen just full transparency feeling a little bit under the weather today and really throughout the tail end of this week we you know I worked probably 14 hours yesterday between college game day and then the game normally I'll have highlights and and put together more sound clips from these players but I'm going to try to speed through this this weekend but did want to offer some thoughts on obviously a big game big moment for Texas A&M Mike Elco their first game of the 2024 season a 2313 loss to Texas A&M now let's just I guess get the Top Line review out of the way um you know in some ways this felt discouraging and and upsetting and disappointing and frustrating especially offensively on the other hand really when when you watch the game back and if you rethink it Texon was in that football game all the way you know till last couple minutes of the fourth quarter when Notre Dame took that field goal to make a 10-point lead so this was not I think it felt more Out Of Reach because of how good te Notre Dame's defense was playing but not necessarily because tanm was just hapless out there as a whole offensively maybe a different story but um I think it's important to remember and I'm not trying to serve the maroon Kool-Aid here but Notre Dame is a really good team okay and they they might have the best secondary in the nation they certainly might have the best secondary Texas A&M faces this year and so you have to give credit to them I wanna I want to say it this way and I want to challenge agie fans to be honest with themselves about this going into the Notre d game if I told you Tex STM is going to lose this game do you still believe in Mike ELO in that scenario I think a lot of people say yes now I'm not here to tell you you should or you shouldn't or what to do what to think that's your prerogative but I think if we're being honest with ourselves you know a 10-point loss to a really good team which really you know the last field goal was kind of because you had to go for it on fourth down that set them up so really almost like a one possession loss in a sense a really good team at home not ideal not what you want and I know you would say I believe in Mike Elco but in the back of my mind it's a hypothetical that I don't think it's gonna happen because I think we're gonna win this game against Notre tame I did too I did too I thought texum was gonna win even tied at the half third quarter I thought they were going to find a way would they go down Drive tie the game up I'm thinking okay here we go the defense has been playing great just get that one stop but then Notre Dame you know pushes it down the field so my point is the coaching situation you hire coaches and you evaluate coaches based off how they respond how they adapt Jimbo Fisher is not the Texas ANM head coach anymore not because of necessarily where the Baseline results of his team were but because he and his staff had hit a point where they were failing to adapt and address inadequacies going back years and years and if you believe in Mike Elco Colleen Klein J Jay bitman that staff what's going to tell you how good they are as a coaching staff is how they respond to this and how they learn how they adjust and I think I literally don't think you can tell after one game that's something that takes multiple games in a row again not here to say you can't have an opinion that it's not going to work out but I think for people who are frustrated I understand it disappointed I understand it but let's keep things in perspective here it is one game out of 12 against a really good Notre Dame Team all right second thing I want to touch on is like as much as we like the big flashy sexy start to the season and rise up the polls get the buzz not to be the bearer of uh not bad news but not to bring up ghosts from you know Jimbo Fisher or Kevin someone's past but like how many times have we seen Texas A&M off to that flashy three and0 4-0 start you know top 15 top 10 ranking and then just Crash and Burn to the point where they might not have they might not have even made a 12 team playoff in those days even with the great start you know 20 what was it 2013 the Kenny Hill days um the year Trevor Knight played like as much as it's nice to start the year with a big flashy win if you told me after the fact hey you're going to lose one early but you're going to you know still come through down the stretch win nine 10 games 11 still on the table that's probably unlikely but then I think you take it that's my point so keep it in perspective Notre Dame a really tough team terrible loss like just viscerally internally I get it like so much buildup and so much like kind of the storybook season I guess is out the window in that regard unless they literally run the table from here on out but practically a lot of things still ahead of this team but let's break down what actually kind of went wrong and uh just thematically some of the things that haunted Texas A&M in this game and maybe some of the things that were not as alarming as they might feel right now uh number one uh I guess just defensively overall defensively it was a weird game because objectively when you look at the numbers texanum did not Faire too badly overall held Notre Dame to 158 yards passing uh just about 200 yards rushing although you know toward the end that last touchdown you know Mike Elco touchdown this they were selling out to stop the run and they basically burst through and picked up a 20s something yard touchdown when it was going to be that or like a no gain um but my point 356 yards overall didn't force any turnovers and sorry I'm trying to look up the sacks just to make sure they had one sack so I get it and the frustrating thing and we'll toss to sound like from Mike Elco about this I think for the defense which was weird was that they never had there were several times you know the the sequence where they played Mo Bamba I guess it worked out but there were several times where it felt like third down obvious passing situation and the team was gonna just the crowd was really hyped for like that big play that big sack that big turnover and it never came it never happened even though they were getting stops on third down they were two for 12 on third down but Notre Dame and it kind of felt this way for Texas him offensively even though they weren't converting on third down very well they weren't just totally like I said hapless offensively like they were they were avoiding disaster and they were sustaining drives there weren't like constant three and outs same thing could be said for tchm offensively like weren't getting touchdowns weren't but they were moving the ball to some degree to the point where especially considering how your defense is playing you're still in this game so that was the weird thing but going back to what coach Elco talked about he discussed how there were plays where Texas A&M should have been it was weird almost like the harder the situation was for Notre Dame as the game wore on the better Notre Dame fared in terms of converting those situations obviously the notorious one was the uh they get them backed up first in 15 uh first in 25 after the 15 yard offensive pass interference penalty I think what two plays later they go down they score that big rushing touchdown so like you're telling me you can come through all these times on third down you get the fourth down stop but you know first and 25 you can't get off the field uh so that was a weird thing where it just it just felt like not Dame even though Texas was getting the third down stops and they were but but they they were allowing Notre Dame to get some yards to where they were eventually able to find some sort of a rhythm and just flip it on its head but here's Mike ELO kind of touching on that after the game you know we were we were really really bad off schedule tonight on defense you know second and eight to Second and 10 I think when we go back and watch the film I think is going to be one of the worst down and distances of the night and um you know I think we got to look at what we're doing we got to look at how we're challenging throws I think we got really soft in our coverage on those down and distance um you know almost like you know we kind of got on our heels a little bit because we won first down um and that's the exact opposite of what you should do um you know again we we were aware of it we were trying to get it fixed and corrected we just just couldn't get it done and so um you know ultimately you know but ultimately at the end of the day we had him third and five backed up and had a chance to make a play to get off the field and didn't do it and I think at the end of the day that's the turning point in the game you know we've got him third and five on the 20 yard line um and we don't we don't get him off the field and I think we get them off the field there you know they're punting us and we've got the ball with a chance to go down and win it um we don't make that play and then all of a sudden they get some runs going they get some Rhythm that kid makes a great catch on their sideline and and you know next thing you know they're they're lining up in field goal range and so they hit the run so I mean there you had it like we make the first we win first down and somehow we play worse and we're on our heels giving up too much cushion I think that was said it pretty well I didn't really ask question in that regard in the best way but coach I think understood where I was getting at it just it didn't feel like there was Defensive momentum throughout the game even while they were keeping them at Bay which was just kind of a weird dynamic that played out it felt like that stadium was just asking to just blow the roof off and Notre Dame to their credit never allowed you know kind of never had a catastrophic play or or a situation where they they really hurt themselves self-inflicted I think important too to notice uh several situations that could have easily flipped how this game turned out um some plays that come to mind just off the top of my head uh we had the there were two situations with what looked to be in offsides for Notre Dame I think one time was on a fourth down and you know Conor wigman throws it up it's incomplete they didn't call the offsides there was one uh what looked to be offsides that got called for a false start which I think can't remember if that was a fourth down but it was like fourth and five third and five I think it was fourth and five and would have given him first down instead you back them up uh there was a play toward the end of the game second half will Lee had what would have been it was third quarter I guess it would have been Willie jumped the route broke up the pass almost basically had a pick six which totally would have flipped the the the feel of the game on its head uh and that's not to you know denigrate will Le that's just to say that's how fine the margins are to where one little play here one little extra thing there we're talking about a whole different narrative team you know maybe we're like oh yeah the offense you know got to work on it but they found a way but this is how fine the margins are and then on the first uh scoring drive for Texas I believe the first drive of the game they had the third and five kind of Swing pass out to the running back uh Eman Smith Jr EJ Smith and uh just just Out Of Reach just misplaced from Connor wigman you have to kick the field goal settle for three there I think if it's a good throw they pick up the first down who knows if that turns into a touchdown how that helps the rest of the game play out so um just another thing that crossed my mind of how how many near misses there were for texum how easily some things both in and out of their control uh could have swayed this game and changed kind of maybe how we feel about it today uh again taping this just about 20 24 hours after kickoff from the Notre Dame opener uh let's see what some other stuff we could talk oh another thing I want you to keep in mind and this is maybe where it it tilts the tide for me keep in mind that like Texas A&M and other teams is not the only team around the country that might be allowed to just struggle a little bit in week one and especially if you consider their opponents there are a lot of teams that fared worse there are a lot of teams that won games that I think should inspire a lot less confidence than even this Texas A&M team did in a loss now again I'm not I'm not here to like carry water for Texas stum I just listen I'll say this I'm not an agie I did not attend Tex STM but I I say that to say I hope that can help me have a more level head in terms of like theem it helps take some of the emotion out of it for me to wear I think I can you know I can deliver hard truce when needed but also like I think A&M fans can be really down on yourselves if things go wrong and I get it listen I'm a Cubs fan I felt that way for years like I know the feeling but you know there is light at the end of the tunnel with some of this stuff and some of the things that you're upset and frustrated about while warranted uh like important to keep it in perspective so yeah just going back to other teams across the country I mean if texum would have put out a performance like they did today uh Saturday like my like Florida did against Miami I think we'd be having a way different discussion if it looked like Clemson against Georgia or Notre Dame comes in here and wins you know 3410 running away with it uh I think then you have a lot more eyebrows raised questions of like man we thought these teams were sort of on the level and they're not even close and then I think you're talking about maybe nine wins at best I think this team like look Notre Dame could go undefeated Notre Dame could be one of the best the best defense secondaries in the country um Tex ANM now listen I know Tex is passing for a 100 yards a game if even if that's on the low end how consistently is that high end gonna get if this is the low end even in a difficult situation so I I get it it's not like there's just reasons for optimism are abound but uh just keep in mind Texan them disappointing but within the realm of teams that disappointed week one I don't even think they're close to the top of the list don't even think this is close to one of the most upsetting losses in Tex ANM history you know since they've joined the SEC you know think uh Fresno State gave Michigan a pretty good game for a while Oregon like made it cute against Idaho okay I'd feel a lot better about or let me put it this way I know those teams won but I'd be a lot more concerned if I was maybe one of those teams than I would if I was Texas A&M not to say Texas is going to be better than Michigan or Oregon but you understand what I'm saying based on that week one performance and then I think the one thing we do have to talk about the most glaring uh two of the most glaring things that we thought we were gonna see but we didn't we'll start with let's start talk about that passing game that we touched on not good enough and really I think the the concern I know there's a lot of talk about Conor wigman and he certainly did not play nearly as well as they need him to but um the receivers I think that question mark is very valid after this uh we're GNA hear from coach Elco here talking about basically why they weren't able to get anything going actually let's just go ahead and listen to that now this is Mike Elco talking about the passing game yeah I just think we got to we got to go back to the tape and we got to figure out uh how to put him in better situations to get him comfortable um you know the the challenge tonight was they were going to play us in man all night and you know so there's not a lot of easy access throws to get him comfortable and get him in Rhythm people are going to have to win to do that um and we just we weren't able to get it going and seemed like whether it was him missing you know he had a chance to hit no on the on the big over route and kind of overshot him by a little bit and got the pick um or guys not getting the separation that we needed to get um it just one way or another we just weren't able to get it done we tried to do some different things to create some rubs and picks and um that didn't get it going and um yeah just it was really really hard because he was he was not in Rhythm um and and there was nothing easy to get and so we kept trying we kept trying we just couldn't get there that last point and that was an example of what it looked like when things were going well uh as coach said they were playing man they were relying on Notre Dame was Notre Dame was basically banking on the ANM wide receivers manto man are not going to be able to beat any of our guys and consistently they were right that is I think the big alarm Bells is that because you're playing Xavier Watts Benjamin Morrison and that Notre Dame Secondary or is that because this wide receiver group has a lot of work to do and and another thing that was concerning for me it kind of cuts two ways on one hand you know he talked about they were trying to figure out ways to get a rhythm and get things going uh with with some rub routes and the like uh I guess just build some sort of confidence or whatnot uh on the other hand we I guess the downfield passing element I'm trying to think aside of the ball to Noah Thomas and maybe a throw here or two there Not only was texanum not getting free in any separation with their wide receivers on a consistent basis did not feel like there were big play opportunities deep down the field not to say you have to do that all the time or like you have to rip off a 20 yard gain every fifth play to be a good offense I think it's good that you can put together a drive where you're methodical and you're work your way down the field all those things are great but um that was certainly glaring question mark coming into the season how are these receivers going to Faire that didn't clear up at all you know I know there was the stuff with Conor wigman being maybe a little sick at the game and how much that played a role if he wasn't 100% but it did almost feel like I told someone it felt like you're trying to run a Kansas State offense like literally Kansas State's offense from last year with Jimbo fisers offensive players and I know that they have talent uh transfer portal guys and those guys are versatile it's not like they can only do one thing but uh it did feel like for whatever the reason that style of play has not transitioned over yet I thought the uh offensive line held up relatively well and now need to get more of a consistent just like the defense see this was such a weird game it's not like the offensive line was just pushed around but they also weren't just pushing Notre Dame around uh they weren't getting blitzed and just giving up sack after sack after sack but they also weren't making it easy uh for like just massive chunk plays here here here so obviously something to monitor going forward and then just last thing before I hop it off here um that I did want to touch on oh the defensive line listen I know there's been a lot of talk ju sack uh was the final number how good was the defensive line this was supposed to be like you know a six offensive starts for Notre Dame and and one of the best defensive lines in the country what happened I think we forget first of all sacks are not the end all be all and and number two they can come in waves and and I do think you have to give credit for not only Notre Dame's game plan but the offensive line the their demise had been greatly exaggerated I thought they played very well but also again going to their game plan they were calling short passes getting the ball out of Riley Leonard's hands gave him opportunities when he was in trouble to to get out of it however he needed to uh you know a chance to make a play with his legs and I wanted to read this to you because this was the sack numbers for Tex A&M last year if you're specifically worried about that which I know a lot of people are and I I understand I get it last year first three games against uh New Mexico and U Monroe and I'm forgetting Miami there second game two sacks two sacks two sacks next three games after that Arkansas Auburn Alabama 776 okay so I understand yeah I think people forget with how good a defensive line was last year we were literally talking about after the game against Louisiana Monroe why aren't they getting a lot of sacks with this defensive line and then the floodgates opened okay not to say you can Bank on it but I think just keep that in mind all things considered I think the defense played really solid uh again just as coach Elco said earlier missing out on timely conversions and it's you know two for 12 on third downs but the two that they had like they were converting the ones that they did were big and and very timely and when when you look at the secondary I thought played much better as we said 158 yards receiving that was probably the biggest bright spot I felt watching this game yesterday was we were not seeing receivers just running wild and free and that's with that's 158 yards with the the nice catch on the sidelines uh by by their guy I can't remember his name but um so I think there is a lot to work on with the defense there's a lot to work with with that defense don't let the offensive struggles concern you too much you know don't disregard them and give them a free pass but don't let the offensive struggles dampen your excitement for what potentially this defense could be because I do think if we're being honest we all knew Tex andm was going to be built on good defense and control the ball control the clock avoid turnovers on offense you didn't do that offensively defense played well with few exceptions it's just those those few times really came back to bite you all right so that's all we have for you here breaking down this notor Dame game again feeling a little under the weather but I appreciate you guys uh go ahead like comment subscribe tell people about the show we are just getting it started and again we're going to have so many more elements to the show later on as we go a lot more like pre-produced video packages not just throwing a sound by here and there but feeling a little under this weather this weekend trying to make it as smooth sailing as can be thank you so much for watching and be sure to subscribe tell your friends tell your family check out all in AIS all in sports network we love sports