Sumlin and A&M

[1983 Cotton Bowl]

Curious about the Aggies in the SEC under Kevin Sumlin. Just something to kill some time around here.

All I hear about is how Sumlin is cleaning up in recruiting. . .getting all the best players in Texas and beating the Horns at their own game. Sumlin is super-cool, swag-copter, etc. Now whether that is accurate may be a different question, but that at least seems to be the buzz.

Now let's look at the results. Aggies were 11-2 in Sumlin's first year, 9-4 in his second, and 8-5 last year. I watched them get handled easily by Alabama this weekend, and they did not look like an elite team. I would say that years 2 and 3 especially are very similar to the typical Aggie season in the Big-12. So they haven't necessarily gone downhill results-wise, but they just don't seem to be making progress. Interesting considering that Sumlin is the new recruiting god, and Texas is supposedly the promised land for football recruits.

This raises a couple of questions in my mind:

1. Since the SEC plays a different brand of football than the Big-12, and Texas recruits all seem to be coming out of spread offenses in HS with video game-like offenses, are Texas football recruits simply not well suited to SEC football?

2. Is Sumlin's recruiting prowess overrated?

3. Why are A&M's results over the past 3 full seasons in the SEC going backwards with all this talent they are supposed stockpiling?

[East Coast Mustang]

He plays in the hardest division in college football. Next question?

[West Coast Johnny]

1. Since the SEC plays a different brand of football than the Big-12, and Texas recruits all seem to be coming out of spread offenses in HS with video game-like offenses, are Texas football recruits simply not well suited to SEC football?

2. Is Sumlin's recruiting prowess overrated?

3. Why are A&M's results over the past 3 full seasons in the SEC going backwards with all this talent they are supposed stockpiling?

I give credit to Sumlin as the Aggies have done about as well if not better than I personally expected after they moved conferences.

A Big12 Spread offense can do just fine against an SEC defense - Johnny Manziel who is a bad NFL QB made the SEC his playground. At the same time, I think a pro style offense with huge linemen & a 225 pound plus running back would have an advantage over a Big 12 defense that is used to being spread out rather than driven back.

Sumlin's recruiting Cache is not overrated. He's pulled some very good players. A&M is 5 wins zero losses against teams not named Alabama and not many teams can beat the Tide when they play well. Sumlin is doing well at A&M but he should consider that USC job.

[Nacho]

qb play was terrible and he is a 5 star from arizona.
they are thin at rb with only carson contributing much.
got outcoached.

[1983 Cotton Bowl]

He plays in the hardest division in college football. Next question?

Maybe it is that simple. But watching the Ags this weekend, it wasn't like it was a close game and they just lost because that is how it goes week-to-week in the SEC west. A&M looked outclassed.

It could be that I'm just too critical of them, but still. . .

[PerunasHoof]

He plays in the hardest division in college football. Next question?

Maybe it is that simple. But watching the Ags this weekend, it wasn't like it was a close game and they just lost because that is how it goes week-to-week in the SEC west. A&M looked outclassed.

It could be that I'm just too critical of them, but still. . .

Teams have bad games. OU lost to Texas for some reason and then completely routed K-State. The same K-State that should have beaten TCU. Just because a team loses to a great team like Alabama doesn't mean the team is over-rated/horrible. And this is coming from someone that doesn't even like TAMU.

[1983 Cotton Bowl]

He plays in the hardest division in college football. Next question?

Maybe it is that simple. But watching the Ags this weekend, it wasn't like it was a close game and they just lost because that is how it goes week-to-week in the SEC west. A&M looked outclassed.

It could be that I'm just too critical of them, but still. . .

Teams have bad games. OU lost to Texas for some reason and then completely routed K-State. The same K-State that should have beaten TCU. Just because a team loses to a great team like Alabama doesn't mean the team is over-rated/horrible. And this is coming from someone that doesn't even like TAMU.

Makes sense. And I'm not suggesting that A&M is horrible. I know what would happen if we played them.

[PerunasHoof]

Maybe it is that simple. But watching the Ags this weekend, it wasn't like it was a close game and they just lost because that is how it goes week-to-week in the SEC west. A&M looked outclassed.

It could be that I'm just too critical of them, but still. . .

Teams have bad games. OU lost to Texas for some reason and then completely routed K-State. The same K-State that should have beaten TCU. Just because a team loses to a great team like Alabama doesn't mean the team is over-rated/horrible. And this is coming from someone that doesn't even like TAMU.

Makes sense. And I'm not suggesting that A&M is horrible. I know what would happen if we played them.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that. Haha, and yeah, we can make any team look like a national champion. Hopefully those days are over.

[peruna81]

I enjoy the privilege of living and working in the CS area, and have a church full of Aggies. I can tell you that there were some long faces yesterday.

A&M has historically been the place that great recruits go, and are never heard from again. Think back to the past, and you can remember Dave Campbell (in the 70s and 80s) yearly predicting the Aggies in the Cotton Bowl...not so much happened, even with competitive recruiting classes. You have to get them, then coach them up.

That was a 'duh' statement if ever has been written.

Our 'Coach who shall remain nameless' and staff at least had a certain skill set to coach up what talent there was at SMU. I happen to believe he got more out of Bennett's players, and some of his own, than most coaches could have. When the desire to replenish ended, so did the ability to coach them up.

Sumlin is starting to get a mild form of discontent from local Ag power brokers, especially those that see the 4 and 5*s and not translating that to wins on Saturdays. The change in DC (Chavis) has helped, but to open a game against Alabama in a nickel defensive scheme is inviting them to cram it down your throat, which 'Bama did.

A&M "aggies" themselves with consistent impunity. It makes for entertainment, and sad church members on Sundays. If they ever do get it right, they will be able to own recruiting in Texas in a greater sense for the years Sumlin chooses to stay. In the meantime, the "Battered Aggie Syndrome" continues unabated.

Get your popcorn ready...Ole Miss is this Saturday...meltdown cometh.

[leopold]

I tend to believe the Aggies got exactly what they wanted in the SEC, and that it was the double-edged sword everybody knew was coming.

Aggie gets to go tell 16 and 17 year-olds "Sign up! What do you want to go play Iowa State, Kansas, and West Virginia? We're playing Alabama, LSU, and Florida!!" I mean, it's a great recruiting pitch, and the fact that JFF won the Heisman made it all the more better.

Then the kid signs, and guess what? He has to go play Alabama, LSU, and Florida.

[leopold]

I

Get your popcorn ready...Ole Miss is this Saturday...meltdown cometh.

I think it's the Rebels who melt - Memphis exposed them and the Aggies are going to be PI$$ED.

[GreenbeltPony]

The problem is that A&M has no offensive identity at the moment. Spavital is trying to be the best in every category which isn't feasible.

[whitwiki]

Derrick Henry is a man child

[Pony in SA]

First years he benefitted from all the offensive line studs Shermann recruited that were high NFL draft picks and he inherited Manziel. He is good coach and recruiter but my wife and her entire family of Aggies (some who played under Slocum) are not biggest Sumlin fans. So not loved by all the Aggies.

I think this year his team had not played team yet with speed and talent of Alabama, so when his QB made same throws against Lamar, Nevada, etc. their DBs couldn't get there but Bama's could. Also, their OL couldn't push Bama around like the lesser teams they played. If you don't have to play hard for 4 quarters against comparable talent sometimes first time you have to do it you have an eye opener.

[orguy]

I enjoy the privilege of living and working in the CS area, and have a church full of Aggies. I can tell you that there were some long faces yesterday.

A&M has historically been the place that great recruits go, and are never heard from again. Think back to the past, and you can remember Dave Campbell (in the 70s and 80s) yearly predicting the Aggies in the Cotton Bowl...not so much happened, even with competitive recruiting classes. You have to get them, then coach them up.

That was a 'duh' statement if ever has been written.

Our 'Coach who shall remain nameless' and staff at least had a certain skill set to coach up what talent there was at SMU. I happen to believe he got more out of Bennett's players, and some of his own, than most coaches could have. When the desire to replenish ended, so did the ability to coach them up.

Sumlin is starting to get a mild form of discontent from local Ag power brokers, especially those that see the 4 and 5*s and not translating that to wins on Saturdays. The change in DC (Chavis) has helped, but to open a game against Alabama in a nickel defensive scheme is inviting them to cram it down your throat, which 'Bama did.

A&M "aggies" themselves with consistent impunity. It makes for entertainment, and sad church members on Sundays. If they ever do get it right, they will be able to own recruiting in Texas in a greater sense for the years Sumlin chooses to stay. In the meantime, the "Battered Aggie Syndrome" continues unabated.

Get your popcorn ready...Ole Miss is this Saturday...meltdown cometh.

Never has a program tried so hard yet failed so miserably in my view. It may be a "duh" concept to the rest of the world but its always been lost on many ag boosters as they constitute some of the most arrogant and narcissistic bunch of jerk offs I've ever crossed paths with. They struggled mightily against Big 12 teams of lesser talent like KSU and OSU for many years despite having superior talent. Why is anyone of the view that tamu will ever rise to the top of the SEC? Must be something in the water down there or maybe its that ugly concrete jungle of a campus depresses new recruits? Whatever the case may be its something those "ag power brokers" have been dealing with consistently for the last 40 or 50 years. Perhaps aggie boosters need to investigate the notion of fate because its highly improbable they ever "get it right"