Aggies hope to pick up pace
Alabama looms after rough game versus Vanderbilt
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M has a certain amountof plays on offense it would like to reach each game. The Aggies were about 25 off the pace on Saturday, one of a handful of issues fizzing at the surface of A&M’s 17-12 edging of of two ebe gone Vanderbilt at Kyle Field.
The No. 13 Aggies will try and up their hustle and generally clean up their act with a game at No. 2 Alabama, which doubled up Missouri 38-19 over the weekend, up next on Saturday afternoon.
“To go no-huddle and do all that real fast is good, but you don’t want to play your defense 90 plays,” A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said Monday. “There is a tempo you want to get to, and we’d like to have 75 to 85 plays a game. That’s what we usually average — somewhere in that realm.”
A&M, employing a systematic approach behind four-year starting quarterback Kellen Mond, was far off that pace in its opener, running 55 plays compared to a dozen more by Vanderbilt and freshman quarterback Ken Seals.
“They hit a couple of third-down conversions early in the game, and that’s something we have to work on on defense,” Fisher said of the Commodores’ success on four of six third downs in the first quarter, compared to the Aggies missing on their lone thirddown opportunity in the first 15 minutes. “… It’s not just the pace you play with on offense, it’s getting stops on defense and getting the
ball back to you, which allows you to get in that rhythm.”
Fisher, who calls the plays on offense and doesn’t buy into a frenetic approach in trying tomove the ball down the field, is angling to find that happy medium entering a rugged stretch of SEC play. In reality that medium has been missing from the Aggies’ arsenal dating back to last season, however.
The Aggies had 62 plays on offense in a loss at thenNo. 4Georgia on Nov. 23, 60 plays in a loss at eventual national champion LSU a week later and another 60 plays in a narrow comeback victory over Oklahoma State in the Texas Bowl in NRG Stadium. That’s an average of 59 plays over their last four games, 26 off the top end of Fisher’s ideal range.
The last time they ran the number of plays in Fisher’s model span — 75 to 85 — also was the last time they won by more than five points: a 30-6 victory over South Carolina in mid-November at Kyle Field last season, when the Aggies snapped the ball 79 times.
“The big thing is you have to convert third downs … and also, how many possessions do you get back from your defense?” Fisher said of the factors that go into overall number of plays.
The number of plays isn’t always indicative of success on offense — a team would happily score on its firstplay of each drive if allowed— but it does help in limiting a defense’s time on the field and in chewing up the clock.
Mond, in one of his worst outings, hurt the time of possession in a big way on Saturday with three fumbles. He lost two, and the third came on a fourthdown attempt that was recovered by a teammate but fell short of the first down, so the ball still turned over to Vanderbilt.
Fisher, who craves experience at quarterback, defended his stoic veteran on Monday. The Aggies were more than four touchdown favorites over the Commodores.
“Listen, with Kellen, I went back through the game, his decision-making was good, and there were about four or five throws we wish he could have made,” Fisher said. “… At the same time, he still did a lot of good things with the football, (but) you’ve got to take care of it.
“Kellen has played a lot of football, and he has a lot of experience, and we’ll keep playing and doing what we’re doing, and keep developing the other guys.”
The “other guys” are redshirt freshman Zach Calzada and true freshman Haynes King, and Fisher declined to commit to turning to one or the other if Mond falters early at Alabama. Mond has started three previous games against Alabama, all Crimson Tide victories by an average of 16 points.
Last year he was 24 of 42 for 264 yards, throwing two touchdown passes and an interception in Alabama’s 47-28 win at Kyle Field. The year prior in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Mond was 16 of 33 for 196 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Mond, one of the top dualthreat recruits in the class of 2017, led the Aggies in rushing in each of those games (90 and 98 yards, respectively).
A&M, which hasn’t defeated Alabama since 2012, came closest to beating the Crimson Tide with Mond calling the shots when he was a freshman in 2017, in what turned out to be Kevin Sumlin’s final season as Aggies coach. Mond was 19 of 29 for 237 yards with a touchdown pass and an interception in the Crimson Tide’s 27-19 victory at Kyle Field.
“Their quarterback has a lot of experience,” awary Alabama coach Nick Saban said of Mond on Monday. “He’s a very good player.”