Dominant win offers break from struggles
Victory at home welcome change for Sumlin, Aggies
COLLEGE STATION — Bob Davie earned the reputation as a defensive mastermind during his time as Texas A&M’s defensive coordinator about a quarter-century ago, so Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin was caught a bit off-guard by New Mexico’s simple, straightforward approach against A&M.
“We came in knowing they were going to load the box,” Sumlin said after the Aggies’ 55-14 rout of Davie’s Lobos on Saturday night at Kyle Field. “The thought process was to be able to throw the ball early and make plays and hopefully they would change. But they didn’t change, so we had to keep doing what we were doing.”
An offensive outburst
In other words, Texas A&M (6-4, 3-3 SEC) and new starting quarterback Nick Starkel kept slinging the ball around with loads of success, giving them plenty of work in the passing game but not enough in the running game.
“We couldn’t really cover them, and we couldn’t really tackle in space,” said Davie, whose team trailed 48-7 at halftime. “It was eye-opening for us and our players.”
Starkel completed 21 of 30 passes for 416 yards and four touchdowns while playing only the first half. The freshman’s single-game passing yards ranked ninth all-time in school history.
“He’s starting to knock the rust off,” Sumlin said of Starkel, who broke his ankle in the season opener at UCLA and earned back his starting job nine games later in place of struggling Kellen Mond. “He threw a couple of touchdowns right into the teeth of blitzes. He also took some hits I didn’t want to see him take.”
Successfully executing the running game was another matter for the Aggies. Ideally, they would have liked to run the ball more, but New Mexico’s stubbornness in stacking the box and daring Texas A&M to throw the ball didn’t allow for much of a rushing attack.
The Aggies ran for 63 yards on 23 carries against one of the Mountain West Conference’s worst teams in the Lobos (3-7, 1-5).
Trayveon Williams rushed for 28 yards on seven carries; Keith Ford struggled even more with 16 yards on five carries behind what has been at times an awful offensive line. Sumlin also tried to get his young backup running backs some work in the second half, and Jacob Kibodi rushed for 15 yards on five carries and Kendall Bussey gained 4 yards on four carries.
Next opponent Mississippi (5-5, 2-4) has had its share of struggles this season after the offseason exit of coach Hugh Freeze, but the Rebels’ defense should provide a much more daunting challenge for A&M.
The Aggies had lost their two previous games at Kyle Field to SEC West foes Mississippi State and Auburn by a combined 36 points, and they are back on the road at 6 p.m. Saturday at Mississippi and play at LSU a week later to wrap up the regular season.
Rumors of a change
Sumlin is 50-25 in his six seasons at A&M but has failed to compete for any SEC West titles. The Aggies are 2-8 over the last three seasons against their final four division foes.
A&M officials won’t directly discuss Sumlin’s future, but he is expected to be fired after the LSU game.
“Obviously, I know it’s hard, him having to hear all the speculation and whatnot, but he still comes to practice smiling,” receiver Christian Kirk said. “He’s still a player’s coach at heart, and we just have fun with him all the time. He’s the same dude. He’s never going to change.”
As for snapping that twogame home losing streak thanks to the SEC’s quirky scheduling that includes non-conference games so late in the season?
Sumlin was thankful for New Mexico’s visit.
“It was important the (players) left Kyle Field with a good taste in their mouths,” he said, “And they did.”