A&M seeks happy end to Fisher’s first year
Victory would yield first nine-win season since Manziel days
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — One of Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fishers most poignant recollections of college football took place in the NFL home of the Jacksonville Jaguars but not on the grass and between the lines.
This moving moment for the memory book instead occurred in a stadium locker room, in a spontaneous sit-down with the man he was about to replace at Florida State — the iconic Bobby Bowden. The Seminoles were preparing to play their final game under Bowden — what turned out to be a 33-21 victory over West Virginia in the Gator Bowl to close out the 2009 season.
“The last game, right before I became a head coach, is one of the best memories I’ve ever had,” Fisher recalled Sunday as his Aggies (8-4) prepared for their Gator Bowl collision with North Carolina State (9-3) on Monday night. “We were in the locker room by ourselves about an hour before the game, along with our team chaplain, Clint Purvis, and we were having a historical talk about football. I mean, all the way back.
“I’m a historian of the game, and Coach Bowden is a historian of the game. I remember sitting in this stadium and having that conversation with him, and it was just amazing. I could not have had the torch passed to me by any better guy in the world than coach Bowden — I just have some great memories here.”
Fisher, who left Florida State for A&M a year ago, is angling to add to his great memories in Jacksonville by serving as a head coach in the Jaguars’ stadium for the first time, despite spending eight years in charge of the Seminoles, who were only two hours away.
“Hopefully we can finish this season by playing a great game,” Fisher said.
The Aggies finished their regular season by playing one of the sport’s all-time great games — a 7472 seven-overtime victory over LSU at Kyle Field.
“It’s been insane,” A&M quarterback Kellen Mond of the overall reaction in the month since the game. “You don’t really realize how crazy it was until you get off the field. That type of win feeds momentum, and we’re trying to keep that momentum going into the bowl game.”
The Aggies are trying to reach nine victories for the first time since then-reigning Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel was quarterbacking in 2013. This year, they lost by two at home to Clemson, which is playing in the national title game against Alabama, and defeated then-No. 13 Kentucky in overtime at Kyle Field.
Their two biggest disappointments of the season occurred in consecutive SEC West games — a 28-13 loss at Mississippi State on Oct. 27 and a 28-24 loss at Auburn on Nov. 3. A&M was outscored a combined 28-0 in the fourth quarter of those losses. In defeating LSU and owning the tiebreaker with the Tigers, the Aggies finished as high as second in the division for the first time in seven seasons in the SEC.
“I think it’s been a tremendously successful year,” said Fisher, who won a national title at Florida State in 2013. “We’ve won some games and broke some streaks, and let a couple get away. The more important thing was developing the culture of how we play, the way we think, the way we expect to win at Texas A&M.”
The Aggies ranked 19th in the final College Football Playoff slotting after the regular season — their highest close since the ranking began in 2014.
“If you’re in the top 20, that’s great,” Fisher said. “Top 15, Top 10 … heck, you want to win the whole thing. This game is important in that regard (of moving up), but more importantly in regard to how you play and develop.”
Fisher might have switched teams and leagues, but Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren said the Aggies are starting to look awfully similar to what Doeren witnessed with Fisher at Florida State, when the teams battled as Atlantic Coast Conference members.
“You see similarities,” Doeren said. “They’re tough and aggressive defensively. They’re balanced on offense, and multiple in what they do. … The DNA is Jimbo’s offense — you can see that. The downfield passing attack, the run game is very similar, the stretch, the inside zone, the counter. It’s a lot of what we expected to see when we turned on the film.
“Jimbo is a sound, smart football coach, and he has a lot of plays in that playbook. That’s one thing that’s fun coaching against him — you have to really do your job."
A&M has failed to do its job in its last three bowl games, a tidbit that irks senior defensive end Landis Durham. He pledged to A&M when the Aggies were on a high from the Manziel era, but hasn’t experienced any postseason thrills.
“I want one,” Durham said Sunday. “I’ve been saying since before we came here, everybody deserves to experience a bowl win in their college football career. I’m trying to get mine.”