Ag Football Recap: Ags Crush Mizzou

Mizzou misses our Big 12 days.  I'm not even sure what the final score was.  I think Mizzou's leading rusher in the first half was their punter.

We scored early and we scored often.  We also got scared.

In the first quarter Johnny was running to the right and Mizzou's DB latched onto his left leg and Johnny twisted his knee as he came down.  As he was on the turf curled up holding his knee the stadium went dead silent.  Even the crickets didn't know what to do.

Johnny's touch, of course, can heal all evils so he stuck a knee brace on and came back out and won the Heisman.

He finished with 439 yards and 5 TDs (372/3 passing, 67/2 rushing) and took his last snap with 8:50 remaining on the clock in the 4th quarter.

He spread the ball around - 9 different players had a reception.

We even tried and WR Pass from Kendric McNeal to Johnny in the endzone that was just slightly underthrown and was deflected at the goal line.  It would have been the cherry on the cake.

Does anyone put cherries on cakes?

Malcome Kennedy came out as the biggest beneficiary - 110 yards on 7 receptions.  Mike Evans was ONE YARD SHY of yet another 100 yard game.

C-Mike started the game like a man on fire.  I haven't seen him run as hard or with as much explosion as he did in the first quarter.  He had 60 yards and 2 TDs on 4 carries but came out with a hamstring injury.

We finished the game 12-of-16 on third down.  12-of-13 while Johnny was in the game.

On the defensive side of the ball two players stood out above everyone else.

Howard Matthews had a whale of a game - I can't think of a game where he's played better.  He had 13 tackles, a brilliant pass breakup and a tackle for a loss.  He brings the wood.

Spencer Nealy has found a place deep in my heart.  This guy plays with such passion, excitement, and relentlessness.  He is the definition of motor.  He had 7 tackles, 2 for a loss, and a swatted pass.  Love the guy.

Another guy who deserves a mention is kicker, Taylor Bertolet.  He's taken some heat this season but he was flawless on Saturday night - 8-for-8 on PATs and he crushed a 50 yard FG.

BTW, I looked up the score - it was 59-29.

I've never watched a team play as hot as this team is playing right now.  I truly believe that if we had a rematch with LSU or Florida right now we'd win.

We don't know who our next opponent will be.  It will either be in the Capital One Bowl (vs. a Big 10 team) or the Cotton Bowl (vs. a Big 12 team).  I think it depends on who wins next weekend in Atlanta (Georgia v. 'Bama).  It also looks like OU has a shot at going to the Fiesta Bowl - if that happens then the CoBo will snatch up texas so they can get us matched up with them.

We'll find out next week after Championship Saturday.

Ag Football Preview: Mizzou

Ahhh, a familiar face. 

Mizzou jumped the sinking ship of the Big 12 with us to the great land of the SEC.  They haven't been as fortunate as we have in terms of our success in our inaugural season.  They are 5-6 on the season and just 2-5 in SEC play, with wins against Kentucky and a 4-OT win against Tennessee.

Behind LSU and Arkansas, they're the SEC opponent that we've played the most games against.  We hold the series record 7-5 but the Tigers have won the last 3....and due to some weird scheduling during/after conference realignment, they're coming to Kyle Field for the third year in a row.

Everytime I think about Missouri I think of one of the intro clips from one of the NCAA Football video games from the mid-2000s where one of their players looks at the camera and says, "Yeah Mizzoou."

That's my personal story of Mizzou.  They are a team that draws zero emotion out of me - not before the move to the SEC and not after.  What I am psyched about is a night game at Kyle Field with the Heisman Trophy on the line.

Mizzou QB James Franklin is a game time decision.  This is going to be a huge factor in how this game plays out.  Franklin is a good spread QB - he's silky smooth when he tucks the ball and runs, which allows him to keep plays alive and for receivers to get open.  He will give us fits.  If Franklin doesn't play, we will see Corbin Berstresser.  He has 23 rushing yards on the season - a bit different.

They have a 1,000 yard running back in Kendial Murphy - well, he's just shy at 938 with 11 TDs.  He only has 17 catches out of the backfield.

Franklin/Berstresser spread the ball out with 5 players over 20 receptions.  Lucas leads the team with 48 receptions and monster recruit, Dorial Green-Beckham, lead with 4 TDs,

Everything indicates that we should roll Mizzou but that's not enough - with the media's completely unwarranted push for Mante T'Or's Heisman bid Johnny needs to put up big numbers to keep his name where it should be on the top of voter's minds.

Lastly, this is the first year we're not playing the longhorns tonight.  Frankly, and this surprises me, I'm not even missing the game.

A month ago I was drooling at a chance to match up against them in the Cotton Bowl.  For the first time I felt like we could just clean their clocks and stick it to them.  No question in my mind. 

Then the Alabama win changed everything. 

We don't need to beat them to show everyone that we can be successful.  In fact, the table has completely turned - they need to play us a lot more than we need to play them.  The pendulum is swinging and we're racing past them and they want to trip us up to say, "See we are still relevant". 

A game against them doesn't do anything for us - if we beat them all we do is prove what we already know - if we somehow lose it undoes a good portion of the traction we've picked up during this incredible season.

They need to play us to have a chance to keep up with us now.  Honestly, they might need to allure of a match-up against us to even get an invite to the Cotton Bowl.

I've already given them too much ink.....so back to the game at hand....

BEAT THE HELL OUTTA MIZZOU!  WHOOP!

The Notre Dame Factor

Quick, pick the Heisman candidate out of this group....

        G Solo Ast Tot  TFL Sack INT PBU FF FR
       =======================================
Pl A.. 11  55   34  89  6.0  4.0  2   2   1  1
Pl B.. 10  52   47  99  9.0  3.0  0   1   2  0
Pl C.. 11  53   25  78 20.0 12.5  0   2   1  0
PL D.. 11  49   49  98  5.5  1.5  6   4   0  2
Pl E.. 11  47   54 101 13.5  3.0  1   5   1  0

Mante Te'O is Notre Dame's standout linebacker and he is having a wonderful season.  He also plays for Notre Dame, a team with such a deep historic resonating place in college football - a team that has been quite disappointing on the national level for the last 15-20 years.

Their fans (and media) are chomping at the bit for a return to glory and the Irish haven't disappointed this season.  If they can beat the reeling USC Trojans (who will be without their pre-season Heisman candidate at QB) then they'll face off against the SEC Champion for the National Championship.

Their offense is ranked in the bottom half nationally but they're led by their defense, who allows the fewest ppg in the country.

That said, since they are undefeated and look to be playing in the National Championship then they MUST have a Heisman candidate on their roster.  I'm pretty sure that's a rule.  AND THEY'RE NOTRE DAME!

Since their offense is ehhh you have to look to their defense where Mante Te'O is their best player - so he is the Heisman finalist.

That's how this works, isn't it?

Oh and Te'O is Player D up above.

• A: Alabama LBer, C.J. Mosley
• B: Baylor LBer, Bryce Hager
• C: Fightin' Texas Aggie DE, DaMonsta Moore
• D: Notre Dame LBer, Mante Te'O
• E: LSU LBer, Kevin Minter

I threw a Baylor guy in there just to because I thought it was funny.  We all know they don't play defense.

Nope, Te'O isn't the best player in college football.  He isn't the best defensive player in the country.  He isn't even the best player at his position in the country.

Johnny Football For Heisman!

Heisman Update

Whoa, what a night for college football in general.

#1 Kansas State was TROUNCED by Baylor 52-24.  It wasn't even close.  Baylor was 1-5 in Big 12 play going into the game with a sub-.500 overall record on the season.

About 15 minutes after the KSU game ended, #2 Oregon went to OT against #13 Stanford and lost.

This pushes the SEC right back into the National Championship picture.  Barring any sort of craziness, the winner of the SEC title ('Bama or Georgia) should very likely be the favorite to fill the #2 spot in the NC game. The SEC has won the last 6 NCs and has 6 of the Top 10 teams in the BCS rankings.

The other day we concluded that Colin Klien was only the front runner for the Heisman because he was the QB on the undefeated Wildcats.  Well, he was pretty terrible against Baylor, and as a result, they aren't undefeated any more.

Klien threw for 286 yards and 2 TDs.  He also ran for 39 yards and 1 TD on 17 carries.  He also threw THREE interceptions.  To Baylor?!?!

Baylor was THE WORST defense in the nation going into the game.  There are 120 teams and they were #120.  They were giving up over 500 yards per game.  K-State had 362.

Kejon Barner, who is Oregon's candidate, finished with only 67 yards on 21 carries as the RB was a complete non-factor in their loss to the Cardinal.

Notre Dame and their superstar LBer, Mante Te'O, may be the biggest beneficiary of the upsets at the top.  Notre Dame will move to #1 in the polls and Te'O is now going to get some pub for Heisman.

Now, it's pretty unlikely for a defensive player that doesn't play special teams to win - I mean, if any defender is going to win it it would have been the Honey Badger last year.  But Te'O plays for ND and they always get a push for whatever it is they're in the running for as a result.

Johnny might have come out of the weekend smelling like a rose.  Frankly, he couldn't really do much to help himself this weekend against the FCS opponent, but he certainly could have lost it.  He put up 367 yards and 5 TDs and played just one snap after the halftime whistle.  It was about as good as we could have asked for....outside of his one INT.  Well, and if he would have hit that PAT.

In my mind, this is a no contest but it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.  It almost seems that since Johnny is a freshman everyone is looking under rocks for other candidates.  He gets one more chance to push his card to the top of the deck for the entire nation to see.

JOHNNY FOR HEISMAN!

Ag Football Recap: Ags Keep Rolling with SHSU, 47-28

It started slowly but when the switch flipped it stuck and the next thing we knew, the game was out of control.

From the span starting when the clock hit the 5:24 mark in the second quarter until when it hit the 10:41 mark in the third quarter (so 10 minutes of football) we scored 33 points.  We had TD drives of 1:14, 0:49, 0:16, 0:12, 0:13.

Johnny threw for 267 and ran for another 100 with 5 total TDs.  He only played 1 snap in the second half.  The Ags were up 40-0 at that point.

Trey Williams had a couple of nice little runs, including a TD, and EZ had a day to remember with 4 receptions for 160 yards and a TD....and was inches shy of a second.

A couple of interesting events....

• C-Mike was ejected for striking an opponent.  I didn't see what happened but that wasn't good
• Johnny missed a PAT.  How friggin' awesome would it have been if he had made that?  He would have picked up a huge amount of pub.
• Johnny broke the school record for total offense in a season during the game
• He also broke the NCAA freshman record for rushing offense by a QB and the freshman record for total offense by a freshman

Next weekend we finish up the regular season with Mizzou, who will be making their third trip to Kyle Field in as many years.

Johnny for Heisman

So, Johnny is having a pretty good season.  He's not the only one though.  Kansas State's Colin Klien is having a wonderful season for his respective team.

So what is all the fuss about?

The Heisman Trophy.  The most prestigious individual award in all of sports.

What are the requirements?

"The Heisman Memorial Trophy annually recognizes the outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity.  Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard work."

Ok, so who is the most outstanding?  Well, Johnny Football is.

Let's take a look at the arguements....

Looking at the Numbers

                  TOTAL                 PASSING             RUSHING
          Snaps  Yards  Avg/G  TD   Yards  Avg/G  TDs   Yards  Avg/G  TDs  
          =======================   =================   =================
J.Football 492   3,794  379.4  33   2,780  278.0   18   1,014  101.4   15
   C.Klien 362   2,768  276.8  24   2,020  202.0   12     783   78.3   12

• Johnny has more than 1,000 yards more than Klien.


• Johnny has nearly 30% more TDs than Klien.


• Johnny has played more snaps than Klien so you do have to take that into account. 
• Johnny STILL averages more yards per play than Klien.


• Johhny has a tackle and a forced fumble.


• Johnny broke the SEC record for total offense in a single game in the 4th career appearance.
• Johnny then broke his own SEC record for total offense in a single game in his 6th career appearance.


• Johnny is the first player in NCAA history to throw for 400+ yards and run for 100+ in a single game.


• Johnny averages 379.4 yards per game.
• Klien's season high is 364 yards.

The SEC is notorious for defense.  Mack Brown has made it very clear at the beginning of the season that an "SEC defense" is something every team aspires to be.  Johnny Football turned the best defensive conference in the country on it's ear.

• Cam Newton had the greatest single season in SEC history with 4,327 yards of total offense. 
• Johnny is on pace for 4,932. 
• Cam did it in 14 games.
• Johnny should break it in 12.
  


• Johnny has played 3 Top 10 defenses.
• Klien has played 2 Top 50 defenses.

In those three games against Top 10 defenses A&M outperformed each of their season averages - by quite a large margin.

         FLORIDA           LSU           ALABAMA
        Avg  v.aTm     Avg  v.aTm      Avg  v.aTm
       ===========     ==========     ===========
TotD    285    334      263   410      243    418
ScoD   12.9     17     15.5    19     11.1     29

• Big 12 as a whole gives up 403.5 yards per game.  Klien averages only 276.8.
• SEC as a whole gives up 357.6 yards per game.  Johnny averages 379.4.


• Klien barely averages 200 passing ypg....the Big 12 defenses allow an average of 253.6 ypg.
• Johnny averages 278 passing ypg....the SEC defenses allow an average of 219.1 ypg.
  


• Johnny had 345 yards of total offense against Alabama.
• Klien topped that number once with his season high 364 yards against West Virginia.
• Alabama is the #1 defense in the nation.
• West Virginia is the 110th best defense in the nation.


• Johnny is #1 the SEC in rushing yards
• Klien is 4th in the Big 12 in rushing yards


• Johnny is 3rd in the SEC in passing yards
• Klien is 6th in the Big 12 in passing yards


• Johnny is #1 the SEC in total offense
• Klien is 5th in the Big 12 in total offense


• Johnny is #1 the SEC in total TDs
• Klien leads the Big 12 in total TDs
• Hooray, Klien tied Johnny in a category

Due to our blowouts Johnny has played in 4 fewer quarters than Klien.  That's a full game.  Our backup QBs have taken a total of 48 snaps - that averages out to another 370 yards that Johnny would have easily had.

He's a Freshman and No Freshman Has Ever Won

So what?  Until 5 years ago, no sophomore had ever won.  Now let's think about this - it doesn't say anything about age or classification in the Heisman's mission statement.

Johnny is a redshirt freshman so the difference between him being a freshman and a sophomore is a handful of meaningless snaps in garbage time last season? Gimmie a break.

Johnny Has Lost Twice and Klien Has Led His Team to an Undefeated Record

Kansas State's undefeated record is the ONLY reason Klien's name is even in the arguement.

Guess what?  Tim Tebow and RG3 were both 9-3 at the end of the regular season and they still took home the hardware.

A&M has played one of the most difficult schedules in the country.  Our two losses are to #6 Florida and #7 LSU. 

We lost to Florida by 3 points in Johnny's first collegiate game.  We lost to LSU by 5 points.  We missed two FG and a PAT. 

Oh and did I mention that WE BEAT #1 BAMA! 

Look, I know that I'm naturally inclined to lean towards Johnny, but the numbers don't lie.  Johnny Football has had a better season while doing it against better opponents with better defenses.

There is only one thing to say....Johnny for Heisman!

Ag Football Preview: Sam Houston State

Coming off of one of the most exciting week of Aggie football ever we still have to play a game.

Here's the skinny on Sam

• 8-2 ranked #3 in the nation in the FCS
• Played for the NC last season
• 7 game win streak
• Lost to Baylor in Waco 48-23 then to Central Arkansas 24-20
• RB Tim Flanders is school's all time leading rusher
• We are 10-0 against SHSU
• We last met in '97 when we won 59-6
• Lots of former Aggie players will suit up at Kyle Field again
• Chance Nelson (WR)
• Will Randolph (RB)
• K.J. Williams (TE)
• Andrew Weaver (DE)

This should be a game that we win quite handily.  It is on PPV and I'm not sure how I feel about that....on one hand it restricts people from seeing us nationally, which is particularly important with Johnny's push for the Heisman.  On the other hand, Johnny likely won't play the whole game and whatever numbers he puts up will be credited to the level of the opponent.

The game is sold out....for SHSU.  The place is going to be rocking.  I'm not sure I've ever been away from Kyle Field during a season as long as I have been right now - it's been since September 29th against Arkansas that I last stepped foot on the glorious grounds.  Holy cow that game seems like ages ago.

One last quick note....Wednesday night we all got a scare as a missing person report was filed for freshman WR, Thomas Johnson.  He had not been seen since Monday evening but police we able to locate him in the last 24 hours.  Glad that he is ok - very glad.

BTHO SAM!  WHOOP!