When junior running back Le’Veon Moss went down with a season-ending knee injury against South Carolina two weeks ago, No. 15 Texas A&M football not only lost one of the SEC’s most productive rushers, but the engine of its offense.
Coming out of last week’s bye and without the team’s leading rusher, offensive coordinator Collin Klein retooled the offense around redshirt freshman quarterback Marcel Reed. In a routine 38-3 win over New Mexico State on Saturday at Kyle Field, the offense continued to morph as it tailored to Reed’s abilities.
Replacing Moss’ 6.32 yards per carry and 10 touchdowns is no easy feat, but the next man up in the backfield rotation was junior RB Amari Daniels. The Miami product was productive as an auxiliary piece, totalling 466 yards and six touchdowns rushing. In his first game as a starter, he racked up 84 rushing yards on five totes, including a 71-yard touchdown carry in the first quarter.
Now that Moss and sophomore RB Rueben Owens are both out with season-ending injuries, A&M is left with only two runners on scholarship — Daniels and graduate Stanford transfer RB EJ Smith. The son of Dallas Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith has been oft-used throughout the year, but in his first game as the second running back, he struggled in his efficiency. Smith managed to rumble for 60 yards, but at only four yards per carry, the attrition in the running back stable was palpable.
“I think it was important for us to get [Smith] game carries,” coach Mike Elko said. “He hasn’t had a ton of them. He’s certainly been out there, but he hasn’t really had to carry the load like that. … Amari, obviously, has gotten a fair amount of carries, EJ hasn’t quite gotten that many, so we felt like it was really important to get him a good amount of work tonight. We were able to do that, and I thought he did a really good job.”
Klein and the offense threw a curveball at the Crimson and White by coming out in personnel groups utilizing two tight ends early and often. The extra beef up front gives The Maroon and White the blockers in the run game to counter the heavier boxes that they are seeing since Reed’s insertion into the starting lineup. Reed’s comfortability reading out the middle of the field meshed with the tight ends running quick-hitting seam routes off of play action, maximizing the threat of Reed’s legs without actually running him.
“I thought [the tight ends] did a really nice job tonight,” Elko said. “I think it was more a product of how they were playing us that kind of created some openings for them.”
Swedish-born redshirt sophomore tight end Theo Melin Öhrström had a career night in this two-tight-end offense, more than tripling his previous career high in yardage with 111 on the night. The offense also debuted a run-pass-option play that got the ball in Öhrström’s hands quickly for a chance to get yards after the catch. Senior Fresno State transfer TE Tre Watson was involved heavily as well, hauling in four balls for 67 yards in a game that saw 15 targets for the tight ends.
Reed’s fifth start of the season came with the peaks and valleys that the 12th Man has become accustomed to seeing from the Nashville, Tennessee product. While on the offense’s script early in the game, Reed looked comfortable and moved the team in chunks through the air, including a tight-window throw to junior wide receiver Noah Thomas for a score.
Not that the offense needed any more scoring against a moribund New Mexico State attack, but A&M’s starting offense slowed in the second quarter. Reed’s accuracy fluctuated as he left plays on the field, and the lack of depth at running back forced the young passer to carry the offensive burden himself. With 1:31 left in the half, A&M had an opportunity for a two-minute drill score, but a panicked Reed threw an interception off of his back foot, leaving points on the table.
“I think I came out strong,” Reed said. “We executed what we were supposed to do, the game plan. Kind of got a little sloppy in the second quarter, which is not good. Obviously, I threw that pick right before the half. [I] really should have thrown it out of bounds, but it is what it is, got to live with it.”
While knowing an easy offensive night was likely could have had something to do with it, Reed and the offensive architecture seemed to make a concerted effort to keep the freshman in the pocket and win without using his legs. Reed only ran the ball four times for 41 yards, but one of those attempts was a five-yard scramble for a touchdown on his last snap of the game.
With a road trip against Auburn next week and a bout against Texas’ stout defense rapidly approaching, the Aggies’ offense will be forced to cobble together enough production from the ancillary skill players to replace the runaway freight train that was Moss.
“This is everything that you want,” Elko said on his team’s situation heading into the final two weeks of the season. “We haven’t been in this position as a program ever. There’s been no time ever where Texas A&M has been in the SEC and in the last two games controlled their own destiny to go to Atlanta. It’s what you work for, it’s the opportunity that you train for.”
