Texas A&M is unranked for the first time this season and 3-3 for the first time since 2010, but the Aggies haven’t lost hope.
Though no one is calling for an upset over upcoming opponents No. 10 Georgia and No. 2 LSU like Jared Hocker did before A&M faced then-top ranked Clemson, junior wide receiver Jhamon Ausbon said he’s positive about the rest of A&M’s season.
“It’s very important we find ourselves and truly learn from this,” Ausbon said. “It can be a really good season. We can go 10-3 from this point on.”
On the tail of a loss to No. 1 Alabama, Ausbon said it makes sense that some would be disheartened by the team’s record.
“It’s very easy to get discouraged because you work so hard and you don’t expect to lose a lot of games,” Ausbon said.
But regardless of the circumstances surrounding the team, the confidence the Aggies started the season with is still in tact. Sophomore linebacker Anthony Hines said that is because the Aggies know they have a good team, despite the results of the games.
“We had good moments, but consistency is a big thing for us,” Hines said. “We just have to be more consistent and limit the self-inflicted wounds.”
A&M’s three losses were by margins of 14, eight and 19 points, and the Aggies had opportunities to win throughout each of them. Ausbon said that helps the team keep up its confidence moving forward.
“The confidence just comes from looking at the game and realizing you had opportunities in the game and you didn’t lose based off talent or ability,” Ausbon said. “That gives you a boost and motivation knowing you can play those games [closer].”
Fisher said keeping the score close is especially important against ranked teams.
“You have to understand and be in [the games],” Fisher said. “When you play good people, good people are going to make plays.”
A bye week preceded A&M’s matchup against the Crimson Tide, allowing the Aggies to fix issues that had popped up early in the season. New areas needing improvement were exposed on Saturday and leave A&M with more work to do heading deeper into conference play.
Fixing the issues that have presented themselves thus far is critical to the Aggies’ success later on in the season, Hines said.
“Without correcting those, it could bite us later down the road,” Hines said. “It’s correcting those mistakes and focusing on Ole Miss. We have to really lock in this week and get our schemes right.”
Resolving those issues starts in practice, Ausbon said.
“A lot of mistakes, you can see that they came from practice,” Ausbon said. “You can see us doing the same things on the practice field. It’s very important [to create] great habits in practice.”