Coach Sumlin should be anxious as anyone about the state of his team. The same roster has taken the field on two separate occasions and the results were anything but consistent. Sumlin should breath easier this Saturday, not because the problem is solved, but because the next game is against the South Carolina State Bulldogs. It just wont matter.
Theres a schism between sports fans, and admittedly it has merit. It has plenty of faces. Its not over until its over, they say. If you look past a bad team, theyre liable to sneak up on you. The annals of sports history are littered with Cinderella stories and the carcasses of powerhouses ambushed by inferior teams.
Remember in 2007 when FCS opponent Appalachian State defeated Michigan in what is considered by many one of the biggest upsets in college sports history?
Sports fans shouldnt be disillusioned: the David versus Goliath matchups end in the predictable way almost every time. If A&M is to move beyond the banners, yard signs, painted buses and t-shirts, and become a real Southeastern Conference team, South Carolina State is a non-entity. Theyre not in the same circles the Aggies travel in and theyre not even close. The Bulldogs and the Aggies dont get invited to the same parties. They dont sit at the same tables.
If the Aggies dont end South Carolina State within the first handful of drives, theyre not ready to be a factor in the SEC. If South Carolina State is within range in the second half, the Aggies arent who they say they are arent who they showed themselves to be in a tight loss to Florida and a pounding of SMU. And if the Aggies find a way to lose at home to a team like South Carolina State, were going to need to have a conversation about crippling residual effects from last years failures.
If you were thinking about doubting the three-headed monster behind one of the more promising offenses in recent program history head coach Kevin Sumlin, offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, and freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel you havent been watching. But, should the Aggies slip up in a major way on Saturday it will tell us a great deal about their character. Until Saturday, there are more pressing matters for this student body to attend to.
Recently Ive seen a sloppy mess of flippant remarks about a past tendency toward second-half collapses. If youre one of the people saying these things, I see where youre coming from. The Aggies botched what could have been a beauty of a season last year, and they did it in the second halves of games, dropping five games in which they held the lead. That occurred during the Sherman era. This is Sumlins time. Losing close to Florida against a fast defense in a freshmans first start under center doesnt signal a continuation of the lifetimes worth of leads lost last season. Its different.
When a fan makes a comment like that, what does it accomplish? As the 12th Man, were called upon to support our team. That obligation doesnt begin and end in the confines of Kyle Field. Do you think the players on Twitter, in your classes, around campus dont hear what youre saying? Do you think they dont think about that when they take the field after halftime? If you do think in that matter, youre wrong. Let this team and these coaches earn their own reputation, dont saddle them with Shermans and Tannehills.
Im not a football player Ill pause for the laughter to die down but I imagine that at some point the swaying masses at Kyle Field stop becoming an energy source for the players to draw from and start becoming a shrieking mob that the players are desperate to please. So the players start to overthink and the added fan pressure gets to them. What kind of fans do we want to be? This is a long season. Batten down the hatches and cut the pointless chatter. Watch
Johnny Manziel, Christine Michael and the rest of the gang put up video game-like numbers on South Carolina State on Saturday.