No. 5 Texas A&M is one spot behind the top four in the College Football Playoffs, and senior quarterback Kellen Mond is at the helm.
So far this season, Mond has broken the A&M records for all-time offensive yards, all-time passing yards and all-time passing touchdowns thrown.
Mond’s landmark season saw some bumps against LSU though, instead throwing 11-of-34 for 105 yards and no touchdowns as the offense struggled to regain the momentum it had garnered before its two-week hiatus.
Despite the high number of incomplete passes, A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said not all the blame falls on Mond.
“We have got to get open [and] we have got to protect better,” Fisher said. “You blend [the fact that] Kellen had throws he should have hit, we should have protected him better and we should get open more. It’s a combination of all three things.”
As it was pouring down in Kyle Field, a slippery football did not do any favors for the record breaker on Saturday, Nov. 28.
However, Fisher said he doesn’t think the weather had an effect on the game.
“[The weather’s effect was] none,” Fisher said. “The weather, I didn’t think was that bad. It was very light rain and again I didn’t think it was bad at all.”
Mond threw nine incomplete passes during the very first quarter of the matchup. Eight followed in the second quarter and six were thrown during the second half.
The negatives for Mond on the statsheet did not stop there. The signal caller also only managed 105 passing yards and 27 rushing yards and no touchdowns.
This is a jump from the quarterback’s performance during the Aggies’ last game against South Carolina. In Columbia, Mond put up four touchdowns and 224 yards.
Despite Mond’s numbers on the statsheet, sophomore running back Isaiah Spiller said the offensive frustrations were simply due to being rusty after two weeks away from the game.
“I felt like we could have played a lot better,” Spiller said. “We had a lot of penalties but we were a little rusty. We’re going to go ahead and practice this week, just focusing on little things and getting better so we can play our next opponent.”
