It has been four days since Texas A&M’s 28-26 loss to No. 2 Clemson at home.
The anguish of losing by two points to the Tigers is still fresh in A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher’s mind. However, Fisher said the outcome of the game rests on the coaching staff and not the players.
“I’m not very happy at all,” Fisher said. “There were a lot of missed opportunities in the game and fundamental breakdowns. I am not blaming [the players]. As coaches, we have to coach better; we have to put them in those situations [to win].”
The biggest play of Saturday’s game came in the fourth quarter after sophomore wide receiver Quartney Davis fumbled out of the end zone and officials ruled it a touchback. Sophomore quarterback Kellen Mond said seeing Fisher erupt on the sideline reassured him that both the coaches and players are working toward the same goal.
“I’ll definitely say it gives us a little more fire and something that we always knew that he would go to battle for us but it kind of showed that he would,” Mond said. “We would do the same thing. We’ve built that trust with him that no matter what, we’re always going to play four quarters and fight to the end for him.”
As A&M moves on from the narrow loss, Fisher said the Aggies can’t afford to get caught up in what happened on Saturday and overlook the their next opponent, the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
“They’ve won two very tightly contested games, and they’re going to come in here ready to play,” Fisher said. “You have some disappointment in some things in which [you could’ve] done better. Once this film is over with, it’s gone. You can’t worry about it. … You [have to] move on and get ready to play UL-Monroe and lock in what you got to do.”
For sophomore wide receiver Camron Buckley, the start of the new week means a new opportunity to learn from mistakes made in the previous game.
“We have to move on from what happened this past week,” Buckley said. “A lot of stuff happened, but we’re focused week by week and improve as a team.”
Buckley said while the focus is now shifting over to ULM, the team is using the loss to Clemson as motivation.
“We’re angry,” Buckley said. “Who wouldn’t be angry after that? It’s driving us, it’s going to push us even harder and punish every opponent we have from now on. Period.”