The No. 25 Texas A&M Aggies secured their third win of the season narrowly escaping the talons of the Bowling Green Falcons with a 26-20 victory at Kyle Field on Saturday Sept. 21. There are plenty of key takeaways for both the Aggies and the Falcons following a nail-biter in College Station, Texas.
Marcel mania comes down to earth
Despite a stellar first-time starting performance by redshirt freshman quarterback Marcel Reed, where the Nashville, Tennessee native accumulated 3 touchdowns and 261 all purpose yards, it remained uncertain whether redshirt sophomore QB Conner Weigman would be returning under center for the Maroon and White.
Reed, however, received a second straight start, and his first ever in front of the 12h Man in Kyle Field. Fans roared for the return of “Marcel-Mania.” However after his performance against Bowling Green, Reed reminded all of those in attendance that he is still only a freshman.
While having two touchdown passes to 0 interceptions is a relatively good stat line for an Aggie QB, going 16 of 29 through the air, leaves lots to be desired going into SEC play next week against the Arkansas Razorbacks. Aggie coach Mike Elko recognized that Reed’s performance against the Mid-American Athletic Conference opponent demonstrates that while he does hold athleticism for the QB position, there are things to improve on.
“Obviously we started fast. The first drive going down the field and scoring the touchdown was good. I thought there were just times in the middle of the game where we just didn’t operate the way we needed to,” Elko said. “Some of that was on Marcel; some of that was on other people. But we just got to find ways to get him a little bit more comfortable operating on some of the stuff we’re doing tonight.”
Agent zero
One of the biggest x-factors for the Falcons was the man who dawns the jersey No. 0, junior tight end Harold Fannin Jr. After 11 catches for 137 yards and one touchdown versus the No. 8 Penn State Nittany Lions, Fannin Jr. decided to run it back with an almost identical stat line against the Aggies. He racked in eight catches for 145 yards and one touchdown versus the fightin’ farmers.
A bulk of his stat line came off of a spectacular 65 yard receiving touchdown that saw him catch the ball at the Aggies 40 yard line, before juking out sophomore safety Marcus Ratcliffe twice, then escaping a last ditch tackle by A&M’s graduate defensive back Trey Jones III.
This touchdown catapulted Bowling Green’s momentum and brought it within 3 points of A&M. By being a focus on offense, Fannin Jr. forced the Aggies to allow open looks for other members of the Falcons receiving corps. Fannin Jr. proves once again that he deserves to be on the Mackey Award watch list, and why all opposing defenses need to prepare for agent zero.
Pounding the rock
Under new offensive coordinator Collin Klein this season, A&M has been putting an emphasis on the ground and pound. With over 300 rushing yards in the Aggies two most recent games against the McNeese State Cowboys and the Florida Gators, all eyes were on the were on the ground game here in Aggieland.
While managing to not rush for a touchdown the Aggies indeed managed to enforce the run 43 total attempts for 235 yards. The offensive line managed to create plenty of gaps for the six total different ball carries on the night. Two names lead the box score in rushing by a wide margin, in Reed and junior running back Le’Veon Moss, who rushed for 91 and 90 yards each respectively.
Junior offensive linemen Ar’Maj Reed-Adams recognized that while things did get off to a slow start in the first quarter after only picking up 24 rushing yards, the maroon goons eventually managed to figure things out and allow the running game to flourish.
“It was ugly at times just because they had more than we could handle in the box. They had eight at all times. So we just had to block who we could, block and let our running backs be who they are,” Reed-Adams said. “But at the end of the game, we got 200 plus rushing yards, so it was a good night. Just down and dirty is how it had to be tonight.”
Lack of pass rush
Coming into this season with the addition of presumed top ten NFL draft pick in junior defensive linemen Nic Scourton, all eyes were set on what was a supposedly stacked defensive line group for A&M. However the wrecking crew’s performance rushing the passer has been less than ideal through four games this season.
The Aggies have only brought down the opposing team QBs a total of six times so far, despite the fact that they have played one Football Championship Subdivision team, one group of five team and an underperforming Florida Gator squad. Only five total A&M players have managed to find their names checked off for sacks in the stat box. The Bryan, Texas native Scourton recognized that the highly touted defensive line needs to begin showing up in order to become difference makers for the Aggies.
“We’re supposed to be a dominant force on the defense end. I think for us to, you know, win and dominate the game, we’ve got to dominate,” Scourton said. “Obviously, I think we played okay. But I think it’s a lot of holes and stuff that we can fix so we can go out there and make plays and take some stress off those guys in the back.”
Scourton also touched on the huge potential and bright futures that the defensive line group as a whole is capable of achieving.
“Like I said, I mean, we just got to dominate. We got guys who are in position to go get drafted. I think we need to make more plays. … I think we’re going to practice harder. We’re going to go and work harder, and we’re going to try to stop that.” Scourton said.
