A&M Falls To Notre Dame Immediate Reaction

all right guys just got back from the game sitting down to make this video the one I didn't want to make the post loss reaction obviously it's really really painful because of all the excitement all the you know hopium we've been smoking on new staff you feel like you're turning a page you feel like you still have the talent to be really really good and you have such a Premier Home opportunity with the country watching in week one to kick off this new era and you lose and no matter how you slice it no matter how the game would have gone you would have felt really bad after a loss but a couple of really really scary developments for Aggies watching this game I mean you got to start with Connor wigman right and before I get into it I want to warn you guys this isn't going to be the most entertaining video this is probably not the video you want to watch so if you want to click off right now I totally understand a lot of negative to go through I will throw a couple positive spins in here cuz there is still hope but obviously that took a blow today so if you don't want to watch this one click off like totally understand Connor wigman was inaccurate today you know we've hyped him up we've talked about him he's gotten a lot of love from a lot of analysts and he didn't get it done today that's the storyline of the game right that's what Aggies are going to be thinking about and talking about over the next couple of weeks until until you play another sec opponent Conor wigman was not what we had seen before so it's really easy just to point at that right there and say okay that's why you lost the game let's make a couple other things clear I'm going to give you some more overarching things and then we'll start zooming into some individual aspects overall I thought Notre Dame played like a really well coach team I thought early in the game Anam had some success Obviously good opening drive some good defense you kind of hurt yourself with some penalties we'll talk about it more in detail in a second but the offense really started to stall out sloppy play penalties two turnovers and as A&M was going through that I felt like Notre Dame started to settle into the game now I don't want to sit here and say Notre Dame played a perfect game because this was still a game one for them they still had some negative moments X's and O's players wise but they did not make critical game altering mistakes like A&M did so hats off to Marcus Freeman he got them ready for a fist fight on the road that was a crazy atmosphere down the stretch of that game when it was tied 1313 I think early fourth quarter and they weathered the storm and they won so that's a really good team that's a really good defense we'll talk more about it&m made big mistakes that led to Notre Dame points early in the game it was the targeting call by Dalton Brooks clearly targeting kicked out of the game Notre name gets three the next drive you can call it a Savvy play by Riley Leonard I don't know if it was on purpose or not but it was the underthrow pi where the receiver tries to come back to the ball and just by the nature of the way the routes run and the way the guy's covering it Tyreek Chappelle's in the way and they call the pi they get a field goal A&M has a great play design get a sneak I love that it was a spread look you kind of bring everything inside off of motion Conor kind of like meanders up to under Center takes the snap it's a great sneak play you got the first down easily you flinched you have to punt it Connor threw two interceptions all in the first this is all in the first half this is all setting the tone in the game and Notre Dame didn't do that so that to me was the early indicator of what was to come I felt very uneasy with the way the game went in the first half I'm sure you did too I was thinking this is a weird game game every time this crowd really wants to get into it something happens Notre Dame makes a positive play and it makes a negative play something would happen to kind of just you know say you're not being consistent it was you were not consistent in the game and Notre Dame was more consistent so going back to Connor he was inaccurate but it's hard for me only to point the finger at him because I do not feel like the receiver room helped him out I felt like early in the game jday got some separation on some of the scripted play plays you're playing your best ball Jay got some separation in the first half Cyrus got Cyrus Allen got some separation in the first couple of drives but outside of that nothing Noah was blanketed um you didn't really have a tight end safety valve for you didn't have any short routes available to you and what notame was able to do is just man up with that Behemoth secondary and stack the box and stop anam's offense I think the positive though of A&M's offensive performance was the offensive line surprisingly they weren't perfect but I felt like they played a pretty even match versus a really really good defensive line I didn't feel like Connor was particularly pressured in the game and a couple times when he sensed pressure he threw bad balls but it wasn't like he was getting thrown around he got sacked I think once or twice in the game against a really good D line against a really good defense I felt like the o line held their own there were running opportuni ities you ran the ball okay but they were able to stack the box so it was limited there you didn't have a passing game and by the time the game went down to the home stretch they started to fade the passing game overall and the offense became a lot more vanilla because that's what a good defense does they take you out of your game plan they say nope you're not going to do this we know we're this talented and you have to do this and we're just going to stop you and they were able to do that andam had that one nice desperate drive that goal line touchdown late in the game uh I kind of liked how you were able to throw EJ Smith out there with fresh legs he had a couple of big runs on that drive and then it took a couple tries Le'Veon Moss got it in the end zone you had some success running the football but the lack of a threat of passing game just demolished your offense now I hear I've been seeing you know CR criticisms towards the offensive play calling yeah I hear you but both teams playing hard man that's a really freaking good defense and they were playing well they did their job I mean that's what happens when you play a really good defense you can't be yourself you have to adjust to it and the adjustment unfortunately was just becoming vanilla running between the tackles a lot and just playing ball with that and they were more successful there than we were so that was really the offensive game there so going forward with the offense before we get to the defensive talk I don't know if you can fix the playmaker receiver problem on the team I don't know if just a big time player that strikes fear into the hearts of defenses is just going to emerge I mean maybe Terry busy gets more involved as the year goes on they tried to get to him early they covered it they kind of faded that as the game went on maybe he becomes more involved down the stretch moose barely played until late in the game and didn't do much you just don't really have a lot of explosive weapons and I don't know if that can be fixed but what can be fixed we think think Connor can get better after a really long layover now obviously two ways that can go right I'm not going to sit here and condemn Connor wigman after one bad game his first game back from a season ending injury against that defense I I'm not going to do that but if it keeps happening it could happen Conor could just not return to what he was before what we saw glimpses of as a true freshman and for three games last year year there's a world where that's the case but I don't think we should be ready to do that just yet I I think that's very premature first of all first game back second of all that defense I mean that's that's a storm for losing a game right there now we talked about it it was a talking point through at least on this channel throughout the last couple months of the offseason how long was it was it going to take Connor to become himself was it going to be a drive a quarter a game multiple games and he wasn't himself that game and is his old self still there so yeah you can ask the question but I don't think we're calling for his head yet I don't think I don't think that's the right course of action it has to improve and when you play MCN next week obviously you're probably going to win that game you need to play well within yourself and kind of disregarding the opponent side of things just play clean don't have the turnovers be accurate find timing find Rhythm receive get open consistently that's how you move forward there and we'll talk about it then let's talk about the defense real quick then we'll get back into some more overarching stuff I really like the secondary I think the secondary was probably the highlight of the entire team uh I think Marcus Radcliffe showed that he's going to be a major player he was in there like the third play of the game Bryce Anderson played really well I can't wait to see what happens when you get Dalton Brooks in there he's poised for a really big year it sucked to lose him I thought the corn played pretty well desz rcks got targeted a couple times but he was able to tackle well to put a lid on those plays dline did not dominate like how we had hoped and I would say that that was almost a stalemate if not a stalemate with their offensive line their young offensive line and that was what we were targeting as our as our big point of attack for the game darl line played much better than you would expect a bunch of freshman to play on the road they played really well hats off to them there's a reason those guys won those jobs and they're going to be so good down the stretch of the year because they're going to be better from playing in this environment in this kind of a game that's Notre Dame offensive line is back it's back folks and that's that's what happened there now defensive line did have their moments they were able to get penetration at times and it was Shamar Turner I saw some cashes Howell moments Ryland Kennedy had a moment early Nick scorton didn't do much in my opinion you weren't able to win a bunch of one-on-one ones and it wasn't what we had wanted from that matchup on top of that I felt like interior linebacker run fits were not good this game and it's hard to tell from a naked eye this is just raw not looking at film coming straight from the game it seemed like Toren York had a bad game wasn't as involved as you would have hoped Scooby Williams I thought had some really good moments looked really fast and athletic out there was able to chase Riley Leonard down a few times I need to go back and key in on him and Damen sford got in the game too but it seemed like that second level running backs maybe there was some havoc on the defensive line they were creating but they were able to squirt through it and not it tackle on that second level of defense and even if you had them in second and long situations they were just sorting through and getting that making up yards on second and Longs and running and getting big chunk plays in the running game so really going to bank on some improvement there we know what we've gotten from torian before hopefully that's still there hopefully you're not just missing McKinley and Eden and that just how it is this year you hope they can find that and get better and get better because I didn't think the defense was all bad I mean you gave up big runs critical runs in the game but secondary played really well they were very involved in the game whether it it's the running game or the passing game Bo Collins made a great and contested catch down the stretch that was super clutch with the toe tap credit to him there we didn't get that kind of receiver play they did when it counted the most hopefully Faison's okay I saw he left the game I didn't notice if he came back or not he looked like he was banged up hopefully he's okay um but I I really am encouraged by that secondary and really I know you gave up the yards on the running in the running game but that was not having complimentary football I mean every subsequent drive down the stretch of that game the pressure and the exhaustion was just increasing for that defense more and more and more and more and they started playing their best ball in that fourth quarter and they were able to get their best drives in that fourth quarter and you know maybe better offensive play you're having more sustained drives keeping them off the field longer giving them hope cuz defenses can lose hope down the stretch of a game if the offense isn't giving them anything to to to you know be excited about or rely on or lean on that all plays into it so I I still think this defense has a chance to be really really good but I am probably most disheartened by the fact that the dline was not dominant in this game and I told you if it wasn't dominant or if it wasn't you know a win in the position battle I would have concerns about it I would say it was pretty close to a stalemate it was pretty close to a stalemate so I don't feel great about it let's see how they bounce back Nick scorton played that game hurt he rolled his ankle early in the game he came back hopefully Mark Nebo okay I don't know if he came back armag Reed Adams did come back into the game after he got hurt um a lot of you know that was part of the game early too where I was saying it was a weird game the way it was kind of going you would get moment momentum or start feeling good then it'd be like a big injury to quiet and like humble the crowd or a penalty or a turnover that would kind of just dull the place down and you couldn't stay in Rhythm you couldn't find consistency and it was always something whether it was that or other things there was a million little things that just kind of kept this game down for A&M early but credit to Notre Dame man they settled into the game way faster than A&M did they're clearly coached really well took A&M way too long to get comfortable brutal second quarter for A&M with the two interceptions I think they're both in the second Corner penal quarter penalties and they just got beat by a better football team that's just what happened um moving forward you got to get better versus MCN I mean you got to see Improvement right week one to week two what else can you say I don't think I mean people are ready to say this is the same old it's bad coaching we're doomed we're cursed maybe Definitely Maybe but a lot of football left a lot of improvement to be made and it remains to be seen how good Notre Dame is once they get into their schedule but that was a big road hurdle for them to get over and they did it really well at down the stretch of that game they played really well down the stretch so you're not going to see a defense that good until maybe Texas and even that's not as good as Notre Dame people will tell you that Notre Dame is overrated that secondary is is not overrated Howard cross is not overrated Riley Mills is not overrated that deep linebacker core where the Freshman um vamu ASU had a huge play this game that linebacker crew is not overrated that's a good ass defense Riley Leonard was a hustler and a strong clutch Runner down the stretch Jeremiah Love was a strong persistent rusher Jerian price was a persistent rusher with that long touchdown that's a good team it's it's a good freaking team so you know I don't know if you're going to see that for the next couple of weeks so you have a chance to get better especially versus MCN and then Florida looked really bad today I'm not really here to talk about that but they did look very very vulnerable and of course A&M looked probably a lot worse than what you would have hoped so that kind of bounces out a little bit but Florida looked bad so maybe have a chance there but guys that's about all I can do just coming off the stands and being emotional right now what I'll do is I'll watch the game I'll take notes we'll go position by position talk about everybody on the next video I do it'll be a longer fleshed out version of this one where we get into the weeds into the details of everything that'll probably drop Monday morning Sunday night something like that and then Monday night we'll go live give you guys a chance to call in and vent about what we just saw but guys stay safe keep your head up lot of football left don't don't let yourself get too depressed cuz we got a whole season ahead of us folks let's let this thing play out a little bit go from there thanks guys gigum