Texas A&M's Kevin Sumlin and His Program at a Crossroads
Two weeks ago, Kevin Sumlin was in the SEC West's catbird seat.
His Aggies were undefeated, hosting Alabama in one of the biggest games of the week and looking every bit like division and national title contenders.
Then, quarterback Kyle Allen seemingly forgot how to play football, the running game fell to pieces and his Aggies lost to the Crimson Tide before getting run over, 23-3, Saturday night by a beat-up Ole Miss team in Oxford.
It wasn't as close as the score indicated.
Now, Sumlin's career and program are at a crossroads.
For his program, it's a matter of identity.
Offense is never supposed to be a problem for a Sumlin-coached team, but the Aggies managed just 192 yards against an Ole Miss squad that was without star defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, linebacker C.J. Johnson and safety Tony Conner.
Allen misfired on 18 of his last 20 attempts versus the Rebels before being benched for Jake Hubenak—not stud freshman high school legend Kyler Murray, who was curiously absent.
"We couldn’t move the ball, turnovers, penalties, we couldn’t get off the field fast enough on defense in the first half," Sumlin said, according to Ole Miss' official site. "We did get opportunities we had at midfield or [with a] short field, but we weren’t able to stay on the field and move the football."
The play-calling from offensive coordinator Jake Spavital was far too dependent on stretching the field laterally, which typically isn't a great idea against a speedy defense like Ole Miss'—especially when the Aggies have a loaded wide receiving corps that includes Christian Kirk, Ricky Seals-Jones, Speedy Noil and Josh Reynolds.
The running game, which was a focus of Sumlin's this offseason when he recruited offensive line coach and running game coordinator Dave Christensen to bring a more power-based attack to College Station, was nonexistent with just 58 yards.
In conference games this year, the Aggies are averaging a conference-worst 87.25 rushing yards per game and 2.98 yards per carry—13th in the conference.
Simply put, Texas A&M's offense is a mess, and that's the one aspect of the program that Sumlin should have complete control of.
Now 5-2, Sumlin's Aggies have regressed in the win column every year since joining the league with that 11-win season in 2012. A nine-win season in 2013 followed by an eight-win season last year should have people questioning just where the program is headed—especially with the offense suddenly sputtering.
The schedule suggests that Texas A&M should catch fire. South Carolina, Auburn and Western Carolina at home should be wins, and the road trip to Vanderbilt should be no problem prior to the regular-season finale at LSU.
Is there anything to suggest that the offense can get back on track after the last two performances?
Nope.
It's also a critical year for Sumlin personally.
He signed a six-year, $30 million contract after the 2013 season that pays him the entire sum of the contract unless he's fired with cause or chooses to leave on his own, according to Kate Hairopoulos of the Dallas Morning News.
If he chooses to leave on his own prior to the 2016 season, he would owe Texas A&M $5 million but wouldn't owe the school anything after a potential 2016 bowl game.
Sumlin's contract has allowed him to build the program and his own reputation, but it also provides personal job flexibility at the point during which it was supposed to reach its pinnacle.
Instead, it's trending down, as Ralph D. Russo of the Associated Press noted on Twitter:
The final five games of the season are going to be enormous for the Aggies football program and Sumlin's future as a head coach.
With USC and Miami open, and the NFL looming, Sumlin could have plenty of coaching vacancies awaiting him. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported Sunday that Sumlin could be open to moving up a level:
At this point, though, would any NFL team really want him?
It's getting pretty difficult to have faith in a coach and program that do everything possible to convince you otherwise.
Luckily for Sumlin, he has the luxury of time built into his contract at Texas A&M to fall back on.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics are courtesy of cfbstats.com.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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