Texas A&M's QB Battle Is Only One Part of Its Offensive Problem

Texas A&M quarterback Kyle Allen completed just 12 of his 34 passes in last weekend's 23-3 loss at Ole Miss, misfired on 20 of his final 22 attempts before being benched for Jake Hubenak and has been looking over his shoulder while legendary high school dual-threat Kyler Murray has been lurking.

It should come as no surprise that Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin hit the "reset button" on his quarterback position heading into this weekend's matchup with South Carolina.

According to Billy Liucci of TexAgs.com, the trio will battle it out all week in College Station.

"For this game" makes it seem like it's going to be a week-to-week discussion down the stretch, unless somebody steps forward.

Who should be the man in College Station?

It should be Kyle Allen for now with Kyler Murray as the designated changeup/backup, with Murray and Hubenak both ready to go if Allen struggles. After all, that was the plan from the moment toe met leather this year, and Allen deserves the opportunity to win back the trust of his teammates.

Sure, I called for Murray during the Ole Miss loss on Twitter while Allen was throwing incomplete pass after incomplete pass. But that would be a temporary solution to what seems like a permanent problem.

Offensive coordinator Jake Spavital is the problem.

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The offense has just one touchdown over the last 10 quarters, managed just 192 yards against an Ole Miss defense that was without several stars, including defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, and hasn't been able to run the football the way Sumlin envisioned prior to the season.

"Obviously it begins with me," Spavital said, according to Kate Hairopoulos of the Dallas Morning News. "There's a lot of things we can get better at. We got to do a better job of finding easier completions for these quarterbacks ... especially at times when they're rattled. Overall, it's been an up-and down ride with this offense, but we know we're going to get this fixed."

His play-calling doesn't seem to fit his quarterback's strengths, is far too focused on the east/west passing game and is about as predictable as the sunrise in short-yardage situations.

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What's more, three of his last four quarterbacks—Geno Smith at West Virginia in 2012, Kenny Hill in 2014 and Allen in 2015—all have suffered midseason swoons.

Translation: The book got out on all of them, and Spavital needs to re-write it.

Lately, it's been more down than up, though, which has sent A&M into about as much turmoil as possible for a 5-2 football team. 

The running game is also a major problem. The Aggies are averaging just 147.14 yards per game on the ground—11th in the SEC. In conference games, that number drops to 87.25 yards per game, which is the worst mark in the conference, and they're averaging just 94.67 yards per game and 2.93 yards per carry on the ground in the month of October.

That simply won't cut it with the talented offensive line and new offensive line coach/running game coordinator Dave Christensen—who was supposed to bring a more power-based attack—in College Station.

From rumors of a divide in the locker room from CBS Houston's John P. Lopez, to the offensive ineptitude to play-calling that's been suspect at best, the once-promising Texas A&M season has regressed into a Texas-sized mess that Sumlin needs to fix at this pivotal point of his career.

Priority No. 1 for Sumlin isn't to name a quarterback. It's to fix an offense that has become stagnant and predictable at a critical time of the season for the second straight year under Spavital. 

To fix the offense, Sumlin must fix Spavital.

Otherwise, this viscous cycle of offensive ineptitude is likely to repeat itself, and the Texas A&M program will continue to spin its wheels.

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.