Texas A&M Football: Should Aggies DC Mark Snyder Be on the Hot Seat?

The Texas A&M football team is 5-1 despite having one of the top offenses in the nation. Its defense is again struggling to stop anyone. After three years in College Station, Aggies defensive coordinator Mark Snyder is coaching for his job.

The Texas A&M offense is currently ranked No. 3 in the nation, averaging 583.2 yards per game. The defense is ranked No. 75 and is allowing 406.8 yards per game. In its last two games against SEC opponents, the Aggie defense has allowed 521.5 yards and 38 points on average.

The bottom line in the Southeastern Conference is that you need to play championship-level defense to win championships. You do not have to be dominant on the defensive side, but you have to be able to consistently create turnovers and get the opposing offense off the field.

Season	Allowed Yds/Rush	Total Yds Allowed	Sacks
2012	3.7	390.2	31
2013	5.4	475.8	21
2014	4.2	406.8	20

The Aggies have not been able to do this during the last two seasons. The 2013 defense was very poor, allowing 475.8 yards per game and ranking No. 109 overall in the nation. 

The Aggies played numerous freshmen in 2013 and were supposed to benefit from their experience in 2014. Some of the same issues that were present in 2013 are still there in 2014. 

Blown Coverages

The Aggies secondary still struggles with blowing coverages in 2014. In 2013, Aggie fans would watch strong safety Howard Matthews blow his assignment on the wheel route on a weekly basis. He has been better in 2014, but the secondary is still allowing long touchdowns. 

The emergence of freshman safety Armani Watts has allowed Matthews to play closer to the line of scrimmage, where he has excelled. Watts has made some mistakes coming up to play the run, but overall he has been a solid addition to the secondary. 

Senior cornerback Deshazor Everett and junior cornerback De'Vante Harris have taken turns getting beaten for long touchdowns. Harris returned from injury to start against Arkansas and has struggled in coverage.

When you play football at a high level, your defensive backs are going to get beaten at times. However, there is no excuse for seeing opposing wide receivers running free in the secondary on a weekly basis.

It may be a matter of simplifying the coverages or playing different players, but it needs to be rectified. There is no excuse for having a poor secondary every season. Ultimately the responsibility for that lies at the feet of the defensive coordinator.

The Biggest Issue

The Aggies' biggest problem on defense is their linebacker play. The defensive line has improved since 2013, but the linebackers remain a weak point.

The Aggies do not have the requisite depth or size at the linebacker position to put an effective unit on the field. When 6'1", 230-pound senior Donnie Baggs is a starter, there are issues at the position. Baggs regularly gets run over by opposing running backs and is not effective against the run.

The Aggies sophomore middle linebacker Jordan Mastrogiovanni has recorded seven total tackles in the past two games. The Aggies played consecutive games against running teams in Arkansas and Mississippi State, and Mastrogiovanni was ineffective against both teams.

You cannot win in the SEC if you cannot stop the run, and the Aggies cannot stop the run with such poor linebacker play. Snyder is ultimately responsible for recruiting the talent to run his defense. If he does not have the linebackers on the roster to run his scheme, then it is his fault.

Snyder has been at A&M for three years, which has given him plenty of time to recognize the lack of talent at the position and address that need through the recruitment of junior-college players.

His failure to do so up to this point has caused a glaring weakness on his defense. If your front seven is weak in the SEC, you will not win football games. And right now the Aggies' front seven is weak because the play at linebacker is so poor.

What Needs to Change

There are no easy answers on defense. If it were as easy as simplifying the defense so the players could execute it easier, then that would have already have been done. 

There are ways to cover up deficiencies at one or two positions on a defense, but that is hard to do when it is an entire unit. The bottom line is that Snyder needs to figure it out quickly. The Aggies cannot afford to have another poor defensive season like they did in 2013. 

If the defense does not take a step forward in 2014, then Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin needs to find a coordinator who can make it take that step forward. You cannot expect to win championships with offense and special teams alone. 

The defense has to play at a high level consistently, and up to this point that has not been the case under Snyder.