Missouri vs. Texas A&M: Game Grades, Analysis for the Tigers and Aggies

Positional Unit	First Half Grade	Final Grade
Passing Offense	C	B
Running Offense	B	A+
Passing Defense	C	C
Running Defense	B	A
Special Teams	B	B
Coaching	A	A

The Missouri Tigers were able to keep their SEC East hopes alive as they defeated Texas A&M 34-27. The final box score can be found here, thanks to NCAA.com.

It was a game where both teams started a little slow, but the Tigers were able to pick things up in the third quarter with a 28-point outburst. Missouri ran and threw all over the Aggies, and they need to continue to win in order to make it back to the Georgia Dome in December. The Aggies are just looking to finish the season with eight wins.

Here are game grades and analysis for the Tigers and the Aggies.

Positional Unit	First Half Grade	Final Grade
Passing Offense	C	B
Running Offense	D	D
Passing Defense	C	C
Running Defense	D	F
Special Teams	B	B
Coaching	C-	C-

Passing Offense

There have been times when Maty Mauk has not looked sharp, but this was not one of those days. Mauk was 23-of-40 with 252 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He has had better numbers in his career, but he was able to sustain drives with key third-down passes all game long. He is starting to play a lot better since the Georgia loss, and that’s not a good sign for Tennessee and Arkansas.

Running Offense

This was by far the best rushing performance for the Tigers all year. The Tigers rushed for 335 yards, and Russell Hansbrough recorded 199 of those yards. The running backs for the Tigers used their speed to get on the outside, and the Aggies had no answer for it.

Passing Defense

Trying to stop the Aggies passing offense is a difficult task, because that is their strength. The Tigers were able to do a good job of not letting Kyle Allen go off in the first half, but he still had modest numbers, tallying 237 passing yards and three touchdowns. The defensive line did get after Allen with three sacks and Ian Simon was able to get an interception off Allen. So the pass defense was solid outside of the three touchdown passes.

Running Defense

The Aggies aren’t known for running the football, and the Tigers made sure of that. With only 104 yards on the ground, the Tigers front seven got after the Aggies offensive line and never could get the ground game going. Credit goes to Markus Golden and Shane Ray for not only going after the quarterback, but also making sure the running backs did not run wild.

Special Teams

Andrew Baggett made two of his three field goal attempts, the Tigers only had to punt twice and, outside of one Speedy Noil return, the coverage teams were on point. So the special teams did what they needed to do, which is put the Tigers in position to score points and pin the Aggies back as much as possible.

Coaching

Gary Pinkel has the Tigers playing good football because they are taking it one game at a time. They had a great game plan on offense, and the defense was able to get after Allen. Pinkel and the Tigers are criticized because they are not as consistent as they could be. But Pinkle’s calm demeanor feeds off his players, and they continue to win.

Passing Offense

Allen had another strong game with three touchdown passes in the loss. But he did get sacked three times, and he did not look very poised in the first half. As good as Allen is, he still has a lot to learn when it comes to decision-making and being more efficient on third down.

Running Offense

One of the things the Aggies need to get better at is running the football. They rushed for only 102 yards and had 3.8 yards per carry. Tra Carson did have 56 yards on 10 carries, but he only had 10 carries. The game was never out of reach for the Aggies, so they really should have put the ball in Carson’s hands more, and that would have made the passing game more of a threat.

Passing Defense

Mauk did not have great numbers, but he made timely throws when the Tigers needed them the most. One of the reasons for that is the Aggies could not generate any pressure on Mauk, as they tallied zero sacks. However, the Aggies were missing Myles Garrett—who has 11 sacks this season—so that made a big difference.

Running Defense

Another area in which the loss of Garrett showed is the run defense. The Aggies allowed 335 yards on the ground, and the Tigers were not doing anything special to gain those yards. In fact, there were times when the Tigers would run the same play over and over again and the Aggies could not maintain their assignments. This will be an area that needs to be addressed sooner than later.

Special Teams

The only highlight from the special teams was when Speedy Noil had a 70-yard kick return in the first quarter. Other than that, it was a solid for the special teams, as Josh Lambo made both of his field goals and the coverage teams did not let Marcus Murphy go crazy in the return game. Noil is going to be a very good return specialist for the Aggies by the start of the 2015 season.

Coaching

Kevin Sumlin had the right offensive game plan, but once again the defense did not come through. That has been the case for Sumlin since his arrival at Texas A&M, and they are losing games due to the fact that the defense is getting gashed each week. The talent is young on both sides of the ball, so Sumlin will have to continue to stay on the guys and make sure they continue to learn and improve.