Texas A&M Football: Burning Questions Ahead of the Liberty Bowl

The Texas A&M football team will play the West Virginia Mountaineers in Memphis, Tennessee, in the Liberty Bowl. There are many questions looming over the Aggies' head as they enter the bowl game. 

The Aggies have had three coaches leave the staff since the end of the regular season. No one knows how the team will perform with temporary coaches in those positions. 

The Aggies need to get a victory to reach eight wins on the season. After consecutive loses to end the regular season, a win would be a positive reminder of the potential that this young team possesses. 

This is a look at some of the questions the team is facing as it enters the Liberty Bowl. 

How Will the Defense Respond?

Jim Lytle/Associated Press

The great unknown for the bowl game is how the defense will respond without Mark Snyder calling the shots. The defense struggled to stop anyone for the last two seasons.

The Aggies are ranked No. 102 in total defense as they enter the bowl game. There is no way to know how they will react to the loss of their leader.

Linebackers coach Mark Hagan will call the defense for the bowl game. The linebackers have been the biggest weakness on the defense for the entire season.

It will be interesting to see whether having their position coach calling the plays will give the linebacking unit a shot in the arm. The Aggies defense is going to need to have a strong showing against a very potent West Virginia offense.   

Will Jake Spavital Call a Better Game?

Patric Schneider/Associated Press

Mark Snyder was not the only coach who had a disappointing season in Aggieland. Texas A&M offensive coordinator Jake Spavital struggled to put together effective game plans from one week to the next. 

The 2014 season marked the first during Kevin Sumlin's tenure in Aggieland when the Aggies did not lead the SEC in total offense. They also averaged less than 500 yards per game for the first season under Sumlin. 

The Aggies averaged 449.3 yards per game. Some of that was due to an incredible amount of youth on an offense that started a true freshman quarterback for part of the year.

Some of it is due to predictable play-calling and not attacking the entire field. The Aggies offense did not resemble the hurry-up spread attack that Sumlin has featured during his first two seasons in Aggieland. 

More often than not, the offense consisted of passes that were outside the hash marks and two to three years past the line of scrimmage. 

Spavital needs to call better games, or Sumlin will soon be looking to replace another coordinator. 

What Will the Running Back Rotation Look Like?

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

Texas A&M offensive coordinator Jake Spavital's choice of which running backs to play during the regular season has not made any sense. Junior running back Brandon Williams is the least effective of the Aggies' backs, yet he has the second-most rushing attempts on the team with 86. 

Junior running back Trey Williams leads the team in yards, yards per carry and rushing touchdowns, yet he is No. 3 on the team in carries. Spavital's refusal to feature Williams in the offense is one of the more perplexing decisions he has made in 2014. 

Against LSU, Trey Williams ran 41 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter. He did not touch the ball again during the first half. The most effective running backs on the Texas A&M roster are Trey Williams and Tra Carson. 

It will be interesting to see if the Aggies feature those two backs during the Liberty Bowl or if they stick with the flawed running back rotation they had during the regular season. 

How Will a Young WR Corps Respond?

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

Texas A&M wide receivers coach David Beaty took the head coaching position at Kansas. This means that the Aggies wide receivers will be without their position coach during the Liberty Bowl.

The wide receivers were inconsistent as a unit in 2014. They struggled with drops during the Arkansas and Mississippi State games. Josh Reynolds and Speedy Noil took turns being the Aggies' most effective wide receiver.

No one knows how the receivers will respond without their position coach and with a few weeks off to prepare. They may come out and play up to their potential and make the Aggies offense hard to stop. Or they could be the same group they were against the Bulldogs and handicap the Aggies' offensive effort.  

They are going to need to have a big game as a unit if the Aggies want to beat WVU.