Kyle Allen's Refocused Effort vs. Vandy Exactly What Texas A&M Needs for Future

Kevin Sumlin reopened the quarterback battle at Texas A&M earlier this week, telling reporters he wanted to see two areas of improvement from the position moving forward.

"We’re looking for consistency out of the position, and that’s what this week of practice will be about," Sumlin said Tuesday, per Knox Bardeen of SEC Country. "[And] it’s something that we’ve put an emphasis on, our turnover margin."

On Saturday night, Sumlin watched from the sidelines as sophomore Kyle Allen checked both of those boxes in a 25-0 win for the Aggies.

Allen, Texas A&M's first-string quarterback for the first seven games of the season, returned to the starting lineup in a road game against Vanderbilt. 

While the Commodores only had four wins on the season, they boasted a much-improved defense that was in the top half of the SEC in several major stat categories.

The sophomore finished 18-of-36 passing for 336 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions.

Those numbers might not blow many people away, but the 50 percent rate of completions was caused by quite a bit of inconsistency from the Texas A&M receiving corps. 

Drops were a problem all night for the Aggies, even on perfectly placed passes from Allen.

When Texas A&M's wideouts were able to hold onto the ball, big plays happened.

Ten of Allen's 18 completions Saturday night went for more than 10 yards. Seven of those went for at least 20 yards, and four went for at least 30.

Texas A&M's lone touchdown of the evening was a 95-yard bomb from Allen to Josh Reynolds late in the second quarter. It gave Texas A&M a two-score lead and more breathing room for a defense that would go on to pitch a shutout.

While Allen's receivers were responsible for a chunk of his incompletions, the young quarterback maintained consistency throughout the game. After starting 1-of-4, he never threw more than two consecutive incompletions again for the rest of the evening.

In the red zone, Texas A&M went 3-of-4 scoring—all on field goals—with the only failed opportunity coming from a missed 35-yarder from Taylor Bertolet in the second quarter. 

The Aggies would've loved Allen and the offense to turn those trips into touchdowns, but Vanderbilt has been one of the toughest teams in the nation to score on in the red zone this season. The Commodores entered the weekend fourth in scoring percentage and sixth in touchdown percentage.

But the coaching staff would tolerate those red-zone results in a shutout win—especially considering how well Allen took care of the football. 

As Sumlin said earlier this week, the turnover margin has been a defining factor for Texas A&M in games against FBS opponents. 

Opponent	Result	TO Margin
Arizona State	Won 38-17	-1
Ball State	Won 56-23	0
Nevada	Won 44-27	-1
Arkansas	Won 28-21	+2
Mississippi State	Won 30-17	+2
Alabama	Lost 41-23	-3
Ole Miss	Lost 23-3	+1
South Carolina	Won 35-28	+2
Auburn	Lost 26-10	-3
Vanderbilt	Won 25-0	+1

On Saturday night, the Aggies were in the positives again, with one Kyle Shurmur interception from Vanderbilt up against zero turnovers from the Allen-led offense.

A few weeks ago, it appeared true freshman Kyler Murray was ready to take over as Texas A&M's quarterback of the future. Allen struggled against Alabama and Ole Miss' ferocious defense, and Murray came in to wow against an abysmal South Carolina unit.

But when Murray threw three interceptions in an ugly loss to Auburn and two more against FCS foe Western Carolina, Allen had another opportunity to redeem himself.

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

The sophomore reestablished his spot as the No. 1 signal-caller in practice during the week, and he took all of the snaps Saturday night against a tougher-looking Vanderbilt defense.

By getting some of that success back Saturday, Allen showed why he should be the quarterback for the rest of 2015 and beyond for Texas A&M.

According to Brian Perroni of 247Sports, Sumlin even confirmed Allen's starter status after the game.

"We're good where we are right now," Sumlin said, per Perroni. "We won't have to make an announcement this week."

Murray is a scary weapon on the ground, no doubt, but Texas A&M needs more of an efficient passer to command Sumlin and Co.'s offense.

Allen has the experience and the consistency to feed the ball efficiently to the likes of Reynolds, Christian Kirk, Ricky Seal-Jones and Speedy Noil. All of those receivers could easily be back next season, too, to build even more chemistry with Allen.  

If he can continue to take care of the ball against LSU and whichever bowl opponent the Aggies will face in the postseason, Allen will have the position on lockdown for 2016. 

That would put an end to the lengthy quarterback drama in College Station and give Texas A&M some much-needed certainty on the offensive side of the ball.

After all, Sumlin's offense has shown before that when it is clicking, it's a force to be reckoned with in the cutthroat SEC West.

Game statistics courtesy of StatBroadcast. Unless otherwise noted, other statistics courtesy of CFBstats.com. 

Justin Ferguson is a college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.