Texas A&M Football: Grading the Aggies' Game vs. OSU

The Texas A&M Aggies lost to the Oklahoma State Cowboys 30-29 at Kyle Field on Saturday.

The game was almost an exact replica of the OSU game in Stillwater last year when the Aggies got up early, only to turn the ball over multiple times in the third quarter to lease the lead and eventually the game.

This year, the Ags led 20-3 at half but committed three turnovers in the third quarter and watched OSU take a 30-20 lead.

The Aggies were unable to complete a comeback and lost the first top 10 matchup at Kyle Field since 1975.

It was a disappointing loss for the Aggies, who were hoping to build on the momentum they established last year. The game just proves that the Ags need more work until they are a complete team.

The Aggies must rebound from the loss quickly because they face a very good Arkansas dinner on Saturday at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

We are going to break down the Aggies by position and grade them on their performance against OSU.

Quarterback: C-

Ryan Tannehill played a very good first half. In the second half, he threw three interceptions, which doomed the Ags' chances.

Two of the interceptions were not his fault. On one of them, Tannehill was throwing to a point and Jeff Fuller slipped to the ground, leaving the ball for the DB who was covering Fuller. On the second interception, Brodrick Brown went through Jeff Fuller to get to the ball, which tipped it up in the air. The officials failed to call pass interference and the ball was intercepted off the tip.

Tannehill led the Aggies with 69 yards rushing on the day. Most of it came on the opening drive when he kept the ball on the zone read and sprinted 65 yards for a touchdown.

While I do not think Tannehill played a bad game, it is his job as a senior leader to calm the team down.

The team faced adversity for the first time this season and did not respond well to it. Tannehill needs to be a better leader in the future.

RB: Incomplete

Hard to grade this position when the Aggies abandoned the run in the second half.

Cyrus Gray was held to 35 yards on 13 carries. Christine Michael rushed six times for 62 yards.

The Aggies had success pounding the ball up the middle but went away from it in the second half.

Cyrus Gray showed last season that he gets stronger as games go on and always comes up big in the second half. He did not get the chance in this game.

WR: B+

The Aggie WRs had a decent game but not great. There were too many drops and too many blunders.

Kenric McNeal fumbling the ball after a 33-yard reception in the second half completely flipped the momentum over to OSU.

Those interceptions may not have been interceptions if the WRs had fought for the ball more.

Ryan Swope had a great game with seven receptions for 105 yards before he was speared in the head and effectively knocked out of the game in the third quarter.

Kenric McNeal had a solid game with four receptions for 65 yards but had the huge fumble.

Jeff Fuller had six receptions for 55 yards and two touchdowns. He was not the difference maker the Ags needed, though.

Brandal Jackson saw some action and was solid with three receptions for 32 yards.

The Aggie wide receivers were good but not great. Against a top 10 team, they need to be great.

Tight End: Incomplete

Did any tight ends play against OSU? Honestly, I could not tell you. We did not throw to them at all despite the middle of the field being wide open.

We had three tight ends see significant playing time in the first two games. We threw to all three of them. Against OSU, we did not throw to any.

We wasted an opportunity to take advantage of weaknesses in the Oklahoma State defense.

OL: C+

The numbers look very good, but the numbers do not tell the whole story.

The Ags rushed for 162 yards at 6.0 yards per carry. Ryan Tannehill dropped back to pass 47 times and was only sacked twice. 

The reality of the situation is that we need to slow the pace of the game down and take it over with the running game in the second half. The coaches did not call running plays, but the OL failed to open holes when they did.

This was a chance for this OL to make a statement on national television and they did not do it.

DL: D-

The Ags were decent against the run, holding OSU to less than three yards per carry if you do not take the safety on the last play of the game into account.

The DL did not get any pressure on Weeden in the second half. It is understandable that they were exhausted since they spent the entire third quarter on the field because of turnovers. However, a quick pressure to force a three-and-out could have gotten them off the field.

Instead, OSU was able to extend the drive and convert multiple 3rd-and-long plays for first downs.

Brandon Weeden was able to set up shop in the pocket in the second half because the DL did not get the job done.

LB: C

The outside linebackers had a strong game for the most part.

Sean Porter had the best game of his career with eight tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and two sacks.

Damontre Moore added a sack but had a boneheaded personal foul that extended an OSU drive in the red zone.

Garrick Williams had his best game of the year, leading the Aggies with 13 tackles, including half a tackle for loss.

The bottom line is that along with the DL, the LBs failed to get to the QB in the second half. In the 3-4, the OLBs need to disrupt play for four quarters. They failed to do that in the second half.

Secondary: F

Brandon Weeden threw the ball 60 times and the Aggies did not get a single interception.

I thought Trent Hunter played a tremendous game and looked like the player I saw when he was a freshman and I thought he was going to be an All-American before he left campus. Hunter had 12 tackles with half a tackle for loss on the day.

Terrence Frederick also had a strong day with seven tackles, a tackle for loss and three passes broken up.

The bottom line is that three OSU WRs caught over 90 yards-worth of receptions. That is simply unacceptable. 

The secondary needs to play better if they want to have the kind of season we think this team is capable of.

Special Teams: B

I thought the special teams were solid. Randy Bullock hit on all of his field goal attempts.

There were no coverage breakdowns.

On the other hand, we did not make any noise in the return game. We were hurt by the absence of Coryell Judie, who sat out the game with a hamstring injury.

If our special teams played every day like they did yesterday, I am sure our coaches would be happy with that.

Coaching: F

There is no way to sugarcoat it, the coaching cost us this game.

The Aggies abandoned the run in the second half and that directly led to the defense being on the field too long.

On defense, Tim Deruyter continued to dial up blitzes when OSU clearly had made adjustments at the half. We had more success in the first half dropping six and seven into coverage and letting the DL and OLBs try to pressure Weeden.

The refusal to run the ball in the second half and to ignore the middle of the field in the passing game was reminiscent of last season.

Mike Sherman should know that Cyrus Gray is a better running back the more carries he gets.

We refused to feed him the ball in the second half or give the ball to Christine Michael, who OSU had no answer for.

The coaches did not commit the turnovers on the field, but they did not help matters with their play-calling.

It was also rather frustrating to watch the inability of our coaches to get the signals into the defensive players. They should have been prepared for the up-tempo offense that OSU used.