Texas A&M Football: Grading the Aggies Position by Position Versus Texas

The Texas A&M football team lost 27-25 to the University of Texas at Kyle Field on Thursday.

Once again, the Aggies simply found a way to lose the game. A combination or turnovers, poor special teams and extremely poor officiating cost the Aggies a home win.

With the loss the Aggies drop to 6-6 on the year and now must wait to see which minor bowl game they will attend. The game was simply a microcosm of the season for a team that has found ways to lose games all year long.

The Aggies will have to hope they can win their bowl game so they can finish with a winning record for the second season in a row.

This is a position-by-position breakdown of how the Aggies performed against Texas.

Quarterback: F

Simply put, if Ryan Tannehill does not throw any interceptions then the Aggies win this game. The Texas offense is not good enough to drive the length of the field. The only way Texas was going to be able to stay in this game is if A&M turned the ball over.

Tannehill threw three interceptions including a pick-6 to allow Texas to gain momentum and eventually take the lead in the game.

He completed 20 of 49 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns. The three interceptions are the stats that stand out though. Without those A&M wins this game.

Tannehill did have to deal with officials that refused to call pass interference on multiple occasions. That was not the reason for the interceptions though.

He appeared off for most of the night and may have been negatively affected by a hit from Kenny Vaccaro when he was slammed down on his head. He did not challenge the middle of the field until the fourth quarter when the Ags were able to move the ball.

Just a sad performance on a national stage in the last home game of his career.

Running Back: B

Ben Malena played a solid game. He did well for a third-string running back making his first start.

Malena made a couple of poor cuts and missed a couple of holes but overall he ran hard. If the Ags had simply handed him the ball on every offensive snap of the third quarter then they likely would have won this game.

Malena finished the game with 83 yards rushing on 25 carries and 16 yards receiving on four catches. He had one receiving touchdown.

I thought Malena showed enough in this game to prove that he should be in the rotation to get snaps next season when the Ags play in the SEC.

The offensive coaches need to find a way to get Malena more involved in the passing game because he has very good hands.

Wide Receivers: B

The wide receivers had too many drops to receive an A. Overall the wide receivers did well considering the fact that the officials refused to call pass interference all night.

The no-call on Kenny Vaccaro when he was holding Ryan Swope during the two-point conversion attempt was particularly amusing, as was the offensive pass interference call on Jeff Fuller.

If you are going to call offensive pass interference on Fuller then you also need to call defensive pass interference on the DB who hit him in the middle of his route. Last I checked, contact past the line of scrimmage while the ball is in the air was pass interference.

Fuller finished with seven receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown.

The Texas defense doubled Ryan Swope all game and the other receivers never made them pay for it.

Brandal Jackson had two catches for 35 yards but also had a drop.

Tight End: C

I did not see the tight ends make a play good or bad in this game. The position combined for two receptions for 10 yards but neither of them stood out.

I know Michael Lamothe did not do a great job blocking because the Aggies struggled to run the ball. 

This is a position that should have had a big game with Texas stacking the box to stop the run.

Whether because of play-calling or failing to execute they did not offer the passing option over the middle that should have been there.

Nehemiah Hicks against any of the Texas linebackers is a mismatch that the Ags failed to take advantage of.

Offensive Line: D

This should have been a game where the Aggie OL took over and led A&M to victory.

Going into the game with the knowledge that their top two running backs were out, the Aggies should have been able to ride a talented OL to a win.

Instead the interior of the OL got beat regularly, particularly in the third quarter. Cedric Ogbuehi had a forgettable game and the the line performed noticeably better after he was replaced by Jarvis Harrison.

The OL did not get the consistent push needed to win this game. The pass-protection was poor until the fourth quarter.

Defensive Line: A

The defensive line had a very good game, holding Texas to 2.3 yards per carry.

They controlled the line of scrimmage for much of the game, and helped force Texas to settle for field goals despite short fields created by special teams gaffes and turnovers.

Gavin Stansbury and Spencer Nealy each had half a tackle for loss.

Eddie Brown was solid plugging up the middle.

Tony Jerod-Eddie had one bad penalty but for the most part the DL played exceptionally well.

Linebackers: A+

The linebackers as a group probably played their best game of the year.

Steven Jenkins was excellent with six tackles and a sack.

Damontre Moore had 12 tackles with 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack.

Sean Porter had six tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss.

Jonathan Stewart was solid with nine tackles.

This group played at an extremely high level all game long. If every position on the team had performed as well as the linebackers did, then the Aggies would have won the game by four or five touchdowns.

Defensive Backs: B

Trent Hunter bit on a play fake and allowed Blaine Irby to get behind him for a long TD catch.

Hunter was also called for a personal foul when he pulled up in order not to hit Mike Davis late in the fourth quarter but grazed him anyway after Davis dropped a 1st-and-15 pass attempt.

That laughably poor penalty call helped Texas drive down the field to win the game.

Terence Frederick went for the ball instead of trying to tackle Case McCoy during a run late in the game. If he had tackled him maybe Texas stays out of field-goal range.

That was really the only bad play from this group. Other than that they did a solid job against the pass and the run.

Coryell Judie finally made it back on the field and had a strong game.

Special Teams: D

The only thing that kept this grade from being an "F" was the fact that Randy Bullock was exceptional. The senior placekicker was four-for-four on field goals including a 52-yarder.

The Aggies punt coverage unit gave up an 81-yard return which set up a field goal.

Dustin Harris let a punt bounce off of his leg which led to Texas' only points of the first quarter.

The Aggies allowed a 35-yard kickoff return to set up Texas' last drive of the game.

The poor game from the special teams contributed directly to the loss.

Coaching: F

The Aggie coaches had to know—or should have known—that Texas was terrible on offense. They had to have seen Missouri and Kansas State beat Texas simply by protecting the ball and punting.

Mike Sherman has watched his team struggle in the third quarter and lose games in which it had double-digit leads four times previously this season. He should have known what his team was.

Instead of taking a conservative approach and making Texas beat them, he stubbornly insisted on passing the ball and gave Texas a chance to get back into the game.

How many times do the coaches have to see DBs sitting on the out route to Jeff Fuller before they decide to try something different?

Texas DBs mugged the A&M wide receivers all game long, but Mike Sherman never worked the officials. His face was buried in his play sheet all game.

The only time he showed any emotion was when Trent Hunter was called for a laughably poor personal foul penalty with a minute left in the game to extend Texas' drive.

Tim DeRuyter decided to wait until Texas got the ball to midfield to rush more than three. Why he was afraid of the most impotent passing game in America is beyond comprehension.

Mike Sherman knows that his team has found a way to lose games this year. Instead of protecting the team from itself, he stubbornly tried to attain balance by passing the ball in the third quarter.

Why Sherman ignored the middle of the field in the passing game for the first three quarters remains a mystery. Sherman's reluctance simply to run the ball cost the team the win.

There were a lot of factors that contributed to this loss, but Sherman's insistence on passing the ball was the most inexcusable. A lot of Aggies fans will never forgive him for this loss.