Texas A&M - 34 Baylor - 10

One week after being curb-stomped on national tv by Miami, the Aggies took off the bandages and took a good look in the mirror. What did they see? Signs of growth and improvement coupled with the continuation of some worrisome trends.

Reason for cautious optimism:

• Running Game
  with Goodson injured and questionable to play, and jorvorskie coming off of a 0-touch game, establishing the run was a major concern for Aggie fans. The offensive line stepped up their game, Stephen made good reads, and the offense racked up 352 yds on the ground, 3 TDs. The J-Train came back strong, 24 carries for 123 yds.
• Passing Game
  Again, the O-Line looked much improved, not allowing any sacks and few QB hurries. With proper time, McGee was able to sit back and put up a respectable 200 yds through the air, including an effortlessly beautiful 48-yd TD to Kerry Franks.
• 563-yds Total Offense
  One would expect these kind of x-box numbers against SMU or Montana State, not a Big XII opponent.
• O-Line Steps Up
  After having the Miami d-line crap down their throats the previous week and losing Yemi Babalola to injury, improvement at the offensive line looked like it would be slow coming. Backup Travis Schneider and the rest of the O-Line thought differently. Driving the defense off the line of scrimmage and keeping them away from McGee helped the team put up over 500 yds offense.
• Time of Possession
  The Ags had the ball for a total of 43:18. That's almost 3 entire quarters! I'm not sure if it's a record for A&M or not, but gaaaawd that's a long time to have the ball.
• The Wrecking Crew
  The defense forced 3 turnovers on the day, 2 INTs (both to Marquis Carpenter) and a fumble. If there's one thing that this defense excels at, it's creating turnovers. The Ags now lead the BigXII in turnover margin.
• Misi Tupe
  "The Missle" is quickly becoming my favorite player on the defense. The guy is as hardnosed as they come and, if given some XXXXL shoulder pads, would probably achieve flight with the way he speeds to the ball. While he and Dodge still look a little uncomfortable dropping back into zone pass coverage, there's only room for improvement.
• PT for Back-ups
  The combination of minor injuries and a comfortable domination allowed a lot of young players to see some playing time. Keondra Smith and Cornell Tarrant showed us there's a lot of unseen talent waiting in the wings of our backfield. Billy Chavis, Matt Featherston, Anthony Lewis, and Von Miller continue to give us hope for dominant defense down the road.

Reason for skepticism:

• Fool's Gold
  For about 3 Qtrs, Baylor was kept to under 100 yds passing. Alas, this astounding feat against a pass crazy offense had little to do with an exponentially improved Aggie secondary and more to do with the Baylor WRs' refusal to catch balls. Of 35 balls thrown, 24 were either INT'd, dropped, or poorly thrown. Being unable to find a statistical source for drops and after doing some arithmetic, I estimate the number of Baylor WR drops to be in the 10-18 range. Most of these drops occurred when the receiver was wide open, at least 10-yds down field, and hit in the hands by Szymanski. If Baylor had only dropped, say, 9 balls, this game could've been a lot closer. In the end, the Bears still ended up with 194-yds through the air...on only 12 completions. you do the math.
• Redzone Troubles
  The offense had little trouble driving between the 20's and racking up the 1st downs. Yet, once in the sub-20's things imploded and the usually efficient Aggie redzone offense stalled out multiple times. There was absolutely no reason the score should've been so close heading into half time. Because of the redzone impotence, the team failed to convert the 3 turnovers into TDs. Failure to convert turnovers into TDs may fly against a terrible Baylor team, but it won't against the rest of the conference.
• Szymanski's Consistency
  In a conservative system like Fran's, when the team settles for a FG, it's because it's supposed to be a guaranteed 3-pts. So far this season, it's been a coin flip when Szymanski takes the field. It could be from 20yds or 50 yds, he's got a 50/50 chance. At this point, Fran needs to make a decision, find a way to fix Szymanski or grow some balls and start going for it on 4th down in the red zone.
• Martellus Bennett
  We're still heinously under utilizing this guy. Sure we manage to throw him some jump balls in the endzone or try to hit him on some drag routes, but for some reason McGee freaks out and air-balls all of them. I'm sure everyone is frustrated with the situation, but $ Bennett is just way too talented to relegate to blocking for an entire game.

Overall verdict:
Although boring at times to watch, the game was the quiet confidence booster this team needed after that horrible night in Miami. With the exception of the red zone troubles, the Aggies played textbook Franchione Football. They controlled the clock, they created turnovers, and they kept the defense fresh.