MMR Week 11: W. Carolina at Texas A&M
Well, I think that Auburn game put a wet towel on the season. However you may want to spin it, being 6-3 right now, after a 5-0 start, is just another sign that the Aggies are not there yet. However, there is hope. Why do you say? Well, let me take you on a stroll down nightmare lane.
Worst Games Ever!
So you think we’re on a bad streak. You think another 8-4 season is just a sign of a lack of progress, and not being able to consistently beat Alabama, Ole Miss, and LSU are signs of the apocalypse. Oh young ones, yet me remind you of some games that would make you curse in multiple languages and make our 2015 team look like championship contenders.
1. SMU vs Texas A&M, (Alamodome 1994) TIED 21-21
Yeah, you may think this looks like a typo, but the 1994 Aggies entered this game ranked #7 in the country and SMU was just getting itself back on its feet after only being reinstated a few years back from the death penalty. Everything that day seemed to point to the Aggies, and yet we didn’t win. That was one of the sorriest games I ever witnessed. We ended the year 10-0-1. Talk about the “what-ifs”
2. Texas A&M at Louisiana-Lafayette (1996) lost 29-22
You think the game at #1 was heartbreaking, this game was an outright laugher. The only thing that validated that loss was that Jake Delhomme was the quarterback and Brandon Stokley was their wide receiver. This Louisiana team ended the year 5-6, but one of those 5 wins was over Texas A&M. The Ragin Cajuns tore down the goal posts, rushed the field, and put that picture on the cover of the 1997 football media guide. A&M ended the year 6-6 in its inaugural season in the Big 12. The upside was that there was a bar in Lafayette that said if “by miracle” the Cajuns won, then there would be free beer. That drowned out my sorrows.
3. Texas A&M at Oklahoma (2003) lost 77-0
This game could have gone into triple digits. There was no chance and no hope for the Aggies that day. Coach “Hold the Rope” Franchione laid the biggest turd in program history, and still makes Aggies sink into their chairs.
We Stunk before the SEC
Oh, so many people have short-term memory loss. All you hear is complaining about an 8-4 record for the year, and how much better we should be. Well lets rewind the clock to show what the days in the good ol’ Big 12 were like.
1996 6-6
1997 9-4
1998 11-3
1999 8-4
2000 7-5
2001 8-4
2002 6-6
2003 4-8
2004 7-5
2005 5-6
2006 9-4
2007 7-6
2008 4-8
2009 6-7
2010 9-4
2011 7-6
Our average record for our time in the Big 12 was 7-5. Yeah, 7 big time wins. And anyone who thinks the SEC is not better than the Big 12 is absolutely nuts. The SEC west could be a powerhouse all on its own. So far we’ve been 11-2, 9-4, 8-5. And as much as I am a JFF fan, we need to take those years out, that was just amazing but not an indicator of the team. This season is, and we have to face facts, the SEC is hard and we are still in the middle of the pack
So what’s the point? We’re going to be okay. Rome was not build in a day, and we were spoiled with the first two season of Aggie Football in the SEC with the seasons we had with JFF. Now we have to stand as a program. We all see the flaws and issues, and I have faith Coach Sumlin is the right man to get us where we need to be. Defense is improving, we recruit very well, now we just need to close the other gaps. It doesn’t help recruiting in a state where you have great teams like Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Houston in one area and the SEC west on the other side. We will be okay, just give us some time.
Oh yeah….almost forgot
W Carolina 22
Texas A&M 41