Analyzing why Jimbo Fisher was dismissed despite Mississippi State blowout win

Texas A&M finally pulled the trigger Sunday to fire coach Jimbo Fisher after another mediocre showing this season. The timing of the announcement might seem strange, as it came after a 51-10 win against Mississippi State, but the Aggies clearly had their mind made up before that result.

Billy Liucci of TexAgs told On3‘s Andy Staples that a 38-35 loss to Ole Miss the week prior was actually the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. The Aggies had several chances to put that game away but made costly mistakes before having the potential game-tying field goal blocked as time expired.

The loss marked the third straight for the Aggies against the Rebels, moving Fisher’s record to 0-3 against Lane Kiffin. It was also the third loss in the past four games, and Liucci believes it was the breaking point after years of underachievement.

“That stuck in the craw of a lot of people who were ultimately making that decision,” he said. “You set yourself up for that with the entire history. I know it’s tough. Conner Weigman was looking really good. I sat here with the SEC Network crew prior to that and the day before all we were talking about is how Weigman looked and where does he rate in the SEC with quarterback pecking order. It was early for that talk, but that’s how he was looking. But there’s a whole other body of work around it. Quarterback injuries. Is that a coincidence or is that slow developing plays? Is that poor blocking schemes? I don’t know.

“As the losses mount, as the average and below average seasons mount, your margin for error goes away. So it wasn’t based on one game, but it certainly feels like we wouldn’t be having this conversation today had they won. If they win in Oxford, they’re probably gonna be 5-2 in the SEC and they’ll be on a four-game win streak heading into Baton Rouge in the season finale. All of that with a backup quarterback. So I don’t think we’d be having this conversation.”

Since taking over at Texas A&M in 2018, Jimbo Fisher has still yet to win more than nine games in a single season. His best year came in the shortened 2020 season when he led the Aggies to a 9-1 record and had them getting serious consideration for the College Football Playoff.

A&M entered the next season No. 6 in the preseason poll, but ended unranked with an 8-4 record. It was also ranked in the top 10 to start last season after bringing in the country’s top recruiting class, but went 5-7 and missed out on a bowl game.

Despite the progress, Fisher was never able to build. The Rebels loss seemed to eliminate any hope that things would ever turn around.

“They were 6-12 against the Power 5 in their last 18,” Liucci said. “Those became overwhelming and undeniable. If you try to counter that at all, you just really couldn’t. Because some of those numbers were just overwhelming. They spoke louder than anyone on the other side of it could say. Ole Miss, what it did is I think it squashed any and all hope for momentum. It’s the whole concept of doing less with more and Ole Miss is an example of the opposite kind of.”

Had the Aggies won that game, Liucci believes Fisher might have been given another chance. As he mentioned, that would have put them at 5-2 in SEC play with a chance to close the season out strong. It would have given them a chance to potentially reach 10 wins with a bowl victory.

Instead, they once again fell flat in a game that was well within their grasp.

“I think people would’ve really been excited about that victory,” Liucci said. “Had that kick gone in and they won it or the defense stopped there late or A&M not thrown the pick early in the third quarter. There’s a million ways they win that football game. I don’t think anybody but me has made that connection with the Lane thing. I just knew how pissed off everybody was going into that game and then coming out of it. It was a narrow, tough, brutal loss that every knows they could’ve won.”

A&M’s firing of Jimbo Fisher doesn’t come without a big cost. The coach had a $76.8 million buyout that many believed would keep the Aggies from making a change this soon.

Liucci explained that the higher ups at the university might have been mulling over the possibility for longer, but he doesn’t believe they truly began discussions until after the loss to the Rebels.

“Maybe the grumbling started a little bit after Miami,” he said. “Some conversations started to be had like, ‘what if we have to do this?’ I don’t think that was going on too much after ‘Bama. Maybe after Tennessee people started talking seriously about it.

“I think in the past week is when decisions were made and people went into those meeting going, ‘we know what we’re going to talk about here. So everybody be prepared.'”