Jimbo Fisher shares what he can learn about his team in first game

Jimbo Fisher is going to see his team face a ton of tests this season. The SEC West is consistently one of the toughest divisions in all of football. Even Texas A&M‘s East crossover games could present trouble, with South Carolina and Tennessee being on the schedule. A lot of attention will be on the Miami matchup in Week Two as well.

Unfortunately, the season opener against New Mexico likely will not be a test. The Aggies are favored by 37.5 points and nobody is expecting any kind of upset alert to come out of College Station. If Texas A&M does follow through, it should be a pretty routine day at Kyle Field.

Due to the circumstances, Fisher was asked what he could learn about his team on Saturday. He believes — no matter the opponent — whatever is put on film will show what kind of team Texas A&M is. Consistency is a huge thing for the head coach too, saying a good Week 1 performance needs to translate to the following week in Coral Gables.

“You are what the film says you are,” Fisher said. “That’s what you find out about your team when you put it out there. Like I tell our guys every single day — ‘you are what the film says you are.’ If you play really well, you got to go do it again. You get to learn from that and get better and if you don’t play as well, you got to make those adjustments.

“Hopefully, it tells us we made great progress in camp that’s been successful. Each and every week is its own entity. And I think you have to understand that, whether it’s good or bad.”

Taking a one-week-at-a-time mentality worked last season for Texas A&M, even through some struggles. Following a loss to Appalachian State in the season opener, Fisher saw his team defeat Miami and Arkansas on back-to-back occasions. And then after a six-game losing streak got broken against UMass in November, the Aggies found a way to beat a top-six-ranked LSU team.

While the film might have told us Fisher did not have the best product in 2022, there were still some flashes at times.

Fisher will be hoping when he sits down to watch the New Mexico tape on Sunday morning, he will feel better about the 2023 season. A huge bounceback season is needed and the journey gets started on Saturday.