Jimbo Fisher breaks down struggles on offense with young team

Texas A&M suffered their third straight loss this past weekend falling to South Carolina 30-24 on the road. The Aggies entered the matchup as three-point road favorites, but could not overcome an early 17-0 lead by the Gamecocks. Following the game, Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher was asked about the struggles of his team, and specifically his young offense, that struggled in their execution from time to time on Saturday.

“There’s nothing that substitutes for experience, and like you say four on five off up front or around here, but those inches matter when you’re playing good teams. And I always say you fight for the inches, the inches makes the difference, and that’s the detail and the precision in which you do something,” Fisher said.

The Aggie’s offense took care of business in every area except the scoreboard on Saturday, winning the time-of-possession battle and out-rushing and throwing South Carolina, generating 398 yards of total offense compared to the Gamecock’s 286 yards.

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But Texas A&M’s offense lacked explosive scoring plays, and also lacked starters down the stretch, as they already entered the game with multiple injuries to their offensive line, and also lost players like wide receiver Moose Muhammad III and quarterback Haynes King to injuries in the second half. The Aggies were called for a multitude of false start penalties, turned the ball over twice, and struggled to convert on third down throughout the game.

“From the hand, to a foot, to everything, and it matters, and you’ve got to keep getting them looks and things that they understand totally,” Fisher said. “But at the end of the day that’s the guys you have and they’re really good players, so we have to just keep, we can get them there.”

The Aggie’s offense was led by freshman quarterback Conner Weigman for a majority of the fourth quarter, who completed eight of his 15 pass attempts for 91 yards, but could not lead Texas A&M to a much needed touchdown drive.

This offseason Texas A&M boasted the No. 1 ranked recruiting class in the nation according to On3 Consensus, but many of those young players are now being called upon to contribute and have an impact in their first-ever collegiate season. The Aggies are definitely suffering from some of the expected growing pains of playing less experienced talent, as they look to get the little mistakes corrected and get some of their veteran players healthy headed into their next matchup against No. 15 Ole Miss.