10 Things for Tuesday

Here’s your dose of TTFT as we roll through the second bye week with Texas A&M still undefeated:

1. You want to see what domination looks like? Here are some of the stats from Saturday night’s game:

3rd quarter offense: A&M 132, LSU 13. Keep in mind that was the quarter where A&M started their drives at their own 44, midfield, the LSU 33 and had a punt returned for a touchdown.

Second half rushing totals: 138 to -8.

A&M had 7 sacks and 11 tackles for loss. LSU had 2 tackles for loss.

A&M averaged 7 yards a play. LSU averaged 4.2.

A&M converted 7 of 10 third downs. LSU converted 2 of 13.

The Aggies averaged 16.8 yards per completion. LSU averaged 8.7.

I think you get the idea. It could’ve been a lot worse than 49-25.

2. Going into the LSU game, I heard some of their talking heads going on and on about how bad the Aggies were on converting third downs. That’s not entirely false, but it’s working with outdated information. On Oct. 4, A&M was ranked 111th in the nation in third down conversions with a conversion rate of 34.9%. Since then they’ve converted 9 of 17 against Florida, 4 of 10 against Arkansas and 7 of 10 against LSU. They’ve now converted 42.6% of their third downs and have their ranking down to a far more palatable 47th nationally.

3. For all of its changes, the SEC remains a line of scrimmage conference. If you win on the offensive and defensive lines, you’re likely going to win no matter how creative the other guy is. A case in point can be seen in the number of sacks allowed by A&M during conference play and how many they’ve racked up.

Against Auburn, they had 5 sacks while giving up 4. Against Mississippi State, A&M had 4 more sacks while giving up 1. Against Florida, Arkansas and LSU, they tallied a combined 14 sacks and didn’t give up one. As far as pass protection goes, the Aggies have improved considerably since the season began. As far as rushing the passer, nobody’s doing it better.

4. One of the more amazing parts about A&M’s ability to get to the quarterback is that, normally, they doi it with just four pass rushers. 25 1/2 of A&M’s 32 sacks belong to defensive linemen. Nine different linemen have at least half a sack. In some cases, even the sacks belonging to linebackers didn’t mean they were blitzing — in some cases, linemen dropped off into coverage, meaning there’s still a four-man rush but a very different look. Being able to drop eight men into coverage and still pressure the quarterback is a luxury few teams have.

5. A&M has two “most bang for your buck” guys who played key roles in the win over LSU. Running back Jamarion Morrow touched the ball four times and scored twice, once on a screen pass and once on an 11-yard run. For the season, he has a total of 23 touches and has scored three times. For comparison’s sake, Rueben Owens is having a really good year, but has only scored three times in 79 touches.

On defense, hearing the name DJ Hicks commonly means someone got tackled in the backfield. Hicks has a total of 17 tackles, with 5.5 tackles for loss and 3 sacks. He’s third on the team in the latter two categories while being 10th in tackles. Defensive coordinator Jay Bateman called Hicks “a problem” in a complimentary way yesterday, noting his ability to push the pocket has made for easy sacks for other players.

6. If Marcel Reed continues to produce at the rate that he is currently, he will end the season with 2,954 passing yards and 26 touchdown passes. On the ground he’ll end up with 524 yards and 9 more touchdowns. That would give him a combined 3,478 yards and 35 touchdowns. On a playoff team, which A&M almost certainly will be at this point, that will get you a ticket to New York.

7. One thing that drove me absolutely nuts about Jimbo was his refusal to use motion before the snap. Collin Klein is the antithesis of Jimbo in this way, as he uses a lot of presnap motion. We saw it work to great effect Saturday night, as LSU’s linebackers were frequently confused by the movement and the defense as a whole wasn’t ready when A&M called for a jet sweep. Motion can help an offense figure out whether a defense is playing zone or man coverage, can set up favorable matchups and (hopefully) get players out of position. Klein uses that to great success. I have no early idea why Jimbo refused to.

8. Having looked back at the game several times by now, I am absolutely amazed at how terrible LSU linebacker Harold Perkins played. He was one of those frequently confused players, and A&M seemed to target him specifically more than once. He was embarrassingly out of position on both of Reed’s touchdown runs, and he basically quit on the first one. On the second, he was humiliated by Reed’s quick side move that sent him running four yards upfield without hitting anyone. If I were new LSU coach Frank Wilson, I’d bench him. He was that bad.

9. If dealing with Cashius Howell and Dayon Hayes wasn’t bad enough, two other pass rush threats are starting to emerge for the Aggies — Rylan Kennedy and true freshman Marco Jones. Both had a sack Saturday night and Jones has tallied 8 of his 12 tackles in the past two games.

10. After holding LSU to 2 of 13 on third down conversions Saturday night, A&M has now allowed just eight third down conversions on 56 attempts in SEC play. That’s a conversion rate of 14.3%. For the season, A&M’s third down conversion defense sits at 22.2%, trailing only Ohio State’s 21.3%. That’s a big reason why they’re two of the top three teams in the nation.