So the next opponent for our Fightin' Texas Aggies are the Arkansas Razorbacks, a team that for a good portion of recent history was that No. 3 team in the West that challenged two of the top three that usually was Alabama, Auburn and LSU, and sometimes challenged for the conference as a whole.
In other words, what A&M has been since joining the SEC.
In a lot of ways, 2012 was the perfect storm for Aggie success. Auburn was in an epic collapse. Flat out epic. And Arkansas had their own degeneration to deal with. Two established and quality programs were at an all time low in terms of their ability to play football.
Auburn fixed its problems quickly. The right coach took what remained of some really high levels of talent and put them right back in the mix, winning the SEC and coming 13 seconds away from winning the sixth straight national championship for the state of Alabama.
Arkansas, not so much. When Petrino spit the bit on that back road on his motorcycle and his girlfriend, he threw the entire Razorback organization into the gutter, and while they made a quality move, it was a significant move in a new direction that was going to take some time to gain traction.
Well, you are seeing that Arkansas team showing some of that traction now. Granted, it probably isn't enough yet to challenge for the division or the conference, but from what we have seen so far, they are going to make all of the top four teams (currently, Alabama, Auburn, our Aggies and Mississippi State) earn their wins, and the other two better watch out otherwise they will end up losing to the revitalized Arkies. Obviously, Auburn has already shown they can beat the Razorbacks, but that game showed the danger that Arkansas brings. A quality running game and a good, but not great, defense.
And I really really wish I hadn't deleted that game so I could go back and watch it in more detail because I think there are a lot of similarities to how the Aggies and the War Eagle Tigers play. I do think that Auburn is slightly better than A&M - mostly in terms of depth of experience and a developed roster after bringing back much of last year's team - but the Aggies are close enough both in terms of style and talent that it is a good analog.
On the other hand, I think Arkansas has really improved since their opening match against Auburn. The have figured out how to maximize their runnning game and have developed their passing game more.
So add it all up and it seems like we have a pretty competitive game coming up. One that the Aggies should win, but it will be close enough that we need to bring the same focus we brought to the Carolina match, and we need to execute. Turnovers and penalties will the path to letting the Razorbacks into the game, hence my concerns that I wrote about yesterday.
And I have one other big concern, that is in some ways a larger umbrella version of what I wrote yesterday. Is this team as composed as it was against Carolina in all big games, and the games v. Lamar, Rice and SMU were just difficult to bring the same focus because the opponents were just not that challenging? Or did we play our best game of the year, and now we will have to work to get back to that level of play?
I think it is a fair question, but I think if you look at the actual results under Sumlin, you have rarely seen the team out of sorts, other than the two games at the end of last season that I think we can chalk a lot up to Manziel's injury and the fact that we went all in on "we have the best player in the game, let's give him room to succeed." But in so many other big games, we were never really out coached or out prepared. We were sharp and eager to play, rarely making the mistakes that cost you matches.
So the information we have in front of us - for this game and beyond - points to a consistent level of focus that will give us the best chance to win all of those games. The small sample size, and the fact that every team is new, especially in terms of senior leadership, and this team is so young. SO young.... That I will have some butterflies for pretty much every remaining game this season (other than ULM).
But this is what we wanted, right? When we signed up for this move to the SEC - we wanted to play the best to be the best? Okay then. Let's get after it then! Would not have it any other way.
In Sumlin we Trust!
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