Got to sit down and watch film last night. What a great win for the program and a significant validation of what Mike Sherman and his staff are doing.

Everyone has said all season “Well, we’ll wait until y’all beat someone.” Well, OK – now we have. And in their house.

So the stage is set – we’re in Lubbock for a night game and the pirates are adrunk of grog. A record crowd has packed Taco Cabana Stadium and all the fat little girlfriends are aflutter with anticipation of a big Tech win.

Fat little girlfriend showing her “O” face

Instead of going drive by drive, I’ll make general observations of offense and defense.

When Tech had the Ball

Even though I knew the outcome of the game, my heart sank when Tech converted a 4th and inches 56 yards downfield for a TD. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen a 4th and inches pop for a TD because the defense is selling out with 11 in the box. We have got to cut that stupid shit out.

Having said that, A&M’s defense did have a nice game, especially in the first half. We know our secondary is, at best, average. Terrence Fredrick and Dustin Harris in particular drive me nutty with their bad tackling. But, the coaches have compensated for that. The backfield was clearly just trying to keep guys in front of them, letting them have short seam routes. We then ran a variety of stunts and blitzes on the lines to try and confuse Potts into making bad decisions. And Lord, did that ever work in spades.

I really like Taylor Potts. He has a much better toolset than Harrell could ever hope to have. I’m sure he loves his parents, America and Baby Jesus. But he will make some boneheaded choices when a little pressure is applied. I guess the cannon arm gives you enough false confidence to try passes you really shouldn’t, and Potts showed that time and time again on Saturday. He tried to force plays to happen that resulted in overthrows and interceptions when the defense was giving him shorter, more reasonable plays.

Of course, it’s easy for me to type that as I don’t have Von Miller just schooling the shit out of Marlon Winn, the left tackle, and knocking the dog fuck outta me. Pretty much all night, Miller was shooting the C Gap and with minimal effort, harassing Potts like a male dog on a bitch in heat. Tech never did make an adjustment to pick that up until the second half. Understandably, Potts started having “happy feet” on most pass plays as he lost all trust in his offensive line protecting his blind side (having large men plant their shoulder full speed in the small of your back time and time again will do that). Happy feet translates into floating passes which translates into joyous celebrations amongst opposing defensive backs.

Von Miller, as he appeared to Taylor Potts Saturday night

Time and time again, Tech would drag the line of scrimmage with their tight end (or “H” receiver or whatever the hell the mad pirate calls that position). Between all the pash rushes and blitzes, he’d usually be running free with no one within 10 yards of him. But Potts seemed damned determined to go downfield, and that never really worked.

In short, A&M kept the passing game in front of them, ignored Techs anemic running game, and cranked up the pass rush in order to force Potts to make bad decisions. And it worked swimmingly. Tech’s MVP for the first half was their punter, Erxleben The Lesser, never a good sign.

Leach trying to implore his offensive line to stop sucking so hard

In the second half, Potts was replaced by some dude named Doege who actually was not half bad. He was willing to take what the defense gave him. Unfortunately for Tech, they needed a lot more than that because they were behind by two scores and A&M’s offense never let up. And, they started fumbling. A lot. Tech fumbled the ball away three times in the second half as emboldened defenders were swarming to the ball like Tech co-eds to free coke. A couple of late scores made the score seem closer than it really was as A&M continued to dominate offensively.

A&M’s defense did a good job, but the old saw that “the best defense is a good offense” was proven true on the high plains that night.

When A&M had the ball

We know of A&M’s youth on the offensive line. We’ve seen it exposed in the Arkansas and Kansas State games. What we saw Saturday was a game plan that minimized what was being asked of those guys and still managed to get the ball into the hands of the playmakers in the open field.

First out, with both Jeff Fuller and EZ on the field, the defense was at a real disadvantage. Tech did not look as though they were prepared to deal with that. At least one of those guys was often ending up in unfavorable match-ups for Tech. Your safeties are just not going to be available to come up on the run with those two on the field

But Tech came out with a VERY aggressive defensive game plan. A lot of blitzes and a lot of stunts. A lot of safeties up front run blitzing. And I guess A&M was expecting that, because we came out with a variety of outside screen passes and short dink passes that abused Tech’s defense. It seemed as if JJ’s progressions had been shortened. Perhaps two reads, then hit the dump route or run. Occasional deep reads and throws did work as the defensive backfield started cheating up and leaving small people trying to cover EZ.

EZ can jump really high

In the second quarter, Tech tried to adjust to what A&M was doing to them. That’s when the game got out of hand. Kudos to the offensive staff for being prepared. Tech started switching over to their nickel and dime packages in order to contain EZ and Fuller. Usually, a good adjustment. However, they still felt an obligation to try and take advantage of A&M’s young offensive line. So, they were still blitzing their one linebacker and stunting.

A&M’s adjustment to this eviscerated Tech. When JJ came to the line and saw dime package with the LB showing blitz, he audibled into a one step back QB draw, with all WR’s running deep routes. The LB was left tackling air, the DB’s were all running the wrong way, and JJ was a one man parade sprinting down the middle of the field. When the safeties realized what was happening and closed (15 yards downfield), JJ wisely just did a little slide to avoide the hit.

Another play used to neutralize the Tech defensive adjustment was the delay draw. Tech ALWAYS overplayed the draw – I don’t think I saw one of their ends make the right read all game. The delay fully committed the DB’s to their receivers and suddenly Gray and Michael were flying down the field like the wind they call Mariah time and time again.

Just magnificent counter-adjustments that Tech never adjusted to in the 2nd quarter which led to A&M’s 28-14 halftime lead.

In the second half, A&M started to employ more cut back runs as the Tech defensive line started being more conventional. A&M did start running more in order to milk the clock, but kept throwing as well to move the ball, sticking with short routes. Seriously, Fuller, EZ, Tannehill and Morrow will give most defensive backfield fits. And that isn’t even counting the likes of Christine Michael just running people over.

The future of Aggie Football – Christine Michael

As the fourth quarter wore on, it became apparent that A&M was just going to power run this thing out. The offensive line was just firing off hard into the defense. And it became apparent that – A&M was better conditioned than Tech. That we NEVER would have seen under Fran, but it was pretty apparent that Tech’s defense was gassed in the 4th quarter.

Some notes I wrote in the 4th quarter:

“A&M power running hard in 4th”
“Power I over and over”
“Tech blown”
“Cyrus Gray beast”
“Michael rugged and fast – deadly combo”

What a huge win for the program. Indeed, the historic Aggie wins are typically commemorated in a Benjamin Knox print. I have been lucky enough to obtain a draft sketch of how Knox plans on immortalizing this epic win.