Written in the voice of AgJack. Scores, stats and schedules checked the morning of Nov. 11. The jokes are mine.
All right, let's go. Football is 4-5, the committee just made Saturday scarier, and the new pod is live. Morale is exactly where you think it is. Quick hits today, because nobody here has the attention span.
1. Tennessee climbed. We did not.
Tuesday night's College Football Playoff rankings moved Tennessee up five spots, from No. 13 to No. 8. The Vols are 7-2 and 4-2 in the SEC, fresh off a 34-6 win over Kentucky with a second-half shutout. Their two losses are by a combined six points. That's who walks into Kyle Field at 2 p.m. Saturday on ESPN. The AP still has them at No. 9. Pick your poison.
I feel like that's good news, actually. Hear me out. Elko is 2-0 in Operation Blackout games. Beat a top-10 team in black and that's his 40th career win and our first ranked win since Missouri last November.
TomAg will tell you we have not scored a touchdown in three SEC games this year, and he's not wrong. Aggies Wire says the last A&M offense to do that in conference play was the 1971 team. In fairness to 1971, they didn't have a 450-yard excuse.
2. The OC stays, the receivers are a mystery box
Elko made it pretty clear Monday that Holmon Wiggins keeps calling plays. His words: "Right now, I believe that's our best opportunity to be successful." Then, asked about Ashton Bethel-Roman and Kelshaun Johnson, who both missed South Carolina, he said, "No, no updates on those guys." Cool. Love a mystery box.
Marcel went 25-of-43 for 251, his best passing day of the season, and Elko himself counted eight drops. Eight. David Olano still had to score all nine points. If the receiver room is thin again Saturday, I don't know what the plan is. Give the kicker more? I'm honestly down. Sometimes you gotta just stop and glaze David Olano.
Bright side: TK Norman said Tuesday, "These next three games we are going to go out and play our best football." Dude has 15 catches for 226 yards in four games. I'll take that energy.
3. Call Someone Out: the hands team
Yes, the jinx segment is back. TomAg would call out the whole offense from the 20 in, and I get it. You cannot put up 450 yards and nine points. That's not a strategy. That's a fucking cry for help.
Mine is simpler. Healthy receivers, catch the damn ball. Eight drops against a ranked team on the road is how you lose a game you led going into the fourth quarter.
4. What a Ripper for the Gang
Freshman edge Bryce Perry-Wright graded out at 91.7 against South Carolina per PFF, third among all edges in college football that week, with a strip sack of LaNorris Sellers. Glaze him. Immediately.
Bucky Ball is 3-0, hasn't trailed for a single second, and dropped 108 on ULM Monday. Oklahoma State comes to Reed tomorrow at 7 p.m. on SEC Network+, Blackout night one. Cade Phillips is questionable with a right knee injury. No imaging result was public as of this morning, so nobody play doctor. If he sits, 6-foot-11 freshman Josh Irving (3-for-3 Monday, a block in every game) could see more run.
And Kailyn Gilbert. Per A&M, she's the only player in the country averaging at least 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. She's 5-foot-8 and leads the team in all three. Women's hoops is 3-0 and back Monday against Lamar at 4 p.m.
5. Volleyball's last home weekend
Three straight losses, at Texas, at Vanderbilt and at Missouri. They're 14-11, 7-6 in the SEC, No. 21 in the AVCA poll. But they are 10-2 at home, and this is the final regular-season weekend: LSU on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and Ole Miss on Sunday at noon, both at Reed on SEC Network+. Then it's the SEC Tournament in Savannah, Nov. 20 to 24.
Reed has been their house all year. Go be loud.
6. Jimbo Watch
USA Today reported Tuesday that Jimbo Fisher is pushing hard for the Florida State job and calling potential staffers. FSU Wire reported last week that the Seminoles aren't interested. Nothing is decided. We are not a news source. If I were Tallahassee, I'd ask him about the red zone first.
The Verdict
4-5 until we win 6. Two wins in the last three (Tennessee, at Oklahoma on Nov. 21 at 11 a.m., Texas on Nov. 27) gets us bowl eligible. Picks are picks, not advice:
- Basketball: A&M 89, Oklahoma State 80.
- Football: A&M 20, Tennessee 17, and somebody not named Olano scores a touchdown.
Texas Hate Minute
The committee put 7-2 Texas at No. 6. After all that anointing, they couldn't even crack the top five. And their fans are mad Alabama is ahead of them. Bro, y'all lost two games. Maroon Out is Nov. 27 at Kyle Field. Fuck Texas.
New Kyle Lab is up now. Wear black Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and grab some gear at the Shop while you're at it. Let's have a day.
Photo: Kyle Field packed maroon crowd and Home of the 12th Man sign, by Kipp Jones, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
