Texas A&M’s 17-14 loss at home to Appalachian State over the weekend is one of the biggest upsets in Aggie history. A&M was a popular pick to make the college football playoffs this year and was ranked No.6 entering the game, making the loss even tougher to swallow for Aggies fans.
What A&M produced on the field Saturday did not look like a playoff-caliber team, especially on the offensive side of the ball. A&M was woeful when they had the ball; in 38 snaps, the Aggie offense gained 186 yards and scored seven points against an Appalachian State defense that had given up 63 points to North Carolina the previous week.
Texas A&M sits at 103rd nationally in total offense after the loss to Appalachian State. Last season, the Aggies ranked 71st in total offense (392.4 yards per game), 88th in passing (208.6 ypg), and 56th in scoring offense (29.3 points per game), scoring 24 or fewer points in six games on the way to an 8-4 final record.
Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher, whose record in his fifth season with A&M is now 35-15, is the offensive play-caller. At a Monday press conference, Fisher was pressed on his offense’s struggles and asked if he would ever give up play-calling duties.
“In time I would, yeah. Possibly could,” Fisher said. “You always evaluate those things. We evaluate everything we do.”
Fisher said his offensive philosophy at A&M is “a conglomerate of playcalling” based on input from his entire offensive coaching staff.
Before the season, Fisher reshuffled his offensive staff, moving Darrell Dickey from quarterbacks coach to tight ends coach, James Coley from tight ends to wide receivers, and Dameyune Craig from wide receivers to quarterbacks. Dickey and Coley are co-offensive coordinators, but Fisher still is the team’s play-caller.
Fisher has been his team’s offensive play-caller since 1991 when he was coaching at Samford. He later won national championships as a play-caller when he was the offensive coordinator at LSU under Nick Saban and later as Florida State’s head coach.
Considering he has had success calling plays for his teams dating back 20+ years, Fisher was asked if his ego might prevent him from demoting himself from offensive play-caller.
“No,” he said. “I’m always [about] whatever it takes to win. Winning takes all effect over everything. I promise you that.”
Fisher also said on Monday that he “possibly could” consider a change at quarterback after starter Haynes King was 13-of-20 for 97 yards on Saturday. Fisher blamed multiple factors for the offense’s struggles, such as missed blocks or wrong routes, and said he would not pin all the issues on King.
“We’ll evaluate everything this week,” he said. “We’ll evaluate every position this week.”
Fisher must right A&M’s ship quickly as the Aggies’ upcoming four-game stretch is likely the most difficult in college football.
A&M will welcome No.13 Miami to College Station this Saturday, before a neutral site game with No.10 Arkansas, a trip to play Mississippi State, and then a trip to face No.2 Alabama, all in consecutive weeks.
