It was a depressing night for A&M, completely outplayed and dominated on the road by a good BYU squad. But the degree to which the fundamental aspects of the team were exposed to such a negative degree forces to me to admit that I was wrong about this group and the talent level expected on the field. My expectations have been dialed back to merely making the tournament may be the ceiling for this team. I did not expect A&M to be so poor in the middle of the field with no real ability to possess the ball or build any kind of attack forward. I say ability because clearly we are not fast enough, quick enough, or good enough in first touch to possess the ball more than 1-2 passes at a time without making a poor decision resulting in a turnover. Many times tonight we would have possession and start moving up the field, turn it over, and then watch the back line scramble to defend BYU counter attacks. The Cougars simply ran circles around us in the midfield with quicker, faster athletes, and they knew what to do with the ball once they had it. It's been a long time since A&M has been so out-ahtleted in a match, but that is the state of the program right now.

For years this coaching staff has instilled a pressure on the ball defense to force opponent turnovers, but this year in particular I've seen more backing off and sagging in the midfield due to our lack of athletic ability to keep up or force the turnover, thus creating too much space for opponents to dribble up the field and set up scoring chances. BYU had A&M pinned down in their defensive third for most of the match, and with no ability to control possession and take the ball out of danger through the midfield, the back line was forced to simply kick the long ball and hope one of the forwards could run onto it or making something out of nothing. The frustrating and sad part of this equation is that there is no fix for this season; only recruiting can help remedy the issues in the midfield. It's true that some of these returning players have not played up to their potential and have even regressed in some cases, however, it has become clear that we don't have the type of players, like a Harvey, Groom, Bates, etc., that can control possession long enough to build momentum and create more scoring chances.

The forward position is a real mess right now, with no real scoring threats outside of a few breakaway opportunities that are usually squandered with poor decision making. Let's be honest, Ally Watt is having a poor season and was benched tonight earlier than usual. I don't know exactly what is wrong with her game, but she isn't creating the chances or keeping possession long enough to stretch defenses or open space for teammates. Smith and Asdis are not able to avoid pressure and get passes or shots off in traffic quick enough, and Russell, while fast, has not proven that she can control possession or create any shots at all. So if Watt cannot find a way to turn things around, A&M doesn't have a lot of scoring options outside of a Lopez free kick or a Taylor Ziemer shot from distance, which are all low percentage chances. This might be the most anemic offense under Coach G in the last 15 years.

I thought the back line and Hutton were fine and not the issue as they were under relentless attack all night. Hutton had no chance on either goal, one a deflection off Hill, and the other a point blank shot in front of goal in traffic that was set up by a poor clearance off a Katie Smith header back to the middle of the penalty area.

Right now I don't see A&M with a winning record in SEC play. That's how poorly the most important part of the team is performing in the middle. This is the most depressed I've been about an A&M team entering conference play in many years, even more so than the recent team that had a losing record because that group had talent and skill in the middle and had the ability to turn it around. I don't see a fix this season, so maybe it's time to experiment with a different formation and move some players around to find some chemistry and have some success to build upon. The 2020 class does have some interesting prospects coming in, so I hope that the coaches' evals on those kids were right and we have some athleticism coming into the program soon.