Back to Basics: Why A&M's offense should rebound

In the last two games of the college football regular season, Texas A&M’s once high-powered offense was more Fiero than Ferrari.

The Aggies scored at least 41 points and accumulated more than 500 yards in each of the first 10 games. But they scored just 31 combined points and averaged 339 yards in the last two games.

Those showings raised two obvious questions:

1. What happened to the Aggies' offense?
2. Can it get back in gear for the Chick-fil-A Bowl matchup against Duke on Dec. 31?

Receiver Mike Evans thinks so. In fact, he guarantees it.

“It will be fixed, I guarantee that,” Evans said. “I don’t really know what happened. It comes down to the play-calling, to the plays not being made — by myself included.

“We just fell off in those last two games, but we’re looking to pick it back up.”

OK, so why did the offensive production fall off?

An array of factors contributed:

• Both the LSU and Missouri games were played in inclement weather.
• LSU and Missouri have solid defenses. Missouri is ranked 28th in the nation in scoring defense; LSU is ranked 29th.
• A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel was struggling with a variety of injuries, including a damaged thumb and sore right shoulder. Manziel amassed 419 yards and two touchdowns in those two games combined; in the previous game, he passed for 446 yards and five touchdowns in a 51-41 victory over Mississippi State.
  

However, Manziel said A&M’s problem was less about his injuries than the team’s bruised psyche since a mid-season loss to Auburn, which ended their national championship hopes.

“We felt that was one that we let go,” Manziel said. “It was just kind of from there, whether the wind was knocked out of our sails or we just thought we should have won it and didn’t do it, after that we didn’t have the same confidence. We didn’t have the same swagger as a unit that we needed.

"Towards the end of the season we weren’t playing well as a group and you have to have it. My job is to get that back to where it was and get the train back on the track to where it was when we were playing Auburn and when we were playing Alabama.”

There are numerous reasons to believe the A&M offense can get back on track.

First of all, with a month to recover Manziel may be healthier than he’s been since he left the Auburn game with the shoulder injury.

When healthy, Manziel makes everyone around him better and more productive. For example, Evans earned All-American recognition after posting 65 receptions for 1,322 yards and 12 touchdowns. Yet, in the last two games he’s had a mere eight catches for 59 yards — just a 7.8 average per catch.

The elements won’t be an issue because the Chick-fil-A Bowl is played indoors at the Georgia Dome.

Also, Duke’s defense doesn’t figure to be as challenging as those the Aggies have most recently faced. The Blue Devils (10-3) have surrendered an average of 24.7 points per game to rank 47th in the nation in scoring defense. They’ve allowed 30 points or more in five games, including a 45-7 loss to Florida State in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.

Duke faced three opponents that are ranked among the nation’s top 40 in total offense — No. 6 Florida State, No. 39 Miami and No. 40 Georgia Tech. Those teams averaged 37.6 points against the Blue Devils.

Texas A&M is ranked fourth in total offense.

Another significant change is A&M coach Kevin Sumlin’s recent decision promote Jake Spavital to offensive coordinator and give him play-calling responsibilities. Running backs coach Clarence McKinney previously was calling plays. Play-calling had been a hot point of discussion for much of the season, but especially in the last two games.

Perhaps most importantly, the Aggies may have had ample time to break out of the psychological funk Manziel spoke of and reassess their goals.

A&M is seeking to win bowl games in three consecutive years for the first time in school history.

“I think we were a little worn down there at the end, both mentally and physically,” Sumlin said last week. “Each of the last two years there has been something accomplished at the end of the year. We are looking to win this game and it would be the first time in program history to win three consecutive bowls.

"There has been a lot of football played here with a lot of guys that have come through this program that cannot say they have done that. That becomes something special for our seniors and can propel us in the offseason.”