Jimbo Fisher is out of excuses. The Texas A&M Aggies must take a big step in 2020.
Do not let Texas A&M’s Schedule of Death fool you into thinking this is a team that is somehow close.
No team in America had a more difficult schedule than head coach James Fisher and our beloved Aggies in 2019, and they met their lofty expectations by not defeating a single good team.
They played five teams that are, or should be, in the top 10. There is a decent chance they will have played three teams that make the four-team playoff: LSU, Clemson and Georgia. TAMU ran the table by losing to ‘em all.
As awful as that schedule was, the Aggies did not beat a team this season that finished with a winning record. It’s as if Kevin Sumlin never left.
Of the seven teams the Aggies beat this season, four of the schools fired their head coach: Arkansas fired Chad Morris. Ole Miss junked Matt Luke. UTSA dumped Frank Wilson. Lamar canned Mike Schultz.
The Aggies’ Magnificent Seven finished a combined 23-49 record. The best team TAMU defeated this season was mighty Mississippi State, which narrowly finished 6-6.
Texas A&M held on to beat Arkansas by four points. Arkansas. By four. That was the closest SEC game Arkansas played this season where they finished 2-10 overall, and did not win a conference game.
Jimmy Fisher is 16-9 in two seasons at Texas A&M. The high points of his tenure are the seven-OT win over LSU in 2018, and getting homered by some bad calls in a six-point loss at Georgia in 2019.
Jimbo is a better coach than his predecessor, Mr. Sumlin, even if the records in each of their respective first two seasons in College Station don’t say that.
Jimbo’s problem remains the problem. Sumlin had a quarterback in his first two years in Aggieland whereas Jimbo does not.
The Aggies were suckered into hiring Jimbo without acknowledging the nastiest truth in college football: You have the quarterback and you’re a great coach.
Few coaches in college ball can build a team that can win at the top level with a bus driving QB. Alabama did it.
Jimbo may have worked with Nick Saban, which does not mean he is Nick Saban.
Aggies junior quarterback Kellen Mond is a great kid who does everything the right way, aaaaaaaaaand he’s not good enough to carry a team with glaring holes.
He’s not Johnny Manziel. He’s not Jameis Winston. He’s not E.J. Manuel. He’s not Christian Ponder. The last three were Fisher’s QBs of FSU’s best teams in his tenure in Tallahassee; they were all three first round NFL draft picks.
Funny how that works.
Last season, I was destroyed when I called Jimbo a fraud. All coaches are frauds without talent.
The offensive line this season in College Station nearly got Mond killed. He lost his starting running back early to a season-ending injury. His skill players struggled.
Mond will be the guy next season, and the best news possible is that it’s all set up for a 9-1 start in 2020. Eight of the Aggies’ opponents finished with a losing record this season, and Hail State was .500.
The Aggies play four true road games next season. The Aggies should be a 10-win team next season. Anything less than nine and hiring Jimbo is a fiasco.
The Aggies did not hand Jimbo that 10-year, $75 million contract for eight or nine wins. Sumlin did that.
Jimmy F was hired to win 11 games. He was hired to beat LSU and Alabama. He was hired to reach the SEC title game. He was hired to reach the college football playoffs. He was hired to win a national title.
The Aggies are no closer today to achieving all of those goals in the same year than when they hired him two years ago.
