POSTGAME THOUGHTS: Texas A&M dominates overmatched McNeese 52-10

That was cathartic

One week after struggling mightily on offense in a 23-13 season-opening loss to Notre Dame, Texas A&M did what good teams should do as they took on FCS opponent McNeese: Dominate from the outset. A&M took a 38-0 lead into haftime and had the backups in for almost the entirety of the second half, cruising to a 52-10 victory in front of 92,345 at Kyle Field. Here’s the important takeaways.

Conner Weigman looked to be in control

Weigman’s first pass (though completed) was thrown high to an open receiver and had to have made everyone at least a little nervous after last week’s erratic play. But from there, he looked pretty locked in, hitting his wide receivers with regularity (including two great downfield passes that weren’t completed due to a PI on Noah Thomas and a drop by Cyrus Allen), and also flashing his mobility. He finished with a stat line of 11 of 14 passes completed (78.6%) for 125 yards and two TDs. He also ran four times for 39 yards. Perhaps just as importantly, no turnovers.

Weigman’s next true test will come next week at Florida, but it was still good to see him look like the QB we’ve been accustomed to seeing and re-establish his confidence headed into SEC play.

Dominant run game

It looked like if A&M wanted to, they didn’t have to throw the football at all. The offensive line allowed running backs to consistently get to the second level with ease. Is that particularly impressive against McNeese? Perhaps not. But we have seen plenty of Aggie teams fail to dominate inferior competition they way they should, so it’s not so much impressive that the OL did dominate, but it’s reassuring that they didn’t struggle. They’ll certainly face stiffer tests than this, but there’s a chance their stiffest test may already be behind them with what Notre Dame trotted out up the middle.

Defense looked legit once again

A shutout with two forced turnovers in the first half said it all. Granted, it’s McNeese playing with their backup QB, but so far this season the defense has given us little reason for doubt. This looks to be the strength of the team this year, and will need be again if A&M wants to have a successful season.

Special teams looks special (in a good way)

Randy Bond has yet to miss a field goal, Zirkel is putting kickoffs into the endzone and Tyler White (though not deployed this week) appears to be a weapon in the punting game. Amazing what having a special teams coach can do.

12th Man Kickoff Team!

Enough said.

Terry Bussey

Also enough said.

Final verdict?

As the adage goes, the only things you can learn against a cupcake opponent are bad things. From that perspective, we didn’t learn anything new about this team on Saturday, and that’s a good thing (though Weigman’s improved accuracy is certainly encouraging, regardless of opponent). Now we move on to Florida in The Swamp next Saturday, when the next real test begins.