The Texas A&M Aggies have now lost in consecutive weeks after holding 17 and 18 point halftime leads. You can pin these losses on the defense all you want, but in my mind 100 percent of the blame falls on the head coach, at least for today’s loss.
I don’t care that Tyler Wilson had 500 yards. I don’t care that the defense gave up 18 unanswered points. I don’t care that they had to settle for a field goal at the end of the game.
What I care about is when Mike Sherman had two 4th and 1 plays—one on the 41 and one on the 50 yard line—and refused to go for it.
The Aggies finished with 381 yards rushing on 54 carries; that is 7.1 yards per carry. How in the world do you not pull the trigger on those plays????
He completely gave away the momentum the Aggies had in the first half and gave Arkansas all the confidence in the world that they were going to come back and win the game.
Not only does going for it (and getting it judging by how much the Aggies ran the ball down their throat) give them a chance to put points on the board, but it keeps the Razorbacks’ offense on the sideline.
Look, I don’t care that they had 4th and 2 at the end and didn’t get it. Once the Razorbacks took the lead, it became a different story. The other situations were after several run plays and the defense was gassed with their hands on their hips.
There was NO WAY Arkansas’ defensive line was stopping those 4th and 1 plays. Sherman completely bit the bullet. This isn’t the NFL where field position battles can win you the game. This is college football.
High flying offenses are the name of the game. When you’re running the ball so effectively, I literally don’t know what is going through coach Sherman’s mind when he elected to punt.
When Arkansas gives you a chance to put your foot on their throat and you DON’T take it, they start to think the game is in their hands. What a surprise, they came back and won the game.
In my honest opinion, Sherman may have coached himself out of a job today.
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