Second  Quarter Action of 2012

 We found out on Monday night from former Heisman Trophy winner and native  Texan Ty Detmer that Johnny’s going up against two seniors as a “freshman” with  three seasons of eligibility remaining. No other underclassmen are even close in  the voting, or they’d have been invited. Barring something unforeseen happening,  Johnny is ‘college  football’ for the next three seasons. Then again, he was  ‘college football’ this season.

  Pop a top on this one. If he comes up short, imagine the fire we’ll see in
his eyes; well, maybe not, but it’ll darn sure be there underneath the surface.
At some point in every player’s career, he or she realizes their true value.
Johnny knows his. Whatever the outcome, Johnny Football will be smiling.

 The “Instant Replay” continues as I follow game-by-game the exploits of
Johnny Football as seen through the eyes of the youngest quarterback to step on
a college field (at our own one yard-line inside Kyle, by the way.) This was
truly an inspirational year for Aggies and football fans everywhere. You’ve read
about the pre-season and the first two games, and in our second edition we delve
a little further into the excellent leadership and quarterbacking skills this
young man exhibits, still so early in his career.

 I closed the last article by commenting after the SMU game that Johnny
Manziel was the phenom the Aggies had long been waiting for. Just as Johnny’s
season remains a standard for the ages in the SEC and college football, the
words here remain constant and unchanged from the original. Here’s more of the
story.

  Post-Game  Read for South Carolina State

 The Aggies are currently ranked 11th nationally in scoring, 12th in points
allowed and 13th in yards allowed per game. Even with all the fireworks the Ags
have been displaying of late, they only rank 37th nationally in total offense.
Perhaps the other 36 teams have played even daintier light-weights than the
Aggies have, or perhaps haven’t pulled their starters as quickly. Or haven’t
played Florida. Regardless, most stats this early in the season are for old men
sitting around drinking coffee in the early morning, somewhat similar to
national polls.

 Everything else statistically should go into the ‘on hold’ file waiting for
further evidence, with one primary exception: Johnny Manziel is a slick,
trigger-happy madman who has yet to see his first interception or lost fumble.
This is truly a rare accomplishment considering the number of opportunities he
gets handling the football while orchestrating the jet stream offense of the
Southeastern Conference. His vision alone would probably set records in contests
involving the Magic Eye 3D images of the 90’s. He sees things others can’t in a
fraction of the time. His running and passing thus far have provided the Aggies
with 7.3 yards per play. In the other 100 plays void of his direct involvement,
they have averaged 4.85.

 Hey, all good for sure, but I think you know where I’m coming from. This guy
can do it all. I predict there will soon be an enormous trend among the young
kids in Texas to ask their coaches for the No. 2 jersey for years to come.

  The Aggies have a real shot at being 5-1 overall and 2-1 in conference when
LSU hits town Oct. 20. Should LSU continue to find its patented escape routes as
the season progresses, that day could be a momentous one for the SEC and both
institutions. This Saturday’s game marks the spot.

 Post-Game  Read for Arkansas

 The young man leading the charge is here among us. He’s the one you weren’t
sure about when you first saw him play. You remember, right? After the first few
series of action netted 17 points for the home team, he seemed too good to fail,
yet that day he did. Regardless, he seemed to have a “dazzleability” separating
him from anyone who had ever been under center on Kyle Field. “Ever” is a lot of
history to backtrack on. It’s not that these individuals were necessarily
slower, or didn’t have the pinpoint accuracy, or strength of arm, or a hundred
other intangibles necessary to man the position. No, this guy was just
different, period, and it’s kind of hard to nail it down. He’s like the silver
ball in the old-time pinball machines.

 He didn’t look all that big physically, but he seemed extraordinarily gutsy
for such a rookie, faking pitches to imaginary running backs as he sprinted down
field full-steam ahead. Somehow he had boldness and daring that were never
betrayed, and an unbridled recklessness that bore not a single fault. “His style
of play will be his downfall,” you said. “Too much run and not enough gun.”

 You’d have to take in another performance of his, or two, or maybe even
three, just to be sure this young man deserved the moniker of “special.” Your
eyes have yet to betray you, friend. Just as sure as the sun will rise in the
morning, the football gods have judged that now is your time and he is your
Gladiator.

 Sure, this young man seemingly came out of nowhere, somehow unheralded
because of the star that played in front of him for a season, the one whose
single-game passing record he already owns. During this “down” time he was busy
taking it all in, studying how to attack defenses and getting his feet on the
ground, biding his time and eying the competition. The coaching decision to sit
him out his first year was undeniably the correct one. There would be no
pressure to win and carry a team on his shoulders quite yet, and as a rule,
third-teamers are normally not called upon for active duty. Even after spring
training, he hadn’t risen above the shoreline, but once the money was placed,
his name was called with total conviction.

 That name was Johnny Manziel. Johnny is going places and taking us with him
for the ride. The swiftness of his arrival matches only the coolness coming from
underneath the No. 2 jersey we’ve watched zinging and flinging recently. The
music he shares has the artistry and brilliance of a Bach, Beethoven or a
Beatle, and the calmness of a smooth mountain lake just before sundown. For the
first time in years, decades, perhaps ever, we have standing before us the
epitome of spontaneity, splendidly functioning within an offensive system
inspired by the ideals of absolute freedom. It is the creation of a discipline
as intricate in design as any that will ever be devised, with its outer limits
approached only in proper doses. Where Johnny goes comfortably, this system will
follow. This is as it should be. This is how you don’t screw him up.
 
  Soul cleansing was what this particular rain was all about. Wash away your
troubles; wash away your shame. By the time the rain had finished its work, the
Aggies had slaughtered the dumbfounded Hogs in a manner only Alabama would
understand. When it began pouring down the hardest in the third quarter, the
coaches responded by emptying the backfield of running backs and going
five-wide. Next, they had Johnny start throwing completion after completion in
fast-motion with that slippery wet football all the way down the field. Now that
is cocky.

 The weather doesn’t dictate to us. We dictate, no matter what.

 Do we call this the Honey Badger Offense?

 Hey, if you don’t love cocky, you just might be in the wrong building. Did
you hear the announcers saying the Aggies should let up some near the end? Are
you kidding us? Embrace it.

 The 58 points scored by the Aggies are the most ever scored in the series
covering 69 games.  One can only imagine what the score could have been had the
Aggies not failed to convert on 8 of their 12 third-downs. Regardless, all told
the Aggies amassed 32 first downs and 717 yards, the third-highest yards total
in school history.

 Manziel passed for a school record 453 yards and three touchdowns and ran for
another score while adding 104 yards on 14 carries. He has now thrown for 10
touchdowns without an interception and has another six scores on the ground.
Johnny averaged 10.7 yards per play when running or passing against Arkansas.
This is an astounding number when considering the number of plays he was
involved in. He is now up to 8.3 yards per play for the season. Bo Wallace of
Mississippi in comparison averages 6.13.

 Now to the individual hardware: Johnny’s 557 total yards broke the SEC record
of 540 previously held by Archie Manning of Mississippi vs. Alabama in 1969 and
Rohan Davey of LSU vs. Alabama in 2001. As a result, Manziel was named SEC
Offensive Player of the Week and offensive tackle Jake Matthews was named SEC
Offensive Lineman of the Week, for good measure.

 Manziel’s NCAA Quarterback Rating (170.9) is now ranked 10th in the country
and third in the SEC, behind Aaron Murray of Georgia (3rd) and Alabama’s A. J.
McCarron (7th), both Heisman Trophy candidates. A&M ranks 12th in total
offense per game in the NCAA and second in the SEC behind Georgia (11th).

 My recommendation to the current Ole Miss staff would be to
pull out some old film from the Manning era and see how the other SEC teams
tried to stop him. Manziel is every bit the double threat that Manning was and
also does some of his finest work while scrambling to the corners. Each threw
equally well going to his left, or to his right, and both were tough to bring
down.

 The great thing now is, we’re not in that Aggie Wishbone!

 Go, Johnny,  Go!!

 [Heisman Trophy voter Mike  Huguenin explains why Johnny Manziel should take home the Trophy as a redshirt freshman]

 Post-Game Read for Mississippi

 Former SEC Offensive Player of the Week, Johnny “No Fail” Manziel, hadn’t
shown the Midas touch for the first three-plus quarters. Sure, he’d broken a few
nice runs and hit a few throws, but Ole Miss was proving too quick and forceful
up front for the “Who Dat’ Kid” to rise above this particular fray. He hadn’t
been around long enough in this league to know it isn’t far from the penthouse
to the outhouse. Heck, this “Johnny Come Lately” hadn’t even played outside of
the state of Texas in his entire life — No worries here.

 Running back Ben Malena then slipped through the line for a run of 36 yards
to the Ole Miss 29. From there, Manziel found another opening, and on a run that
resembled a playground “two below” game, he ran somewhat untouched the necessary
29 yards for a touchdown. This culminated an official 88-yard drive that was
actually one of 99.7 yards, technically speaking.

 Somehow the whale had spewed Johnny out of its mouth, for no particular
reason; perhaps just to tease the visitors and their supporters. What fun this
would be!

 The extra-point kick was missed, of course, and Aggies everywhere began
reminding themselves once again of who they were, and once again sunk deeper
into depths of despair. “Well, we are the Aggies, now aren’t we?”

 One minute and 16 seconds later, Ryan Swope was waving the football in the
air in the end zone after he and Manziel had caught the Ole Miss secondary
playing man coverage and lining up having already been beaten. Swope’s perfect
corner route was complimented by the perfect throw as A&M kept its two wide
receivers decoying short inside routes while sending Swope deep behind them. It
was great execution at a pivotal point in the drive – and in the game. Five
minutes earlier the Rebels and their fans had been reveling in their presumed
victory but it was far from over. Coach Sumlin’s stun gun offense had them
moaning and writhing in pain when least expected.

 By remaining poised, alert and confident, Manziel now trails only Alabama’s
AJ McCarron in the NCAA Quarterback Rating among SEC quarterbacks and is ranked
No. 12 nationally. Meanwhile, the Aggies are celebrating their first top 25
ranking as a member of the SEC, coming in at No. 23 in the A.P. and 21st in the
USA Today. Seven teams from the conference are now represented in the polls.
Interestingly, A&M and its next opponent, the LA Tech Bulldogs, rank 22nd
and 23rd in the ESPN Power Rankings, respectively.

 Unfortunately, this will be the final game of the season where victory is
expected right in step with offensive stats that will continue to be padded. The
levels of competition, philosophies and game faces will change dramatically
after the Tech game, when wins and losses become the only gauge of success and
stats become secondary. The term “field position” will come back into play in
huge quantities. I look forward to the tests these outstanding opportunities
will present for our strategies and personnel. We’re looking forward to a
hard-fought, thrilling football game this weekend. The experts predict an Aggie
victory by the score of 40-32, which certainly sounds reasonable.

 All kinds of Texas A&M records could fall. Let’s just hope they’re all on
the offensive side of the ball — stun-gun style.

 Next Up – Louisiana Tech

First Quarter  Action

 I believe bias is bias, whether it’s regarding age, classification, race,  university or conference affiliation, or anything else that enters into it. Any  individual who publicly or secretly reveals such bias should be stripped of his  or her authority immediately as a voter for the Heisman trophy.

 To even promote the notion of such should be considered heresy and an actual  threat to the integrity of the game. Every player has just completed playing the  2012 regular season, and is, therefore, eligible to win the Heisman as a  by-product of his participation. Rightly so, and the 2012 season is the  onlyseason to be assessed.

 There is no future and there is no past in these matters.

 Individuals are voters only because they have earned the  right to represent all of America’s football fans with their choices, with ALL  past precedents and current biases pushed aside for the good of the game.

 Soon A&M will own not only the youngest quarterback to ever play college  football in myself, but also the only “freshman” quarterback to win the Heisman  Trophy in Johnny Manziel. I put quotation marks around the word “freshman”  because technically Johnny is not a “freshman,” but a sophomore who will be  allowed an additional senior season to play. Having personally redshirted in  college, I simply felt when I was playing my final season not with with my  class, but that underneath mine, I’d been extended an extra senior season. This  is the difference and the separation of the two schools of thought. Johnny is a  sophomore academically and will soon become a junior.

 In an interview with David Harris of the Bryan/College Station Eagle prior to
the season, I gave this advice to the first-year starter, based on my experience
as a 17-year old starting quarterback as a true freshman: “Be on top of your
game,” I said. “Do not be intimidated by anything. Know you’re the best
quarterback at this university and that everybody has confidence in you. Be
quick and be smart. You’ll have some bad plays but remember to keep your head
up.” It’s what I’ve told all my quarterbacks as a high school football coach —
and I know this university. George Bush chose this university to house his
library because of its integrity.

 So let’s talk about how all these Xs and Os come together so easily for this
A&M team offensively. The West Coast offense was built on timing routes in
which the quarterback took a five-step drop and released the football. Boom, it
had to be gone right now! Plant and throw! I always felt the quarterback on a
five-step drop was too close to the onrushing linemen to successfully make the
necessary underneath throws in this ‘nickel and dime’ offense. Throwing lanes
are difficult to find with such close proximity.

 The shotgun formation automatically negates this problem completely, which is
why I went to it in 1989 with the Memorial High School football team I was
coaching in Houston. While “hot routes” are best thrown on a three-step drop
from under center, because they’re quicker-breaking routes, the shotgun resolves
the problem of having smaller quarterbacks operating the quick passing game
without the effort involved in physically making the sprint seven yards deep and
cutting it loose. On most five-step drops your receivers are on nine-step
routes, at least in college and high school, and a five-step drop into the
pocket will get the quarterback approximately seven yards deep.

 This was the drop-back passing game we had in my days at A&M, but my high
school coach had me going nine steps back in our high school offense. That is 12
to 13 yards deep. Yes!

 I once questioned the five-step drop that the Houston Texans were using in
their early years of operation and had myself quoted in the Houston Chronicle.
That night the Texans lost miserably in a preseason game, and the five-step drop
did them in with several interceptions thrown under pressure.

 The radio talk shows were ablaze with why the Texans were using this system
that obviously was allowing too much pressure on their quarterback, David Carr.
Several weeks later the team’soffensive coordinator was let go, partly because
of the public outrage and the obvious problems the five-step drop caused this
particular quarterback. I was accustomed to watching that nine-step drop of
Namath’s and it seemed to work extremely well.

 You may remember the Cowboys and Roger Staubach in the ’70’s using the
shotgun formation extensively because it freed up the quarterback in so many
ways. I’m sure many thought a little less of Dallas coach Tom Landry for going
with this “gimmicky” offense, even as he was taking his teams to Super
Bowls.

 But, so what if “real man” football now looks more like a two-below game
going on ‘helter-skelter’ in the back yard? ‘Look what they’ve done to my game,
Ma,’ cries Alabama’s Nick Sabin. This system is smarter and much more efficient
and demands top-flight conditioning from the big boys up front. It’s fast and
has no regard for the noise level of a hostile crowd. It’s streamlined to the
point of not even needing an official playbook, just as Bear Bryant streamlined
the Wishbone by deleting the triple option and thus never using a playbook
either.

 And now we’ve been introduced to the true master  of the ‘Sumlin Stun Gun’ offense run from the shotgun formation now being implemented so successfully by the Aggies. Johnny Football doesn’t mess with the  Zone Read play, which had always been the core of any spread offense. He does  what he does in other ways, some predetermined, and many others — not so much.
 
  But there is something else this young man is doing. He is redefining the
qualities and abilities coaches will be looking for in a quarterback from here
on. Some quarterbacks stereotype themselves into being in the same mold as the
professional guys; those kinds of guys who don’t run much, stand in the pocket
and throw a football. Ho hum. The days of ‘quarterback sneaks’ leading the way
with the likes of Bart Starr and Johnny Unitus are long gone. You’d better
become an ATHLETE if you wanna play. Don’t be lazy and don’t be a dummy, young
guy.

 Now-a-days, these aspiring quarterbacks had better be thinking about speed
and quickness and becoming a cottontail rabbit out on that football field.
Speed, quickness and endurance need to be part of your repertoire. If you assume
your arm alone is going to get you a job, there may be a little Johnny Football
who shows up who gums up the works for you.

 Personally, as I described in my book, I worked extremely hard in high school
increasing my speed and quickness. It was imperative I become an all-around
threat, which obviously was the key in taking over a Wishbone triple option
offense in college at 17 years of age and becoming A&M’s first Freshman of
the Year.

 Now, let’s replay this season game-by-game as Johnny became Johnny Football
and then finally became, we hope and expect, Johnny Heisman. These are verbatim
observations of the young outstanding quarterback as seen through the eyes of
the youngest quarterback to ever play, and I’m proud to say the Maroon and White
lineage we share is both exciting and rewarding. I hope you’ll enjoy. Gig’
Em!

Pre-Game Read for the Florida Gators

 Our starting quarterback now is a young man from Kerrville, Texas who the
Aggie Press Machine is raging about as the first “freshman” to start a season
opener for A&M since 1944. But here’s a couple of things they don’t tell
you. Johnny Manziel spent all of last year going to classes, practices, team
meetings, doing film study, going through spring drills, playing understudy to
the No. 8-overall NFL draft pick and has been through two sets of two-a-days.
Freshman? Hardly. He’s a guy who gets to play two senior seasons, the way I look
at it. I know because I also red-shirted; only it was my third year — and I got
to play two senior seasons as well. That’s how it works.


What I’m saying is, you can throw out the redshirt tag. Johnny is a
second-year player with a wealth of knowledge that is readily accessible and
stored up ready-to-go on the college game. He is equipped with a whole lot of
valuable mental experience and great talent. If he turns this game into a
“practice” mentally and gets into the zone that he needs to be in, he has the
tools to be a real class act. So let’s just call him a sophomore with no actual
playing experience, sort of like what we called all players between the years of
1946 to 1972, the time period that freshmen were not allowed to play varsity
football after World War II. I know– how old-school! Remember when girls could
only play half-court in basketball? Very similar thinking.

 But just for grins, let’s allow the Ags’ publicists to call it the way they
spin it. After all, it’s their program they have to sell even though this game
doesn’t need selling. Just don’t be expecting a timid kid with no background or
clue showing up all wide-eyed and scared at the prospects of leading his team in
front of a sold-out crowd and national TV audience. Bradshaw, Bert Jones, Joe
Ferguson, Joe Namath, Spurrier, Stabler; they were all quite good after not
“playing” in their first year of college.

  Post Game Read for the Florida Gators

 As I stated last week when I reintroduced myself to the Gator Nation via
Florida Gators Gamedayr, I now am the only A&M quarterback who has ever
beaten the University of Florida. Of course, with A&M’s 1-2 overall record
against UF, this isn’t saying a whole lot but I stand by it, as far as bragging
rights are concerned. The most recent A&M QB to have this opportunity,
Johnny Manziel, looked to me like the fastest quarterback this school has seen
since the Texas high school high-hurdle champion who succeeded me in the late
’70s, Mike Mosley. Unfortunately, none of us average-Joe onlookers will get the
opportunity to know Johnny Manziel until next spring because Coach Sumlin has
standing orders that freshmen are off-limits to the media. I guess this also
includes ‘Redshirt’ freshmen, since this is what Manziel actually is – a
sophomore academically but a “rookie” to be seen but not heard, otherwise.

 The obvious question is how does this band of coaches go from having the
highest scoring team in the land one year to not being able to pick up a handful
of first downs the next? Not a single second half play was run in Florida
territory. Very disturbing stuff, one might say. Unless the QB was making a ton
of misreads which I personally didn’t see, then finding the proper play calls to
win a three-point game escaped the offensive staff, pure and simple. This past
Saturday night’s realization was a rather somber enlightenment with which to
open a brand new season, especially for this newly-inspired and highly
boisterous crowd that rolled in, a crowd faced with many dissenters around the
state and even within its new conference, wishing it nothing but failure. Step
one, accomplished with amazing predictability.

 Post Game  Read for Southern Methodist

 Fortunately what we also saw here, unlike during the second half of the
opener against the Florida Gators, was a team that was making some necessary
offensive adjustments while the defense was impressively holding the Mustangs in
check. This “warm-up” period allowed the offense, with redshirt freshman
quarterback Johnny Manziel settling in firmly at the controls, to begin ripping
apart these eight-game winners from 2011 with a wonderful combination of quick
jabs, left hooks and fancy footwork that took SMU totally out of the game on
both sides of the ball from the second quarter on.

 SMU’s defense had a nice game going by keeping Manziel and the A&M
offense somewhat off balance for almost a quarter and a half before becoming a
little too predictable. The five-man front had kept sufficient pressure on both
A&M passing and running games and allowed only the occasional completion to
redshirt freshman wide receiver Mike Evans, normally aligned opposite the
three-receiver side of the A&M shotgun spread formation. Because of the
rush, quarterback Manziel was forced to scramble on several occasions and the
normal running game was providing little support. With less than nine minutes to
go in the second quarter, Manziel looked up to find veteran slot receiver Ryan
Swope “uncovered” to his right side by anyone underneath. For most offenses,
this is a pre-snap “hot read” which turned into exactly that on this play.

 On this second-and-eight situation, the SMU defense brought both linebackers,
its left defensive end, nose tackle and a defensive five-technique (tackle) from
the right side. A&M was set up in a balanced one-back formation with two
receivers split to each side, catching the defense in a cover 2, a popular
coverage with two deep safeties and each cornerback aligned tightly on his
respective wide receivers. The backside defensive end dropped into coverage
while the play-side defensive tackle, with his side’s defensive end blitzing,
rose out of his four–point stance to try to retreat back into coverage,
hopefully into the passing lane between Manziel and the slot receiver,
Swope.

 This “coverage swap” approach employed by the SMU staff, commonly referred to
as a zone blitz, had worked earlier for the Mustangs resulting in some
behind-the-line tackles and confusion in the Aggies’ blocking assignments. This
time, however, the defensive tackle saw only the football zipping by his head as
Swope ran a quick post pattern and caught the perfect throw, then targeted a
spot that would split both safeties as he went into the end zone standing up.
Junior offensive tackle Jake Matthews did an outstanding job of recognizing the
swap and swiftly picked up the defensive end before being outflanked instead of
the tackle he’d originally been assigned.

 Offenses, such as A&M’s, love gifts and when they are offered on silver
platters via pre-snap misalignments such as this one, they gobble them up
without even a “thank you.” The lesson to be learned here is that Ryan Swope
cannot be covered by defensive tackles or headed off at the pass by unassuming
defensive safeties who get caught flat-footed. Any defensive player must be
cognizant of one indisputable fact: if a player lines up on a D-1 football
field, he can beat you.

 Leading 7-0 after an SMU three-and-out on first down from the SMU 48, Johnny
Manziel tucked the ball away in his left arm (as he always does) on a scramble
through the left side, scooting past a defensive lineman who’d been hurled to
the ground by offensive tackle Luke Joeckel. Manziel then sped by pursuing
linebackers, juked another defender and went untouched into the end zone. When I
played at A&M and was running the Wishbone, you never saw me carrying the
ball in my right arm either. Regardless of what the coaches said about having it
in the arm away from the defender, I believed it much more important to always
have the ball in my strongest arm. Perhaps Johnny has this same belief, although
he throws the football right-handed.  Whatever the case, he was only getting
warmed up.

Next, he completed a 78-yard drive after an A&M interception by hitting
Uzoma  Nwachukwu with a 36-yarder after rolling out of the pocket to his right
and throwing down the middle of the field to his veteran receiver. This was a
perfectly executed “scramble drill” which requires a great amount of practice
time. The appearance of improvisation doesn’t make it a reality. The Aggies had
just scored two touchdowns within two and a half minutes and suddenly held a
20-0 lead at the half. Strike up the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band!

 Johnny Manziel reminds me of another college quarterback who was a little
smaller of stature and wore two number 2’s on his jersey, a guy named Doug
Flutie. Manziel only got better in the third quarter, acrobatically whirling
around and pin-pointing a touchdown pass that no one else on the planet would
have even attempted, primarily because they’d probably have taken the sack or
said, “The hell with it,” and thrown it away. Johnny delivered. He set a Texas
A&M single-game freshman record by passing for 294 yards (breaking Kevin
Murray’s 29 year-old record of 280 set against Rice) and accounted for six
touchdowns — four through the air and two on the ground. That’s right, and he
also ran for 124 yards. Just like in the song, the boy said, “My
name’s Johnny and it might be a sin, but I’ll take your bet, you’re gonna
regret, cuz I’m the best there’s ever been.” Could be.

 [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y2jtwS3SsI&w=420&h=315]

 Only time will tell, and there will be a lot of armchair quarterbacking going
on trying to get into his head. I say, “Let  him be and don’t screw him up.” Ol’ Johnny might be the phenom  A&M has been waiting for, and all the wondrous things that phenoms bring  with them could soon be within the Aggies’ grasp.

 Next up for the Aggies isn’t South Carolina, but South Carolina State, a team
that lost to Arizona last week, 56-0. Arizona had 43 first downs while South
Carolina State had 8. Arizona had 689 yards of offense, while South Carolina
State had 154. Arizona punted only once. And as they say, the rest was
history.

Hey, Gator Nation! Notice I didn’t say “howdy” as I step into your camp in
the Swamp unannounced and all, and I am for this week anyway, your mortal enemy.
As the LAST AGGIE QUARTERBACK to ever line up for Texas A&M (although very
long ago) and face your outstanding team on a real football field (a Bowl Game
no less), I thought I’d just mosey-on in and tell ya how much we’re looking
forward to this game. Don’t let our 37-14 win back in the 70’s, or the fact that
your coach accused us of running up the score, get me off on the wrong foot. We
were just having fun and on a seven-game winning streak finishing up a 10-win
season. You won’t believe this, but it was the battle of the Wishbones and y’all
had an outstanding split end named Wes Chandler out there. Now it’s starting to
click!

 In fact, I’ll be keeping you up-to-date all season on happenings here in the
great state of Texas, being that it’s the only state we have actually
gone out and annexed thus far. My gosh, how insulting was that trumped-up
billboard someone put up in Gainesville? Geez, we wouldn’t go after defenseless
cities! We’re better than that.

Although I live only a few blocks from Kyle Field (that’s the name of our
stadium, although we clearly say, “Welcome to the Home of the 12th Man”), I’ll
be holed up in front of a big screen like many of you who aren’t worried enough
about this game to make the trip. We’ll all be watching something the USA has
never seen before on national TV, with ESPN GameDay setting up here, and no
less, the Florida Gators stepping onto the Fightin’ Texas Aggies’ non-artificial
turf. It’s been noted that Florida hasn’t played up to par during its last 10
games. Edge, Aggies. (Oh, and no, you shouldn’t feel the need to thank us for
this game day appearance you’re sharing with us. We think you’re quite special,
and those of us who have visited Florida like it very much. But you’re
welcome).

 [Related: Aggies Trash Talking Taken to
the Curb, Billboard Removed]

 For what it’s worth, we hardly ever know which Aggie team is going to show up
on opening day (and certainly don’t know now), the Thursday before our Battle in
the Valley (that’s the Brazos Valley of course and a river runs through it).
Hey, with a new coach, staff, offensive scheme, QB, hopefully defense and our
70′s-style uni’s, who knows what might happen? All we know is we’ve got us a day
game with y’all to play in 103- to 105-degree Texas weather. How fun is that! I
may order up a cold front though, so don’t fret yet. I mean, we thought when we
were getting into this mess that the SEC was exclusively a night-time
league.

 Unfortunately, the Aggs haven’t played a top 25 opponent in an opener in who
knows how long, and now we’re supposed to play you guys in our season AND
Southeastern Conference opener? Who wrote this script?

 Hey, we know you didn’t do much in your opener last week, except maybe help
Bowling Green’s head coach ease off his hot seat a little, but at the same time,
not much was expected (except another couple of TDs for your madder’n hell
wagering constituents). Otherwise, I watched a solid college football game
between two teams who weren’t supposed to be all that equal. Meanwhile, we
missed out on maybe having our heads handed to us by Louisiana Tech. Those guys
are good, you know, for being conference champs in 2011.


Here’s the thing, though. For the life of me, I can’t figure out with all the
wonderful successes your offensive-minded head coaches have brought you, why in
the world would you turn to defense? Was it coach Muschamp’s dynamic personality
that got him the job, or did you just want to rub Texas’ nose in it? Either
answer is perfectly alright with us Aggies, don’t get me wrong. We did the same
thing to our dear old “coach Fran” who took the Midnight Express in from
Alabama. And Alabama still thanks us to this day. From outside-looking in,
because we are prone to do quite a number at A&M, it just seems a little
strange that you’re changing your course in such a manner.


The Aggies, on the other hand, have gone all offense since canning R.C.
Slocum, the coach with most wins by far in A&M history and who went 6-6 his
fateful final season. I mean, who can stomach that? After our three sets of
back-to-back, 10-win seasons in the late ’90s, we deserted our traditional flair
for defense and just enough offense on most days, to somehow steal away the
puny, whiney voice of ‘option guru’ Dennis Franchione. And we haven’t looked
back at our defense since. We went low rent and high tech simultaneously. (We do
thank Coach Fran for running the Option completely out of College Station for
good, however, and for this unintentional act alone we pay eternal homage.)

 But as a result of this new modern-day offensive mindset, the ‘Wrecking Crew’
defense soon resembled Dumb and Dumber as it forgot continuously where to line
up anytime an opponent showed a new wrinkle, like a one-back set or motion or
some other exotic formation commonly seen on junior high fields. Hopefully we’ve
had time to fix all that. Hopefully our new coach spent some time watching our
defense get repaired, too, during all these months of practice time. Who knows?
Practices were closed to the public, unless you had a signed permit from the
president (he’s the guy with the bow-tie who does Youtube cheers with our
students on occasion.)

 But all that is in the past, thank goodness. Both our teams finished the 2011
season with identical 7-6 records, although you Gators didn’t show near the
creativity in losing your six as we did in ours. No, we were favored in every
game except the one in Norman where we were crushed, but only for good measure
because we sure damn deserved it. We just didn’t do so well after some
unbelievably strong starts, and our coach even said after losing in OT to Mizzu
at our place for the second straight year that he wasn’t going to “over-analyze
it or under-analyze it.”

 Is your coach in on coach-speak too? It’s amazing what they can conjure at
the drop of a game. Coach Sherman has taken his offense back to the NFL and his
quarterback with him. Well, to be honest, Sherman was asked to leave and our AD
resigned because of it. We just love fresh faces here at A&M (preferably
every four years).

So, about this game. Did I tell you I was a lefty like Tim Tebow? Do y’all
still like lefties? I love pulling for lefties, except I’m not a fan of the
other one in the NFL, the guy in Philadelphia. I’m hoping the kid from Boise
State, who won 50 games as a collegian, makes it. I’m a big Tebow fan. Love the
guy and can’t get enough of him, and the Jets were my favorite team growing up
because I liked Namath.

 Anyway, I’m about the only lefty ever to play for A&M, and I played my
first game during the opener my freshman season at 17, making me the youngest QB
to ever play college football. Don’t you love learning useless trivia in places
you least expected it? Yeah, gotta say it was pretty cool. It was against
Wichita State a couple of seasons after one of its planes went down with most of
the football team. With Marshall’s plane down as well, this is primarily why
freshmen were allowed to play varsity football again, in my opinion. It’s all in
my book.

 Our starting quarterback now is a young man from Kerrville, Texas who the
Aggie Press Machine is raging about as the first “freshman” to start a season
opener for A&M since 1944. But here’s a couple of things they don’t tell
you. Johnny Manziel spent all of last year going to classes, practices, team
meetings, doing film study, going through spring drills, playing understudy to
the No. 8 NFL draft pick and has been through two sets of two-a-days. Freshman?
Hardly. He’s a guy who gets to play two senior seasons, the way I look at it. I
know because I also red-shirted; only it was my third year, and I got to play
two senior seasons as well. That’s how it works.

 What I’m saying is, you can throw out the redshirt tag. Johnny is a
second-year player with a wealth of knowledge that is readily accessible and
stored up ready-to-go on the college game. He is equipped with a whole lot of
valuable mental experience and great talent. If he turns this game into a
“practice” mentally and gets into the zone that he needs to be in, he has the
tools to be a real class act. So let’s just call him a sophomore with no actual
playing experience, sort of like what we called all players between the years of
1946 to 1972, the time period that freshmen were not allowed to play varsity
football after World War II. I know– how old-school! Remember when girls could
only play half-court in basketball? Very similar thinking.

 But just for grins, let’s allow the Aggs’ publicists call it the way they
spin it. After all, it’s their program they have to sell even though this game
doesn’t need selling. Just don’t be expecting a timid kid with no background or
clue showing up all wide-eyed and scared at the prospects of leading his team in
front of a sold-out crowd and national TV audience. Bradshaw, Bert Jones, Joe
Ferguson, Joe Namath, Spurrier, Stabler; they were all quite good after not
“playing” in their first year of college. It would seem your QB is ready to go
as well.

 So, that’s our take on this very special occasion here in Aggieland. I speak
for us all when I say we’re glad you’re coming to our place, and we do not have
to go to the Swamp. That day will come, hopefully from our standpoint riding a
big two-game winning streak which our team’s publicists can then brag about. Our
schedule includes three straight on the road as it is, and we haven’t done that
since 1977 when we had to do five in a row. Can you show me a team who played
three in a row on the road who ever won a national championship? Me either,
especially when two of them we’ll be visiting are rather recent national
champions: Auburn and ‘Bama.

 If you’re making the trip, you’ll find all of us Aggies most hospitable while
we’re still outside the stadium. We’re a very friendly place, probably as much
as any bunch of tailgaters you’ll ever see. Might even have a cold one for ya or
a nice slice of barbeque. Heck, join us for Midnight Yell in the stadium on
Friday night. Try to get there a little early but don’t expect to be sitting
down. That would make you “one of them!”

 I would offer one piece of advice: take in our band at halftime. It will
inspire the heck out of you.

 Well, it’s been a pleasure.