Sumlin's "Stun Gun Offense" Fastest Draw in the West!

If  you’ve been following my weekly posts on Gamedayr (and who hasn’t?), you may
recall the final thought in my most recent article preceding the A&M-Ole  Miss game; It suggested that “the great thing now is, we’re not in that Aggie Wishbone!”

 Even though I personally ran the  Wishbone’s triple-option version for five years at Texas A&M University,  I’ve always felt the offensive scheme imposed upon us was the sole reason  A&M didn’t add three or four more “legitimate” national championship signs to its walls at Kyle Field. Lord knows we certainly had the players and staff to
do it.

  Seriously, can you imagine being behind  by 10 points with six minutes to play and stuck in a full-house backfield with  only one wide receiver in Oxford, Mississippi? Me either. Can you imagine a less  favorable outcome? Yeah, me too.
 
I have patiently waited for this 2012 offense to arrive at A&M for almost  forty years, so please pardon my giddiness. I recall my hopes flickering once  during the 2008 season when A&M and Mike Sherman were hosting the Texas Tech  Red Raiders. Not once during the first half did a tight end step onto the field.  We stayed in the “spread” throughout, and QB Jerrod Johnson had an excellent  half of football, leading the Aggies to a 23-20 halftime lead. I was ecstatic  about the future of A&M football while employing the preeminent Big 12  offense.

  Unfortunately, after getting shut down  in the second half by Mike Leach’s defensive staff, Sherman returned to his  multiple sets and myriad of personnel packages for the remainder of his tenure  at A&M, fooling no one.

  Conversely, Coach Sumlin’s  predator-styled “stun gun offense” performed precisely and to perfection in the  latter minutes of Saturday’s game with Ole Miss. It discovered the flaws of the  defense and the mismatches in alignment and personnel. It was relentless in its precision.

  This offense and the confidence it  instills both revived and reinvigorated the Aggies, springing them up off the  canvas in as far-fetched of a fashion as you’ll ever see on any movie screen.  Suddenly these down-and outers were coming from nowhere, throwing haymakers like  Sugar Ray Leonard did when he hammered poor Roberto “No Mas”Duran into  surrendering his dignity. The Aggies “Rope-a-Doped” the 3-2 Rebels for a vast  majority of the ball game just prior to air-raiding and bombarding these visibly  shaken, head-spinning opponents into silent submission, just as cool and
calculating as Ali had been in downing the seemingly indomitable George Foreman
back in ’74. The Rumble in the Jungle transformed into the Groove at the
Grove.

  In fact, the fighters’ own handlers were the only ones who saw the impending dooms looming for the opposing corners, just  as the coaches and players comprising this A&M team did. The national TV  audience and the paying crowd wildly celebrating in the stands beforehand  certainly didn’t. Aggies watching around the world didn’t either. They were too  accustomed to seeing the Aggies fall behind and remain stuck in neutral in  previous decades. The Aggies simply lost too many games in which they were
favored. Many began wondering if the Aggies had ever come back from such a
deficit this late in a ball game. “Nope, can’t think of one,” they concluded.
“Once we’re beat, we’re pretty much beat. Same ol,’ same old. OLE MISS, BY
DAMN!”

  Rumor has it that many Aggie supporters  kicking back in their homes were so bent out of shape that they switched  channels after the fourth quarter interception thrown by the Aggies ended all  hope. Just imagine their surprise when opening the Sunday paper the next  morning–hey, this is real stuff here.

  The word “surreal”doesn’t even begin to  cover it, as astonishing as this most unlikely of A&M comebacks was. As much  as the coaching staff had to reevaluate after faltering offensively against  Florida (now the No. 4 team in the country according to this week’s AP poll), it  must feel a huge amount of satisfaction for this win over Mississippi. All it
took was calculated desperation to get the rally started and the execution of
just a few well-called, pre-snap reads to finish the  deal.

  Though there was definitely no quit in  this Rebels team throughout, there certainly was the sweet smell of victory  nipping at its collective nose. Hey, when you’ve got a team crouched in its own  bunkers 99 yards away from the end zone you’re defending, a third and 19  situation with 6 minutes left on the clock and holding a 10-point lead no less,  well, your chances are looking pretty darned good. You’ve already totally  exasperated your opponents offensively and in your mind you’ve beat the hell  out of ‘em defensively, so you quietly hear the braggadocio within you  whispering, “Give it up, guys. Can’t you see you’re done  here?”

  This juncture of the game is when you  pull out all the stops, swarm the poor defenseless quarterback and at the very  least get the ball back in your own territory where you do what you want with  it. Victory does smell sweet when you’re finally realizing you’ve played well  enough for so long that you just can’t lose, and with it comes the  naturally-occurring big sigh of relief. It’s party time for the first time in
  awhile here at the Grove.

  And this was the precise situation Ole Miss found itself in, with everything soundly secured, excitedly waiting to see  the white flag rising from the overwhelmed newbie camp of Old Army. Actually,  the Maroon and White hadn’t been as tough as Ole Miss expected. They weren’t  nearly as consistent or worthy as the films had suggested. The Aggies on this  night had been predictably reduced to nothing more than an irresponsible,  pass-happy bunch of pretty boys who apparently had no real guts or poise when needed most.

  “I mean, just look at‘em all,” they  exclaimed. “They’re good as finished. They’ve succumbed to the real pressure of  SEC home cookin’. They played more like Texas Patsies than Texas Aggies and  can’t seem to even be able to hold on to the football. They just folded, even  against the worst team in the league. Hey, it’s tough on the road here in THE  Southeastern Conference. Hotty Toddy, Gosh almighty, who the hell are we! Hey!  Flim Flam, Bim Bam, OLE MISS BY DAMN!’”

  And just as the Rebels were about to  stick the proverbial fork in the Aggies’ rear ends, they got hit with the  “bomb,” a perfectly lofted spiral deep down the right sideline into heavy  coverage, promptly snapping the Rebs back to their senses. Having not won an SEC  game in over 765 days and counting, the Rebels were, however, still certain of
victory. Their lead was too big and they’d played too well to have this game
slip away. Surely these newcomers from Texas didn’t have the courage or
wherewithal to challenge them on their own home turf with so many opportunities
already blundered. After all, this 2012 team had already given the ball away six
times in a variety of ways.


 Not since 1974 when the Wishbone Aggies  lost five of eight fumbles to a weak TCU team, had any A&M team been  victorious while committing so many turnovers. In fact, it was that same year  when A&M opened its season with a 7-0 victory over Ole Miss, a narrow  victory in which the Aggies defense accounted for eleven Ole Miss Quarterback
sacks. These two schools hadn’t even met since 1980. No, nothing that happened
so long ago would have any bearing on this game. The tradition starts here, and
the Aggies were still too far down with too little time left.

  “Yes,” the Ole Miss folks thought, “that was a just lucky play that will only delay the inevitable. Hang in there, defense!”

  Former SEC Offensive Player of the Week,  Johnny “No Fail” Manziel, hadn’t shown the Midas touch for the first 3 and a  half 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?”


 The only thing that could save them now  was a near miracle, loosely referred to something vaguely known around Aggieland  as, ahem, “defense.” This ‘wannabe’ of a mirage always brings a little chortle  and a wink in quiet conversations around the water coolers, presumably because  it had gone totally extinct in the Valley decades ago.

  “Wait. This defense? Our defense? A STOP  here when it counts? Get real.” (LOL to
follow.)

  Sure enough, the Aggies gave up a first  down, as expected from most of the A&M crowd. Then they gave up another six  yards, then two, and then only ONE! Suddenly it’s fourth down with the ball on  the Mississippi 39 yard line and only 3 and a half minutes remaining. A punt  from here could put the Aggies maybe 80 yards away and needing to get into the end zone to win the game. It was an obvious decision for the Ole Miss coaching  staff. The Ole Miss defense had played extremely well overall. It was a
no-brainer.


 Inexplicably, Ole Miss kept its offense  on the field, then got in the shotgun and tried to run for it. It wasn’t even  close. That was OUR DEFENSE out there, high-stepping and high-fiving it off the  field to the cheers of everyone on that sideline and springing from their  La-Z-Boys. Hey, this just doesn’t happen for Aggies, but it had! Still hope!


 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 beat.  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.


 With a three-point lead and a very  improbable victory within sight, the Aggie defense, ahem, would need to keep the  Rebels out of field-goal range and definitely out of the end zone to wrap this  game up in regulation. Mississippi quarterback Bo Wallace calmly hit Donte Moncrief for 32 yards down to the A&M 32 yard line. Suddenly, the field-goal
possibility was looking very realistic with just over a minute to play. A&M  defensive back Toney Hurd, Jr. then jumped a short option route and came up with  a huge interception that sealed the fate of the once-rousing Rebels. The  celebration that ensued was indeed spontaneous, well-deserved and well worth every one of the 15 ‘unsportsmanlike’ penalty yards  assessed.

 By remaining poised, alert and  confident, Manziel now trails only Alabama’s AJ McCarron in the NCAA Quarterback  Rating among SEC quarterbacks and is 12th 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. 
 
Tech  will be the first of two consecutive big games against teams from the
neighboring state of Louisiana. The second will be the LSU Tigers, a great team
obviously still smarting from its loss to Florida while priming this week for
SEC-East co-leader, South Carolina. Favored at home by a field goal over the
undefeated Gamecocks, an LSU victory will mean a showdown for SEC-West survival
next week in College Station. While it will be difficult not to look ahead to
hosting the Tigers, the Aggies must be prepared to play their best defensive
game of the year this week in Shreveport. D-Lineman Demontre Moore is fourth in
the nation in sacks and second in the nation in tackles for a loss. He’ll need
plenty of help against this explosive offense that surrenders sacks quite
infrequently.

  The comeback win in Oxford was a  tremendous carryover from the rout of the Razorbacks a week earlier, and with  the season currently exceeding expectations in many quarters, this is not the  week for an upset.

  Bulldog QB Colby Cameron has won 10 of his last 11 starts and also started three games during his sophomore year, with  his first being against Texas A&M. Cameron hasn’t been intercepted yet this  season and has thrown 13 TD passes, hitting 72.5 percent of his passes at home.  Last season Cameron beat out the second-youngest quarterback in college football  history, Nick Isham, who then transferred to Arizona and is red-shirting this  season.

  The Bulldogs have won their last 12 regular season games. Tech’s only loss in the interim was to TCU last December  in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl by the score of 31-24. TCU  had an excellent 11-2 record in 2011 and trailed the Bulldogs 24-17 entering the fourth quarter.

  The defending WAC champions are  accustomed to winning close, high-scoring games. Thus far this season, they’ve  beaten Houston 56-49, Virginia 44-38 and three others by an average of 55-31,  ranking third in the country while scoring 53 points per game. Louisiana Tech  has also racked up the eleventh most yards per game (523.4), barely edging out the SEC-leading Aggies (516.8). Very few teams are capable of scoring one point  for every ten yards gained, but Louisiana Tech is hitting the mark. A&M’s
44.6 points per game are eighth in the NCAA and also lead the SEC.


 The Aggies’ are surrendering 14.8 points  per game, ranking sixth in the defensive-minded SEC and 14th in the country.  Louisiana Tech gives up almost 36 points per game, ranking 109th among 124 D-1 schools.

  All things being equal, the Aggies  should maintain or perhaps gain some ground offensively this coming Saturday,  provided they get in enough game-time possessions. No one has slowed the  Bulldogs down yet, and there’s only 22 seconds difference in each team’s time of  possession this season with each hovering near the 27-minute  mark.

  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.