How Aggies’ fourth straight loss surprisingly delivers hope

Let's look at some positives. Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images.

Jimbo Fisher

The Aggies broke their streak of scoring less than 25 points. The Aggies had excellent quarterback play. Devon Achane had over 120 yards of total offense. A&M had a 100-yard receiver. All of these factors are usually key to the Jimbo Fisher-led Aggies winning games. However, on Saturday, the often trustworthy Wrecking Crew, or the Ags’ defense, let the over 101,000 packed into Kyle Field down.

The Rebels gashed the Aggies for 390 yards rushing, scoring 31 points and adding to Head Coach Jimbo Fisher’s longest losing streak during his tenure at Texas A&M. Quinshon Judkins rushed for over 200 yards alone as the Maroon and White could never seem to catch up offensively. One thing was different for Texas A&M on Saturday however, for the third time this season, A&M had a new starting quarterback. This time, it was the 5-star true freshman Connor Weigman. Yet another member of the historic 2022 recruiting class, he, like many others has had an instant impact on the field in his first start. Weigman was 28-44, 338 passing yards with 4 touchdowns and no interceptions. No Texas A&M freshman QB has done that since 2013, when Johnny Manziel threw for 300-plus yards, 3 or more touchdown passes and no turnovers. If Connor Weigman is starting his career already in that company, then it is not surprising why so many Aggies are so optimistic even after another loss.

One of the three storylines I wanted to keep my eye on coming into this season was quarterback play. Quite frankly the season up to this point has yet to see any good QB play from anyone wearing Maroon and White. Then enter Connor Weigman, who might single handily take A&M from a 4-5 win team to a 6-7 bowl-eligible team. If Weigman can provide decisive and confident play from here on out and the A&M defense plays to their regular standard, I think Texas A&M can somehow pull out a bowl game appearance. That was a wild statement just a week ago and provides some hope to a fan base who is reeling for it.

Now the Aggies will welcome in the Florida Gators who are coming off a decent showing against the #1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs. Florida provides a similar challenge that Ole Miss gave the Aggies, that being the ability to run the ball well. If the Gators can utilize Anthony Richardson on the ground and not have to use his arm, the Gators should be in good shape against the Aggies. If the Ags can get back on track defensively Saturday morning, I think Connor Weigman has provided a spark offensively and could only get better from here for Texas A&M. The Aggies snap the four-game skid with a 35-27 win over the Gators to improve to 4-5.

ncaa college football aggies texas a&m college

Texas hosts Clemson on Dec. 21. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

No. 4 Texas will be competing for a return trip to Atlanta when it plays at home against No. 13 Clemson in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

The winner of the Clemson-Texas first-round game on Dec. 21 will play No. 10 Arizona State in the Jan. 1 Peach Bowl in Atlanta in the CFP quarterfinals.

For Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik, who is from Austin, Texas, the game will be a homecoming.

“We recruited him hard," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Sunday, calling Klubnik “a winner. He will do whatever it takes to put his team in position to be successful.”

Added Sarkisian: “When he made the decision to go to Clemson, honestly I wasn’t surprised. Both his parents went to (Texas) A&M.”

Klubnik applauded the announcement of the game at Texas for Clemson's seventh CFP appearance.

“For him to be going to his first playoff in Austin, Texas, where he grew up, you can’t make that up,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “Pretty cool opportunity for him and his family to go compete against Texas there in Austin.”

Swinney said his only visit to the Texas stadium was to watch Klubnik play in a high school playoff game.

“We’ve never played Texas or played in that stadium,” Swinney said. “... It’s going to be amazing. It’s one of the best venues in college football.”

The Longhorns (11-2) were seeded No. 5 in the CFP following their 22-19 overtime loss to Georgia on Saturday night in the Southeastern Conference championship game in Atlanta.

Sarkisian said his players were “really excited” to see Texas land the No. 5 seed and have the opportunity to play in the Longhorns' first game against Clemson.

Texas safety Andrew Mukuba is a Clemson transfer. Sarkisian said players already were calling the matchup the “Mukuba Bowl.”

Swinney said: “I love Mukuba. I just love his spirit and love his heart. He was a really neat kid.

“I certainly wish he had been able to finish here. He did everything that was asked of him at Clemson. Made a bunch of big plays.”

Clemson (10-3) beat SMU 34-31 in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game Saturday night to land an automatic CFP berth. The Tigers are ranked No. 16 in the CFP but were given the 12th and lowest seed. As the fifth-highest ranked league champion, the Tigers do not get a bye and instead must visit Texas.

Arizona State (11-2) earned a bye by rolling over Iowa State 45-19 in the Big 12 championship game Saturday. The Sun Devils were led by running back Cam Skattebo's 170 rushing yards in their impressive win to cap their first season in the Big 12.

Peach Bowl president Gary Stokan noted the Sun Devils were picked to finish last in the Big 12.

“You proved them all wrong,” Stokan told Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham.

Arizona State players celebrated the announcement of their No. 4 seed.

Dillingham said he hopes the conference championship and berth in the CFP helps him recruit and continue to build the program.

“Hopefully this stage will help get our branding out there, and show people that we can be one of the newer brands in college football," Dillingham said. "Every 10-15 years a new brand shows up, and a new brand becomes a national brand.”No. 4 Texas will be competing for a return trip to Atlanta when it plays at home against No. 13 Clemson in the first round of the College Football Playoff.