These pregame tags for the Texas A&M-Oklahoma State game stimulated the overwhelming excitement among fans filing into Kyle Field on Saturday. However, 27 unanswered second half points turned the rowdy Twelfth Man into somber statues, with unblinking eyes and towels held limply to the side in sorrowful silence.
A&M led 20-3 at the half in what seemed to be a blowout game — cementing the Aggies’ place in the Top-10 for the remainder of the season. However, gaining a huge lead with such ease ironically cost A&M the game as it lulled the team and — just as dangerously — the crowd to sleep.
Sure, the crowd jolted awake after a few potential game-changing plays late in the game, but everyone not wearing construction worker orange nodded back to sleep when OSU responded with its own big plays.
Aggieland awoke just in time to see OSU’s Justin Blackmon run out of the back of the end zone as time expired. Blackmon carried the ball and A&M’s dreams about a national championship out of the stadium.
The A&M secondary couldn’t contain Blackmon or OSU quarterback Brandon Weeden, who threw for four touchdowns and a school record 434 yards.
This is not the Wrecking Crew that had fans chanting against Nebraska last year.
Granted, Weeden is a mature and accurate veteran at 27 years old, but a defense playing on national TV for a passionate fan base needs to step up and deliver the goods. I’m talking about Alabama’s defense holding conference opponent Arkansas — A&M’s next opponent — to 17 rushing yards in this week’s 38-14 drumming.
The Aggie defense was porous in the second half, allowing 290 yards and 21 points to the Cowboys in the third quarter alone. Players have to realize when a train is coming down the tracks, the Wrecking Crew is expected to stop it.
But the defense isn’t all to blame as the offense turned the ball over four times.
Receivers had plenty of chances to show their depth and talent but came up short in a pass-heavy game. The most surprising was seeing such a quality group drop easy passes.
The coaches went away from the run game, with only 27 run attempts compared to OSU’s 35. With talented backs like Cyrus Gray and Christine Michael chomping at the bit, how could the coaches just abandon the run against a defense that gave up more than 350 rushing yards last week against Tulsa?
Senior quarterback Ryan Tannehill was not the cerebral leader Aggie fans grew accustomed to last season, throwing three interceptions. The first happened on bad luck but the last two were mental errors that misrepresent Tannehill’s usual ability.
Maybe it was the 27-straight points that shouldn’t have deflated a top-10 team and its fans.
Maybe it was the 2:30 p.m. game time that shouldn’t have zapped the energy out of an experienced squad and its faithful tailgaters.
Either way, A&M and the Twelfth Man were not ready for the biggest game in school history Saturday.