How Does Aggy Do?

[Sirhornsalot]

Losing Manziel, Evans and Matthews, 75% of their offense which netted four losses. Must find a new QB, plug a hole in the OL and somehow get their defense to stop someone in 2014.

PROBABLE WINS

Lamar

SMU

Miss State

ULM

COULD GO EITHER WAY

Rice

Arkansas

Ole Miss

PROBABLE LOSSES

South Carolina

Alabama

Auburn

Missouri

LSU

I put Rice in the "could go either way" category because they've improved and will catch Aggy early on the schedule, perhaps before Aggy gets it figured out. Arkansas is at a neutral site, but they show up well in Dallas. Ole Miss should continue to improve as the results of their recruiting starts to show. Aggy has had some nice recruiting in the last two years and some of that young talent got some PT late in the season. Should be interesting.

 

[HookemHorns]

It would be nice if they came crashing down to their rightful place in the state.

I think they go 7-5

 

[3xhorndad]

$$$$$$$ talks...

They will figure $omething out, don't lo$e and $leep on it....

 

[CoachBobbyFinstock]

I think they're in trouble.

Manziel covered a ton of their sins and Evans wasn't too far behind either.

Aggy was dead last in the SEC in total defense. While I think they will improve some defensively they will take a big step back on offense.

They had four losses with Manziel...7-5 or 6-6 is certainly not out of the question.

 

[Topstarr]

I will give'em 7-5 them aggies which will fight a let down to the end.

 

[steveh9801]

I think 6-6 and that is not being the anti-aggie. This is the toughest conference schedule that have had since joining the SEC. They will still have offense but not as explosive and the defense should be better. If they go better then 7-5 I will give my respect to Sumlin.

 

[BigPhil76]

Losing Manziel, Evans and Matthews, 75% of their offense which netted four losses. Must find a new QB, plug a hole in the OL and somehow get their defense to stop someone in 2014.
PROBABLE WINS

Lamar

SMU

Miss State

ULM

COULD GO EITHER WAY

Rice

Arkansas

Ole Miss

PROBABLE LOSSES

South Carolina

Alabama

Auburn

Missouri

LSU

I put Rice in the "could go either way" category because they've improved and will catch Aggy early on the schedule, perhaps before Aggy gets it figured out. Arkansas is at a neutral site, but they show up well in Dallas. Ole Miss should continue to improve as the results of their recruiting starts to show. Aggy has had some nice recruiting in the last two years and some of that young talent got some PT late in the season. Should be interesting.

IMO this will be a defining year for Sumlin as a coach, how he performs this year and moving forward will tell you a lot about who he is.

 

[utisdabomb12]

My wife is an Aggie so I've had this conversation a few times with her father.

1-You can't replace Manziel, Evans, and Mathews. All three are first round draft picks. I don't care who they have as replacements, there will be a drop off.

2-They are also losing Walker and Labhart at receiver. Labhart was arguably their best offensive player in the last 3 or 4 games. That loss is huge and people just overlook that. Add a tight end in Hicks graduating, they are losing about 85 percent of their offensive production. They are also losing a potential starter next year in Sebastian Larue who decided to transfer.

3-Defensively they are also losing a few important pieces. Their best defensive lineman in Kirby Ennis is gone. One of their only playmakers on defense in Tony Hurd is gone. Throw in losing a couple linebackers in Askew and Jenkins. Their defense was already horrible, and they are losing some of their better players on that side of the ball.

4-Their defense regressed all year. They made zero improvement. They have a Manny Diaz on their hands and they haven't figured it out yet.

5-Their offensive coordinator has only called plays in one game so far in his career. Maybe he's the next Kingsburry, but he could very well be the next Manny Diaz too.

6-Aggies will talk about their great recruiting class. I guess they didn't learn anything from this year. You can't rely on Freshman. If they think they are going to drastically improve with a bunch of freshman playing, they are about to be letdown.

If you look at their schedule. @South Carolina @Bama and @Auburn are probably all losses. @Mississippi State is probably a loss too. They are returning almost everyone, and have a legit star in Prescott at QB (he embarrassed A&M this year). A&M gets LSU, Missouri and Ole Miss at home. I could easily see them losing two of those games. Ole Miss is returning almost everyone. LSU is built to beat A&M with a running game and strong defensive line. Missouri has a young stud QB and quite a few starters returning. Arkansas is the only game in the SEC that I see them winning, and I'm not even 100 percent sure about that. The Arkansas game is on a neutral field, and Arkansas is returning almost everyone. A&M is going to struggle to win 2 games in the SEC.

In terms of non-conference, SMU and Rice are the only two potential losses. They struggled with Rice this year, and SMU will be on the road so they could potentially drop one of those games. I think A&M finishes 6-6 or 7-5, and would not be surprised if they are bowl ineligible. It's about to be a tough year for A&M.

 

[thirtyand0]

LSU, Missouri, Arkansas, Ole Miss are all home games.

Arkansas as a toss up? Based on what?

 

[Agmaniacmike]

This is a big year for Sumlin. We are about to find out if he rode the coattails of Manziel and Keenum as a HC. I still foresee us having a top 30 offense but the defense is still such a huge question mark. We must be the only team to ever finish in the top 25 with a defense in the 100s. I'm setting the over/under at 7-5. I think the ceiling is 9-3, but 6-6 is possible if things break the wrong way. As has been said, the schedule is a little tougher(OOC is horrid), but alot of teams will also be replacing some key cogs in the conference. Bama- McCarron, Mosley, Clinton-Dix (guaranteed 10 wins regardless), LSU- (QB is huge question mark, lost alot of juniors like last year), South Carolina (Shaw, Clowney, Sutton, Ellington, Hampton). There aren't many games I am confident in, but at the same time, the only game that is probably a guaranteed loss is Bama. We caught lightning in a bottle with Johnny, hopefully Kenny or Kyle will have some of that magic to carry us through the transition.

 

[utisdabomb12]

Arkansas almost beat them this year. Arkansas is returning almost everyone too. Bielema ball is also built to beat A&M. Throw in a neutral field and a rivalry game, Arkansas could easily win that game.

Arkansas was an interesting team this year. Their record isn't at all indicative of how good they were. They were in a lot of SEC games.

 

[UTPhil2006]

So at 7-5, what kind of raise is Sumlin looking at next year?

 

[utisdabomb12]

More interesting question is how everyone sees the SEC west playing out.

This is how I see it

1) Auburn

2) Bama

3) Mississippi State

4) LSU

5) Ole Miss

6) A&M

7) Arkansas

IMO Miss. State is going to surprise some people next year. Prescott is a star if he can stay healthy.

 

[Agmaniacmike]

I love Prescott, but there isn't near enough talent for Miss. State to win 9-10 games in any given year. If Miss. State doesn't beat Ole Miss Mullen may have been looking for a new job.I also think that as long as Bo Wallace is QB at Ole Miss they will not break into the upper tier of the division. Bielema project will be a failure IMO.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

More interesting question is how everyone sees the SEC west playing out.
This is how I see it

1) Auburn

2) Bama

3) Mississippi State

4) LSU

5) Ole Miss

6) A&M

7) Arkansas

IMO Miss. State is going to surprise some people next year. Prescott is a star if he can stay healthy.

IMO, Auburn loses too much to repeat as division champs. Bama has some new coaches and a chip on it's shoulder.

1. Bama

2. LSU

3. Auburn

4. Ole Miss

5. Arkansas

6. Aggy

7. Miss State

 

[J.B. TexasEx]

Not gonna waste a lot of time worrying about what aggy does after NSD, but I foresee 6-6.

Gig 'Em

 

[Randolph Duke]

I've gotten aggy so wrong in the past few years, I hate to hazard a guess. In 2012, I thought they would struggle and they managed to blow us all away by finishing an astounding third in their division and fifth in the conference. This year, I thought they would struggle, but they finished an impressive (for aggy) fourth in their division and seventh in the conference, a result that was so impressive they backed up the Brinks truck and made Sumlin one of the highest paid coaches in the country. For the first time in the history of their program, they have won bowl games in three consecutive years. Can they keep this juggernaut rolling? Another fourth place finish in their division (or dare I say they repeat the best finish for their program in over half a century and match 2012's third place Western Division finish), and Sumlin will be declared the greatest coach aggy coach in the history of forevar!

Quite honestly, I don't have a clue what to expect from our snotpicking little brother over in farmville. This coming season should be entertaining.

 

[coolhorn]

Agricultural is not gonna go in the tank because Manziel and company are gone. Sumlin's recruited well these last couple of years and there's some good young talent in the pipeline. I'm no fan of that school, but if I were, I would have a couple of concerns. They might trot a good quarterback out this fall, but Manziel was a once-in-a-lifetime player for them, and the only one in recent memory on their roster that was capable of taking over a game literally by himself. A lot of schools have found themselves having to replace a transcendent, Heisman-winning talent, and only very rarely are they able to do it. They're also gonna miss their All-American receiver, Evans, and their All-American tackle. That's a lot of frontline talent to expect freshmen and sophomores to replace.

If I'm aggy, I'd also be worried about Sumlin's long-term commitment to the school. He was asked about his future plans, and said he intends to stay in collie station through the rebuild of Kyle Field. He made no guarantees after that, and he is the kind of offensive-minded and personable coach that the NFL loves. They made inquiries about him this year, and by two years down the road, there's no telling who in the league will be shopping for a head coach, or how much they'd be willing to pay Sumlin to get him outta collie station. Who knows...by that time, Jerry Jones might even be at the front of the line, and I can guarantee you Sumlin would consider taking over the Cowboys.

The ags were traditionally a middle of the pack Big XII school, and even with Sumlin coaching, there's no reason to think they'll do better in the confederacy. They lost four games, admittedly to SEC teams, and finished what?...seventh overall this year, with arguably their best team in a while and a returning Heisman winner? They play in the toughest division of the SEC, and long-term, I don't see one single team in that division that I can point to and say agricultural is gonna continue to be better than them. Sorry...I don't mean to offend any ag fans on here, and I'm NOT predicting the sky's gonna fall for them. Just sayin' I hope they enjoyed the last couple of years, because it's not likely to be a whole lot better anytime soon. Oh, and if I were agri-fan, I wouldn't depend on UT staying down much longer. It's not gonna happen.

 

[utisdabomb12]

Mississippi state is at a talent disadvantage, there's no denying that. But they have some very good players at critical positions. They don't have the depth of an Auburn and Alabama, but they have some nice players at critical positions. If you combine a lot of returning starters, I think they make some noise next year. Of course it's going to be dependent on Prescott.

I don't think I've ever picked a team to challenge Auburn, LSU and Alabama. For some reason though I think one of the Mississippi schools could make noise next year.