College Station, Texas ? Texas A&M has dropped three straight games and faces a must-win trip to Kansas with a schedule that still includes No. 3 Oklahoma, 14th-ranked Nebraska and rival No. 22 Texas.
The Aggies (3-3, 0-2 Big 12 Conference) insist their confidence hasn’t been shaken by the skid, but they’ll need to turn around things soon to reach their goal of taking a step forward from last season’s disappointing 6-7 finish.
Texas A&M followed close losses to Oklahoma State and Arkansas with a lopsided 30-9 defeat to No. 18 Missouri on Saturday that has fans restless and some wondering if a coaching change should come soon. The headline on the front page of the campus newspaper, the Battalion, read ‘Time for change?’ over a picture of coach Mike Sherman, with a smaller headline that read ‘Mike Sherman doesn’t have it’ earlier this week.
After going 4-8 in Sherman’s first season and 6-7 in the second, expectations were high for at least a winning record this year. Now even that could be a stretch.
Sherman, the former Green Bay Packers coach, understands the unease.
“The frustration I’m sure is very intense, and that’s part of it,” he said. “I want to coach at a place where people expect you to win. I wouldn’t want it any other way. If they weren’t passionate, I wouldn’t be here.”
It’s been a long wait for those hoping to see A&M return to prominence after a run of seven conference championships from 1985-1998. The Aggies have fallen on hard times since then and haven’t had a winning conference record since 2006.
Texas A&M’s first two losses on the road were difficult, but Sherman said disappointing the home crowd of more than 80,000 with the loss to the Tigers on Saturday was worse.
“I feel that disappointment when I walk off that field,” he said. “And our players feel that. They know they let the fans down. They are bound and determined to get back on track. They are good kids, and they work hard … our backs are against the wall and we have to put it all together.”
The Aggies’ issues in the first two losses, a 38-35 defeat at Oklahoma State and a 24-17 loss against Arkansas, stemmed mostly from the nine turnovers they committed in the two games. On Saturday, it was another story, with Texas A&M unable to get anything going until late in the game despite playing turnover free.
Sherman thinks senior quarterback Jerrod Johnson, who had more turnovers than any Aggie in that span, may have started overanalyzing things because of the miscues.
“He wants to play a perfect game, and you’re not going to play perfect,” Sherman said. “Sometimes you have to cut it loose and that doesn’t mean we’re going to throw interceptions. He has an aggressive style and he needs to play that way.”
Johnson has taken much of the criticism for Texas A&M’s struggles this season and many have questioned why Sherman hasn’t benched him in favor of backup Ryan Tannehill. The coach insists that Johnson, who holds the school record for career yards passing, gives his team the best chance to win.
Johnson’s confidence doesn’t seem to be shaken by his troubles and he remains convinced that the Aggies will turn things around.
“I’m not worried about morale,” he said. “If we were going out and getting straight completely dominated physically, it may be different. But to know we’re just not executing, it’s frustrating. It’s not a morale thing. We never feel overmatched and we haven’t been.”
This situation is nothing new to the Aggies. They also started last season 3-0 before dropping three straight, capped by a 62-14 loss to Kansas State to fall to .500. Sherman is hoping the Aggies respond to this skid like they did last year when they ended the losing streak with a 52-30 victory over Texas Tech.
Of course, the Jayhawks (2-4, 0-2) are also desperate to move on and get a win after being outscored, 114-14, in their last two games.
“Certainly our back is against the wall, as is Kansas,” Sherman said. “Here you have two teams that need a win and I’m anxious to get with our guys to put the pieces together and go up and do what we have to do.”
