fire gary darnell
Dennis Franchione gets a pass this week from the usual call for his ouster, because the offense appears to be up and running. Scoring 51 points against the Ragin’ Cajuns was a reasonable and expected result. Additionally, the offense stopped fumbling on every other play, leading to an improved, but still sorry, average turnover margin of -0.5 per game. Texas A&M now has the ninth worst turnover margin in the Big 12.
defense allows 134 percent more points in week two
Gary Darnell needs to be fired, yesterday. Two of the four categories Propeller Skies tracks declined this week. Behold the following less than stellar defensive statistics:
- Points allowed increased from an average of 3 per game to 7 - against weak opponents who should be shut out;
- Pass defense improved to 72.5 yards per game, good for best in the Big 12 - again negated by the poor quality of opposing teams;
- Rush defense is a fucking disaster, with 134.5 yards allowed per game - good for eleventh in the Big 12; and
- On the strength of the pass defense, total defense improved to 207.0 yards per game - second in the Big 12.
On the surface, Mr. Darnell appears to be doing an acceptable job. However, Bill Byrne’s philosophy of backing up the cupcake truck is simply hiding the reality that Mr. Darnell is a worse defensive coordinator than Carl Torbush. I predict Mr. Darnell’s one strong suit, pass defense, will go up in smoke when the Aggies begin playing teams with actual offenses. Rush defense is already cause for concern. After playing two weak sauce teams, the Texas A&M defense should be at the top of the Big 12 in stopping the run - not fighting for last place with Oklahoma. Lack of rushing defense is going to kill the Aggies in conference play - especially against Oklahoma.