what jimbo, players said after the loss to Auburn

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What Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M players said about 28-20 loss to Auburn

Today 12:32 AM

31-39 minutes

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Texas A&M lost its SEC opener at home to Auburn on Saturday, 28-20. It was the Aggies’ fourth loss to the Tigers at Kyle Field in as many games, and it dropped Jimbo Fisher’s team to 2-2 on the year.

Fisher, as well as quarterback Kellen Mond, wide receiver Jhamon Ausbon, linebacker Buddy Johnson and defensive back Keldrik Carper spoke with the media following the loss. Here’s a look at everything the Aggies had to say about the game.

JIMBO FISHER

FISHER: "First off, Auburn credit. They came in here and played very well early. Got the tempo of the game, the first drives of the game. Played very well and got good momentum in the football game. They’re a very good football team.

"I thought our kids played hard. I did not -- and we didn’t play as well as we wanted to, but our kids battled. We played. We competed in the game. We had some opportunities in the game on offense, on defense, and in special teams to make some plays. And we just were three, four, five plays short. That’s what it comes down to when you play really good teams.

"We have to play better and that all starts with me. It all starts with me as a coach to coach them better, put them in a better position to do those things. That’s the responsibility. It’s on me. I’ll get them right.

"They are playing hard. We got to get them to play a little better in critical moments and make some critical plays. We had some opportunities on offense, defense, and special teams to do it. We got momentum late and gave up a drive. Had some chances offensively. We didn’t move it and getting a jump -- we jump offsides on the 1. Had some opportunities in the first half. We missed a throw, had a little drop here and there, just missed a block. Had some situations. We got to get to running the ball better. We got to get the running game going, that’s for sure. We didn’t get that going.

"The critical play in the second half, too, we had a turnover. That was one turn turnover in the game. We had a big run and that changed the momentum of the game back in what we did right there. Our kids battled back, gave us a chance.

"We had a chance coming down at the end. Wish we would have gotten the stops in which we needed. We have to look at ourselves in all three phases, and we do as a coach make sure we’re coaching the right things, doing the right things, putting these kids in the right position and doing that. That starts with us and my staff and that goes on me. So we’ll get better, heal up, get ready to go play.

"There was a lot of football left. Can’t feel story for yourself. Making mistakes on this. Move on and get ready to play Arkansas. And hopefully get better here and get to an off-week and get better and go play.

“We don’t have a bad football team. We just got to play better. I got to get them to play better. That’s my job.”

You touched on it, but 56 yards on the ground and quite a few of those in the quarter. How do you get your running game going?

FISHER: “Well, I’m going to have to look it and evaluate it. We’ll have to look and evaluate why we were stopped and look. And we had some momentum things. In the second half, we got behind and had to throw after we thought we had some adjustments made the second half, they had the first run and got it popped and we got it. But then when they got up three scores, it changed our momentum of trying to get it going. And we’ll have to look at that and evaluate it and then we’ll go. We got to do a better job. Got to do a better job of that.”

Just a little bit more on the start of each, how you didn’t get the field goal there and --

FISHER: “Then we missed two field goals. We had two field goals missed, too.”

How tough was the start of each half?

FISHER: "It was very tough. They get a first drive, and we bust the coverage, and they hit a reverse and get it down in there, and then we have a nice drive. I still think we had a chance on that third down, but we had a nice field goal. That’s well within his range, and he can make it, and we’ll put him up out there again. He’s been kicking the ball extremely well. And then we just missed one.

"And then come out the second half, it’s still 14-3. So you’re still in nice shape. You pop a 12-yard run. You think you got some adjustment. We made some adjustments at halftime. We thought and that, and then you got a turnover. And then you get behind right after that again. The sudden change, wish we could have gotten a stop, but we didn’t, and they get points. And so then you’re behind, and it changes the dynamic of the game, and we competed through it.

"But they’re good up front. We knew that going in. They have a very good front, probably as good a front as we’ll play. There are some other good ones other there, but that’s a really good front. We got to play better and get that fixed. We didn’t start the halves very well, and that’s something we try to take a lot of pride in, in what we’re doing.

“Hopefully, we could have got that first down and finished them off in the second half. We had a chance right there in the first half -- excuse me -- to try to get some points there. And we had a missed field goal there. We got that back at least. We had a chance for a field goal there to take some things. But, you know, we just got to keep working. The guys, they didn’t mess up because they wanted to. We got to do a better job coaching them.”

Coach, we hear a lot about complementary football, and you get the touchdown there to make it 21-10 --

FISHER: “You’re exactly right.”

-- you need defense, didn’t make you stop. And then they go down the field and scored another touchdown. How do you get better at playing more complementary football, if possible?

FISHER: "You just got to make them aware. And it’s not they don’t want to, but you know that team over there is going to raise their game. You got to raise your game. You got to make stops. And you can’t go out there trying. You can’t go try too hard. I’m not saying that for -- I’m saying that for our team in general. You got to go do your job, no matter what the situation, and play it. And you got to explain it to them.

"We work a ton of situations. We’ve worked sudden changes. And they were better at it today than we were. And that’s a very big part. You’re exactly right. Because you get a stop there, the momentum swings are back. You got a whole quarter. You got plenty of time. You just got to do a better job. And, like I say, they made the plays today in the critical moments.

In the running game, what went into the decision to go with [Jacob] Kibodi to start and lean kind of heavy on him? And then is there an update on Roney Elam?

FISHER: "Kibodi -- listen, [Isaiah] Spiller is a great player. He’s a young freshman. Putting that burden on him to start and do the -- we were planning on giving him just as many carries as Kibodi. But Kibodi is an older guy, been through those trials and tribulations. And Spiller is going to play. We love him. He’s a great player. We’re going to feed him the ball, do the things he had to do. But he’s a young guy; he’s evolving. We didn’t want to overload that scenario, but they were going to play equal an amount of time. So, really, it’s like who starts doesn’t matter. So we give the experience to the starter.

"[Roney] Elam, he wasn’t available today. He just wasn’t available for the day.

Coach, how do you feel like y’all did in terms of trying to deal with Bo Nix and his inexperience and things like that?

FISHER: "I mean, we never put him in a situation where he had to depend on throwing the football and doing things as a quarterback. They did at the end, but they were able to run the ball, stay in the, as I say, the RPO game, the nickel and dime throws that kept a lot of pressure. He scrambled and did a good job. He pulled the ball and ran with legs very good in the game.

“What did he throw for? I’m trying to think. But he was 12 for 20, 100 yards. Didn’t make any mistakes. but we never -- that’s what I said, we let them get the lead and never put the pressure where you could get them into having to throw the football and put that pressure on. So Bo did a good job, and they did a good job of getting ahead of us and keeping the momentum of the game.”

I got a two-parter. First part is what was the reason for not playing Ainias [Smith] until the end. But then the second part, just [Kellen] Mond, when maybe he felt like he had to do a lot on his own without the running game. How do you feel like he played?

FISHER: "I think he played well. And I think he’ll tell you he had some plays early in the game he wished he could have had back. You know what I’m saying? But we weren’t blocking as well. He kept battling. He kept us in there and found a way for us to do it. That’s one of the things Kellen can do with his legs and his arms. I’m very proud of the way he competes. The guy competes his tail off.

"And Ainias, I wish we had got him in a little earlier. We went with some of the veterans in the big game, and we’ve got to get Ainias in this mix. Ainias has got to play. I’ve said that from day one. That’s my fault. We got to get him in there more and keep him playing and keep him in the normal rotation with what we’re doing.

Coach, when you have the schedule like what you have, how difficult is it to kind of keep guys focused? Because there was so much talk about the four games, the three road games and the Alabama game. How hard is it to keep them focused through all 12?

FISHER: “Well, I don’t think it’s very hard at all. We just got to play better. Like I said before, going into this, I thought Auburn was as good as any of those teams. I did going in. I remember we played them last year, and I knew what kind of players they had on defense and offense and the things coming back. I knew that would be -- to me, they’re the same caliber football team, and always have been. So I don’t think it’s focus. We just got to learn to play better and rise to those situations. And I got to do a better job as a coach.”

Coach, you talked about missing a couple of field goals. It ends up being a really big -- as you look at the ball game now --

FISHER: “All the opportunities, whether it was an overthrow, a drop, a jump offsides on the 1, a missed field goal, we did not fit a play and gave them a run, I mean, those are obvious points things, but there’s other things that could have got points for us on offense and defense, too. It’s not just any of that. That was just one of the things that we didn’t do as good a job on. And we have -- we’ve been perfect all year and that. And, you know, we just got to get better and do what we got to do.”

Defensively, a lot of misdirections and stuff kind of had the defense in fits. Is that mostly eye violations, or is it a schematic thing?

FISHER: "I think schematic. They do a good job. They did a couple things we hadn’t seen, and then we adjusted to those and got those settled down. But that’s what they do on the offense. That’s their game and what they did.

"Like I say, yardage-wise, it wasn’t drastic, but it was just key drives. They matched a bunch of plays together. And I think that’s what we got to do better on offense. We’re moving and doing things. We got to match more consistent plays together at times to finish drives and get more points than just the yards. And I think they did a good job of that today. "

You said, “I’ll get them wide.” What is that going to take? Would that include perhaps any changes in the lineup, do you think?

FISHER: "We’ll evaluate everything. What we’re doing, how we’re doing it, who’s doing it, the way it’s done. And we’ll make those changes. Those kids are playing hard, and we’ll look at it. And we’ll explain to them what the issues are and what we think. And we’ll work together to solve them all.

“I’ll look at the film and those things. I don’t want to make anything of that. But that goes on every week. Whether you win or lose, it’s the same way we come back at it. We just got to keep the urgency and get better.”

Overall, how did you feel Kellen [Mond] performed today?

FISHER: "Well, like I said before, I’ll look at the film. There’s some really good moments, and there’s some plays I wish we could have made earlier in the game. There’s some opportunities I see. But until I see the film, it’s hard to judge. What he saw -- from what you see at the sideline compared to what you see from quarterback position or what’s going on on the field, it’s hard.

“I mean, but he kept us in the game as far as his competitive nature, making plays, got us down to where we had a chance with one score and got back, and made some touchdown throws and played in the game. Obviously, we need to play better, and we all say that, but I don’t want to make any rash judgments until I watch the film. He competed very hard in the game. But, obviously, there’s plays we’d love to have back.”

It seems like your two big games, when it looks like you’re down, out a little bit, Jhamon Ausbon is trying to will you there. Do you have a health update on him and could you just speak to how well he played?

FISHER: “I don’t know the health update. It didn’t seem like anything -- he got injured. I don’t know the severity of it. But [Jhamon] Ausbon has been that way in practice. He has had a tremendous camp. He’s been a tremendous leader. That’s why he’s a captain. He just does all the things the right way and competes his tail off and plays his butt off. And I have nothing but tremendous things to say about Ausbon and what he’s doing and how he’s doing it. That doesn’t surprise me at all. It doesn’t surprise me. That’s been his MO the whole time.”

Can you talk about the pressure you’re putting on Kellen [Mond] when you want to run the ball?

FISHER: “Oh, there’s no doubt when you’re a quarterback, that means you got to make all the plays. And that’s something that sometimes that goes with the position. I mean, that goes with it. Like, as a head coach, no matter what happens, it’s on you. As a quarterback, you got to find ways to do it. Unfortunately, that goes with it. And that’s our job to help take some of that pressure off by different things, which we did and how we do things.”

TEXAS A&M PLAYERS

BUDDY JOHNSON, LB

On the whole, the defense played well enough to win. How about the start of each half with them getting over on that reverse and then start of the second half with the score, how tough was that?

BUDDY JOHNSON: “We knew when they came out, they were going to try to do a lot of trickery things. We know we just have to be sound and disciplined. One thing with that is we wasn’t. And that’s the big thing on us. We have to be more disciplined, and we have to work on it. And we’ll be better next week.”

Buddy, I know for the longest time -- well, through three quarters, the offense wasn’t doing much. And they finally were able to score a touchdown and make it 21-10. But as well as you guys played, then you allowed Auburn to go back down the field and score. How kind of frustrating was it that, when the offense finally did something, y’all couldn’t back it up on your end and kind of seize momentum back in the game?

BUDDY JOHNSON: “Well, it was very frustrating because that’s the biggest problem in the game, that the defense got to show up the most. And I think that we kind of relaxed and didn’t take it as serious. Because Coach Mike [Elko] always talks to us about just controlling what we can control. And I think that if we would have controlled it, it would have been a different outcome.”

Kind of in that fourth quarter drive when Auburn scored the touchdown, do you feel like you guys were kind of gassed there when they ran that six-minute drive and really drove down the field?

BUDDY JOHNSON: "Yeah, it was a lot of little things, like missed assignments or missed tackles, little things like that that they just end up driving down the field, first downs here, first downs there. Stuff like that can’t happen. "

Did the threat, I guess, for lack of a better word, of Bo Nix, the quarterback running the football, was that a problem? Did it pose any problems for you, do you think?

BUDDY JOHNSON: “No. Bo Nix, he’s a great player. And I think he’s going to be to a great quarterback in this league. And I think he did a good job. But most of the times, we were there showing up. He did what he had to do. So credit to Auburn. They made plays when they needed to.”

On some of those plays with the trick plays and some of the misdirection, when they were able to have success on that, was that more schematically you didn’t feel like y’all were in the right place, or was that the eye violations and just not staying at home?

BUDDY JOHNSON: "Most definitely the eye violations. Like I said, discipline. Coach [Jimbo] Fisher always talks to us about our discipline and having your eyes where they need to be. I just feel like, on a couple trick plays, that didn’t happen. And we got to work on that. "

What do you remember about that red zone touchdown when they brought Number 1 in, [Joey] Gatewood and he was wide open, the tight end?

BUDDY JOHNSON: “Once again, it was about being disciplined. The jet came. When the jet comes, it changes up a lot of things. We just have to be disciplined and sound. And we just wasn’t at the time. We going to have to fix that and work on that and have it better for next week.”

Kind of the same story at Clemson. What do y’all feel like overall y’all need to do to just start as team faster instead of just kind of trying to have to come back in that situation?

BUDDY JOHNSON: "We just need to have that juice and get it three-and-out and try our best to give the offense back the ball. Now is the time the team is going to have to come together and play as one and not just fall apart. I think that starting fast is a big thing for us. If we start fast, then Coach [Jimbo] Fisher always say -- he always say -- I can’t remember. He says so many lines. "

Something about starting fast?

BUDDY JOHNSON: “He says your habits come straight to the surface or something like that. But I just know that he says we got to start fast. and we got to -- he says pressure busts pipes, so we got to put pressure on the other team. If we do that, then it will get them out of their comfort zone, and we’ll be on top.”

Buddy, can you talk about putting this behind you, getting ready for Arkansas next week and learning from what happened today and what happened at Clemson?

BUDDY JOHNSON: “Most definitely, we have to look at the film and correct the mistakes and move on. But, at the same time, this is a learning curve for us. We have to look and see where we’re at, Just make sure guys come to practice and take everything serious. We have to have a great week of preparation. We know Arkansas is a good team, and they do a lot of schemes here and there. and we’ll have to be ready for it.”

KELDRICK CARPER, DB

We were talking to Buddy [Johnson] about the importance of starting fast. Overall, the D played pretty well, but you gave up some early scores at the half. Keldrick, if you could speak to that.

KELDRICK CARPER: "I just feel like, going up against a team like Auburn, we have to just understand that they’re on the road, and they were going to come out to play. And we weren’t as sound as we were supposed to be early on. And we had to pay for it. They made us pay for it.

“So on both occasions, the first two scores, you know, just like Buddy -- reiterating what Buddy said, eye violations, just not being disciplined with the communications and just, with jet motions and all that other stuff, you know, we have to be able to come out early on and execute the plan at a high level.”

With another big game on a national stage, ranked team, do you feel like losing today put a little bit more pressure on your backs, not only did it make progress from what y’all were able to do last year, but simply also just to continue to work towards getting bowl-eligible?

KELDRICK CARPER: "I don’t feel like we have pressure. We’re worried about ourselves. We’re worried about just getting better as a team. Each and every week, playing against Clemson and then last week against Lamar and then come to Auburn and playing them. They’re some good football teams. I know we’re a good football team as well. And just getting on that stage and having to play in the high-level atmosphere like we did today, it’s a learning experience. and that will help us most definitely down the road.

“No, it’s not any pressure for us because we’re all in this together as a team. And we’re meeting our expectations, and we’re just trying to get better each and every week. And then the end result will manifest.”

Keldrick, I know the offense put y’all in a tough spot to begin the third quarter with that turnover, but kind of a two-parter here. You’re supposed to help each other out, offense and defense. You’re helping them out all the first half. They don’t help you out with a fumble, but then you let Auburn score a touchdown. Then Kellen [Mond] does finally find the end zone. But then you let Auburn go back down the field and score a touchdown.

Can you just talk about playing more complementary football, and when offense does good, y’all need to feed off that and vice versa?

KELDRICK CARPER: “Coach [Jimbo] Fisher talks about that all the time, just being consistent throughout the duration of whether it’s practice or in the game. And that works for all three phases of the ball -- offense, defense, and special teams. We weren’t consistent enough on all three. And the results show it.”

When you play the difficulty of schedule that you play, especially early in the year, you know, there are a lot of -- there was a lot of turnover from this team from last year. How difficult is it to play two of the top ten teams in the country in the first few weeks and know that you still have three others coming up?

KELDRICK CARPER: “We just take it one week at a time. And we’re playing against good teams, but we know we’re a good team as well. We don’t let all that faze us. We won’t look too far ahead. We won’t look back in the past. We worry about each day, day by day, and each game, week by week. So this past week was Auburn. We’re past that now. We have to worry about Arkansas. We can’t look too far in the future. We have to be here now in the present.”

KELLEN MOND, QB

Can you take us through not getting points to start the first half, and then what you saw in the second half when you popped the 12-yard run, and then turned it over and then you get sacked and fumbled. The start of both halves, how tough that was to overcome?

KELLEN MOND: “I feel like that’s always hard. I feel like, even since last year, one of the biggest things that we need to focus on is getting started early. And whether that be in the running game or the pass game, but just putting points up on the board early and putting pressure on the opposing team instead of us always playing behind or always equal, just putting pressure on the other team so that they have to drive and go 90, go 80 on our defense. So that’s something that we’re going to have to clean up.”

I know you guys got behind, but also no running game, didn’t have a running game with Clemson, didn’t have it today. Just how much pressure does that put on you? I know you threw for a lot of yards, but do you feel like the game is all on your shoulders at that point when you just absolutely don’t have any running game?

KELLEN MOND: “I don’t think so. I feel like, you know, we always have a good balance. But, you know, we got to find a way to get that running game going and still we can be more consistent on -- in the passing game. Just as a whole, offense, we got to figure it out. And we’re not pointing any fingers ever. We’re a collective unit. Me and Coach [Jimbo] Fisher, Coach [Darrell] Dickey, and the coaches we got to find out what’s going to be best for us.”

So, in that second half, at least late, what was Auburn doing differently that allowed you guys to get the yards and rack up the points that you weren’t able to do in the first half and third quarter?

KELLEN MOND: “I think that was a big part on us, just playing with more focus, playing with more detail and, you know, just getting lined up quick. And a lot of -- we always talk about just running our base stuff. We just had to execute. So I feel like, when the game is on the line, that’s how we have to play in the first half, just like the game is on the line.”

Kellen, you guys seemed to get in the rhythm late when you guys started to pick up the tempo on offense. Do you like going faster sometimes, especially at the end of games when the defense can’t get set?

KELLEN MOND: “A lot of times, I feel like that’s a good thing, when we get lined up fast and throw the ball down the field. And I thought we did a really good job at the end of the game like that. Sometimes, when you’re going fast, it’s hard to -- running game and checking plays, that can be hard when you’re going so fast. So I feel like we have a good balance, but we just got to find out what’s best for our offense right now.”

Kellen, can you talk about how disappointing it was to have scoring opportunities, then you have to try to settle for a field goal, and then you don’t even get the field goal. To come away with no points when you’re done there in that red zone or down there close when, against Auburn, you need all the points you can get?

KELLEN MOND: “Yeah, I think, as an offense, something that we need to do better at is converting in the red zone. I feel like we just -- as a collective unit, we got to just do better and find out what we do best. But we’ll get it fixed.”

What little run success y’all had, a lot of that, you provided. So when you say you have to do what you can to get the running game going, how much do you think is that going to include you being a bigger part of that?

KELLEN MOND: “You know, sometimes it comes off scrambles or sometimes it’s designed runs or even zone reads. So just being versatile like that. You know, we’ll look at the film and see what we think we could do better as an offense and see if I need to be involved more in the run game or just -- we don’t really know as of right now. But we’ll figure it out as offense.”

Earlier in your career, you were more comfortable kind of putting down the ball and running with it and scrambling. What does Coach [Jimbo] Fisher tell you about that? Are you coached to keep your eyes downfield a little bit more? Do you feel like you shouldn’t maybe scramble as much? What exactly is he telling you?

KELLEN MOND: “He always talks about reading coverage and feeling pressure. So, a lot of times, when those gaps, people up in the stands, they see you take off and run. But those gaps, especially with that defensive line, they close quick. So just continuing -- just got to trust my eyes and trust my offensive line and offense.”

How would you just rate your performance today?

KELLEN MOND: “I don’t know about that. I don’t know, honestly.”

Secondly, with a game that y’all were favored to win, do you feel like that there is a little bit more pressure or just feel like a missed opportunity as you look ahead towards improving your record from last season and even getting bowl-eligible?

KELLEN MOND: “I don’t feel like there’s any pressure on us. No matter what, like I said, every week, we got to take it one week at a time, do a great week of preparing. And so now we got Arkansas. We got to find out what we can correct from Auburn, move on, and get ready for Arkansas.”

Kellen, I imagine you guys have somewhat of a scripted play sheet heading into a game. I’m just wondering how closely y’all are sticking to that versus when you start so slow, how much are you and Jimbo [Fisher] kind of trying to figure out other ways to get going, because it just seems like first half in these big ball games, you start so slow.

KELLEN MOND: “Yeah, we usually have something scripted to find out exactly what we want to run. But then also sometimes he just goes off the top of his head. So, I mean, there’s always a balance to that. So, you know, that will always change. We’ll just never know. It just depends on the game plan.”

JHAMON AUSBON, WR

How are you feeling, and what happened exactly with the injury?

JHAMON AUSBON: “I just got -- I just got hit on the play. It was just, like, a little ding. It wasn’t too much, anything serious. I just got hit. It wasn’t anything too big.”

Real hot start for you, Jhamon. And then you really started willing them back there late third into the fourth quarter there, but about almost two quarters with maybe a zero or one target. What happened in the middle of the game?

JHAMON AUSBON: “Just the game plan. I just try to hit my assignment. I just play. Whether it’s blocking or passing, I just try to do what I can. I don’t know how many times the ball came to me, but I just try to do my job on each play.”

Q. (Indiscernible.)

JHAMON AUSBON: “I swear I was just doing my job. Kellen [Mond] was making good passes. It wasn’t enough, obviously. We didn’t win the game.”

Jhamon, I know that stats aren’t -- they don’t determine who wins a game according to stats. But if you look at the stats, you go, How in the world did A&M get beat in this game? Because you guys seem to have had a better stat line than Auburn did, but the scoreboard doesn’t show that. Can you just talk about how disappointing it was to have some success but not being able to capitalize on that success and put points on the board.

JHAMON AUSBON: "It’s very frustrating when you game plan all week and you go out there and you see what you want to see in terms of coverage, in terms of matchups. We just can’t execute down there in the red zone.

“We moved the ball pretty well, I thought. We just can’t -- just had false starts. We had two false starts, just killed the drive. Just can’t have certain things like that.”

Can you walk through that one-handed catch you made there in the second half? Kind of what you saw with that. And were you surprised that you pulled it in?

JHAMON AUSBON: “I had a crow route. It was, like, 12 yards. I was coming back to Kellen [Mond]. I came back too flat. He threw it where I was supposed to be. I just restyled and just tried to put my face on it.”

How deflating was it in the second half to get the ball back after getting a field-goal attempt there at the end and have the fumble that kind of broke the momentum?

JHAMON AUSBON: “It’s definitely frustrating. You never want to give them any extra chances or any opportunities to capitalize on. But Auburn played a great game. And in the SEC, you can’t give teams those kind of opportunities.”

Coach [Fisher] mentioned how you’re team captain. How do you keep these guys encouraged after a game like this and after a performance like Clemson, trying to keep your head up and find a way to get an identity going on offense?

JHAMON AUSBON: "It’s really important to stay together here. This is a time where we have to really come together and just stay as a family. And, honestly, we don’t have to do anything special. It’s just fundamentals. Nothing special got us beat tonight. Just got to go back to our fundamentals and get back to practicing right.

“Practice is very important because it translates over to the game. So just focus on that.”

Your two biggest games so far at Clemson and then here, it was you that sort of started willing this offense into gear in the second half. Can you just take us through, as a leader, one of the bigger leaders and captains on this team, what’s kind of the message when you are A, making plays and, B, talking to that group?

JHAMON AUSBON: “I just kept saying today and also at Clemson, just do your job. Y’all are talking about the stats. But I’m telling you, you never know what plays are going to break open. Coach [Jimbo] Fisher and Coach [Darrell] Dicky, they are dialing up plays up there. Honestly, we do our jobs on each play. They pretty much took care of the game planning part. Just do your job on each play. We don’t need anything special, no superhero powers, anything. We need everybody with a hat on to just do your assignment and it will turn out fine.”

I’m going to piggyback off the word you just said, you don’t need any superheros. But when you can’t run the ball and get behind like that, you are asking an awful lot of Number 11 (Kellen Mond). He stood in there today and threw for over 330 yards. How much is on his shoulders, Jhamon, when you guys literally have no running game?

JHAMON AUSBON: “One thing Coach [Fisher] says, “Do whatever it takes.” I think it doesn’t really matter. Like, if it takes us a passing ball eight times a game, we’re going to do it. It’s on us. We don’t point fingers and say who didn’t do their job because there’s times when we didn’t show up for the game, too. So just kind of staying close as a family, getting off social media and just making sure we’re focused on this season and just -- if Coach calls your name and the play is yours to make, you make the play. We get back in the film room and correct mistakes next week.”

You guys were able to move the ball really well there late, especially in kind of the hurry-up offense. Do you feel like -- I don’t know -- maybe you think less and you just react more when you guys are in the hurry-up? I mean, what’s the reasoning for being able to move the ball better that way?

JHAMON AUSBON: “I think that during that two-minute hurry-up offense, it’s our base plays. So it’s plays we ran a thousand times in practice. Like you said, we are just more reacting. That’s what the game comes down to. I think certain players in certain times, we just overthink too many things and just basically comes down to fundamentals. I think when the hurry-up offense comes and two-man offense comes, we get back to our fundamentals.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Without a top QB, Fisher is a Dead Man Walking. Just look at his final years at FSU and now his first 2 years at Texas A&M.

[Gr82batigr 97]

Without a top QB, Fisher is a Dead Man Walking. Just look at his final years at FSU and now his first 2 years at Texas A&M.

 

Yep. It is that way for any Head Coach. Thank goodness AU is not in that situation this year. 

[boisnumber1 2,818]

Jimbo is thinking about how nice it was in that 2 team league he used to coach in. 

[CleCoTiger 1,957]

2 hours ago, boisnumber1 said:

Jimbo is thinking about how nice it was in that 2 team league he used to coach in. 

I LOL'd!  I mean literally. Good one!

[DAG 33,977]

4 hours ago, Gr82batigr said:

Without a top QB, Fisher is a Dead Man Walking. Just look at his final years at FSU and now his first 2 years at Texas A&M.

 

Yep. It is that way for any Head Coach. Thank goodness AU is not in that situation this year. 

The better question is why is Texas A&M in this predicament.

Gus even with a 5 Star is grooming  a true freshman