There is a quote by General Patton that is famous in Aggieland and last night as we played Army it was seen on t-shirts and signs everywhere.
Give me an Army of West Point graduates
and I’ll win a battle
Give me a handful of Texas Aggies
and I’ll win the war
Anytime I see this quote, it always makes me so proud to be an Aggie. I love the school and its rich traditions. They are the lifeblood of the school and one of many reasons that attending Texas A&M is a truly unique experience.
We had a great time at the game last night, in fact my throat is much worse for the wear from all the screaming and the yelling. Being in a stadium filled with maroon clad fans was just like going home. We saw old friends, we laughed and cheered, and we sawed varsitys horns off. At one point I became nostalgiac as I thought back to how many times I had stood with Gulley and watched the Aggies play. It was a fabulous night.
Then the game started. Y’all my Aggies almost got beat by Army. To put that in perspective, Army was ranked last week as one of the 10 worst Division 1 football teams and they came within seconds of beating us. Honestly (and it hurts me to say this), Army deserved to win. The Ags got lucky and were it not for the deafening crowd helping our defense, I think we would have lost.
It’s not that we don’t have the talent, we do. What I saw last night more than anything is the result of poor coaching. At one point my soft spoken friend Gulley was actually booing the entire coaching staff and in 15 years of watching games with her, that’s a first.
Coach Fran’s head is on the chopping block and well, it should be. The sooner he and his golf cart get out of Aggieland the better off Aggie football will be. The team he put on the field last night, with the exception of a few players including Stephen McGee, showed a complete lack of discipline and that’s a coaching problem. When they eeked out the last minute win, they started doing cartwheels and making snow angels on the field and basically showing no respect to the Army team that outplayed them all night. They should’ve been walking across the field to shake Army’s hand for a game well played. That’s what Aggies do.
So for today, here is my version of General Patton’s quote:
Give me a horrible defensive coordinator
and I’ll lose some games
Give me a terrible head coach
and I’ll run a football program completely down the drain