Where to begin...
First I'll address the QB thing.
This is conjecture, based on what I've heard from friends who are much closer to the locker room than me.
Allen was named started by default.
Anyone who watched that abortion of a game against ULM could see that.
Hill was suspended so Kyle is the guy for at least two games.
Hill apparently has a problem with not only drinking, but weed as well.
You have no idea how that 'trills" me to hear it.
Embarassed
This team is still in total disarray, with no easy fix.
We do have some talent deficiencies (LB), but a lot of it is coaching/scheme related.
When Sumlin came in he had a hip, and fairly young staff that was a great bunch of recruiters, but not necessarily proven as coaches.
OFFENSE:
Our iteration of the spread offense was developed by Dana Holgerson with Sumlin, and Kliff K as an understudy at Houston. Holgerson went to WVU, and you see what it SHOULD look like from his teams.
Sumlin finds Johnny Football, and decides with KK that they can tweak it to get the most from Manziel's skill set. It works pretty well in 2012.
KK goes to TT, and we need a new OC and QB coach.
Sumlin chooses Clarence McKinney as the new OC with young Jake Spavital (who's been with Holgerson) as his new QB coach.
After the offense is less than stellar in 2013 with questionable play calling Sumlin moves Spavital to OC, and McKinney back to RB coach.
2014
We open with a fire-bombing of SCAR in Columbia, and everyone thinks the offense is in high gear.
Then comes the Rice game. Their staff realizes we are totally dependent on throwing short quick throws, and WR's breaking tackles and then running the ball when the defense spreads out to cover.
They bring EVERYONE in to within 10 yards of the LOS, and suddenly our offense is required to use smaller and smaller windows with no room to break tackles. Hill's imperfect accuracy starts to become an issue, and the WR's aren't quite as stellar at catching/running in heavy traffic.
Next come the SEC defenses.
They play the same basic set, but with far superior athletes. Each game gets progressively worse and culminates in the Alabama debacle.
Was Bama's defense that much improved over when they played WVU? I don't think so. They still have some trouble with air assault offenses, but they used the same formula to perfection and we NEVER varied from what had failed before.
SO... EVERYONE... and I mean even the most staunch "fan" of our staff wants Spavital FIRED. I'm in with them.
ULM... vaunted defense that they are... did the same thing. Their safeties were never more than 10 yards off the line, and most plays they didn't fall back at all. They KNEW we wouldn't try to go over the top, so they didn't support an defense of it.
The Aggie offense continued to try the short stuff, and the east west stuff. Not a SINGLE ball was thrown near the hashes in the second half.
And then the cherry on top:
With a 21-16 lead and a few minutes left we got the ball back.
Spav calls runs up the gut and blasts out 3 first downs. With two minutes left, and on the ULM side of the field (ULM has 1 time out left) we suddenly decide to throw the ball on 1st and 2nd down. Both incomplete.
We of course do not convert and have to punt.
Fortunately the defense rose up, but at that point... Spav made it CRYSTAL clear he does NOT know what he's doing.
He may know the formations and the plays of this offense, but he does NOT understand the full concept, or how to attack the defenses that have been deployed against if for the last 5 games.
Added on to the poor play calling is the crappy offensive line play.
BJ Anderson was Sumlin's choice of OL coach. A young guy who had only worked at Texas FCS schools a few years when Sumlin took him on at Houston. Many folks questioned this hire when Sumlin came to A&M, but deferred since Sumlin had done well at UH.
The 2012 OL was a group of bad men, and it showed during Johnny's Heisman run. They were the key ingredient we needed to roll against SEC defenses. They were all recruited and coached up by Mike Sherman - who many of us consider an OL guru.
So BJ was able to coast - you don't need to coach up an AA LT and RT who will both be top five picks when they go to the draft.
The 2013 group was basically the second verse. Again the Sherman talent and coaching was there although not quite as dominant.
Here we are at 2014, and the OL is still pretty talented, but they are soft. I've been told by more than one coach who has watched that our footwork is not good, and our guys are NOT getting their positioning right most of the time. It's showing. We are projected to have 3 first rounders for this year, but you sure can't tell it from their performance.
All of this falls at the feet of their position coach who again doesn't seem to know what he's doing.