Dominating a nationally ranked foe in their football opener last Saturday doesn't make this year's Texas A&M Aggies any different from last season.
Sustaining that success, however, would.
Texas A&M opened its fourth season under coach Kevin Sumlin and its fourth as a Southeastern Conference member with a 38-17 defeat of No. 15 Arizona State in Houston. The Aggies opened last season with a 52-28 road thrashing of No. 9 South Carolina but went just 6-5 the rest of the regular season, salvaging a sliver of pride with a win over West Virginia in the Liberty Bowl.
SEC logoSEC this week
* noon: Jacksonville State at Auburn, SEC Network* 3:30: Georgia at Vanderbilt, CBS* 3:30: Fresno State at Ole Miss, ESPN2* 4: Middle Tennessee at Alabama, SEC Network* 4: Toledo at Arkansas, SEC Network Alt.* 6: Oklahoma at Tennessee, ESPN* 7: Missouri at Arkansas State, ESPN3* 7: Ball State at Texas A&M, ESPNU* 7: East Carolina at Florida, ESPN2* 7:30: Kentucky at South Carolina, SEC Network* 9:15: LSU at Mississippi State, ESPN
"I don't know you if you learn anything from this," Sumlin said in his news conference Saturday night. "If you learn from last year, it doesn't mean much of anything, but somebody knew something. We weren't ranked, but we were favored.
"Seriously, for us to come in and play the way we played for 60 minutes is really, really something we can build off of."
Texas A&M began this season unranked but vaulted to No. 16 in Tuesday's latest Associated Press poll.
Last year's Aggies raced out to a 5-0 start, following up their win over the Gamecocks with trouncings of Lamar, Rice and SMU before rallying past Arkansas in overtime. They were then exposed as a defensive lightweight, giving up 142 points in lopsided losses to Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Alabama.
The low point was a 59-0 mid-October loss to the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, which helped speed up Sumlin's desire to fix his defense. That objective was obtained during the winter when LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis was lured to College Station, and the impact Saturday was immediate.
Texas A&M racked up an eye-popping 14 tackles for loss and nine sacks against the befuddled Sun Devils.
"We're playing with a chip on our shoulder," sophomore defensive end Myles Garrett said. "Everybody has been doubting us and saying that we're not going to do anything on defense. There was no place for us to go but up, so we're going to take it from there and keep on going."
Garrett began his quest for All-America honors by amassing eight tackles, two sacks and one forced fumble. Texas A&M's other defensive end starter, junior Daeshon Hall, had seven tackles, four sacks and two forced fumbles.
The Aggies were expected to be better defensively under Chavis, but so drastically so soon?
"He's just an honest guy who gets after us," Garrett said. "He has changed the demeanor around here. He wants effort and physicality, and we showed that."
Said Sumlin: "The buy-in during the offseason was immediate for our kids."
Quarterback Kenny Hill was an instant star after last season's opener and became a Heisman Trophy candidate, but that was quickly snuffed during the three-game debacle. Hill was replaced as the starter by Kyle Allen and is no longer in the program, but Allen doesn't have the duties all to himself this year.
Touted freshman Kyler Murray came off the bench Saturday to provide a spark, rushing six times for 69 yards, before Allen returned to polish off the Sun Devils. Another touted freshman, Christian Kirk, caught six passes for 106 yards and a touchdown and had a 79-yard punt return for a score, but where the Aggies also looked improved from a year ago was at the offensive point of attack.
Senior tailback Tra Carson pounded out 96 yards on 29 carries and wore down Arizona State in the fourth quarter.
"We did a good job of fighting," Carson said. "They gave us some funny looks up front, and we did a good job of picking them up, ramming it in there and getting some tough yards."
Texas A&M hosts Ball State and Nevada the next two weeks, so whether this team is noticeably improved from a year ago may not be known until games against Arkansas (Sept. 26), Mississippi State (Oct. 3) and Alabama (Oct. 17).
It's a similar setup to last season for the Aggies. It may not include the same midseason plummet.
"We had a lot of freshmen last season who are now sophomores," Sumlin said, "and what a difference a year makes for them physically."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.