Wins vs. Arkansas, SEC mediocrity can help Texas A&M's Kevin Sumlin save his job

Dan Wolken | USA TODAY

ARLINGTON, Texas — Maybe by the end, it will be as obvious as it seemed three weeks ago. You’re not supposed to blow a 34-point lead when your athletics director has already put you on the hot seat, lose your starting quarterback to a season-ending injury, have one of your school’s regents publicly call for your firing on Facebook and get booed at home — all in the first month of the season, no less — and survive.

But watching Kevin Sumlin and Texas A&M rip Arkansas’ heart out yet again at AT&T Stadium, this time in a purely thrilling, self-affirming, 50-43 overtime victory, it seems the most amusing outcome for the Aggies would be the one nobody has really considered.

Is it possible the SEC might be just pedestrian enough, and Texas A&M just good enough, to save Sumlin’s job?

It’s not as crazy as it sounds.

A team that began the year with one of the worst meltdowns in college football history, then sulked and survived through a couple of bad weeks against weak competition, finally flushed it all out of their system at Jerry World on Saturday.

Despite everything that went wrong against Arkansas — a 21-7 deficit, an incorrect whistle that took away a touchdown, some bungled clock management at the end of regulation and some NFL throws down the stretch from Razorbacks quarterback Austin Allen — the Aggies kept making big plays, all the way until safety Armani Watts picked off Allen in overtime.

They weren’t perfect, of course, but they looked alive. And now 3-1 with an improving quarterback in freshman Kellen Mond, is there any reason to believe that Texas A&M can’t beat everyone in the mediocre SEC West except Alabama?

“It’s a close game that we were able to win,” Sumlin said. “So, with any team — young, old, whatever that is — close games that you’re able to win, they help you. I mean, it helps the feeling in the locker room.”

SEC AGREES: Officiating mistake cost Texas A&M a touchdown vs. Arkansas

AGGIES WIN: Texas A&M beats Arkansas in overtime again

The Aggies should feel good. They had every reason to let go of the rope on Saturday, and it’s fairly easy to predict how a loss would have played in College Station. Not to be overdramatic, but every game Texas A&M plays from here on out will make a difference in the final evaluation, and that kind of thing hovering over the program can filter down to everyone.

It’s easy to tell players to focus on the next game, the next play, and not worry about the noise. It’s much tougher to cut loose and play with confidence when your coach is getting racist letters sent to his house and every day in a small college town feels like a referendum on his job security.

“What we’ve asked them to do is hit the reset button every Monday,” Sumlin said. “Enjoy what you’re doing now and enjoy playing. They’re playing hard. I mean, they’re making mistakes, but they’re playing hard. The effort these guys have given every week has been phenomenal, and I don’t think that’s going to change.”

One caveat here is the Aggies have done this before against Arkansas, then flopped once they get into the heart of the SEC schedule. In 2014, they beat the Razorbacks in overtime right here at Jerry World, then lost three in a row. In 2015, they did it again in overtime but went 5-4 the rest of the way. Last season, they dominated Arkansas on the way to a 6-0 start and then collapsed in October and November.

A&M rushed for 285 yards in Saturday's win, including these rushing scores by @TrayveonW & Keith Ford.#12thMan pic.twitter.com/jexbQtO6ve — Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) September 23, 2017

That trend is precisely why we’re here with Sumlin, and perhaps why tens of thousands of Texas A&M fans decided they didn’t need to show up Saturday. Those who came were loud and happy by the end, but those huge sections of empty seats (announced attendance was 64,668 in a stadium that seats 100,000) on the Texas A&M side sure seemed like the best measurement yet of how its fan base feels about the current state of the program.

But now 3-1, the Aggies’ path to nine or 10 wins — which would surely save Sumlin’s job — doesn’t look particularly daunting. Even assuming they don’t beat Alabama on Oct. 7, they get Auburn and Mississippi State at home. If Tennessee can play Florida to the wire in the Swamp, you have to think Texas A&M can as well on Oct. 14. South Carolina, New Mexico and Ole Miss are games Sumlin needed to (and should) win under any circumstances.

If Sumlin is still employed on Nov. 25 when the Aggies finish the regular season at LSU, who knows what might be at stake.

“For our guys, I think, it’s more about week to week and not what’s out there in front,” Sumlin said. "Everybody is going to try to paint this picture or that picture. What I’m proud of is — what I said after the game — I’m proud of how these guys believe in each other and believe in the people in that room. And because of that, because of their effort, and because of their belief in each other, really, nothing else matters.

As Arkansas and A&M came onto the field, the roar of the empty seats was deafening pic.twitter.com/JedWCKMWjU — Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) September 23, 2017

“They’re highly motivated and they have a lot of pride. And when you have a group like that, you know, the week of practice becomes important. And big-picture stuff is big-picture stuff. These guys are worried about the next play, the next week. And as long as we can keep that focus, we’re going to be fine.”

This is still a gifted team. Mond has some skills at quarterback, though he’s still raw as a passer. Receiver Christian Kirk, who had a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and an 81-yard touchdown catch, is a home run threat every time he gets even a little bit of space. Keith Ford and Trayveon Williams are very talented running backs. For all the talk about blowing a 34-point lead to UCLA, there’s a reason the Aggies were up 44-10 in the first place.

Make no mistake, it’s still uphill for Sumlin and it’s easy to be critical of how he handled the end of regulation, playing for a field goal rather than using a timeout to give Mond a couple shots at the end zone. Sumlin, as he explained, wanted to protect his young quarterback who had a bad turnover early in the game, struggles with accuracy and still locks onto his primary receiver.

Had the Aggies lost in overtime, Sumlin would have been rightfully criticized for that decision. But perhaps he was due a little good luck. Maybe he’s got even more coming his way.