Aggies' grades for the Las Vegas Bowl

The 2024 Texas A&M football season is officially announced.

The Aggies traveled west to play the USC Trojans in the Las Vegas Bowl on Friday and lost a heartbreaker 35-31.

A wild back-and-forth duel between the Aggies (8:5) and the Trojans (7:6) was decided by a last-second go-ahead shot for USC. A&M scored 17 straight points in the third quarter and then allowed the Trojans to score 21 straight points.

Still, with the game on the line, the Aggies fought back late with a go-ahead drive capped by a 19-yard touch run by Marcel Reed with 1:49 to play. But USC got the last laugh: a 7-yard touchdown pass from Jayden Maiava to Kyle Ford with just 8 seconds left.

Losing six starters and more than 30 scholarship players on Friday night does not excuse losing four of the last five games to end the season. USC was also missing more than a dozen players.

Here’s how the Aggies performed in the Las Vegas Bowl:

Quarterbacks: B+

Box score observers will look at Marcel Reed’s two interceptions and assume he struggled with turnovers at the end of the season. That simply wasn’t the case. His first interception of the game was a throw down the middle of the field that ended with a diving catch by USC safety Kamari Ramsey, who showed great range on the play.

His second ball bounced off Noah Thomas’ hands in the end zone and fell into a USC defender’s lap.

Reed was by no means perfect, with some throws coming late or late at times. However, Reed was responsible for four touchdowns, including the go-ahead 19-yard run with 1:49 left in the game. The young signal-caller is going to be really consistently good, and I bet that will happen sooner rather than later.

Running Backs: C

A&M was without running backs Amari Daniels and Le’Veon Moss on Friday, who combined for over 1,400 yards this season. Rueben Owens played in just his second game of the season after suffering a foot injury in the preseason and split reps with EJ Smith, the preseason RB4.

The duo of Owens and Smith performed admirably, rushing for 92 yards on 18 carries, although there were no explosive plays from the running backs and only one run was longer than 15 yards.

It will be interesting to see how Owens, a former five-star prospect and projected preseason starter, will line up alongside returnees Moss, Daniels and 2025 recruit Deondrae Riden, but the group looks deep.

Receiver: C+

The wide receiver group has been a real Jekyll and Hyde situation this season.

This analogy could also describe his performance on Friday night. Noah Thomas made two touchdown receptions, but on the same play a potential touchdown reception bounced off his fingertips and was intercepted. It created a seven-point swing that could be seen as a big turning point for the night.

Jabre Barber had a team-high seven catches and 48 yards, while hybrid weapon Terry Bussey also had four catches, but no receiver topped Barber’s 48 yards. Compare that to USC, where two receivers rushed for at least 99 yards, with Ja’Kobi Lane leading the way with 127 yards.

The Aggies have been aggressive in their pursuit of wide receivers this transfer portal cycle, and the Las Vegas Bowl was further proof of why.

Tight Ends: C

The problem for Texas A&M’s tight ends may not be a talent issue, but rather a commitment issue. Tre Watson finished with three balls, Shane Calhoun with one – but it was a big throw for 36 yards.

Offensive line: B

The Aggies’ offensive line allowed just one sack, allowed the offense to total over 400 yards and averaged 5 yards per carry. They were solid, as they have been for most of the season, even with right guard Ar’Maj Reed-Adams out of uniform.

A&M went 7-for-15 on third downs and converted three of its four power rush attempts, a stat defined by a team’s ability to convert first downs or touchdowns from 2 yards or less.

It helps to have a mobile quarterback who can use his legs to get out of harm’s way, but they continued to be a solid unit for the Aggies all season long.

Defensive line: C+

The fact is that there are going to be some issues when a team is missing three starters at a position, especially ones as talented as Nic Scourton, Shemar Stewart and Shemar Turner.

Such was the case with the Aggies’ defensive line, which hit the ground at times and struggled to consistently impact the quarterback without additional pressure from other levels.

One bright spot for the group is that Cashius Howell appears to be a real difference maker and is feeling good about 2025. He finished the night with the team’s only sack and an interception.

Linebacker: C-

There were some positives to the group as Taurean York always plays hard and is a leader of the group, while true freshman Solomon Williams stepped up in the absence of Scooby Williams and finished the game with three total tackles and 1.5 tackles for a loss .

Still, the group was unable to consistently play the run well, with Trojan running back Bryan Jackson finishing with 66 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown. USC had nine rushing first downs on the night, went 6 of 13 on third down and converted all six power rush attempts.

Defensive Backs: D-

Plain and simple: It wasn’t this group’s night. Even though BJ Mayes notched his team-leading fourth interception and Dalton Brooks caught a head-shaking throw down the middle of the field, the group struggled in man-to-man coverage and looked lost in zone coverage at times.

USC finished the game with 295 passing yards and threw four touchdown passes, including the game-winner to Dezz Ricks, who appeared to play out of coverage inside the 10-yard line with the game on the line. Three of USC’s four touchdowns during its comeback game came via the pass.

Will Lee III didn’t play in the game and help is on the way from Georgia transfer Julian Humphrey, but tonight the defensive backs let the Aggies down.

Special Teams: D

A botched snap on a punt by Tyler White and a missed 40-yard field goal by Randy Bond are about as bad as you’ll see from this otherwise reliable group.

While they didn’t completely lose the game to A&M, they certainly didn’t do much to help the cause by losing by one point.

Coach: D+

Many in the program are optimistic about Mike Elko and the work he is doing in his first year with the program. They believe impact players will be added through the portal, and he and his staff will make this team look better in many ways in 2025 compared to 2024.

However, offensive coordinator Colin Klein and defensive coordinator Jay Bateman have had their issues this season.

Klein’s decision to run the ball into the teeth of the defense in the third and fourth, followed by the idea of shooting the ball into midfield, doesn’t help his case as people question some of his game-winning decisions. Bateman’s unit has struggled with communication and proper execution on the back end for most of the season, which was evident in Friday night’s mistakes.

As Texas A&M continues to add talent through the portal, the focus will be on coordinators to maximize the team’s potential.

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Aggies’ grades for the Las Vegas Bowl

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