Jim Turner evaluates A&M's OL play and fourth-quarter execution

Key notes from Jim Turner interview

• I think Florida is a good football team. The best they’ve seen so far. Better than Notre Dame. They are good, not great. It is how a team is playing at a certain time. Notre Dame showed that last year. Florida had a tough time to start the year. Now, they are playing at a high level. They played Texas, who are not playing well right now. I still think Florida is a good team and comes in with a chip on their shoulder. To redeem what they did last season, they got their asses handed to them last year at home.
   
• Florida’s offensive line is good. Damieon George Jr. played at North Shore. I recruited him back in the day. They aren’t a great offensive line. They ran the ball well, but you watch the running back at the goal line, he had to bounce it out for a touchdown. He was hit in the backfield, but the safety couldn’t get him down. For the Ags, no one is getting hit in the backfield.
   
• Florida is good upfront, not great. Our defensive line will be a tough matchup for them. The defensive line, in the first couple of games when we played teams that weren't as good, the defensive line didn’t look great in those games. It’s hard for guys to get up for those games. Did they play hard enough? You hope they would, but it is just the way it is. That is why the stats at the beginning of the year you don’t want to look at.
   
• A few years ago, with the Appalachian State game, all of a sudden, those reps, when you go to that game, it is an awful game because your team might not be up. All of a sudden, you're in the fight for your life against a team you should be killing. You are trying to get your game back.
   
• A&M’s offensive line is playing well. 64 plays to their 46. A big part of that is the defense as well. 51 carries for 303 yards. 5.9 yards per carry, and you didn’t have any long, long runs. So, stats don’t always mean you did a great job. The line is doing a great job up front.
   
• Dametrious Crownover needs to be more consistent. In both the run and pass, he is a good player. I love the fact that they did the fullback dive. I love the fact that Collin Klein did that. His stock went up to me. The fullback is a dying breed. I am excited that Nate Boerkircher carried the ball there. At the goal line, it is all about forward movement. You are a tank. Tanks only move forward. As long as you are going toward the goal line, the running back will have a good chance to score.
   
• I understand wanting to get under center, but it's not 1928. I want to get under center, too. I am an OL coach. The threat of Marcel Reed keeping the ball, and he showed that in the game... They do a good job of threatening the whole field with this offense. He scored on one. They did the speed sweep to Mario Craver, another good one. Inside the 5-yard line, throwing the ball is not a sure thing, just ask the Seattle Seahawks against the Patriots in the Super Bowl. When you have the big running back in the backfield, you run it. A&M has some good weapons there in Craver, KC Concepcion, Le’Veon Moss, Reed and Rueben Owens II.
   
• I am going to put it on the offensive line. We should be able to run the ball. With this line and scheme, we should be able to run the ball in the fourth quarter to win the football game. That is where they got a lot of their yards last week. Credit to the offensive line. We had the ball for 38 minutes compared to their 21. That, to me, is a reflection of the line. Finishing the game is critical to me and putting it on them is critical.
   
• I am disturbed by the number of penalties in every game, even in the NFL and all of college and high school. I can’t fathom it. I am going to warn people about the foul. The holding and hands to the face are driving me insane.
   
• They got on Jordan Shaw as the defensive player on the punt return. If there is a hold there, somebody tell me. I don’t see it. You can have your hands up and on the defender. We are not at church. It’s not a gentle hug. You are trying to dominate the guy. It was a great angle. Shock the defender in space. I did not see any cloth come off that shirt. When you coach a player, I am glad no one was yelling at him on the sideline. As a line coach, you run the football and get a holding call on the backside. I am like, “What are you doing?” I will go absolutely bananas. Shaw was at the point of attack. He had great hustle, and he did everything right. But he got the call. It is ridiculous.