Lunch with Liucci: Billy Liucci joins TexAgs Live (Friday, October 17)

Segment 1 (00:00:00 - 14:35:12)

• I don’t know that A&M plays any other inferior opponents on the road. Anybody who has watched Arkansas gives them credit for their offense. We know about the location, the potential weather, and the environment there. They are, record-based and top-to-bottom talent-based, they are inferior. They have an interim coach. A&M won’t play another game like this next year. They have a game at home against South Carolina, which is not playing so great right now, so it may be a good test for that one.
   
• This test this weekend is pretty unique to the season. It is a vitally important game. Think about a win or a loss in your quest for 10 wins. This ain’t Kyle Field. You have to win one of three out of LSU, Texas, and Missouri. It sounds more manageable than having to win two of three. They won’t have a test like this. It is more comparable to last year when A&M went to Auburn. I wouldn’t even count out South Carolina because they were playing good football at that time last year.
   
• How far has this team come in year two of Mike Elko? Let’s see how far they’ve come in a year’s time. Even against Auburn three years ago under Jimbo Fisher, that was not a good team. They went up into a tough environment, with an interim coach, and they got the team’s best shot that was playing for that coach. That is what these guys are going to do for Bobby Petrino. It is a test to see how good you really are. We talk about easy schedules less for other teams, like Miami, Ohio State, Texas Tech and Indiana. You have to go out there and beat the unranked teams on your schedule.
   
• I think the real comparison is how far this program has come. I think we all know they are good enough to be in this playoff field. But can you make it through the minefield? Can you navigate it enough to maybe blow off an arm or a leg but come through intact? There are plenty of weeks that you cannot misstep.
   
• Your goals are higher. The conversation has always been above 8-4, 9-3 from this team. It really kicked off with that Notre Dame win. You recalibrate internally, as coaches, we certainly do it as fans, what is possible. It's about watching your own team, looking around the country and the SEC. Looking at your schedule and who you play. It is a good point to do that. We are halfway through the season. You have a much better idea of what your team is and what everybody else is than when the season kicked off. We are looking at a different number now, because we know it is possible. To get there, it doesn’t have to include a win in Fayetteville against a bad Arkansas team because we saw it last year with Tennessee. But it probably needs to include a win.
   
• I thought this week would be Petrino’s first game as interim. I didn’t factor in what makes sense, which is that they fired him before the bye to allow him an extra week to get ready. It is what it is. It is not easy. Arkansas has a great running back. He is damn good. They have a top-four quarterback in the SEC. Their offense line is better. O’Mega Blake’s doing the same stuff that Mario Craver and KC Concepcion are doing. This is a real team that can score.
   
• Their defense is a little tricky because you haven’t seen much of it. But at the end of the day, that is what makes Elko a good coach. They are prepared for what comes their way. They are ready for it. They are prepared. We ask how they are going to handle Florida? They did. How are they going to overcome this? And they did. I remember worrying about Mississippi State, because so many of those teams previously out of that tree, while they didn’t shred up the A&M defense while Elko was here, they got off to hot starts. A&M held that team to nine points. “I don’t know what they are going to do about Fluff Bothwell.” A&M has answered every challenge. A whole wide array of different challenges that they’ve stepped up to.
   
• I know we are gun-shy on the road, according to history. A&M lost a couple of road games last year. They had lost 10 in a row. This team has gone out, and in a year and a half with Elko, they won in the Swamp and in Starkville. They went up to South Bend and beat a top-10 team on the road, which hasn’t happened since the seventies. You would love to have these teams at home like LSU, Missouri and Texas. If we did, I’d think they’d go undefeated. I really would. I know everyone likes to complain about Greg Sankey, but I don’t think he’d a done us enough of a favor where we got to play every SEC team at home this year. It is what it is.
   
• I would say Taylen Green is first or second-best quarterback we’ve played this year. I love what CJ Carr has been doing. I don’t think Notre Dame’s defense is incredible this year. They’ve gotten better since playing the Aggies. Miami moved the ball on them. They scored 27 points. People are making it sound like Miami scored 50. These jackasses just don’t pay attention. They just say things to say them. I think it was a national or SEC person. Do your job and be better at it. I thought Carr was really good, but I think Green may be the toughest to defend.
   
• I think the Aggies just have to be sound in what they are doing and understand the threat Green is. I think they will have a spy. They have capable linebackers who can do that. Taurean York, Scooby Williams or Daymion Sanford. A lot of instincts on York’s side. Then a lot of speed and athleticism by Williams and Sanford. They will do it on certain downs. I think you could be letting something go if you do it too much. I think what Elko is doing is working. They are getting more and more fundamentally sound as the weeks go by. So, I think you have to stick with that.
   
• Marcel Reed can run when he needs to, when he needs to pick up the first down. They don’t do many designed runs for him, only near the goal line. It has been a nice formula for them. Green is more apt to take off and be used in the designed run game. Green is 6-foot-6. He is a big dude, and Reed is not. It leads to different styles. Green can throw it, but Reed, in the constraints of the pocket, is a better passer.

Segment 2 (14:35:13 - 34:40:19)

• SEC Mike joins TexAgs Live