My First Game at Kyle Field

A tremendous weekend is coming to an end, so I figured I would take a moment to share some thoughts about the last couple of days. TCU is playing Baylor on the television and both the Tigers-Angels game and the NASCAR race are starting shortly.

I watched a ton of good football this weekend, but the highlight had to be my first game at Kyle Field which is a gem of a college football stadium, one of our nation's great sporting treasures. The Aggie football team certainly could have been better and apparently the band was just a touch sloppy, but both were solid for it being the first outing of the season.

With regards to the football team, my initial reaction is that the defense was just about where they were expected to be. Not great, but at least adequate in the second half. They have a lot of room to improve, but I got the feeling that the Aggies were trying to get everyone playing time and seeing who stuck. We where high enough that I couldn't read the names on the jerseys, but I thought that Jack and Dodge both had some nice plays. I'm working on learning the numbers in earnest, so I should have some better insight next week.

The offense on the other hand was worse than expected, but the biggest problem was young players fumbling the football. In general I think that this is something that can be worked on, so I'm not in full panic mode yet. All three running backs (Lewis, Lane and Goodson) looked good at various times and Chad Schroeder had a great game. McGee played like a sophomore, but I suspect that he will continue to improve throughout the season.

I never experienced Kyle without the significant upgrades that were made this offseason, but I really liked the new video board (12th man TV). Highlights from other games around the country are great for people like me who can't help but wonder what is going on in Knoxville (more on that debacle later tonight).

One thing that surprised me first at Yell Practice and again at the game was the number of yells that the 12th man utilize. I'm still working on learning the most common 4 or 5, but I swear that they have at least 10 you have to know. Coming from Michigan where the student section also stands all game, I didn't expect much of a change, but I couldn't have been more wrong. After the game I was absolutely exhausted. What I didn't expect was the "humping it", which is all the students leaning forward and bending down to do the yells. And, of course, there is the oppressive heat. After A&M hosts Texas Tech, I'll have a more complete comparison of Kyle Field and Michigan Stadium, but for the time being I will just say that each is great in its own way.

The first draft of my BlogPoll ballot will be up later tonight and sometime this week I'll have a more complete set of thoughts about my first game at Kyle, but for now this will have to do. After all, the Tigers are coming on.

Gig 'Em.