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Croome: Big 12 games are ... well, Frantastic

By RICHARD CROOME
Eagle Columnist

Now that the regular season is about to kick off .... Sorry. Just had to say it.

In reality, I didn't believe Dennis Franchione's "exhibition season" comment to be as considerable an issue as many obviously have. Sure, it was the wrong choice of words. It came at the wrong time - on the wrong stage - with the Aggie faithful already hurting, and it put the wrong kind of exclamation mark on a very dismal night.

I'm not ignoring it. Neither am I going to disagree with those appalled by it . In fact, when I first heard that the Texas A&M coach was now referring to the nonconference season as an "exhibition," my immediate thought was the same as many of those maroon-clad Ags peppered along South Beach sipping their beverage of choice after the game.

But then I asked myself this:

If the Aggies had beaten Miami, and Franchione had called it a good "exhibition" victory, would there have been any fuss at all?

Uhhh ... no.

So it is not the comment so much as last Thursday night's result - and how that result came about - that had Aggie fans ready to show their football coach which direction Texas 6 runs.

(It runs both ways, by the way.)

Franchione's slip of the tongue only puts the upcoming Big 12 games under a bigger microscope, because if the Big 12 games are so important that he calls the others exhibitions, then the Aggies need to take care of business from this point on.

After all, winning a national championship, which is what a nonconference loss takes away from, was never part of the equation for the Aggies, even among the most optimistic of fans.

A Big 12 title, however, has been part of the discussion since August, and you can be sure it's been a goal of the players for longer.

There were glimpses last season of the Aggies being on the brink of a league title, but the second half against Fresno State and the Thursday night prime-time episode in Miami may have erased those hopes this year, judging from the reaction to the Miami loss.

There are reasons to get up more for conference games, but there is no magical switch that erases a team's deficiencies. And the Aggies have deficiencies - namely the passing game and defending the pass - to fix if they are to be considered an honest contender in the Big 12 South.

After the first game, Franchione said "at least we're not Michigan" in reference to Michigan's loss to Division 1-AA Appalachian State.

Well, maybe the Aggies should try to be, for the Wolverines opened their second season, their Big 10 season, with a victory over a Top 10 team in Penn State.

So there is still hope for the Aggies chasing down a Big 12 title, but for now, that is all.

Outside of last season's Texas win, which Franchione himself said was no more of a barometer for his team than the loss at Miami, recent history is not on the Aggies' side.

Franchione's record at A&M against Division I-A schools hovers right at .500. And as much as Franchione and the team are looking forward to the Baylor game and starting the Big 12 schedule, the Aggies won't quiet their detractors, at least until the game at Texas Tech in two weeks. That's the next barometer for the fans and media alike after the Miami debacle.

There's one big thing going for A&M right now: The Aggies are not the only vulnerable team in the Big 12.

Oklahoma is the only school in the conference to recognize defense as one of three units needed to consistently win. With that, the Sooners have separated themselves from the other 11, even though Missouri and Kansas have identical 4-0 records.

• Richard Croome covers Texsas A&M for The Bryan-College Station Eagle. His e-mail address is richard.croome@theeagle.com.