The Texas A&M Aggies football team capped off a tremendous first season as members of The Southeastern Conference by destroying their former Big 12 Conference foe The Oklahoma Sooners 41-13 in The AT&T Cotton Bowl. The Aggies finished the season with a record of 11-2. This was Texas A&M’s highest single season win total since 1992 when the team went 12-1 in The Southwest Conference under former head coach R.C. Slocum. The Aggies were expected to struggle this season. Aside from 2012 being the school’s first venture in The SEC, The Aggies had a new head coach in Kevin Sumlin and they were starting a redshirt freshman at quarterback in Johnny Manziel. The Aggies only two losses this season came at home to The Florida Gators and The LSU Tigers by just eight points combined. Manziel was a Texas high school legend before the season started, but now after becoming the first redshirt freshman to win The Heisman Trophy he has become a household name.
Sumlin, Manziel, and The Aggies proved themselves worthy of The SEC on November 10 when they traveled to Tuscaloosa, Alabama and defeated The Alabama Crimson Tide 29-24. The Tide were the top-ranked team in the country and they were running roughshod over every team that they played to that point. Manziel put a stranglehold on The Heisman in this game as he threw for a pair of touchdowns and totaled 345 yards. Now after a phenomenal season by Manziel in which he accounted for 5,116 total yards and 47 touchdowns, you wonder what he could possibly do for an encore in 2013?
The Heisman Trophy was created in 1935 and since the inception of the award, Ohio State running back Archie Griffin is the only two-time winner as he won the award in 1974 and 1975. In 2007, University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow won The Heisman Trophy as a sophomore, but he lost out in his junior campaign to University of Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford. Generally the winners of The Heisman Trophy are upperclassmen who have their eyes set on The National Football League after winning the award. Manziel has a unique chance ahead of him as he is also hopeful that he can lead The Aggies to a BCS Championship and also collect another Heisman.
In a short time Manziel has put himself in a rare breed of players. There hasn’t been a stage too grand for Manziel as he also has the ability to make those around him better. With Manziel at the helm in College Station, eight different Aggies caught touchdown passes from him this season as the group was led by senior wide receiver Ryan Swope who hauled in 8 touchdown receptions. This new wave of quarterbacks are taking over college football as they are extremely athletic as well as possessing the ability to throw the football. We saw it in 2010 when dual-threat quarterback Cam Newton dazzled the country as he won The Heisman Trophy and he led The Auburn Tigers to The BCS Championship. It happened again in 2011 when Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III came out of nowhere to win The Heisman as he totaled 4,952 yards. Now the mantle of greatness has been passed on to Manziel.
In A&M’s two losses, Manziel was contained to only 87 rushing yards combined as both LSU and Florida each have the potential to send multiple defensive starters to The NFL from this season’s respective teams. Head coaches such as Les Miles of LSU and Nick Saban of Alabama will do their due diligence to stop Manziel from putting on a show in 2013. Going into next season The Aggies should be one of the top-ranked teams in the country. Manziel opened up the eyes of the college football world in 2012. As far as 2013 goes, Manziel’s eyes will be on Pasadena, California and next season’s BCS Championship Game.
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