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Appropriately enough for a team that had choked away a golden opportunity with a swan dive in November, the Aggies blew a 17-point lead with 20 minutes to go in the SDS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl Friday night.

They lost to a quarterback who didn't have three of his top receivers, his top two running backs, three of his linemen and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn for much of the game. The defense went soft and gave up big plays repeatedly, committed some terrible penalties and played largely disinterested in the second half. The offense had good moments but also missed on some key opportunities, and the special teams were terrible.

Simply put, they should be embarrassed.

I said coming into the game that Marcel Reed would likely have to throw more than usual, and he did. He completed 26 of 42 passes for 292 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another 46 and a score. He threw two interceptions, only one of which was his fault.

Reed operated the offense well tonight, but he still made some rookie mistakes. He threw a couple of passes to Noah Thomas that needed to be lobs, but they were thrown low and hard. Both could have been touchdowns, and A&M got a field goal after one and nothing after the other. He was fixated on the deep ball for much of the game, which didn't work overly well, even though it was nice to see them try. He was smart on A&M's final drive, checking down to the open receivers and using his legs when the opportunity presented itself. That's what A&M needed to see going into 2025, and not the missed receivers running free and or pushing deep balls into tight coverage.

The running game wasn’t bad, but it definitely missed Amari Daniels (and Le’Veon Moss, if you want to get technical about it). I was pretty pleased with what I saw from Rueben Owens, considering he’s still not 100%. He showed much better vision and aggressiveness than he did at any point last year, and he ended up carrying 13 times for 56 yards. It’s a step, and a positive one.

EJ Smith only carried five times, but he picked up 36 yards. It was easily the best he looked in an A&M uniform, and he added another two catches for 44 yards. It makes you wonder what he could have done if he’d played like that all season.

Reed targeted Noah Thomas 10 times, completing five of them for just 29 yards, but for two touchdowns. But Thomas also had the biggest blunder of the night, muffing a sure touchdown in the end zone that became an interception and led to USC tying the game at 7 instead of the Aggies being up 14-0. That one should gall A&M fans all offseason, and it should haunt him too.

Jahdae Walker and Jabre Barber went out on high notes. Barber had seven catches for 48 yards and a touchdown, his second as an Aggie. He was a big part of the A&M’s scoring drives in the second half. Walker had three catches for 46 yards, including a 40-yard bomb in the first half.

The tight ends got in the mix with big results. Tre Watson had three catches for 42 yards and Shane Calhoun had one for 36, running wide open down the sideline. Why the tight ends weren’t utilized more in the passing game all season is absolutely beyond me. Watson, especially, was absolutely wasted.

The offensive line was unimpressive. Reed was only sacked once, but USC — a team that doesn’t get pressure — was able to get Reed moving throughout the game. The line did open up some huge holes for the backs to run through at times, but again, they could not get it done when it really mattered — third and one.

A&M racked up 443 yards of offense, scored 31 points, ran for nearly 5 yards a carry and averaged 11.2 yards per catch. And it wasn’t enough. Three plays made the difference: Thomas muffing the touchdown, A&M not converting the third and one and running Rueben Owens into a stacked box on third and five at the 22. That’s enough to give every player on the offense nightmares for the next nine months.

Considering the comments made by coach Elko after the game, someone's probably losing their job. I'll go a step further and say someone should lose their job, because the defense tonight was a disgrace. I don't want to hear about how so many players were hurt or opted out; they had enough to win. USC's quarterback was terrible and they had him on the run -- and then they completely fell apart in the final 20 minutes.

The defense was supposed to be the strong suit of the team. It ended up being the weakness, and embarrassingly so. All season, they failed to fundamental things right -- tackle. Stay in your gap. Play zone defense capably.

For most of the game, USC was down three starting offensive linemen. A&M got one sack. They had six tackles for loss. They largely shut down USC's running game after halftime, but were completely and utterly inept in the secondary.

Cashius Howell had a really good game. He had five tackles, a sack, an interception and was the only Aggie to consistently apply pressure. Rylan Kennedy was a complete non-factor. He didn't crack the stat sheet and was pretty consistently bullied by USC's tackles. Solomon Williams was a relative bright spot, getting three tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss in his first real action. But the lesson learned here is that you've still go to have some big defensive ends. A&M didn't have any and it hurt them.

The defensive tackles got pushed around in the first half, then settled in and really held up against the run after halftime. They were playing really wide gaps in the first half, and USC ran right through them. After halftime, they looked more normal and they held their own, allowing the linebackers to get in and make plays. A&M's big issues came when they went to a three-man front and got no pressure whatsoever, allowing USC to pick them apart.

Outside of Taurean York, the linebackers were not good tonight. It was a lot of the same stuff: missing tackles, not taking good pursuit angles or running themselves out of plays. It was the same thing all season. Not having Scooby Williams really hurt, because he cut down on those mistakes significantly after the first third of the season. He's also a far more effective blitzer than the other guys.

The secondary was absolutely horrible. BJ Mayes had a pick, but also got lit up by Ja'Kobi Lane he was called for pass interference and a facemask. Dezz Ricks did no better, being nailed for PI himself and giving up the game-losing touchdown. Due to the shortage of corners, Jaydon Hill played the whole game at nickel. He did a good job against the run, and him being near the line of scrimmage much of the second half helped stop the USC running game. But, as usual, he was a complete liability in pass coverage. He can't cover in man and he plays too soft in zone. USC exploited him.

I have no idea what the safeties were doing, because they were completely abandoning the middle of the field. I guess they were playing Tampa 2, where the safeties back off and go to the boundaries, but they totally left the middle of the field wide open. And guess where USC went? When A&M's corners lost them at the line of scrimmage, they were running free.

Dalton Brooks had seven tackles and an interception, but the guys who are supposed to be the better coverage safeties, Bryce Anderson and Marcus Ratcliffe, were nonfactors.

Elko basically said he was disgusted with the play of the defense and he should be. He needs to be looking for more defensive linemen and another corner in the portal. And, if he is to keep his credibility, he either needs to make some changes on the defensive coaching staff or have a very good and detailed reason why he didn't.

I cannot get over the fact that, before the season, this was supposed to be one of the nation's 10 best defenses -- and we saw an inept Auburn offense and USC's JV team light them up like the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center. It's inexcusable.

A complete, absolute and utter disaster. Randy Bond missed his final field goal attempt as an Aggie. Tyler White muffed a snap and shanked a punt because he was in a hurry. Coverage teams were terrible. The squib kick by Bond totally backfired and helped spark the USC rally. A&M has a ton of work to do in this segment of the game, because coverage was bad all season. To see reliable players like White and Bond fail in key moments was painful.

Collin Klein called his most creative game of the season. He came up with some quick passes for Reed, worked some deep balls in and utilized the tight end. But he still made an inexplicable call to run the ball on 3rd and 5 at the USC 22. Reed was clearly A&M's best player tonight. Give him a chance to make a play.

The decision to lay off, use more three-man fronts and play zone when A&M went up 24-7 was a disaster, and that's on Jay Bateman. He's the man making the calls. When you give up 400 yards of total offense and 35 points to essentially a bunch of backups, you have a lot of explaining to do. And the defense, bluntly, has had a lot of explaining to do nearly all season.

I don't think Mike Elko did anything particularly good or bad in this game. He didn't push the issue by going for it on fourth down on his side of the field, even though it ended up not mattering. But one thing that he, as a defensive coach, should have considered doing is telling Bateman, "Hey, cut this crap out and go after him." If he believes the defense can't play zone to save its life, he has the ability to make them stop playing it. Making that one move could have changed the outcome of the game.