After a nightmare performance against Notre Dame, Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman got a quick hook against McNeese last Saturday. Not because he was struggling, but because the Aggies had run up a five touchdown lead before halftime.
"I would have played the whole game if they would let me," He said. "But (the goal was) being as efficient as possible. I mean, every time we touched the ball, we scored a touchdown. So, I mean, that's what I try and tell my guys. Every time we touch the ball, points, points, points, points."
The Aggies scored 52 against McNeese after managing just 13 against the Fighting Irish, but they'll take a step up in competition against Florida (2:30 p.m. central Saturday, ABC). It will be Weigman's first time to play at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium -- more commonly known as The Swamp -- but he feels prepared for the challenge.
"We know it gets pretty loud over there, but, I mean, we're not too worried about it. We work on silent cadences and stuff like that a lot. I mean, we don't really have to change too much with what we're doing now," he said. "It's football. Put the ball down. Let's go play. I love playing on the road. It's just fun having the crowd involved."
Weigman rebounded from his awful outing against Notre Dame by going 11-14 for 125 yards and 2 touchdowns against McNeese, even with two drops going against him. His footwork, which was admittedly an issue against the Fighting Irish, was far better against the FCS Cowboys.
"It's just a focus thing, like each play, like you got to think about it, like what your drop is on each play, your timing within your job, to be able to time it up in sync with the receivers when they're breaking on their routes, and just really focusing on it and honing in, honing in on that. And we did that all week," Weigman said.
The quarterback, who will make his 11th career start Saturday, said he felt his overall game had improved week-to-week.
"Just within each play, run checks, pass protections, making sure I'm getting the MIKE (linebacker) ID'ed properly; (on) pass plays, just get through my my progression," he said. "I mean, have my eyes in the right spot, and I feel like we did a pretty good job of that this week."
Weigman was helped by a strong running game, with the Aggies racking up 333 yards on the ground. With EJ Smith on the sidelines, regular backs Le'Veon Moss and Amari Daniels split time with walk-on Ben DiNota, and all three averaged at least 5.4 yards a carry.
"Coach Troop (running backs coach Trooper Taylor) always said it was stable," he said. "We got we got guys who can go and just give them the ball and let them go to work and make it makes it way easier for me. So the more the merrier."
Nine different receivers caught passes against McNeese, including five players who made their first reception in an Aggie uniform. While A&M is not likely to dip that deep into the depth chart this week against Florida, Weigman said being able to spread the ball around is a benefit for the offense.
"If you're able to spread the ball around like that, it helps a lot," he said. "Just being able to get the ball in different guys' hands, different skill sets, and being able to utilize all of them is going to help us."
Saturday's matchup with the Gators could be a de facto elimination game for one of the two teams, as a loss would leave them at 1-2 on the season with the remainder of the SEC schedule to go. Weigman said the stakes were high for this road game even before the season began.
"I feel like every game is important. I mean, we've got to try and win every game. That's our goal," he said. "That's why we play football, is to go out there and win games, and no matter if they put the ball down in the parking lot, we're going to go line up and go play. Coach Elko preaches that, and I feel like we're 100% behind them with that, and let's go play football."
- TE
- PRO
- ILB
- CB
- DT
- DT
- CB
- WR
- RB
- ILB