With the Miami Dolphins heading into their fourth season with Quarterback Ryan Tannehill as their starter and are considering whether to pick up the option in his contract for a fifth season. Let’s take a look back at his final year in college with Texas A&M which ended up being the Aggies final season in the Big 12 before they moved to the SEC in 2012.
After finishing 2010 ranked #17, there was plenty of optimism about the program going into 2011 under then Head Coach Mike Sherman. The pre-season AP poll had them at #8 so this was a team expected to challenge for the Big 12 title. Much was expected of RB Cyrus Gray and WR Kyle Fuller whilst the defence returned nine starters so was expected to thrive despite the departure of Von Miller to the NFL.
Looking back at Texas A&M’s 2011 Season
The season started well enough with comfortable wins over smaller schools, SMU were taken down 46-14 and Idaho were beaten 37-7 at Kyle Field before conference play started. A home game with Oklahoma State started well enough as the Aggies lead 20-3 at half time before a second half implosion which saw Tannehill throw three interceptions. The Cowboys scored 27 unanswered points before surviving a late comeback from the Aggies to win by a single point.
The next week was the Southwest Classic against Arkansas from the SEC but had a strange sense of déjà vu about it from the previous week. Texas A&M jumped to a 35-17 lead at half time with all the touchdowns coming on the ground and again completely blew it as the Razorbacks stormed back to win 42-38, this was despite a huge effort from Christine Michael who rushed for 230 yards and three touchdowns.
The season quickly picked up again as the Aggies beat local rivals Texas Tech in Lubbock, although it involved another second half scare as the Red Raiders looked to comeback from a half time deficit. The next week they blew a Robert Griffin III led Baylor away with Tannehill throwing six touchdowns and they even managed to push on from a half time lead to outscore their opponents in the second half. The run game lead them to a hard fought win 33-17 over Iowa State on the road which meant the Aggies were 5-2 and looking strong again.
The next three weeks proved to be the turning point in the season. A home game with Missouri saw them blow a ten point fourth quarter lead as the Tigers forced overtime and then a win after QB James Franklin threw for a touchdown on the first possession before Tannehill’s fourth quarter pass was deflected onto the turf. The defeat seemed to break the spirit of the team as they fell to a 41-25 defeat at Oklahoma with the score not representing the Sooners dominance as the Aggies scored 15pts in garbage time with the game over.
A visit to Manhattan, Kansas to face the Kansas State Wildcats produced another thrilling finish for the Aggies but unfortunately they were edged out 53-50 after four overtime periods. It seemed to sum up their season as they were once again unable to win the game right at the very end. A crushing 61-7 win at home to the Kansas Jayhawks ensured that the Aggies were bowl eligible before their huge clash with bitter rivals Texas.
Unfortunately the Texas Longhorns spoiled the leaving party, the Aggies final game in the Big 12 went the way of many other games this season as A&M throw away a nine point half time lead to lose 27-25 at Kyle Field. To lose to such a bitter rival which confirmed a 6-6 season after such high expectations going into the season was surely the reason that Mike Sherman was fired. Interim coach Tim DeRuyter did a solid job in guiding A&M to a 33-22 win over Northwestern in the Meineke Car Care Bowl but it was scant consolation as Texas A&M’s 2011 season became a huge disappointment for the program. The Aggies would go on to hire Kevin Sumlin to take them into the SEC for the 2012 season whilst Ryan Tannehill despite his struggles was the #8 pick in the NFL draft in April 2012.
