Texas A&M Fans Say Goodbye To Jimbo Fisher Era After Texas Bowl Loss to OSU

Scott Polacek@@ScottPolacekFeatured Columnist IVDecember 28, 2023

Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The 2023 season was one to forget for Texas A&M, so it was only fitting it ended with another loss.

Oklahoma State defeated the Aggies 31-23 in Wednesday’s Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium in Houston. The Big 12 representative improved to 10-4 on the campaign and will have some momentum heading into 2024 after it bounced back from a loss to Texas in the conference title game.

Texas A&M cannot say the same after it fell to 7-6 and continued a theme of losing to the quality opponents on the schedule in the same season in which Jimbo Fisher was fired as head coach.

To be fair to the SEC team, it was far from full strength with a number of players missing due to injuries, opt outs and the transfer portal. It was fighting an uphill battle from the opening kickoff, and things got even worse when starting quarterback Jaylen Henderson was injured on the first snap of the game.

Rather than criticizing a shorthanded team, much of the social media reaction focused on the end of an era at Texas A&M:

PokesToday @AggiesTodayWe’re officially free of Jimbo Fisher’s tenure at Texas A&M.

A victory in Aggieland.

texas bowl enjoyer @ccherubrockone thing all aggies can agree on: GOODBYE JIMBO FISHER ERA. FOREVER.

AgKnocks @AgKnocksLots of coulda shoulda woulda tonight

Pretty much sums up and closes out the entire Jimbo Fisher Era

Robert Behrens @rcb05In case anyone wondered if Jimbo Fisher’s fingerprints were still on this team, Texas A&M just punted on 4th and 5 from the OSU 41.

Ben Turner @Ben_Turner92The Jimbo Fisher era is over!!

BRYCE ANDERSON/HAYDEN HEFNER SZN @HtxAg19_JIMBO FISHER ERA OFFICIALLY OVER WE WIN REGARDLESS

Dailey Joy @daileyjoyfif you’re A&M, you have to feel hopeful after what you watched tonight. they played with heart, grit, and passion—something that’s long been missing throughout the jimbo fisher era.

& that’s all of my aggie content. i’ll resume hating them now.

geaux tigers!!!

Derek @DerekAggie06The DB play of the Jimbo Fisher era right there man. Just no clue where the ball is. Just run with your hands in the air and pray the receiver doesn’t catch it.

John Patterson @johnpaulpOne more half of Jimbo Fisher football. We can get thru this

nick @nickpellegrin0What a winnable game… (also my thoughts during the entire Jimbo Fisher era)

Anthony Spinelli ⚾️ @AnthonySpin15I feel like that type of game happened almost weekly in the Jimbo Fisher era. Fall behind, catch back up, then lose it in the final seconds. Hopefully that ends up leaving with him.

Facing quality competition has been an issue all season for the Aggies, who lost to Miami in nonconference play before dropping games against Alabama, Tennessee, Ole Miss and LSU in the SEC.

They are attempting to establish themselves as one of those top programs as they enter the Mike Elko era, and beating a ranked team that was in the Big 12 Championship Game was an opportunity to make a statement on a national stage that things might be changing.

Instead, Oklahoma State jumped out to a commanding 24-6 halftime lead with Alan Bowman picking apart the secondary and Ollie Gordon II finding room to run.

Given Texas A&M’s roster situation, it seemed like the second half would be nothing more than a formality.

To the Aggies’ credit, their defense started forcing turnovers in the second half to set the stage for a potential comeback. Rushing touchdowns for Marcel Reed and Amari Daniels and a long field goal from Randy Bond cut the deficit to one score in the fourth quarter, but a late Hail Mary attempt was intercepted to ice the game.

It didn’t help the comeback cause that Daniels lost a fumble when the Aggies were deep in Cowboys’ territory, but Oklahoma State proved to be too much with Bowman throwing for 402 yards, Gordon rushing for 118, and Rashod Owens (10 catches for 164 yards and two touchdowns) and Brennan Presley (16 catches for 152 yards) dominating Texas A&M’s secondary.

Perhaps things would have been different if the SEC representative was at full strength.