Johnny Manziel has his work cut out for him.
Duke played about as perfect a half of football as a team can play and took a 38-17 lead into the half against Texas A&M in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl on New Year’s Eve.
Simply put, the Aggies defense could not stop Duke, which scored on all six of its drives while piling up 365 yards of offense and 17 first downs. Quarterback Anthony Boone was sharp, completing 13 of 17 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns.
A&M moved the ball well on offense, too, with Manziel passing for 199 yards and rushing for 45, but the Aggies missed a field goal, punted once and couldn’t recover an onside kick and that was the difference in the game.
We’ve seen Johnny Football come back from these kinds of deficits before, but he’s going to need some help from his defense. Otherwise, he could find himself leaving College Station on a three-game losing streak.