It wasn’t a secret that Texas A&M had some major offensive pieces to replace in Year 2 of the Jimbo Fisher era, but the assumption was that the Aggies’ strong recruiting and development under Fisher would pay off. 

Trayveon Williams, the best single-season rusher in program history, left early for the NFL. That’s 1,760 yards of production. Top offensive lineman Erik McCoy is gone too. Losing preseason starting running back Jashaun Corbin made things that much worse. But in a 31-27 nailbiter against Arkansas, we saw every bit of the worst-case scenario for this offense. 

The line was a question mark coming into the year. Allowing eight tackles for loss and four sacks was dismal. After losing Corbin, the running game was a critical spot. Jacob Kibodi and Isaiah Spiller combined for 38 yards on 16 combined carries. Receivers Jhamon Ausbon, Quartney Davis and Ainias Smith played well, but the passing game as a whole still was not consistent enough. 

Plenty of the criticism will focus on quarterback Kellen Mond, and it’s understandable. Mond was the one returning star on the roster. He threw for 251 yards and three touchdowns today, but also threw an unacceptable red zone interception. It’s fair to question at this point whether Mond is a proper fit for Fisher’s pocket passing system, but he hasn’t been close to the biggest problem on this roster. 

RELATED: Texas A&M’s loss to Auburn makes path that much harder

How bad is Arkansas? Chad Morris has yet to beat a Power Five team in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks lost to San Jose State a week ago for perhaps the worst loss in program history. Here’s a list of every win San Jose State has since the beginning of the 2017 season: Cal Poly, Wyoming, UNLV, Northern Colorado and Arkansas. That’s the list! 

And yet, San Jose State rushed for 4.2 yards per carry to Texas A&M’s 2.7, passed for 402 yards on 8.9 yards per attempt to Texas A&M’s 251 on 7.2 yards per attempt and scored an identical 31 points, but on Arkansas’ home field. 

Sure, Texas A&M and Arkansas have some familiarity and history. This is the 11th season these two teams have played in a row. Five of the last six matchups have ended within a touchdown – though Texas A&M has won every matchup since joining the SEC. Still, getting outplayed by San Jose State? That isn’t going to cut it, especially when Texas A&M desperately needs to win every game its favored in with the nearly impossible schedule. Alabama, Georgia and LSU are still left. 

And this isn’t a one-week issue either. Last week against Auburn, the Aggies had just three total points heading into the fourth quarter. Eighty-one of Texas A&M’s 391 total yards came on a pointless final drive. The Tigers posted three sacks and held Aggies running backs to 30 total rushing yards. The same story was true against Clemson, with 91 of the 289 total yards coming on a garbage time drive in a 24-10 loss. 

Have there been issues on defense? Sure. The Aggies struggled to tackle Arkansas tight end Cheyenne O’Grady, and allowed Arkansas running backs to average nearly five yards per carry. The Aggies allowed Arkansas to convert five of its 12 third down attempts, and couldn’t get a stop on 4th-and-2 that would have ended the game. But this game – and the struggles this season so far – is not on the defense. 

Last season, it seemed like there were real, tangible scheme improvements in the Fisher era that could carry the Aggies into the future. The more games we play in 2019, the spottier those improvements look. There's a long season ahead. In some ways, having so much instant success put some unfair expectations – No. 11 to start the year? – on a Texas A&M squad that's probably not as far along as we thought. 

t’s still early in Jimbo Fisher’s tenure. Most of this roster was not recruited by him. The hope is that as Jimbo recruits take over the roster, the offense is built in his image. That was never going to happen in Week 5 of year two. When you're early in a rebuild, there's value to calling the game you want and forcing the talent to adjust. 

But still, why isn’t Mond getting put in better spots? Why aren’t there any running backs to take Williams’ place? Why is an offensive line with a whole bunch of returners regressing under new offensive line coach Josh Henson? These are all fair questions for the offense at this point. For $75 million, it's perfectly reasonable to expect more.