Mike Sherman knew he'd have to help his players handle frustrating losses, just not this soon.
Arkansas State's 18-14 upset of Texas A&M on Saturday night also delayed Sherman's first chance to acknowledge a victorious crowd at Kyle Field. And many of the 79,000-plus fans turned into arm-chair quarterbacks by game's end.
"I am fairly resilient," Sherman said. "I've been doing this long enough to have been in these situations before. [But] I have complete confidence in how we do things, what we're doing and the manner in which we do them. I have no doubt that we will win."
The sooner the better, but Sherman said sometimes it's like the weather in Texas -- you have to handle the heat of August to enjoy the cool weather of November and December.
"We'll have some cool weather, when that is exactly -- I can't pinpoint," Sherman said. "[But] I know for a fact we'll have it."
Until then, there might be some more rocky times during this transition period.
"That wasn't part of my contract," he said, showing he hadn't lost his sense of humor.
Sherman told his players at Sunday's meeting they needed to be accountable, then showed them how.
A&M's offensive braintrust made a couple bad calls at crucial points.
The Aggies had a chance to put the game away just before halftime after Arkansas State's lone turnover. Cornerback Jordan Pugh caused a fumble on a blitz with defensive end Michael Bennett recovering, halting a promising ASU drive.
Just for a split second, the crowd was thinking Wrecking Crew.
A run and pass by tailback Mike Goodson gained 19 yards as the Aggies started their 2-minute drill impressively, but A&M eventually faced fourth-and-one at the ASU 33.
The Aggies opted for Goodson, who was tackled behind the line as ASU's defense strung out the play.
Goodson had 12 rushes and two receptions before that for 103 yards.
"We probably should have gone up the middle," Sherman said.
Then A&M failed miserably in goal-line offense early in the fourth quarter.
Goodson lost a yard on second down from the 2, and McGee was sacked, leading to a missed 25-yard field goal.
"That's ridiculous we didn't get it in," Sherman said.
That would have made it 21-9. Instead, ASU went 80 yards in 10 plays for a 15-14 lead.
Those plays magnified A&M's inability to score on its last eight possessions, which were stifled by sacks and turnovers.
They weren't the things that caused Sherman to miss sleep the night before the game. He was worried about delay of game penalties, jumping offside, not having the right personnel on the field or not lining up correctly. The lone penalty A&M had was roughing the passer.
"We functioned well," Sherman said.
They just didn't function effectively, especially in the second half when ASU outgained A&M 225-103 in yardage.
All the little things added up to a colossal loss.
Quarterback Stephen McGee pulled off his first read too quick, a receiver didn't run the route deep enough, someone missed a blitzing linebacker, the running back didn't follow his block or a defender missed a tackle or went the wrong way.
Sherman said the players did a tremendous job during spring and fall practice, buying into his system. They are about 80 percent there, but they have to add that final 20 percent.
"I told them to trust the call and don't ad-lib," Sherman said.
Trust takes time, or in this case, a win or two wouldn't hurt.
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NOTES -- Sherman said freshman walk-on Randy Bullock would have attempted a field goal in the fourth quarter had the opportunity presented itself, but the coach won't name a starter for New Mexico until after this week's practices. ... Injury update: Sherman expects safety Devin Gregg to return against New Mexico, but doesn't know about cornerback Danny Gorrer. ... Middle linebacker Matt Featherston said the defense missed only nine tackles, but most of them came in the second half when ASU scored 15 unanswered points.
Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.