ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

The transition from the NFL to college coaching wasn't supposed to be this hard for Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman.

Especially after the first game.

Sherman's Aggies struggled through an excruciating 18-14 loss to Arkansas State in his A&M debut. Some historians are already calling it the worst home loss in the 114-season history of the A&M program. The Red Wolves had never beaten a Big 12 team in 15 previous games against the conference and were picked to finish fourth in the Sun Belt Conference.

But Sherman, who arrived at A&M this year after a distinguished career as an NFL head coach and assistant, was determined not to let his team wallow in the loss as a trip to New Mexico approaches on Saturday.

"I am fairly resilient," Sherman said. "I've been doing this long enough to have been in these situations before. 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."

After a strong start against the Red Wolves, the Aggies turtle-backed in a disappointing second-half collapse that remains inexplicable when it is picked apart.

The Aggies started strongly against Arkansas State with two touchdowns on their first three drives, producing 69, 57 and 77 yards on the possessions.

Momentum seemed to stop when tailback Michael Goodson was stopped on a fourth-and-1 from the ASU 33 late in the first half. Quarterback Stephen McGee was hit for a 17-yard loss on the first play of the second half and it unraveled from there.

"After that, we had that look in our eyes, and it wasn't the type of look you need," Sherman said. "I wasn't expecting us to have the big eyes right there."

Goodson was counted on to be a breakaway threat, but produced no runs of longer than 13 yards in the opener. And the Aggies produced only two plays of 16 yards or more as their lack of production from their wide receivers was perhaps the most glaring weakness. Converted quarterback Ryan Tannehill led all wide receivers with five grabs and even backup quarterback Jerrod Johnson added a reception while playing receiver.

McGee's production was expected to soar as he moved into a pro-style offense after being battered in Dennis Franchione's option-based attack earlier in his career. Instead, he threw two interceptions in a game for only the second time in his career.

"I think our second half surprised us, especially after the way we started our game," McGee said. "We felt like we could do anything after starting the game off like we did. But Arkansas State made some good adjustments and we couldn't get anything going."

That might be an understatement. The Aggies failed to score on their final eight possessions. They had four turnovers, missed two field goals and allowed 280 rushing yards in a complete and demoralizing loss that seeped through all parts of the team. The Aggies produced 103 yards and four first downs in a scoreless second half as the Red Wolves convincingly outplayed them down the stretch.

"We were pretty honest with them about what we need to do better the next time we get this opportunity," Sherman said. "But I think dealing with the present is the best way to deal with things. I told them we were going to beat ourselves up on this loss for 24 hours and then after that we flushed it out. And if we had won the game, we would have done the same thing."

It won't get any easier. The Aggies figure to be challenged by New Mexico's unique blitzing defense that relies on an extra linebacker in its base defense.

But McGee said his team is intent on turning things around quickly after meeting with Sherman and purging themselves after the loss.

"[Coach Sherman] took responsibility like a leader does, and he wants us to be men about it, too, and understand we're all disappointed and that it hurts to lose a game like that," McGee said.

"You have to learn to deal with adversity. It shapes people and you really find [out] a lot about your character. We can go one way or the other after a loss like that. And hopefully we'll be able to handle it in the right way."