Texas A&M Football: Offense stalls, Aggies upset by Appalachian State

Well…that was disappointing. Texas A&M football now falls to 1-1 on the season after an upset by Appalachian State, 17-14. There is a lot that needs to change and be addressed, but for now, we can recap, react, and look to what’s next for the Aggies.

Texas A&M vs. Appalachian State game recap

Texas A&M football struggles to get the offense going

Both offenses struggled mightily to get anything going in the first quarter, as neither scored in the first quarter. After punts by both teams, a missed field goal by App State, and a fumble by Haynes King, the Mountaineers finally broke the tie with a four-yard rushing touchdown by Ahmani Marshall at the start of the second quarter.

Then, A&M got its offense off the ground, with a seven-play 75-yard march down the field, to where star running back Devon Achane broke loose for a 26-yard touchdown. The next App State position nearly ended in disaster as well for the Mountaineers, as a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown was overturned and ruled an incomplete pass.

Regardless, the Mountaineers were unable to do anything with the second chance, and they ended up turning the ball over on downs. Neither team managed to do anything on offense, and they headed into their locker rooms tied up at seven.

Aggie offense held scoreless in the second half

To start the second half, neither team managed to score on each of their first possessions. On the Aggies’ second possession of the half, the offense finally started to get going after stringing together two solid runs, but a catch-and-run by Evan Stewart ended in a strip fumble recovered by the Mountaineers.

This momentum for Appalachian State carried on through the drive and finished it off with nine-yard touchdown pass to Henry Pearson, making it 14-7 in favor of the Mountaineers. However, the Aggies answered right back not in the form of offense, but in the form of a 96-yard kick return for a TD by Achane.

After a 15-play drive by the Mountaineers, which shaved off almost nine minutes of game time, App State settled for a field goal to give themselves a 17-14 lead with about eight minutes left in regulation.

At this point, the Mountaineers had all the momentum, however, on the ensuing possession for the Aggies, they managed to get them to a third-and-20 deep in their own territory. Until, a roughing the passer penalty reset the chains, and gave the Aggies another chance to get the game back.

The Aggies took that to their advantage. A couple catches from Evan Stewart and a big outside run by Achane later and the offense got into Mountaineer territory with just over five minutes left. After a couple short passes and not much movement after, this set up porous 42-yard field goal attempt by Caden Davis which landed nowhere near the goalposts.

This then gave App State the chance to run down the clock. The Aggies had the Mountaineers on the ropes with a third-and-one, but they ultimately converted, and then broke out a long run to set up victory formation for App State.

Quick reaction to the Aggies’ loss to Appalachian State

Offense

That was horrible. The offense was embarrassingly stagnant all game and couldn’t get anything going at any point. King had a horrible game and was just all around inaccurate and made poor decisions with where to go with the football.

He was held to less than 100 passing yards by a defense that allowed 63 points to North Carolina. Pretty much every receiving target except for Stewart disappeared all game and the only ones that looked like they showed up to play was him and Achane, who was responsible for all of the team’s points. Perhaps it’s time to make a change, whether that is at the quarterback position or play-calling duties.

Defense

The defense managed to hold an experienced App State offense to just 17 points. They did their jobs for the most part, but they still have some issues to fix.

The conditioning in this team looks unimpressive to say the least. It seemed like every play, players had hands on their hips and just looked gassed. They got ran over by Camerun Peoples, which allowed them to control the clock all game (Mountaineers held possession for over 41 minutes).

The Aggies did do a good job of stifling the air attack, but the yards on the ground was too much to handle for them. This defense is still really young, so I don’t expect them to be perfect, but run defense needs to be addressed when the team’s second-string running back has his way with you.

Player of the game: RB Devon Achane – 10 carries, 66 rushing yards, one rushing TD, one reception, five receiving yards, one kick return TD

What’s next for Texas A&M football?

Next game: #6 Texas A&M (1-1) vs. #15 Miami (2-0)

Week 4 vs. #16 Arkansas at AT&T Stadium (2-0)

Week 5 at Mississippi State (1-0)

Week 6 at #1 Alabama (2-0)

Texas A&M Football: Former Aggies Von Miller, Erik McCoy have big Thursday

Texas A&M football fans should keep an eye out for McCoy as he's poised to take another step up and Miller continues to dominate in the NFL.