Texas A&M Football: 3 takeaways from the ugly loss to Appalachian State

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COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 10: Dashaun Davis #17 of the Appalachian State Mountaineers rushes ahead of Denver Harris #2 of the Texas A&M Aggies during the second half at Kyle Field on September 10, 2022 in College Station, Texas. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /

Depleted defense doesn’t pass muster

Coming into the day, we knew that Andre White was injured and wouldn’t be playing. As warmups began, we heard that Walter Nolen and McKinnley Jackson wouldn’t be available either. At various times throughout the day, Tunmise Adeleye, Tarian Lee, and Isaiah Raikes all went down with injuries (though, unless I’m mistaken, they each returned to the game). These losses softened the middle of what was thought to be a deep defensive line group but a very thin linebacker corps.

All that said, there was no excuse for the Aggie defense’s inability to get off the field against the Mountaineers. Even though App finished with only a 9-20 mark on 3rd down conversions (better than A&M’s 2-8 mark, at least), it seemed as though they kept extending drives over and over, never giving the Aggie offense the chance to pull ahead or even draw level on the scoreboard. This was due in part to a couple of 1sts picked up on the ground after facing 3rd and long, and App going 3-5 on 4th down (one of those failed conversions being the final play of the game).

Would Nolen, Jackson, and White have made a difference in App’s success in the run game? Maybe. At the very least, they would’ve provided needed depth on a day in which the Aggie defense was on the field for almost three quarters of the game (a 41:29 to 18:17 split), becoming slowly more and more gassed as the 4th quarter approached.

This was one of the most lopsided TOP splits I’ve seen since the Aggies played Tennessee in 2020 (a 44:09 to 15:51 split). App State’s plan of playing complementary football paid off in a big way for them — tiring out the Aggie defense as their OL (a Joe Moore award-finalist unit last year) continued to lean on the A&M front, denying the ineffective Aggie offense a chance to get in any sort of rhythm.