Texas A&M fell to Tennessee today, 22-7, despite an encouraging first half. KJ Edwards finally got the long touchdown that fans were wanting to see out of him in the first half, but that would end up being the only score of the day for the Aggies.
The second half was again where Texas A&M began to really break down in this one, as they led at the half by one point. It looked early on like the Aggies had found something in the run game, but Tennessee found a way to start winning up front in the second half, and all but shut things down.
The amount of called passes that the Aggies had in that last 30 minutes didn’t help either. Texas A&M was facing one of the best pass defenses in the country, and they insisted upon hitting their collective head against the wall over and over in that respect.
Texas A&M falls in third-straight game as Tennessee rides a huge second half to a win
The fourth and one was a great example of what I’m talking about. Though the Volunteers ended up stopping the Aggies on third down on a run play, with the way the Aggies were throwing it, there was simply no world in which they should have been passing the ball.
Even David Olano demonstrated, for the second-straight week, that he was mortal. The Aggie field goal kicker, who has been such a bright spot for Texas A&M so far this year, missed a kick for the second-straight week— one that ended up costing the Aggies big down the stretch.
The defense did as much as they could for as long as they could, but they eventually began to break down late in the game when the offense was unable to get things moving— something we’ve seen several times this year. This is a team and a staff that has talked a lot about complementary football, but we have seen it far too rarely out of them this season.
The lack of runs out of Marcel Reed was a complete head-scratcher, at the end of the day. A&M simply did not have no. 10 run the ball enough— despite Elko saying that Tennessee was doing a good job of taking that option away, there were spots where Reed could have scrambled forward and he simply did not— the late interception being a great example.
The Aggies failed to get a single first down in the second half until five and a half minutes left, and it was largely due to the ineptitude of the pass game. There came a point when A&M needed to pass the ball way more thanks to how many points they were down by, but they were passing it way too much even before that point.
It should also be said that this was a game where there was a lot going for the Aggies against the Volunteers when it comes to factors outside of the game: the Vols got in way later than anticipated, it was a trap game spot for them, and they were down their sacks leader and their no. 2 running back.
And yet, the Aggies were simply unable to take advantage. Were there injuries aplenty? Yes. But that’s not all that’s wrong with this team, not by a long shot. It’s been a frustrating and ultimately failed year in College Station, and it’s been evident for quite some time that the real issues can’t be fixed until the offseason— but that doesn’t make a loss like this sting any less.
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