Game snaps will enhance the effectiveness of the front line, but Sam Houston’s active defensive line did frustrate the scheme with those six negative-yardage plays.
Missing is 12-game starter at center Bryce Foster (illness) and injury has limited other potential starters, forcing younger players into action. But it’s a youthfully massive group, with four of the five projected starers being freshmen or sophomores. Massive doesn’t seem to be adequate to describe the TAMU offensive line, which averages 6’6” and 325 pounds. That drive accounted for 50 of A&M’s running yards, but the play-calling balance swung back more heavily towards passing plays afterwards. Of A&M’s 34 carries, nearly half netted two yards or less, and six of those were for-loss plays.Ĭlearly intent on jump-starting the ground game, the Aggies opened the third quarter with a touchdown drive featuring 10 rushing plays during the 12-play, 71-yard scoring drive.
The Aggies generated 120 rushing yards, but only on 3.4 yards per carry, which as just noted included no net losses from sacks. However, Texas A&M blocking surprisingly struggled to establish the running game. King was not sacked and was only hurried three times, though when flushed King is a capable runner (5.8 yards per carry). Jets Ainias Smith, Yulkeith Brown, and Evan Stewart caught 13 passes for 289 yards and three scores, with Smith working vertically out of the slot, and all three blistering Sam Houston with a barrage of crossing routes.Īiding that downfield attack, King was hardly harassed in the pocket, giving extra-complex route combinations ample time to develop. Where as all four of North Carolina’s leading receivers were taller than 6’0”, of 364 King passing yards last week, 75 percent of the total went to three sub-six-footers. Making that result much more achievable is a young but electric receiver group, and one that differs physically from the UNC rotation. But the risk is worth the rewards, with A&M averaging nearly 17 yards per completion last week. The double-edged sword of King’s aggression is that he’s also thrown six interceptions in those games, including a pair last week where he launched into heavy coverage. He’ll only be playing in his sixth career game, but has thrown for six touchdowns in the prior five games. What we did confirm is that there is indeed plenty of Aggie speed on that side of the ball and the playmakers will stretch App State’s defense.Īt quarterback, gunslinger Haynes King is a big-play catalyst in spite of his relative inexperience. But trust that the Aggies well know this history and are determined to invite no such drama.Īs was the case with North Carolina, don’t believe that we saw anything close to the complete offensive scheme from Texas A&M’s opener. Scaring the life out of Power Five fanbases has become an App State tradition, with five of the past six P5 matchups – including a pair of wins - finishing within a single possession. But it’s a situation where the Mountaineers have proven unfathomably comfortable. Now, in a no-favors scheduling sequence, App State travels to top-10 Texas A&M, where the mid-90s swelter is exceeded by more than 100,000 hostile voices.
But few Mountaineer fans will remember the game fondly, after a potential game-winning, fingertip-grazing, two-point conversion attempt fell to the home turf. Appalachian State may have already played in the game of the year, a 63-61 season-opening loss to North Carolina that featured more violent swings than this weekend’s MMA card.
0 kommentar(er)
