By The Numbers: Appalachian State 17, Texas A&M 14

Here’s a statistical look, by the numbers, at the Aggies’ 17-14 loss to Appalachian State Saturday at Kyle Field.

-119 - The difference between the Aggies’ total yards gained on Saturday (186) vs. that of the Mountaineers (305).

-82 - Texas A&M’s negative deficit in rushing yards. The Aggies ran for just 89 yards in the game while the Mountaineers gained 171 yards on the ground.

-42 - The Ags ran 42 fewer plays than Appalachian State. A&M managed just 38 total plays from scrimmage as an offense. The Mountaineers ran 80.

-37 - A&M’s deficit in passing yards (97) vs. App State (134).

-22:58 - Texas A&M possessed the football a whopping 22:58 less in the game than Appalachian State. The Aggies had possession for only 18:31 of game time, while the Mountaineers had it for a ridiculous 41:29.

-13 - The Aggies had 13 fewer first downs in the game (9) than the Mountaineers (22).

-2 - A&M was minus two in the turnover department. The Aggies fumbled the football four times in the game and lost two of them. Meanwhile, the Mountaineers did not commit a turnover on Saturday.

0 - Passes offensively for the Aggies of 20-plus yards. The Aggies’ longest pass play was a 19-yarder to Evan Stewart on A&M’s final offensive possession of the game. The Ags rank #93 nationally in passes over 20 yards despite connecting on five such plays vs. Sam Houston. App State allowed six passes of 20-plus yards in its opener vs. UNC.

1 - Total offensive trips for A&M into its opponents’ red zone through two games. A&M pushed the ball inside the 20 and then scored a touchdown in the opener vs. SHSU but never penetrated inside the 20 vs. App State. A&M’s lone offensive touchdown on Saturday came from the App State 26, and all but one of the Aggies’ touchdowns this season have come on plays run outside of the red zone. The Aggies are the only team in FBS with fewer than three offensive red zone trips through two weeks.

2 - Number of plays over 20 yards for the A&M offense. Both came on the same second-quarter drive and with just one play in-between them. Haynes King ran for 31 yards on third-and-14. Two plays later, Devon Achane ripped off a 26-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 7-7.

3 - Number of plays over 20 yards for App State. Two came through the air (27-yard pass to Christian Wells; 21-yard pass to Dashaun Davis) and one was on the ground (48-yard run by Camerun Peoples).

7 - Total points scored offensively vs. the same App State teams that opened the season by allowing North Carolina to rack up 63 points on the Mountaineers’ home field. UNC gained 567 yards and ran for 215 last week, while the Aggies managed just 186 total yards and 86 on the ground.

7.5 - “Havoc Rate” for the A&M defense in the game. Havoc Rate is an advanced metric from longtime stat man Bill Connelly that is determined by calculating the total number of tackles-for-loss, passes defended (including INTs) and forced fumbles divided by the total number of plays. The Aggies had 0 interceptions, 0 forced fumbles, two pass breakups and four tackles (one sack and two run TFLs) vs. App State. That’s only six “Havoc points” divided by 80 defensive snaps for a lowly game rating of 7.5, meaning that the Aggies created havoc on exactly 7.5 percent of the Mountaineers’ offensive snaps. On the season, A&M’s Havoc Rate is 13.3 (18 havoc plays/135 total plays). Last season, the Ags had a Havoc Rate of 17.8. It was 19.1 in ’20 and 18.6 in ’19. A&M ranked fifth in the nation in 2018 with a Havoc Rate of 20.4.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

Despite limited touches, Devon Achane made his presence felt, scoring both of Texas A&M touchdowns on Saturday.

11 - Touches within the offense for Devon Achane, who gained 66 yards on 10 carries and had one catch for five yards. Achane averaged 6.6 yards per career on Saturday.

16% - A&M’s field position rate offensively vs. App State. Field position rate is simply the percentage of an offense’s plays run on its opponent’s end of the field. A&M ran just 16 percent of its plays on the Mountaineers’ side of the 50-yard line. The Mountaineers ran 51 percent of its plays in A&M territory.

25% - Texas A&M’s third down conversion percentage on offense. The Aggie offense was just 2-of-8 on third down, as compared to App State who went 9-of-20 (45%) on third down and 3-of-5 (60%) on fourth down.

32 - Combined receiving yards for A&M’s Ainias Smith and Yulkeith Brown, one week after combining for eight catches, 232 yards and three scores in the opener vs. SHSU.

33.1 - Haynes King’s QBR (100-point scale) two weeks into the 2022 season. That is last in the SEC, trailing South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler by 8.6 points (arguably the highest-rated QB recruits in the country in 2020 and ’19, respectively). Nationally, King ranks 110th out of 131 in QBR. By comparison, Zach Calzada’s QBR in 2021 was 57.4 ... 24.3 points higher than King’s QBR thus far. Calzada ranked 10th in the SEC and 70th nationally.

59th - Texas A&M’s average national ranking in total offense under Jimbo Fisher (2018-present). The Aggies currently rank #102 in total offense, averaging 341.5 yards per game through two contests. Last year, the Ags ranked #71 in total offense. A&M was #33 in 2020, #72 in ’19 and #15 in ’18. A&M’s annual average ranking in total offense through its first six seasons in the SEC (2012-17) was 28th, and the lowest the Aggies ranked in that span was #56 in 2017 (Kellen Mond’s freshman season).

#85 - A&M’s national ranking in run defense. The Aggies are allowing an average of 144 rushing yards through two games. A&M had never ranked lower than 35th nationally in run defense under Mike Elko, finishing in the top-four in the country twice in four years. A&M, on the positive side, ranks sixth in pass defense thus far in ’22, allowing just 112.5 passing yards per game.

112 - Rushing yards for backup App State tailback Camerun Peoples. With the Sun Belt’s leading rusher out with injury, Peoples ripped off an impressive 112 yards on the ground on 19 carries.

114th - A&M’s national ranking in rushing offense through two games, despite having a tailback that is arguably the fastest player in college football in Devon Achane, who ranked sixth nationally in yards per carry as a freshman in 2020 and 11th in yards per carry in ’21. The Aggies are currently averaging a meager 99.5 rushing yards per game this season.

#120 - A&M’s national ranking thus far in time of possession. The Aggies are averaging a paltry 25:27 of offense per game in ’22. Fisher’s A&M teams ranked third, 11th and third, respectively, in time of possession in Jimbo Fisher’s first three seasons but plummeted to 53rd last season. The Aggies currently lead just five Power 5 schools in TOP (Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Indiana, Washington State and Oklahoma).

A&M in national stat rankings

Team
• Time of Possession = #120 (25:27)
• Turnover Margin = #103 (-2)
• Penalties = #66 with 6.5 penalties per game
    - #66 with 57.5 penalty yards per game

Offense
• Total O = #102 (341.5 YPG)
• Scoring O = #99 (22.5 PPG)
• Rushing O = #114 (99.5 YPG)
• Passing O = #69 (242 YPG)
• Yards Per Play = #41 (6.5 YPP)
• First Downs = #115 (16 PG)
• 3rd Down Conversions = #55 (42.9%)
• Red Zone TD% = #1 (100% - 1-of-1)
• Explosiveness = #96 (7 plays over 20 yards)
    - #55 with 4 plays over 30 yards
    - #26 with 3 plays over 40 yards
    - #19 with 2 plays over 50 yards
    - #4 with 2 plays over 60 yards
• Explosive Run Plays = #66 (2 plays over 20 yards)
    - #52 with 1 play over 30
• Explosive Pass Plays = #93 (5 plays over 20 yards)
    - #49 with 3 plays over 30 yards
    - #9 with 3 plays over 40 yards
    - #6 with 2 plays over 50 yards
    - #2 with 2 plays over 60 yards
• Sacks Allowed = #24 (2)
• Tackles For Loss Allowed = #65 (11)

Defense
• Total D = #20 (256.5 YPG)
• Scoring D = #11 (8.5 PPG)
• Rushing D = #85 (144 YPG)
• Passing D = #6 (112.5 YPG)
• Yards Per Play Allowed = #11 (3.7 YPP)
• First Downs Allowed = #38 (16 PG)
• Opponent 3rd Down Conversions = #50 (31.25%)
• Opponent Red Zone TD% = #31 (0% - 2-of-5)
• Explosiveness Against = #5 (3 plays allowed over 20 yards)
    - #8 with 1 play allowed over 30 yards
    - #25 with 1 play allowed over 40 yards
• Explosive Run Plays Against = #30 (1 play allowed over 20 yards)
    - #67 with 1 play allowed over 30 yards
    - #89 with 1 play allowed over 40 yards
• Explosive Pass Plays Against = #6 (2 plays allowed over 20 yards)
    - #1 with 0 plays allowed over 30 yards
• Sacks = #65 (4)
• Tackles For Loss = #81 (10)
• Interceptions = #72 (1)
• Fumble Recoveries = #55 (1)

Special Teams
• Field Goal % = #110 (33.3% - 1-of-3)
• Punting = #41 (44.0 Avg.)
• Kick Returns = #4 (48.0 Avg.)
    - #1 in kick return TDs (1)
• Explosive Kick Returns = #13 (1 return over 30 yards)
• Opponent Kick Returns Average = #63 (19.0 Avg.)
• Explosive Kick Returns Allowed = #1 (0 returns allowed over 30 yards)
• Punt Returns = #87 (4.0 yards per return)
• Explosive Punt Returns = #42 (0 returns over 20 yards)
• Opponent Punt Returns Average = #93 (12.0 Avg.)
• Explosive Punt Returns Allowed = #1 (0 returns allowed over 20 yards)

Individual
• QB Haynes King = #56 in passing yards per game (230.5 YPG); #29 in passing yards per attempt (9.0 Avg.); #50 in completion % (64.7%); #66 in passing TDs (3); #50 in total offense (259.5 YPG); #110 in QBR (33.1 ... #14 among SEC QBs); #81 in passes over 10 yards (15); #79 in passes over 20 yards (5); #39 in passes over 30 yards (3); #6 in passes over 40 yards (3); #3 in passes over 50 yards (2); #1 in passes over 60 yards (2)

• RB Devon Achane = #53 in rushing TDs (2); #27 in all-purpose yards (133.0 Avg.)

• WR Ainias Smith = #88 in catches (10); #32 in receiving yards per game (92.5 Avg.); #58 in yards per catch (18.5 Avg.); #25 in receiving TDs (2); #67 in total yards from scrimmage (98.0 YPG); #69 in all-purpose yards (108.0 YPG); #47 in punt return average (4.0 Avg.)

• WR Yulkeith Brown = #36 in yards per catch (19.75 Avg.)

• LB Chris Russell = #76 in tackles (8.0 PG)

• LB Andre White = #10 in forced fumbles (1); #45 in PBUs (2); #79 in passes defended [INTs + PBUs] (2)

• DB Tyreek Chappell = #45 in PBUs (2)

• DB Antonio Johnson = #60 in tackles (8.5 PG)

• DB Demani Richardson = #76 in tackles for loss (1.25 PG); #10 in forced fumbles (1)

​​​​​​​• DB Jardin Gilbert = #25 in interceptions (1)

​​​​​​​• PK Caden Davis = #93 in field goal % (33.3% - 1-of-3); #57 in kickoff average (63.2 Avg.); #17 in touchback % (77.8%)

• P Nik Constantinou = #30 in punting average (44.0 Avg.)