Fading Late: Tracing the cause of Texas A&M's fourth-quarter struggles

Asked about the fourth, Texas A&M defensive tackle Reggie Chevis took the Fifth.

The Aggies have often struggled to contain opponents in the final quarter this year. In fact, the Aggies have allowed almost as many points in the fourth quarter (96) as they have the entire first half (100).

So why have the Aggies failed in the fourth?

“I don’t want to answer that,” Chevis said.

Does that mean he doesn’t know? Or could it mean he has a theory, but doesn’t want to voice it publicly?

That’s his right. But there are no shortage of theories and people willing to give them.

Perhaps the defense isn’t playing well enough with defensive end Myles Garrett hurt. Maybe offensive problems aren’t allowing defensive players to get adequate rest. Maybe conditioning is a problem. Or is it a lack of quality depth?

Whatever the reason – or reasons – A&M’s tendency for a fourth quarter fade cannot be argued.

UCLA outscored the Aggies 15-0 in the fourth quarter, though A&M was able to win in overtime.

Tennessee outscored the Aggies 21-7 in the fourth quarter. Again, the Aggies won in overtime.

But the real crisis has occurred the last two weeks in losses to Mississippi State and Ole Miss, which changed the complexion of A&M’s season.

“Nobody is happy about these last two weeks,” A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said on Tuesday. “You can't be with the way it's gone.”

The Aggies actually outscored Mississippi State 14-7 in the fourth quarter. However, Mississippi State was able to launch a 14-play drive that consumed nearly 7 1/2 minutes of the clock to clinch a 35-28 upset win.

Then, last week A&M took a 21-6 lead into the final quarter, but was outscored 23-7 in the last 15 minutes to absorb a 29-28 upset defeat.

One theory suggests the Aggies don’t have sufficient stamina, particularly on defense.

Sumlin refutes that theory, though.

“It hasn't been a conditioning issue,” he said. “We've won games in the second half. We played an extremely long game against Tennessee in the middle of the year and won. When you're unsuccessful, you look for why you're unsuccessful.

“I think we're well-conditioned. We've played a ton of defensive snaps with a concerted effort to slow things down on offense, at times. For us to stay on the field is one thing. We did that in the third quarter, but we didn't have any points. We need to get off the field on defense on third down. Ultimately, a three-and-out turns into a 14-play drive. That's how you lose games. We recognize that and are working on it.”

The Aggies turned a three-and-out into a 14-play scoring drive against Ole Miss.

Leading 14-3 early in the second quarter, the Aggies had stopped Ole Miss on three plays and appeared ready to receive a punt.

Instead, safety Justin Evans was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after the play. The penalty resulted in a first down and enabled the Rebels to go on a 68-yard drive for a field goal which cut the lead to 14-6.

Giving up three points was bad enough, especially considering the final margin was one point.

But that penalty resulted in more plays for the defense, which might have contributed to fatigue later in the game.

However, defensive coordinator John Chavis refused to use fatigue as an excuse for poor performance.

“You won't be as fresh on the 80th play as you are on the eighth play,” he said. “We had them pinned on third down and had a penalty that extended the drive. We've had opportunities to get off the field. We have to be ready if it's 110 plays. We won't use number of plays as an excuse.”

That’s admirable.

Still, the fact remains that A&M’s defense was on the field against Ole Miss for 89 plays. The Aggies offense ran 62.

A&M’s offense was especially unproductive in the second half.

Six of the Aggies' eight second half possessions consisted of four plays or fewer.

“We haven't been a very good offense the last two weeks,” offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone said. “We've made the defense stay on the field. Scoring quickly can make it worse. We haven't been able to stay on the field. We've been around 60 snaps per game when we used to average 80. You have to sustain drives.”

That would seem to support the fatigue theory.

However, Chevis said he and other members of the defense were playing with energy in the fourth quarter.

“As far as energy level, it did not change,” Chevis said. “Nothing really changed. Some major things went on in the fourth quarter. We all know. We all watched the game. We played three solid quarters of football.

“I really would like to get four solid quarters.”

Aggies everywhere would like that, too.