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Hoping to ride the momentum from its dramatic comeback win over Campbell, A&T instead got a sobering reminder last Saturday that there was still plenty of work required to rebuild its struggling football program.
For the second time this season, the Aggies followed up an emotional victory the week prior by allowing the next opponent to come into Truist Stadium and score more than 60 points against them.
On September 20, A&T was embarrassed at home by archrival North Carolina Central, 62-20, just one week after an improbable overtime win against Hampton.
Last Saturday, Towson dominated from start to finish in a 62-9 rout – quickly extinguishing any optimism A&T had after its 28-24 victory over Campbell seven days earlier.
“Obviously this game was very disappointing,” said A&T head coach Shawn Gibbs, after his team suffered their worst home defeat since 2008. “It was an embarrassing loss. They took us behind the woodshed and just wore us out. I feel like we were outcoached. They played more physical than us and, honestly, I feel like they played harder than we did.”
The two teams were reportedly involved in an ugly pregame skirmish that had to be broken up by campus security, but once the actual game started the Aggies didn’t display much fight.
After A&T took a 3-0 lead on the game’s opening drive thanks to a school-record 56-yard field goal by Andrew Brown, Towson would explode for 55 unanswered points. The Tigers reached the end zone on five of their first six possessions and led 42-3 at halftime.
Towson entered the contest losers of three straight games and had major question marks on offense.
True freshman quarterback Andrew Indorf struggled so much in Towson's 27-19 loss at Stony Brook the previous week that he was benched at halftime. However, Indorf appeared completely rejuvenated against A&T, completing 18-of-24 passes for 294 yards and two touchdowns.
“Defensively, we couldn’t get them stopped.” Gibbs said. “We gave us 145 yards rushing, they averaged four yards per carry and scored four touchdowns on the ground. And we gave up five plays of over 28 yards in the passing game.”
Conversely, A&T redshirt sophomore quarterback Kevin White Jr. never looked comfortable behind center and had his worst performance of the season. He finished with just 90 yards passing on 11-of-25 attempts, no touchdowns and two interceptions.
White was replaced in the second half by red-shirt junior Noah Sanders who went 1-for-3 for 14 yards and later true freshman Nelson Layne, who scored on a 60-yard touchdown run.
Now the Aggies’ continued search for answers will take them back on the road this weekend, as they travel all the way up to New York to face Stony Brook.
Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. at LaVelle Stadium.
“Stony Brook is similar to Towson,” said Gibbs. “They beat Towson (27-19 on October 25). They are a well-coached team; they play hard and they are top five in the CAA in both offensive and defense. They’ve got a really good running back who I think is the second leading rusher in the conference … so we’ve got our hands full”
The Seawolves (4-5 overall, 2-3 CAA) are coming off a tough 28-21 road loss to Maine last week.
They are expected to start Quinn Boyd at quarterback, who got his second collegiate start last week and had career performance, completing 33-for-59 passes for 299 yards and one touchdown.
He replaced Greensboro native and Grimsley High School alum Chris Zealous, who started the Towson’s first seven games this season before getting benched after a 21-49 loss to Monmouth on Oct. 18.
A&T will be attempting to earn its first conference road win since joining the CAA in 2023.
“Winning on the road is tougher,” Gibbs said. “You’ve to change a lot of things; you’re going into their environment. But it’s really just a mentality. I enjoy playing on the road. I like the challenge of going into somebody else’s territory and trying to beat them on their turf.”
