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The end is drawing near on what has been a long and often frustrating A&T football season, and for many in the Aggie fanbase it can’t come soon enough.
A&T suffered another lopsided defeat last week, this time falling to No. 12 ranked Villanova 31-3 in a contest that featured an almost predictable third quarter collapse.
Trailing just 10-3 at halftime, A&T surrendered three consecutive touchdown drives to the Wildcats as Villanova chewed up the clock and essentially broke the Aggies’ will.
“It’s a one score game at the end of the first half,” said A&T head coach Vincent Brown, whose team in now 1-9 overall this season and 0-6 in the Coastal Athletic Association. “I (told) our defense: ‘Look, we have to go out and get a stop here. It will help swing the momentum of the game if we get a stop.’ And we have many opportunities on that first drive (of the third quarter). It was a critical fourth and eight that they were able to convert which allowed them to move the ball down the field and eventually score. And I think we got the wind knocked out of our sails a little bit after that.”
The Aggies only crossed midfield once in the second half, finishing with just 169 yards of total offense. A&T was 2 of 12 on third down conversion and one of three on fourth downs.
Villanova dominated the time of possession by more than 13 minutes and outgained A&T in first downs 22 to 9.
The A&T passing game was especially anemic against the Wildcats as quarterbacks Braxton Thomas and Justin Fomby combined for a total of 50 yards through the air on 19 attempts.
It didn’t help matters that the Aggies’ run game could never get on track, with Thomas finishing as the team’s leading rusher with 49 yards, followed by Fomby with 26 on the ground.
“It comes down to two things,” said Brown. “Our inability to move the ball downfield and score offensively has been our Achillies heel all season, and then our inability – when the moment comes defensively - to make the play in critical situations.”
This Saturday the Aggies will travel back up I-85 to face Towson, but the focus will remain the same: eliminate the untimely mistakes on defense and find a way to jumpstart their offense.
“It’s very hard to win when you can’t score,” Brown said. “Three points is certainly not enough to win most college football games.”
Kickoff is scheduled for noon at Towson’s 11,000-seat Jonny Unitas Stadium.
Towson enters the matchup 5-5 overall and 3-3 in CAA after a 27-10 victory over Hampton last week.
The Tigers currently rank seventh in the CAA in total offense, averaging 373.3 yards per game.
Their offense is led by redshirt senior quarterback Sean Brown, who has thrown for 1,567 yards 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions this season. His favorite target is redshirt senior wideout John Dunmore who has 561 yards and five touchdowns on 37 receptions.
“They’re a very well-coached team with a very good system,” Brown said. They know what they’re doing on both side of the ball. They have talented play makers on offense. They’ve got a bigtime receiver that makes plays and their tight end, Carter Runyon is one of the best receiving tight ends in FCS football.”
As it’s been the story all season, A&T will have to manage a roster that’s been ravaged by injuries. With key starters missing time all throughout the lineup, A&T has been forced to rely on a ton of new faces in recent weeks. The Aggies were so depleted in the defensive backfield that backup cornerback Steven Davis II started at free safety against Villanova.
“We’re still working to lay the foundation of the things that we need to be able to do on a consistent basis in order to win” Brown said. “We have played a very strong schedule this year. If they way we played against (Villanova) in the first half is any indication of what our abilities are when we are at full strength and everyone is fully bought in – we’re really not that far away.”
