App State 17, A&M 14: Postgame Notes & Quotes

Texas A&M's postgame notes following the 17-14 loss to App State.

Team Notes

• Today’s captains against App State were WR Ainias Smith, DL Fadil Diggs, DB Demani Richardson and DL Isaiah Raikes.

Individual Notes

• Junior RB Devon Achane returned a late third quarter kickoff 95 yards to the end zone for the second 90+ yard special teams touchdown of his career after going 96 yards to the house against Alabama last season.
• Achane has now scored multiple TDs in a game on seven occasions after also taking the ball 26 yards to the end zone to put the Aggies on the board in the second quarter.
• Senior WR Ainias Smith extended his receptions streak, which dates back to the 2019 LSU game, to 25 games with four catches against the Mountaneers.
• Smith’s four catches in the game upped his career total to 122 receptions, one shy of Ricky Seals-Jones (2013-16) and 10th place on the Aggies career list.
• Junior DB Antonio Johnson recorded the third double-digit tackles game of his career with 13 in the game.
• Senior LB Chris Russell Jr. tallied a career-high in tackles for the second straight game, finishing with 11.
• Sophomore LB Edgerrin Cooper recorded the second double-digit tackles game of his career with 10 against App State.
• Freshman DL Albert Regis (six), sophomore DL Shemar Stewart (five), freshman DL Tunmise Adeleye (five), junior DL Isaiah Raikes (five), junior LB Tarian Lee (four), freshman DB Denver Harris (three) all recorded career highs for tackles.
• Adeleye registered a career-high three QB hurries.

Postgame Transcript: Jimbo Fisher

First of all, congratulations to App State (Appalachian State). We knew they were a good football game, and they played like it. They played like an experienced group of guys. Did a really nice job in the game. Did the things they had to do to be successful. We did not execute and play at the level we needed to, and that's my fault. As the head football coach, that's your job to have your guys read the play and put them in position to make plays and let them do it. At the end of the day, that's on us. I thought our players, there was--nobody tried to make a mistake today. Nobody was trying to do it on purpose. We have to do a better job of coaching them and getting the fundamentals right. That's coaching on our part, and that's what we have to do as a staff and all the things we have to do. Evaluate what we're doing and make sure we're doing them. We had chances to make plays all day on both sides of the ball. Offensively, unacceptable, scored seven points on the day. Come out in the first drive, hit a nice play, then get a penalty right behind first and 15. Set us right back on. Get another one, almost get a drive. And the second drive, we get a third and 5. Have a chance to get a guy open and get pressure. Guy reaches around, gets a hold of the quarterback, knocks the hands out--still, I don't care. There's never a reason to fumble. We got to hold it. But we have to protect it better. Then we got a very nice drive. We got it right down, score. Hit the plays, because they went down and scored off that turnover. We had that thing with cover. We just got to lay on it. But that's a natural thing to try to want to do that. That's very natural to do that. Then we drive a nice drive. Come back and tie the game, 7 7. Run it, throw it, make some scrambles. Do the things we need to do. And then we come back. Defense get a stop. We got it in good field position. A nice play and we just don't protect. Have a chance to throw a deep ball. Don't protect at the end of it and don't get that in.

Then come back in the second half and a two minute drive. Get them stopped down there again. Don't run a bubble screen. Bubble play that we have right there. And some reason, get behind the eight ball. Then it's half 7-7. Do a great sell. Played a bad half, come out 7--7. Execute. Get a halftime. Defensively, we gave up some third--not that many third downs, but they kept the ball, kept pounding the ball, eating clock, keeping drives away from us. Second drive, come out and get a great what we had on third and 2. Know what we've got. We just don't execute a play that we need to execute and have a great opportunity to make a big play, a real big play. Then get a stop. Then defensive, we're driving, we have a fumble and we turn it over. Have a nice drive. We're about to the 40, 45 yard line, moving the ball. Had a couple first downs, like we did the first drive of the half. Fumble. They drive down and score. We give up. They ate the clock as they went from critical third and longs in that one and what we did. And then we hit the kick off return. [Devon] Achane makes a phenomenal run. That guy, getting him the ball as much as we can. He makes a great run. Defensive, we come back, they take a--I don't know how long it was. 16 plays. Take it all the way down, eat clock, do a good job all the way down, seven minutes. They started third quarter and made third downs. Then we've got to get off the field and kick the field goal. Then we had a nice drive and got it going all the way back down. We have a chance to make the two throws. One we were a little short; the other one we were high. Had a nice run, got us down there, and then we miss a field goal. Then they ran out the clock and end of the game. And what we did, we only had the ball three times. But at the end of the day, that's my fault as the head football coach. Got to have guys ready in all three phases. We had opportunities in all three phases to make a difference. We had two turnovers, they had none, which is critical in the game. They were able to eat clock. Had the ball, I mean, 40 minutes? Is it 40? Right at it? And get the ball back. Part of that, too, is we have to get off the field in defense. But you've got to keep it on offense when you got it. So we'll look at it and go. Just got to evaluate what we're doing. Make sure. Had opportunities, but got to coach it better. That's on me.

Q. I know much of it is on the offensive line, but do you give another quarterback a shot?

Possibly. We'll evaluate everything. We'll evaluate everything. It's not just on the offensive line, guys. We had some mistakes up front. We had mistakes out wide. We had--everybody kind of took a turn. You know what I'm saying? And when all of a sudden you only have eight possessions, that can happen. We'll evaluate everything we do, seriously. We'll look at everybody and what goes on and whatever we have to do to be successful, we'll do.

Q. Jimbo, after a game like that, what is the message to the team?

Right now? Right now is the time to come together. Right now is the time to go back to fundamentals, believe in each other. There's a lot of football left. There's a lot of seasons you've been together, and just because you lost one game, you got to put it behind you. You can't let one become two. And you lock into what you have, your fundamentals. You trust in each other. It's about how you work, how you practice, and every detail matters. Hopefully, we can understand that, and we make sure we do a better job coaching. And we go play the rest of the season and have a really good season. That's what we've got to do right now.

Q. What changed from this week to last week in your defensive front and the ability to stop the run because it seemed like that's what was churning the clock?

It was. And it wasn't big chunks. It was just a constant three to five, four, six. You know what I mean? And then pull a booter. On third down, they did a really good job running the football on third and longs. They popped some first downs, and there were changeups in the rush. They have a good line. Their line, I believe, was a finalist for the Joe Moore Award a year ago, if I'm not mistaken. Had a bunch of fourth , fifth year guys. They did a good job blocking. It wasn't like they broke runs all over the field, but they just constantly ate clock and were able to do that. They did a really good job.

Q. How do you tweak that?

We'll look at the film. Do we need to add any other stunts, blitzes, or any other fronts or things that do that to that formation. We'll have to look at exactly what they did.

Q. Jimbo, did you get the feeling there that one--when Appalachian State was able to put together that long, ten minute drive that your defense had just gotten gassed?

They got tired there. But we had a chance offensively to come back. We had the ball on the 35 yard line. We have no run, and then we have a high throw. The high throw, I've got to look at the route what happened on it. And looked like could have got the ball to Ainias [Smith], which I wish we could have gotten it to him more in the game, [Devon] Achane and all those guys. On the third down, we had a little pressure, and he backed up. He had the cross. He made the right read. It was his third read on the play. If we could have gotten it up, he was going to run for a long ways, because we had gotten over the coverage and got over there. Got to get that ball up. They had gotten tired, but the game was--after that, it was over. We had a chance offensively to respond right back and we had a chance to get a field goal and we didn't make it.

Q. You reference a third down where you--I think it was third and 1 and you went to the bubble screen.

They put nine guys in the box. We knew that were going to zero and we had soft. It was about third and one. They had two. It was a little longer deal, and we had a check. We had two plays ran inside. And I asked [Devon] Achane. I said no. We had exactly what we wanted outside. We just didn't execute. We had to get a little crack block there with that bubble, and it had a chance to be a really good play. That's a chance they take when they go zero like that. It's either feast or famine. We just didn't execute what we were doing and that's my fault. We've got to get it across to our players and do a better job. That's my fault.

Q. There was a couple of careless defensive penalties, but the one for Antonio Johnson that was a pass interference. Did you think that was a pass interference?

I don't know. I couldn't see. If your arms around but you don't turn or pull    you know what I'm saying? We had five penalties in the game. Give were on defense, which is rare. We had two on offense. Both of them were motion penalties. We didn't get the ball snapped. Didn't hear the snap or whatever and didn't snap. I think it was twice. But I didn't see the guy get turned. I'll have to reevaluate it on film. It was a tough call, really tough call in a critical situation. Like the other--I guess the facemask, I can't see that. I've got to look at the film. I'm not sure those guys were trying to call that it way. I didn't see him turning. When you pull and that shoulder turns--didn't see it, but they called it and it was a penalty.

Q. With the depth of the offensive line, is there any chance you just shift some players who are maybe out of position to maybe see if you get a little more consistency?

We can and hopefully we'll get Bryce [Foster] back this week. He should be back. Gives us another body with some experience to play and get some guys who know what we're doing.

Q. Obviously, talking about those penalties, seemed like Appalachian State kind of got bailed out on a couple of those, especially in the first half. How do you go about correcting that next week?

That's discipline and fundamentals. That goes back to how we have the discipline to do the right technique. I always say a lineman assignment technique and being in the right place. When you get penalties, whether you hold, grab, or do something, it's because you've gotten your body out of position and you're extending and pulling and that's kind of what happens. We've got to do a better job on technique, and that's on us as coaches to get our guys to understand how to did that.

Q. Coach, any thought there in the second half, having not even thrown for 100 yards, of maybe giving Max [Johnson] or Conner [Weigman] a chance?

We were. But we never had the ball. I mean, the first drive--we're complete if we make the block, we're in great shape. But the second we hit both passes and fumble. There was nothing there. We're driving. On the second drive we fumble. And then third drive, we miss our post and we hit a couple of plays to get down there. That was the only time we had it. I would have--if we would have thought it would have went, we would have got some more possessions, maybe so. But there hadn't been anything there. Missed the opening throw of the second half on a slant route, but we overcame that and got the first down and moved back up. And it was over. But at the same time, you know, the quarterbacks, like coaches, we take all the glory and all the blame and that goes with us. But we have got to play better around him. He (Haynes King) has to play better, too, no doubt. He had some opportunities to make some plays. What was he on the day? 13 of 20. Again, that goes back, like you say, you cannot do anything bad but you can't do anything good. We have got to make a couple of plays. Had a post route. Overthrew by a step late in that third drive. And then the other two little plays right there. So we'll evaluate what we have to do and do what we have to do. But it's not entirely--like, the first play of that drive, we got a nice running play going on the edge and somebody comes free inside. It's a conglomerate of things we've just got to get cleaned up. That's on me.

Q. Coach, it seemed like there were a couple of drives, one I think in the first quarter, and then the other one kind of right before the roughing the passer. Offense seemed a little discombobulated in the pre snap. Was there anything you were noticing?

No, I mean, first drive of the second half, we were there. We just didn't make a block. And the second one, we hit and just didn't fumble. Sometimes the receivers can't see signals from the sidelines, just making sure you're trying to get the formation signals from where they're at on the sidelines. Other than that, we didn't have delay of games. We didn't have to call time outs. I used one late there because I wanted to make sure what we were doing, make sure the guys understood the situation, because I thought we had that drive to win the game there. But there was none of that. Everybody was on the same page communicating.

Q. Can you speak a little bit on Devon Achane's ability to break the game with his speed?

Yeah, he was, and we got to keep giving him the ball. He had 10 for 68 on offense. He broke a tackle right there and hit a kick off return, which was amazing. He's a very unique player and we got to keep finding ways to get him in space and get him the ball. Get the running game going. Is that right? We had 38 plays? Not very many.

Q. Do you feel after a loss like this, is there ever a fear that you might lose some buy in or have to work harder to get in focus?

I don't think so. Listen, nothing is ever as good as it seems, nothing is ever as bad as it seems. It's about what you make of it. If that's the case, then we never bought in in the first place. You talk to guys, guys in the huddle, in the locker room, we had a good talk with them. They understand. We're not blaming them. It's on us to get them ready to play and put them in position to do it. And I don't fear that. I really don't. Always as a coach, you're always trying to make sure guys understand what you want. But I think we have a good group of guys and good locker room.

Q. Jimbo, you've said before that you felt like you were on pace to become the kind of program you're trying to build here. How much of a step back or regression...

It's one day. Depends on what we do. How we accept this and what we do from here and how the things will go forward. And we still have a chance to have a very good football team, got to face down, lock in, and coach the heck out of them and get them to play well. We still have a chance to have a really good team and the program is still there.

Postgame Transcript: Devon Achane

Q. What did you see on the touchdown run? Was this an open crease, or did you just find a way to break free off the tackle?

Yeah, it was--it just made it easy for me. I just made the blocks from the O line to the secondary. I just cut back, and then just everything else was just me being athletic. Just trying to do a special team.

Q. Is there a certain level of frustration with you knowing these offensive linemen have been working throughout the entire summer? Do you feel like you're making progress, and then you're unable to get open running lanes against anybody?

There's no frustration. I see them working every day. We're getting better and better every week. So no frustration. I can see that we are getting better. Just keep going one day at a time.

Q. Devon, how frustrating is it when you're on the sideline watching the other offense go on these long, methodical drives. I know it resulted in only 17 points, but that's got to be frustrating from an offensive player's standpoint, right?

Only frustrating part about that is probably just sitting down for so long. Like an offensive player getting the cramps or something like that. But other than that, just basically just kind of stay calm, keep our poise. Just be ready when we go back on the field.

Q. Devon, I know there's only so much you can do. But I guess is there a message that the coaches are talking with you, or you yourself, about things that you can do to try to make the best of the situation when some of those running lanes are not as open as you would like them to be?

I would say basically, just keep working. Basically, every run is not going to be a big run. Basically, just taking what they give me. Basically just seeing the stuff, like basically just watching the linemen work. We're just going to keep going and keep getting better.

Q. Devon, just how frustrating is today in the grand scheme of things? I'm not saying that Appalachian State was supposed to be a cupcake game, but you guys are standing there, and you look up, and it's a close ball game. And then you find yourself behind.

Obviously, they came to play. We had two turnovers. We had a lot of penalties. When you're playing against a good team, you can't have a lot of turnovers. Those turnovers, like getting back behind the sticks, it makes it harder for you to get in the zone. Basically, you have to keep working and correct the little errors we made.

Q. Obviously with Sam Houston State, you really weren't able to get going in that game. I saw you tapped your wrist after that touchdown. Was that like, it's time, I'm finally getting in the end zone?

Basically, it was just me getting back in the zone. Basically, just trying to be better every week. So it was just basically like telling myself like, okay, it's time to just get back in the zone.

Q. How important do you think it is kind of moving forward, getting back in that groove? And how important do you think you're going to be bouncing back from this loss?

You know, it's very important. From this loss, you've got to see--now we're going to see if we really want to play football or not. Basically, just lock in. Starting tomorrow, straight shot, you're going to see--just because it's one loss, there's still a whole lot of football left in the season. So basically just see how we respond.

Q. A couple of things, Devon. First of all, do you have any thoughts on what you think might be the problem with the offense today? Or why you aren't playing to the level that maybe you all expect to?

Basically, like I said, we had two turnovers. We had a lot of false start penalties. Just fixing those areas. Them penalties come back and hurt you in the long run. And they put us behind the sticks a lot. Basically fixing little errors.

Q. And there on that last drive y'all had, you had just run for 12 yards, first down. You had a first down, 34. And you and Haynes [King] seemed to have some kind of exchange issue, and y'all lost a yard on that first down. That kind of got you behind the chains, and ended up having to try that field goal that you missed. Can you remember what happened on that? What was the problem on that exchange or on that play?

I think it was probably just like a miscommunication. Just us not talking or just seeing like--or somebody missed a block or something. Basically, just us not talking and being more vocal with each other.

Q. Devon, season's not over, right? I mean, you've got a lot of games left, but how does this locker room stay together? Because at times, it didn't look great today, obviously.

We stay together. We're a team. We win as one, we lose as one. Basically, we're going to see who wants to play football. See how we respond. We've got to lock in. Starting by tomorrow in treatment, you know, just getting ready for Monday and to play Miami.

Q. Devon, for you, after a game like this, what do you feel like right now is your main goal, your main thing that you want to work on before y'all take the field next week?

Just being more vocal. Just pushing everybody at practice more. Just giving every advice that I could to anybody, everybody. Just basically being a leader. You know, just going to practice, talking to go them, telling them this and that. Basically, just coming hard to work on Monday.

Q. You touched briefly on it, but the two turnovers, you had the ball on the ground four times today for the whole offense. How does that completely change the game?

I would say, you know, turnovers hurt, regardless. If you're playing a good team, turnovers hurt. And we were backed up in our end zone. So we gave them--I think after the turnover, they went to go score. So basically just fixing little errors. Just a lot of mistakes today.

Q. Top 25 match up next week. What do you say to the younger players about getting on their Ps and Qs?

Basically, I hope everybody woke up. We just lost. So basically, now that they understand, they've been on the field, now ain't no such thing as a freshman. Ain't no age limit on playing. Going Monday and watching film and getting ready for Miami.

Q. Jimbo [Fisher], of course, as the head coach, said he takes the blame for the loss. What does that mean to you as players when you hear that from the head coach? And how do you feel like y'all might share that responsibility?

He feel like that, and we also feel like that. Everybody may feel like, okay, I could have did more or I could have did this. Basically, just a team thing. Like I said, we all lose as one. But he the head coach, so basically, it's us coming together as a family and as a brotherhood. Bouncing back after this loss and seeing if we can lock in or not. There's a lot of football to play. You can't just define us by one game. 

Postgame Transcript: Antonio Johnson

Q. Antonio, on the pass interference play, it seemed like that your body was in front of it. Do you think that you had a pass interference or do you think it was a clean play?

I didn't think I had a pass interference, but I guess the ref did. So I've just got to watch film and learn from the mistake that I made on the field or probably, like, tugged or did something. I don't know. But I was just out there just trying to compete, and I guess that's just what happened. That's what they called.

Q. On that ten minute drive, did you feel at any moment that the defense slowly started to slip at certain moments throughout the drive?

No. I feel like that ten minute drive we was hurting ourselves, like we had penalties and just little stuff, miscommunication, missed assignments. I feel like at the end of the day, we just--I don't know, it was just us, honestly. We hurt ourselves.

Q. Antonio, I was going to ask that, but the one play that they have with the fumble you had a chance to recover it, did you think you had it and what--how did they rule it? Because I was kind of blocked to see how it played out.

Yeah, it took a bad bounce. I tried to recover it. I knew I didn't have it, and I was just trying to fight for it. Hopefully one of my teammates would just come in behind me. I was just making sure that he couldn't get it. But plays like that, like I said, those type plays, we've got to capitalize on as a defense. It was just one of those plays I couldn't do.

Q. On those long drives, third down conversions, fourth down conversions, how frustrating is that for a defense to have those opportunities to get off the field and not be able to do it? And what were they doing in those kind of situations that made them so successful?

You know, as a defense you want to get as much--as many three and outs as you can and a team like that, we knew they would go for it on third down, third and fourth down. We just had to--you know, communicate and just execute. And we just couldn't execute, get them down. They kept pushing the piles. We always talk about it's a game of inches, and it was from first down when they get--instead of just one yard they get maybe two or three yards the first down. It just made third and fourth down that much easier for them. So that's just something that we just have to go back into the love and just work on as a team, as a defense.

Q. Coach [Jimbo Fisher] kind of talked about it with their run game, not necessarily always breaking the huge run play throughout the game but just those little chunks that add up over the course of it. What, from your standpoint, just what made it kind of difficult for you guys as a defense to just kind of--I guess what did they do well as an offense running that scheme?

Right. They know the scheme, they run it well, and they have plays that just--within the scheme, it works really well. And honestly, as a defense, I feel like we did pretty good. We just had just, like, self inflicting wounds, honestly, missed assignments, missed tackles. We hit them in the back field, but they're gaining, still, two or three yards after contact. Just little things like that.

Q. Kind of wanted to talk a little bit about that time of possession battle. Obviously you guys were out there for most of it. Was that frustrating to see the offense kind of get off the field pretty quick and then you guys were right back out there?

I wouldn't say frustrating. As a defense we always talk about, like, we want the game on us. We want to go winning games. In a situation like that, we embrace the situation. You know, we go out there, we play hard, every play, every snap. We just help try to get offense better field position so they can go and push one in for us.

Q. Antonio, what have you learned from this moving forward? Because I'm guessing that everybody in that locker room is pretty much sick to their stomach.

Yeah, that's the feeling in the locker room right now. But honestly, we just see what type of team we have. Make sure that we all--the leaders in the locker room make sure everything sticks together. And just, as the leaders, make sure we're practicing hard and let everybody know the season is not over. We have a lot of ball to play. This is one game. We can still go out and do amazing things this year. So honestly, I feel like the lesson is, just learn how to do better through adversity and just keep our heads on our shoulders and keep playing.

Q. Antonio, does this loss set the program back momentum wise, or how do you right the ship and not make it two losses?

I don't think it set us back. I feel like it's a learning experience for us, honestly. You know, we've got a lot of young guys on the team. I feel like it just help us with our preparation. Some weeks we prepare well. Some weeks we don't. But now we know each week is its own week, no matter how you did last week, and the game will humble you. You've just got to treat each week like it's its own week, own season. Honestly, that's what it is. Each week is its own season, and you prepare each week differently so you can play well on Saturdays.

Q. It's felt like over the last few seasons A&M, no matter how many yards they give up, it's been very focused on not allowing the points to stack up. Is that a "bend, don't break" mentality that the team has a whole, or is that just sort of a result?

No, that's for sure, it's our mentality. We have a standard, no matter what happened the play before, the next play is the most important play. And even if they get down the field, we refuse to let them get in the end zone. And if they do get in the end zone, they're not going to get in the end zone again. And this is how we roll as a defense. I feel like my guys, we did really good this week. Yeah, in the game, just playing well. Even if they got down in the red zone, long drives or not, we held our own, for the most part.

Q. What kind of things can a loss like this teach you as a player that you can take throughout the season so that you can improve both mentally and physically?

Long hard games when defense is on the field a lot. We just got to come as one. Look to our left, look to our right, look to the person in front of you, behind you, you know, like, your brother got you. And just always, every play, just give it your all. Like I said earlier, just helps in our preparation now. This is adversity for us, and this is the first time this team this year has hit adversity. So as the leaders, it's our time to step up and make sure that everything don't go downhill and make sure the week go well for next week. We've got to prepare for Miami, and they're going to come in here and they're going to try to beat us just like App State did. But it's all about the preparation. We can do whatever we want to do, as long as we prepare right.

Q. Devon [Achane] said that the freshmen no longer can act like freshmen. You need to start treating them as if they've just been around this building because there's no longer assent of just that. Do you agree with that statement?

I do. We depend on a lot of young guys to play. First week, okay. Freshman mistake. Second week, okay. Now you've been playing for a while now. It's just one of those things as just playing ball. Like, when you're on that field, they don't care if you're a freshman or not. They don't care if you're an older guy or not. You're a ballplayer. Everybody out there is to do their job, make their assignment. So now, just that freshman mentality, we just have to kick that out the window and treat everybody as equal, which we do already. But there's more into it. Make sure everybody know their assignments. Make sure everybody know what their purpose is and why they're out there, and we can just all execute.

Q. I know very different opponents, but last week a four man rush seemed to do the trick in getting penetration, especially on running plays. Today not as good. Were you surprised at that inability to kind of get into the back field on those run plays, and how much did that kind of play into those long drives?

No, not really. Appalachian State had a really good O line. Our D line is really good. And like you said, we was out there a lot of the time. We made a lot of subs for the D line, just to keep them fresh. But honestly, we got a lot of hits in the backfield. They was just gaining those extra yards after the contact. And I feel like that's what really hurt us in the run game. I feel like our guys did really well up front, you know, making the holes when the back's not that clear to run and for the linebackers to fill in, for the secondary to fill out. So honestly, we've just got to watch film and learn from the mistakes and get it next week.

Q. As a player and an upperclassman, how do you kind of wrap your mind around a loss like this, knowing the kind of perfection needed to make the College Football Playoff?

This is one of those things, like, we've got to watch film. Because Coach [Jimbo Fisher] always tells us, it's never as bad as it is. Watch film. Never as good as it is. You always have got to watch film and evaluate yourself. So, I mean, as far as some plays out there, offense and defense left out there, and it's just those false steps or, you know, just not filling the right gap to make a big play. So as long as we identify where we went wrong and just fix it so next week we can execute, and that's the whole thing. Like as long as we execute, we'll be fine.