App State opened their season in dominating fashion against the East Tennessee State Buccaneers, taking an encouraging 38-10 win over their former SoCon foe. They knocked off the gameday rust over the course of a game where every part of the team showed great promise.
The Good
Senior quarterback Joey Aguilar had a good game, passing for 326 yards and 2 touchdowns while adding 19 yards and 2 more touchdowns on the ground.
His connection to his receiving corps looks to be as sharp as ever, especially with his favorite target, redshirt senior wide receiver Kaedin Robinson.
The offense did a brilliant job taking care of their quarterback, not allowing a sack all game and only allowing two tackles for loss.
The Mountaineers’ defense did an admirable job of keeping the ETSU offense in check, only allowing 10 points in the game, sacking the opposing quarterback three times and tackling the opposing ball carrier for loss six times.
The weather before the game was spotty, with rain pouring down several times in the hours before the game. Luckily the weather cleared up before the game, leaving beautiful weather for an App State victory.
The Bad
The offense had a string of four straight drives where their momentum was stifled by penalties and other miscues. Aguilar looked a little over-excited and missed several throws during this period.
The Mountaineers offense never got the run game going, with only junior wide receiver Makai Jackson surpassing 40 yards, which he did because of a 47-yard touchdown run on a sweep.
The offensive line wasn’t able to create holes in the line of scrimmage and running backs were often swamped near the line of scrimmage. Â
The Ugly
Buccaneers running back Devontae Houston broke off an 80-yard touchdown run in the second quarter thanks to a poor run fit by the Mountaineers’ defense. Last year’s run defense was spotty at best, giving up many big plays over the course of the year. If the Mountaineers can’t correct that, it could be a sign of things to come.
