The App State Mountaineers take on the Texas A&M Aggies. Check out our college football odds series for our App State Texas A&M prediction and pick.
The App State Mountaineers played the craziest game of Week 1 of the 2022 college football season. Houston-UTSA was special and memorable. West Virginia-Pittsburgh was fascinating and interesting from start to finish. Notre Dame-Ohio State was close and hard-fought. All those games paled in comparison, however, to App State's nutty and insane 63-61 loss to North Carolina in overtime. Get this: The score was 56-49 in the final minute. Three touchdowns were scored in that final minute. App State scored to make the game 56-55 for UNC. The Mountaineers went for two and the win, but quarterback Chase Brice overthrew a wide-open receiver at the goal line. This necessitated an onside kick which North Carolina ran back for a touchdown instead of falling on the ball and ending the game. Yes, Carolina scored seven points, but App State got another possession down eight. Of course the Mountaineers scored. They then went for two and the tie, but Brice was stopped on a quarterback keeper at the 1-yard line. Now App State has to regroup from that draining game and face A&M in College Station.
Texas A&M's offense looked bad in Game 1. Quarterback Haynes King, who was injured early in the 2021 season and watched Zach Calzada take over the offense, has his chance to take ownership of the Aggies' offense this year, but he didn't look like the man for the job in Week 1 against Sam Houston State. King threw two interceptions, and the offense needed more than 29 minutes to score its second touchdown of the day. Coach Jimbo Fisher has to hope that Game 1 was one of those days when a team gets all the bad plays out of its system. Anything remotely close to this level of performance will get hammered by a good team later in the SEC season. The A&M game against Sam Houston was delayed by weather, so no one should focus too much on the second-half numbers from that contest.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the App State-Texas A&M College Football odds.
College Football Odds: App State-Texas A&M Odds
App State Mountaineers: +18.5 (-105)
Texas A&M: -18.5 (-115)
Over: 53.5 (-115)
Under: 53.5 (-105)
Why App State Could Cover the Spread
Did you see Texas A&M's offense against Sam Houston? If A&M is anywhere close to that level of performance, App State will almost certainly cover the spread. The Mountaineers scored 61 points last week; merely tallying 14 or 17 points will cover the spread if A&M's offense is not noticeably better in Week 2. There is legitimate concern that Haynes King is simply not a very good quarterback. He is unproven right now, and until he really steps up and shows that he is ready for the big leagues, it's not worth betting that he will get the job done.
Why Texas A&M Could Cover the Spread
After losing that very long, very draining game against North Carolina, App State will have nothing left in the tank for Texas A&M. Physically and mentally, that was a taxing game for the Mountaineers, who now have to go on the road and play against an A&M squad which had a weather-delayed game last week. That detail about the weather delay might not seem like a big deal, but a weather delay takes a lot of the energy and passion out of a football game. Getting a long, extended midgame break disrupts the adrenaline rush which is part of football. A&M players probably think they didn't play a full game in a larger sense in Week 1. They will want to play hard and well in this game against App State.
Also: App State's defense was atrocious against North Carolina. This is exactly the kind of defense Haynes King can get healthy against.
Final App State-Texas A&M Prediction & Pick
App State will have a tough time bouncing back from that North Carolina game. Also, App State's defense is likely to get torn to shreds by A&M. Physically, this game is likely to become a mismatch. A&M should pull away for a lopsided win.
Final App State-Texas A&M Prediction & Pick: Texas A&M -18.5
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