The Aggies were tested by an ACC frontrunner and failed. Maybe not as miserably as LSU failed against ACC favorite Florida State, but more in the line of South Carolina failing against ACC contender North Carolina. Has the ACC surpassed the SEC this season in overall ability? Well, that’s another discussion for another time.

But Miami’s 48-33 convincer over Texas A&M on Saturday divided the teams into contender and pretender. Unfortunately, the Aggies have not advanced past the latter. Glaring deficiencies remain. Can the lingering problems eventually get fixed, or is this just the latest verse in the same old song? That remains to be seen.

Here is the Aggies’ stock report after Week 2.

Player of the Week: WR Evan Stewart

It’s a stretch to say anyone had a particularly good game, but we had to choose someone. Stewart hauled in a game-high 11 passes for 142 yards, including a 44-yard completion the longest play of the game for the Aggies.

He didn’t find the end zone, but he helped his team move up and down the field on several scoring drives.

Freshman of the Week: LB Taurean York

The 6-3, 230-pounder from Temple, Texas, led the Aggies with 7 tackles, including 3 solos.

Linebacker play is one area the Aggies needed to improve upon this season, and the hope is that York will mature into a key contributor to that cause. Saturday was a start.

Biggest surprise: Soft line play

The Aggies should be getting more production out of their veteran offensive line. But they just aren’t. The run game was ineffective to say the least, at that made things difficult for the offense overall.

As for the defensive line, it didn’t do any favors for the secondary, allowing Miami QB Tyler Van Dyke to work unabated all afternoon. More on that follows.

Biggest concern: Where to begin?

We could talk about the lack of a running game. We could discuss whether or not these Aggies are just too soft. But what happened to the pass defense? The one that led the SEC just 1 year ago. The one that allowed just 156 passing yards per game in 2022 and limited New Mexico to 131 yards in the 2023 season opener.

Miami’s Van Dyke carved up that once proud pass defense to the tune of 374 yards and 5 TDs, one shy of the program record of 6 in a game. He sat in the pocket all afternoon with little to no pressure from the Aggies’ defensive line. Poor coverage and equally poor tackling resulted in an embarrassing final stat total.

Developing trend: Road Woeiors

This is a trend that’s been developing for some time now. The Aggies have lost their past 7 true road games and a total of 10 consecutive road games against ranked opponents. The Aggies’ last road victory over a ranked team was back in 2014, a 41-38 victory at No. 3 Auburn.

That’s a trend that has to be reversed if this program wants to be among the elite. All 4 SEC road games on the 2023 schedule will likely be against ranked teams — Alabama, Tennessee, Ole Miss and LSU.

Key stat: Third-down inefficiency

The Aggies moved the football but converted just 8 of 18 3rd downs. Total yardage was fairly close, with Miami holding a slim 451-433 edge. The Aggies won the battle of first downs, 26-16, and held an advantage in time of possession – 32:05 to 27:55.

But an inability to continue key drives spelled defeat for the Aggies, who slipped to 1-1 for the season.

First impression about Week 3: Returning home

The Aggies return home to the friendly confines of Kyle Field where they’ll welcome in the University of Louisiana-Monroe, i.e. a cupcake, for a 3 p.m. Saturday game. That’s just what the Aggies will need to bounce back from the disappointing trip down to South Florida.

It will be an opportunity to correct some things and get ready for SEC play, which begins the following Saturday against Auburn at Kyle Field.