Texas A&M isn't changing approach at No. 19 Tennessee, despite lengthy road losing streak

The date was October 16, 2021. Texas A&M won a road game at Missouri, 35-24, in front of an announced crowd of 48,139 fans at Faurot Field in Columbia, Mo. It was the last time the Aggies won a true road game.

For Tennessee, the date was November 13, 2021. Just shy of a month after the Aggies won at Mizzou, the Vols lost to No. 1 Georgia at Neyland Stadium. They haven’t lost a home game since. 

That means on Saturday, it’s Texas A&M’s streak of seven straight road losses going against No. 19 Tennessee’s run of 12 straight home wins. The Vols (4-1, 1-1 SEC) come off the open date to host the Aggies (4-2, 2-1) for a 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time kickoff on CBS.

“It’s always gonna be a tough crowd (on the road),” Texas A&M junior defensive lineman Fadil Diggs said on Monday. “We’re just gonna have to play as a team and make sure we’re all on the same page. And we can’t let the road affect us at all because like it’s just another game.”

Texas A&M visits Tennessee on seven-game road losing streak

But playing away from College Station — outside of the annual neutral-site game against Arkansas in Dallas — has proven to be more than just another game for the Aggies. 

Texas A&M lost 48-33 at Miami in its first road game this season, back on September 9. The Aggies haven’t played a true road game since, with home wins over UL Monroe, Auburn and a home loss to Alabama, along with a win over Arkansas at AT&T Stadium in Dallas on September 30.

Last season A&M went 0-4 on the road with losses at Mississippi State, at Alabama, at South Carolina and at Auburn. The Aggies in 2021 won 35-14 at Missouri in October, then lost at Ole Miss and at LSU in their final two road trips of the season. 

It was a different story in 2020, when they won at Tennessee on December 19 after wins at Auburn, at South Carolina and at Mississippi State, putting together a 9-1 record in the COVID-shortened season.

“I don’t think you change how you approach (it),” Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said. “I mean, what do you go to the hotel this day? That time?”

Instead, he explained, it’s about maturity. Mature teams win on the road win on the road, veteran teams win on the road.  

“How you play, how you practice,” he said. “We’ll do things different. We’ll crank up maybe more crowd noises, we’ll crank up more situations. That constantly does change.

“And usually on the road what happens, mature teams play well on the road. Mature teams that are confident and trusting things and believe in themselves.”

For example, he pointed to Alabama. The Crimson Tide went to Kyle Field on Saturday and beat A&M 26-20 despite committing 14 penalties for 99 yards, going 4-for-12 on third down and turning it over twice.

“What’d they have? Eight false starts?” Fisher asked on Monday. “They had (14) penalties.”

Tennessee is also riding a streak of nine straight sellouts at home, dating back to the 63-6 win over Akron in the second home game last season. 

The Vols this season have home wins over South Carolina, UTSA and Austin Peay. They went 7-0 last season, with wins over Ball State, Akron, Florida, Alabama, UT Martin, Kentucky and Missouri. After the loss to No. 1 Georgia in November 2021, Tennessee ended the regular-season schedule with home wins over South Alabama and Vanderbilt to kick start the streak.

“On the road in this league, it’s hard,” Fisher said. “Tennessee’s one of those hard places (to play). But hopefully your maturity and your leadership, and we’re a little bit older this year, hopefully those things will help.”

‘Playing college football … you dream of having moments like this’

Junior defensive lineman Layden Robinson said what will help the most is tuning out the crowd noise, at least as best the Aggies can.

“Zone out everything else and just play our game,” he said. “And make sure that we have the communication. That’s a really big part on the road, especially where the fans are going be rowdy, they’re going to be excited too. And especially when we get in the red zone, they gonna be trying to give even louder so that we can’t communicate. 

“So the big thing about this week is just keeping our poise and making sure that we listen — that we listen to our quarterback, we listen to the calls, we listen to anything checked. That’s very vital this week. Keep our poise and just focus and make sure we stay focused, uh, during every asset of this game.”

Texas A&M joined the SEC before the 2012 season but on Saturday the Aggies will play their first full-capacity game at Neyland Stadium. The game in December 2020 was played in front an announced crowd of 22,645, while the Vols were limited to 25-percent capacity for home games during the COVID season.

Robinson was a freshman on that A&M team. The Aggies won 34-13 to end Tennessee’s miserable 3-7 season. 

“Now we get to play there when it’s at full capacity,” Robinson said, “and playing college football, big-time college football, you dream of having moments like this, where you’re playing in atmospheres like that. Just to have that experience and just do all that you can do to come out on top and stuff like that.”