If anything, Saturday night proved that App State isn’t back. But it might be closer than we think.

You see the promise on offense, you see the good defense. But they need to complement each other. When the offense can’t score in the red zone early, it puts the defense in bad spots.

This game also saw App State fall behind early in the second quarter, 10-7. The next drive, the Mountaineers drove 71 yards in 8 plays, getting to the 4-yard line and faced a 3rd and Goal.

The pass to Dubinion was decent. A.J. Swann didn’t put it in the strike zone, something he has had issues with at times. The ball was in front of Dubinion, who stretched out to catch it.

In the moment, you couldn’t believe a ball like that would pop back up in the air, that he was down somehow, or something else that would not let this Pick Six stand. But it did. And what looked to be App State re-taking the lead turned into a two-score deficit.

Swann’s first and third interceptions, both in the end zone, were bad decisions after long drives. Then his knee hurt and in came true freshman Noah Gillon. J.J. Kohl was a game-time decision due to a mystery injury that hasn’t been disclosed, even in the availability report.

Gillon looked like a true freshman struggling to adapt to the speed of the college game. He looked decent by the end, but you could quickly ascertain that it was going to be really hard for App State to win.

A lot depends on Swann’s injury and its severity. If he’s out for a bit, Dowell might do something he’s done before and change the entire offense during the off week. Or at least the red zone offense.

For the defense, the only thing I’ll say is that they looked really flat coming out of halftime. Southern Miss was pushing forward on plays they weren’t in the first half.

It’s far from time to panic. The loss sucks, but all the issues look fixable.
But a team so close to being back can lose its way if they don’t take the next step. The next two games are at Boise State and against Oregon State. The Broncos are the big one, coming off a College Football Playoff appearance. They host Air Force this Saturday.