Everything went according to plan for Texas A&M in their game against the lowly Samford Bulldogs. The Aggies held out a handful of key players like Rueben Owens, EJ Smith, and Mario Craver to allow them
to rest and heal up before next week’s matchup with Texas. With those players on the shelf, A&M was still able to build a comfortable 28-0 lead early in the second quarter and get their backups and young guys into the game.
Marcel Reed led the Aggie offense for their first five drives of the game, completing 10/15 passes for 120 yards and 3 touchdowns. Ashton Bethel-Roman continued to emerge as he hauled in two of Reed’s passes for touchdowns (one a 3-yard pass, the other a 58-yard deep strike). With three running backs sidelined for today’s game, Amari Daniels had his best outing of the season with 9 carries for 106 yards and one touchdown.
After Reed exited the game, all three of the other scholarship QBs on the A&M roster were able to get in the game at some point. True freshman Brady Hart had the most yards of that group, completing 5/9 passes for 62 yards. True freshman Tiger Riden received a significant work load (11 carries for 45 yards) and scored the first touchdown of his college career.
The Aggie defense completely shut down Samford, allowing just 27 yards in the first half and 77 total yards in the game while pitching a shutout. Samford was able to get into field goal range once, but freshman DT Landon Rink blocked the kick. The dominance wasn’t splashy. A&M had no interceptions, no fumbles, and only recorded one sack (courtesy of 12th Man Nana Boadi-Owusu). However, they did rack up 11 TFLs with 11 different players being credited for at least 0.5 of a TFL.
All in all, it was a workman-like performance and exactly what Coach Elko wanted to see from his team against an FCS team. They put Samford away early, were able to get their 3rd and 4th string players some live reps, and, most importantly, stayed healthy. Texas A&M now sits at 11-0 for the first time since 1992 and will travel to Austin next week with an undefeated regular season and SEC Championship birth on the line.
