In a game that could not have felt more opposite of Texas A&M’s 41-40 shootout with Notre Dame two weeks, ago, the Aggies won an absolute slogfest at Kyle Field on Saturday, taking down Auburn 16-10 in a penalty-fueled
nightmare of a game. The most important thing is A&M got to 4-0, but let’s look at some other stats that stood out in this one.
Salient Stats
- 0: Third and fourth down conversions for Auburn. It’s hard to overstate the defensive performance in this one. Nobody is going to accuse Auburn of being an offensive juggernaut, but they absolutely stifled an Auburn team that actually had been pretty good on third downs thus far. Getting off the field with such consistency was vital in a game where every single point mattered.
- 6.6: Yards per carry for Le’Veon Moss. This dude looked every bit the NFL prospect that he is on Saturday, running with exceptional physicality against what is supposed to be a stout Auburn run defense. Obviously some critical mistakes wasted a good bit of this production, but he also had a long run that set up A&M’s only touchdown of the day before punching it in from the one yard line. Moss is reminding everyone how much we missed him down the stretch last season.
- 7: Tackles for A&M LB Taurean York. Two weeks ago in South Bend, York often looked out-matched physically, but man did he redeem himself yesterday. Of his seven tackles, six were solo (many in the open field), one was a sack and the other was a tackle for loss on a pass to to the flat. He also added a pass deflection (that was almost an interception) for good measure. It felt like every time you saw someone making a good play on defense, it was Taurean.
- 13: Penalties for the second game in a row. This has simply got to stop. I can recall three different times a defensive penalty on third our fourth down extended an Auburn drive, and can think of even more times an offensive penalty negated a big gain (the Mario Craver touchdown chief among them). Maybe the refs were being more hypercritical than usual yesterday, but this A&M team also hasn’t earned much benefit of the doubt on that front. They have to find a way to play physically without committing penalties if they want to continue to win games.
- 13: Straight home wins over unranked opponents for Texas A&M. That’s not going to wow anybody, but part of being a good program is simply winning the games that you’re supposed to. If the Aggies can keep up this streak for three more weeks, they’ll have themselves at 7-0 for the first time in more than 30 years.
- 18: Receiving yards for Auburn WR Cam Coleman. Certainly Jackson Arnold’s questionable QB play was a part of this equation as well, but it was so great to see the A&M secondary get redemption after Coleman went off for 128 yards and two touchdowns on the Aggies a year ago.
- +237: Yardage advantage for A&M. The penalties, missed field goals and one beyond costly turnover marred what otherwise was a pretty successful day on offense for the Aggies. When you more than double up your opponent in both yardage and first downs, that’s supposed to be the marker of a dominant win. Instead, it was a nailbiter to the finish. Obviously things to correct, but the efficiency metrics are going to paint a picture of a game where A&M was the far superior team.
- 102,000+: The number of fans in the stands next week against Mississippi State who will NOT have cowbwells next Saturday. The Bulldogs have proven they are not to be overlooked by any means (they upset Arizona State and almost did the same to Tennessee yesterday). That said, the fact that this game is in College Station rather than Starkville fills me with a lot more confidence.
