Last Saturday the 12th Man got the opportunity to witness the Aggie Football team bring home another big SEC West Win on the national stage. By defeating the Auburn Tigers for the first time at home since joining the SEC, Texas A&M also secured the Alabama State Championship by defeating both the Crimson Tide and Tigers in the same season. A pretty impressive feat that has not been done very often in the last 15 years by anybody.
But the most impressive part of the day was the performance that the Mike Elko-led defense had in front of a national audience on CBS and just under 110,000 fans at Kyle Field.
The Aggie defense played like the Wrecking Crew defense of the past. Auburn had a total of 226 total yards. 153 of those yards were passing for an average of 3.7 yards per pass. Bo Nix was held to just under a 50% completion percentage. On the ground, the Tigers only managed 73 total rushing yards for an average of 2.5 yards per rush. On top of that, the defense was physical all night long, got to QB Bo Nix multiple times and created two turnovers for the fourth consecutive week. This was ELITE DEFENSIVE PLAY by Texas A&M.
Jamie Maury, TexAgs
The Aggie defense has proven to be one of the best in the SEC and has only gotten better over the course of the season.
Early in the fourth quarter, Seth Small nailed a 47-yard field goal to give the Aggies a six-point lead and push the score to 9-3. Auburn started the next possession and their first of the fourth quarter in a game that had turned into a very physical defensive battle. The first play of that drive resulted in a first down completion to Tank Bigsby. On 2nd & 10 a few plays later, Bo Nix scrambled back to his left towards the Auburn Sideline and with Jayden Peevy in hot pursuit, Nix fumbled the football. None other than Micheal Clemons was there to scoop the football up, run 24 yards and jump like Marshawn Lynch into the end zone. The stadium absolutely erupted after what felt like the nail in the coffin for the Auburn football team.
That was your momentum-changing play of the game! The Aggie defense had played unbelievable up to that point, and by creating a turnover and putting 6 points on the board, they ultimately put Auburn away for good. The next three possessions for Auburn went: punt, turnover on downs and an interception, securing another top-15 win at home for the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Football team. And how cool that the biggest play of the game came from two super seniors who made decisions to come back in 2021 and help this Aggie Football team build on what they did in 2020.
This team continues to improve week over week since the Alabama football game. They have played outstanding on defense and have figured things out on the ground on offense. If they can continue to create two turnovers each week, run for over 200 yards and take care of the football, this Texas A&M football team will be extremely tough to beat down the stretch.
Speaking of toughness, that is something I want to watch as the 2021 season continues. How freaking tough is the team to respond the way they have after two tough losses early in the season. Zach Calzada has shown extreme toughness in the two biggest wins of the season, both mental and physical. As the season goes on, this entire football team has shown the same thing. They are beginning to dominate the line of scrimmage, they are tackling better and they seem more focused than ever.
Toughness! One of Jimbo’s key ingredients to a successful season. Toughness. Effort. Discipline. Pride. Grit. Keep playing with those five qualities and I think they can achieve everything in front of them.
