AU-A&M: Tigers offense lacking spark in loss to Aggies

Texas A&M defeated Auburn in College Station on Saturday. (AU Media Relations)

By TIM GAYLE

Both 13th-ranked Auburn and 14th-ranked Texas A&M were in need of an offensive spark throughout a defensive-oriented battle at Kyle Field. 

Perhaps fittingly, the only touchdown scored in Saturday’s game was scored by the defense.

Texas A&M’s Jayden Peevy stripped Bo Nix of the ball on a sack and Michael Clemons scooped up the fumble and ran 24 yards to propel the Aggies to a 20-3 win over the Tigers on Saturday in a crucial Southeastern Conference West Division battle for second place.

“Disappointed in the result of the game, obviously,” Auburn coach Bryan Harsin said. “Texas A&M is a good team, they showed that, their defense played well. You know, they played physical. I thought it was a physical game today by both sides and the score -- being three points for however long it was -- it was just a matter of time before somebody put some points on the board.

“We didn’t play well enough to win today. A&M is a good team and there’s things we have to go back and focus on, the same things we talk about every week.”

Games are usually decided by big plays but there wasn’t a lot of offensive fireworks in Saturday’s meeting, especially on the visitor’s side of the ball.

“They’re a good team,” Harsin said. “I just don’t think that we found that play, that momentum, that spark to really get us -- on the offensive side in particular -- to get us going. We had our opportunities. There was plenty of self-inflicted wounds that we had -- dropped passes, we fumbled it. There were plenty of things we could control that we didn’t help ourselves with and that hurt our offense, hurt our team.”

Texas A&M found a balance between the running of Isaiah Spiller, who had 112 yards on 21 carries, and Devon Achane, who had 98 yards on 10 carries, along with the passing of Zach Calzada, who was 15 of 29 for 192 yards. 

Auburn, meanwhile, got just 69 yards from Tank Bigsby and 14 yards from Jarquez Hunter, putting a little more on Nix, who completed 20 of 41 passes for 153 yards, but rarely had time for a deep play to develop and was sacked four times.

“We didn’t really get a lot going consistently … and the running game is a part of that,” Harsin said. “You’ve got to be able to run the ball and the run game allows us to be able to set up the pass game. We’ve been able to do that in previous games. That didn’t happen tonight.” 

Anders Carlson’s field goal made it 3-3 at the end of the first quarter, but that was all the Tigers would muster (another Carlson field goal attempt bounced off the upright) while the Aggies would get four field goals from Seth Small. 

“That was a heck of a football game,” Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said. “Auburn is a very good football team, very physical. The guys at the line of scrimmage, our defense, is absolutely outstanding. Controlling the lines of scrimmage and doing it with discipline. Bo is one heck of a football player and you can't let him get out of the pocket. We created things and we rushed and collapsed the pocket, made the ball come out. And when it did, it wasn't for big, big gains. Bigsby is a heck of a player. We tackled him well, but he's a hard runner. Our defense was outstanding.”

Auburn (6-3) dropped to 3-2 in conference play, tied with Ole Miss for third place in the SEC West heading into next week’s game with Mississippi State at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Texas A&M (7-2), meanwhile, shook off an 0-2 conference start and is heading to Ole Miss next week in second place in the SEC West at 4-2, one game behind West leader Alabama and owning the tiebreaker over the Crimson Tide because of an October win at Kyle Field. 

After beating Alabama and Auburn, the Aggies are starting to dream of a division title.  

“I’m dreaming of playing Ole Miss,” Fisher said. “I always say this, just play it out and see what happens. A lot of ball left in this season, man. There's a lot more parity than there's ever been in college football. Right now, we’d better focus on getting ready to play up at Ole Miss. That's a tough place to play. They have a heck of a football team.”