After losing by 28 points to Alabama on Saturday and posting a five-point win over Vanderbilt in Week 1, Texas A&M has had a rough start to the 2020 football season.
During their first road game of the season against the Crimson Tide, the Aggies had a chance to get on the board first with a field goal from the 20-yard line. However, junior kicker Seth Small missed the field goal, and Alabama followed with a 78-yard receiving touchdown during its opening drive to quickly take control of the game. The rest of the game was plagued with frustrations for A&M including penalties and an interception.
Though they went down 14-0 early, the Aggies rebounded to tie the game early in the second quarter. That momentum didn’t last long though.
After a rushing touchdown by senior Najee Harris, Alabama redshirt junior defensive back Daniel Wright prevented the Aggies from coming close to the Crimson Tide’s lead. With 6:19 left in the first half, he intercepted a Mond pass and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown to extend Alabama’s lead to 28-14.
Senior linebacker Buddy Johnson said the tie surprised some players.
“We were like, ‘Okay, we can compete with these guys,’” Johnson said. “It’s important for the leaders of the team to make sure they guys aren’t getting carried away or lost in the moment. I think guys were shocked that we were right there with them, and there’s no reason to feel that way.”
A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said the Aggies missed several opportunities to score, ultimately costing them the game.
“We’re missing opportunities. We have to understand how to maximize opportunities and put pressure on the opponent,” Fisher said. “We have to do it on a more consistent basis. There’s a lot of work to be done.”
Senior quarterback Kellen Mond also said small missed details by the team made the game worse for the Aggies than it actually was.
“Just a couple of details that cost us,” Mond said. “It made that game a lot worse than it was.”
The Aggies had four offensive penalties for 25 yards and three defensive penalties for 33 yards. False start and pass interference were the most common penalties for A&M. Freshman defensive back Jaylon Jones and junior defensive back Keldrick Carper were flagged for pass interference. Sophomore tight end Jalen Wydermyer and freshman wide receiver Kam Brown received the flags for false starts.
Fisher said the avoidable miscues were frustrating for the Aggies during the game.
“Offense we had some opportunities, we had a missed field goal, some dropped balls down in the red zone,” Fisher said. “We [have] got to get that fixed and we will continue to work on that.”
There were defensive frustrations as well, as the A&M defense allowed the Crimson Tide to roll over them with 435 receiving yards and 109 rushing yards.
Johnson said he felt the team got caught up in the game, which caused them to disregard the details they should have been focused on.
“I think it was very frustrating, it’s important that we stay locked in on the small detail,” Johnson said. “I think at times we got carried away.”