A late 22-yard rushing touchdown from tailback Isaiah Spiller sealed the win for Texas A&M over Ole Miss in Oxford Saturday night, 24-17.
For the first time since A&M’s matchup against Lamar, the running game was established with Spiller, who picked up 78 rushing yards on 16 carries. It was the most that the freshman has run for against Power 5 opponents in his career.
Quarterback Kellen Mond was more effective on the ground with 76 yards of his own, picking up key checkdowns to extend drives. Sophomore tailback Cordarrian Richardson also made an appearance in a reserve role.
Despite a notable rushing performance for Mond, the junior signal caller threw more interceptions than touchdowns for the first time since the Aggies faced Arkansas in 2018. His 172 passing yards were the lowest Mond has thrown all season.
A&M shined defensively as well, headlined by a scoop-and-score made by linebacker Buddy Johnson in the third quarter to go up 17-14 after an Ole Miss touchdown to start the second half.
“I got to give the credit to [Elijah] Blades,” Johnson said. “He was the one that made the strip sack … It changed the momentum. It gave us momentum to put points on the board, and that’s what we got to get. We got to get turnovers.”
The play began a scoreless streak for the Rebels, with the Aggies stymying the Ole Miss offense with a blocked field goal and an interception on consecutive drives.
A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said that there is still room to improve on the offense.
“We had three or four critical pass interference plays,” Fisher said. “We gotta learn how to play the ball, we got to press it and not give up those.”
The Rebels were able to establish their offense through the run game with running backs Jerrion Ealy and Scottie Phillips combining for 147 of Ole Miss’ 255 rushing yards.
Ole Miss missed the dynamic rushing performance of quarterback John Rhys Plumlee, who recorded 109, 165 and 143 yards on the ground in the past three contests. The freshman finished the game with 40 yards and 4 completions for 31 yards.
Ole Miss coach Matt Luke used Plumlee as part of a dual-quarterback system, utilizing redshirt freshman quarterback Matt Corral in passing situations. Corral picked up 124 yards through the air and an interception in his backup role.
The road conference win was the first for A&M since beating South Carolina in 2018, and its second SEC win of the season.
“It’s an SEC road game,” wideout Jhamon Ausbon said. “You can’t complain with a win, but there’s obviously room for improvement. [We’ll] come back, go to the drawing boards and learn from this.”
Ole Miss’ record under Luke extends to 8-12, and sustains the third-straight loss to A&M.
The Aggies will look for its first home conference win as they host Mississippi State on Saturday, Oct. 26. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m., and the game will be televised on SEC Network.