In a sloppy, mistake ridden first half by both teams, Texas A&M trails Ole Miss 16-3 at halftime.
Both teams went scoreless on their first drives. A&M saw its first extended with a roughing the kicker penalty, but ultimately was forced to punt. Ole Miss got deep into Aggie territory, but a missed field goal kept it scoreless.
The Aggie offense struggled moving the ball against the tough, quick Ole Miss defense, and Drew Kaser was forced to punt three times, and the Aggies also lost a fumble deep in their own territory to add to the offensive woes.
Ole Miss got on the board first with a six-play 79-yard drive that was capped off by a seven-yard touchdown pass from Chad Kelly to tight end Evan Ingram for a 7-0 lead. Kelley was 14-for-20 for 116 yards with one touchdown and an interception in the half.
The Rebels found their way on the board again with a Cody Wunderlich field goal to extend the lead to 10-0. Then, after a fumble on an exchange between A&M’s Kyle Allen and Tra Carson, Ole Miss found themselves starting a drive at the A&M 38-yard line. However, thanks to a big stop from the Aggie defense, they escaped allowing only a field goal, and giving Ole Miss a 13-0 advantage
Penalties were detrimental to A&M in the first half, and were a main reason for how A&M found themselves in a hole. They had nine penalties called on the first half alone for 87 yards.
Myles Garrett was his usual self in the first half, and even made his first career interception off a batted ball at the line of scrimmage. His turnover set up A&M in Ole Miss territory, but the Aggies had to settle for a Taylor Bertolet field goal, and the Aggies trailed 13-3 with 2:27 to go in the half.
The end of the half was eventful. Three of the final four possessions of the first half ended in turnovers. First, A&M’s star freshman Christian Kirk muffed a punt to set Ole Miss up in Aggie territory. On the next drive, A&M recovered a fumble after a strip by Armani Watts, but on the next play, Allen’s pass to Damion Ratley was tipped and intercepted.
Allen was 11-for-18 for 90 yards and one interception in the first two quarters.
Ole Miss converted the Aggie turnover into points, and ended the half with a short field goal to make it 16-3 at the break.