The cold November day didn’t stop Texas A&M from shaking off its November woes with a 38-24 victory over Ole Miss. Here’s what we learned from the game:
Trayveon Williams etches name in A&M record books
Ole Miss has the worst run defense in the SEC, so it was no secret that Texas A&M and Jimbo Fisher were going to exploit the Rebels run game. Williams became the fifth Aggie in school history to rush for more than 1,000 yards twice in his career. Saturday, Williams ran for 233 yards on 31 carries and a touchdown.
Williams said he is thankful for the coaching staff’s trust in him to produce for the A&M offense.
“It’s a great feeling, knowing that the coaching staff really trust in you,” Williams said. “Coach Fisher said ‘I need you son,’ and I went out there and did that for not just him, but for my teammates. It’s something that we harped on all week, going out there and playing for your brothers.”
A&M secondary gives up explosive plays, but defense holds on
Ole Miss quarterback Jordan Ta’amu threw for 373 yards and a touchdown. Ta’amu had six throws that went for more than 20 yards, including a 5-yard pass to DaMarkus Lodge during the second quarter. Overall, the Rebels had 440 yards total offense, mostly due to the Aggies holding the run game to 67 total yards.
Fisher said he was glad the defense created plays that kept the Rebels from scoring.
“We knew that they were very explosive on offense and our defense did a good job — for the most part — curtailing what they did,” Fisher said.
Scoring in the fourth quarter
A&M was scoreless in the fourth quarter over the last two weeks against Mississippi State and Auburn. Saturday, the Aggies scored 17 points in the last 15 minutes of the game to seal the victory.
Goin’ Bowlin’
For the 10th straight season, A&M will head to a bowl. With the victory, A&M moved to 6-4 on the season making the Aggies eligible to be placed in one of the SEC-affiliated bowl games.
“I didn’t even think about it until after the game when coach was like ‘With this win, it made us bowl eligible,’” Williams said. “But we weren’t worried about that. We just focused on the game, this week and went out there and played together as brothers, and now we’re bowl eligible.”
Turnovers
Both teams had a productive day on defense with the football loose on the ground. A&M senior defensive lineman Kingsley Keke forced a fumble and recovered it himself in the second quarter. The takeaway created by Keke resulted in a 21-yard touchdown pass from Kellen Mond to Camron Buckley which tied the game up just before the half.
Fisher said recovering the fumble and turning it into points was essential to the team’s success.
“Being able to create that big turnover before the half was critical,” Fisher said.
No win November might be over
In recent years, A&M has had late season spirals after strong starts. This year, Fisher and the players have preached that the late season struggles wouldn’t happen. However, after going 1-2 in the last month, many found it hard to believe. Williams said the win over Ole Miss will help set the tone for the rest of the season and change the narrative for the month of November.
“We made our mind up that we weren’t going to let the late November slump happen,” Williams said. “We played together as brothers, offense and defense. We’re trying to make change happen — build foundation for this program.”