Texas A&M football: Takeaways from Aggies dominant defensive win over Kentucky

Kellen Mond needs to take care of the ball

Turnovers, mistakes and penalties can be equalizers if you’re the only one committing them, and you saw two-thirds of that in the game on Saturday night. Despite A&M out-gaining Kentucky by a large margin (more on this later), the game still went into overtime, and it was in part due to some costly mistakes by Kellen Mond.

The first came with the Aggies getting into Kentucky territory and approaching scoring position. On a 3rd-and-8 from their 46-yard line, Mond gave the ball back to the Wildcats with an interception. This is becoming a trend for Mond, who has now thrown five interceptions in the last three games, and each were poor decisions and bad throws.

To make matters worse, when the Aggies were trying to seal the victory and convert another first down late in the fourth, Mond fumbled on what was either a busted play or a designed bootleg that Kentucky blew up. He has to learn to take the negative yards instead of playing hero ball. Instead, it led to a scoop and score for the Wildcats.

Mond is still a true sophomore and has come a long way from his erratic play as a freshman, but it’s clear he still has plenty of work to do.