Texas A&M Football: Devon Achane leads the country in this key stat

There isn’t much good news for the Texas A&M football team after taking a loss to No. 15 Ole Miss. The Aggies now have three losses on the year, which puts their immediate hopes and dreams out of range.

But it’s not all bad.

In fact, if you look at each player’s individual performances, there were some good ones in this game. Jalen Wydermyer had a strong outing with five catches for 68 yards. Outside of two throws, Zach Calzada had a great game, accumulating 237 yards and moving the ball downfield in the second half.

Texas A&M football RB2 Devon Achane had a great game, shining in the second half against Ole Miss

In the same contest where the Aggies’ starting runningback in Isaiah Spiller only rushed for 41 yards on 15 carries, his backup had one of his best performances of the year.

Devon Achane rushed for 110 yards on just 12 carries against Ole Miss, carrying the Texas A&M football team on his back. His 9.2 yards per carry number was jarringly high in comparison to Spiller’s 2.7 — a testament to how important it is to have two strong runningbacks with different running styles.

If Spiller’s playstyle doesn’t work against a particular defense, Achane’s might.

Devon Achane found himself atop an impressive list thanks to a strong rushing performance

And even though the Aggies did not get the win, A&M did find itself atop one list. That list is the NCAA yards per carry leaderboard, where Devon Achane leapfrogged Baylor’s Abram Smith for the top spot.

On the year, Achane has rushed for 7.56 yards per carry. That puts him at first by a relatively wide margin of 0.22 yards.

Achane’s playstyle is unique to the other stat leaders on this list though. Rather than record a handful of 8-10 yard rushes, it seems like Achane gets stuffed at the line on occasion. Where he thrives is on the occasional breakaway run — with track star speed, there may not be a defender in the game who can keep up with him in open space.

Achane also showed off this speed on a kick return touchdown in Texas A&M’s upset of No. 1 Alabama.