Three Turning Points from Texas A&M Football vs. Auburn

Texas A&M Football’s Scoop and Score Overturned

This was a huge turning point early in this game. The Aggies had been moving effectively on offense but had been troubled by red zone execution, leading to a 6-0 lead. When Edgerrin Cooper picked up what looked like an Auburn fumble and sprinted for the end zone, Aggie fans were seeing shades of Micheal Clemons from two years prior. It looked like this would be the time that the game would be blown open in favor of the Aggies.

Instead, following a lengthy injury timeout after Auburn RB Damari Alston went down, a review was initiated from the booth. The toss play had apparently been borderline enough to where the referees wanted to check if it actually was a backwards pass—and even if it wasn’t, to see if Alston had firm control on what would at that point be a forward pass before the ball was jarred loose. As it turned out, the referees would decide, despite the inconclusive nature of the video evidence and the call on the field favoring the Aggies, that the pass was forward; thus, the Aggie touchdown was taken off the board. This gave the Tigers the ball, with 3rd and 8 to go, just inside the red zone.

Even so, the defense for Texas A&M football answered the bell. That third down play would result in a sack for the Aggies (one of seven on the day) of Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne. This moved Auburn back out of field goal range and forced them to punt. This response by the Aggie defense was directly responsible for that three-point swing—I have every confidence in Auburn’s kicker (the little brother of Cincinnati Bengals kicker Evan McPherson) to make a long-distance kick there if there was a no-gain or positive play on third down, which would have made the halftime score a tie instead of an Aggie lead.