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

Defense for Texas A&M Football Stands Tall Late in Game

On the very next drive, however, disaster struck for the Aggies. An outside run for Rueben Owens turned into an Auburn score when the ball popped out. Eugene Asante recovered it and began streaking down the sideline—right past Texas A&M football head coach Jimbo Fisher, who was out on the field—and into the end zone, outpacing Max Johnson who almost tracked him down. This made the score 20-10, which felt unnerving to Aggie fans—even though it felt like the Ags had seized control, to be only within 10 points at this juncture was too close for comfort.

The Aggie offense didn’t do anything to help that feeling, either. Their next drive ended with a punt after only one first down. Auburn got the ball and, behind some zone read play from Auburn’s running QB in Robby Ashford, began to chip their way down the field. Time was ticking down, and it felt like Auburn might have a shot to tie things up before all was said and done.

Then, when the Auburn offense made their way just outside the red zone, the Aggie DL struck. What seemed like no fewer than four players converged on the mesh point between Ashford and the Auburn RB, enveloping the Auburn play and absolutely blowing things up for a five-yard loss. This brought some juice back into what had been feeling like a deflated Aggie defensive unit, and they began to play with more energy from that point on. The Tigers would only move backwards from there, with a holding penalty on third taking them further back and a great read by Malick Sylla snuffing out the ensuing play. Auburn was forced once again, rather than kick a field goal, to punt the ball back to the Aggies. The offense for Texas A&M football sealed the deal at that point, with a huge run from Amari Daniels setting up a touchdown from Le’Veon Moss that iced the game at 27-10. That play just outside the red zone is where the switch flipped for the Aggies, and they didn’t let up from that point on.