Texas A&M Football: 5 Numbers that Summarize Crushing Loss in Oxford

Notable Numbers from Texas A&M Football Loss to Ole Miss

The loss by Texas A&M football to Ole Miss felt, in some ways, all-too-familiar—another top-10 loss on the road, unable to execute in key moments, etc.—but there was a lot about this game that broke the mold for how this Texas A&M football team has played this year. I’ve collected here the five numbers that, in my opinion, best explain how this game went. Raw data via collegefootballdata.com and cfbstats.com, with some numbers by my own calculation.

• 11.7: YPA allowed by the Aggie pass defense. This is the second-highest mark given up this year behind, of course, the debacle in Miami. Even though the Rebels average 10 YPA (4th highest in the nation), and you were without your top two corners, this is still unacceptable. This continues the trend of the Aggie pass defense being very boom-or-bust this year—in games where opponents have attempted 20 or more passes against the Ags, they’ve allowed 2.4, 4.7, 4.5, 5.3, 9.7, 11.7, and 12.5 YPA, from lowest to highest.
• 2.90: Points per drive by the offense for Texas A&M football. This is the highest mark the Aggies have reached since Weigman went down for the season; and thus the highest they’ve yet recorded in conference play. The next highest was last week, against South Carolina, at 2.50 points per drive. Adjusted for opponent, this is still the highest mark the Aggies have notched in conference play—but also a lower mark than any of the adjusted numbers from Weigman starts.
• 3.45: Points per drive allowed by the defense. This is the second time the Aggies have allowed more than 2.00 PPD on defense, with the other occurrence being (again) Miami, who garnered 3.50 PPD. This is another extremely feast-or-famine metric for the Aggie defense, as 7 out of 9 teams have failed to crack even two points per drive, and then you have two teams that are basically scoring seven points every other time they get the ball.
• 50%: Success rate gained by the Aggies in this game. Half of all their plays were considered successful in the game, speaking to their consistent ability to move the ball up and down the field. This is the highest mark reached this year in conference play, and the second highest all year (behind a 58% mark reached against ULM).
• 0: Plays of 30 yards or more by the Aggie offense. For however consistent the Aggies were, they were patently inexplosive. There are situations where you want to grind things out and pick up first down after first down before converting in the red zone—which the Aggies were doing, and doing well—but the Aggies were unable to keep pace with the Rebels in this one, who hit 4 plays of 30+ yards in this one (all passes).