Texas A&M leads the Texas Longhorns at halftime, 10-3. This has been a frustrating game so far in some ways for the Aggies, as they could easily be up 21-3 but for some wasted red zone possessions.
The game opened with some defensive stands on both sides. Neither team gained much ground on either of their first two possessions, but the Aggies began moving the ball on their third time on offense. It was that possession, however, that ended up with A&M quarterback Marcel Reed going down with an injury thanks to the cheap turf in Darrell K Royal stadium.
Most teams in the SEC use real grass, including Texas A&M, but Texas has turf in their stadium. This is one of the reasons that teams avert turf, as it can cause injuries like this when players get their cleats caught up underneath them.
The same thing happened to Ashton Bethel-Roman later in the game. On another red zone possession, he was tackled by a Texas cornerback and ended up having to be helped off of the field when his ankle was caught up in that same turf.
Texas A&M battling through adverse conditions in cheap stadium to take halftime lead
The Aggies are running the ball pretty well at this point, averaging 4.2 yards per carry right now. The real separation has come in the pass game, as the Longhonrs average only 2.2 yards per pass attempt right now. Arch is 8/23 thanks to the suffocating Aggie pass defense at this point, and he looks pretty rattled.
Marcel is 10/15 for 94 yards right now, but the Aggies have leaned on that successful run game so far after a pass-heavy start. The lone Aggie touchdown came on a handoff to KC Concepcion on an end around, as Klein continues to mix up the looks for defenses in the run game.
This could easily be a much larger deficit right now, but for the unfortunate injuries. We've seen the Aggies have some unfortunate first halves before, and they're a second-half team— so fans everywhere will be anxiously awaiting the renowned Mike Elko halftime adjustmens as the Aggies get the ball out of the half.