Texas A&M barely scraped past Samford today by a score of 48-0— the shutout barely preserved after a muffed punt in the final moments by the Aggies' fourth-string returner, too. The Ags were extremely dominant throughout the entire day, allowing fewer than 100 yards of offense on the day— only 77 total for the Bulldogs.
That's not just because the Aggies left their starters out on the field all day, either. Texas A&M's top-line players were out of the game after the first quarter, scoring four times in five drives, and the backups were populating the game from that point on in front of a record-setting crowd.
The second-string struggled a bit on offense but ended up putting some points together, thanks in part to a defensive effort that was unrelenting from top to bottom on the roster. Shutouts don't come often, no matter how bad the competition, so this is a great game for the Aggies.
Texas A&M shuts Samford out as they look towards future with down-roster domination
There were plenty of standout performances from young Aggies in this game, which will be recapped in full soon, but it was quite the encouragement compared to how things went at the early part of the season. In games one and two, when the backups came in after the starters finished doing their thing, there were some emphatic points made by Mike Elko about effort and energy.
Those seem to have come home to roost, as no defensive unit on this team lacked either at any point today. Though some of the young offensive players still have work to do, the Aggies showed that they are certainly set up well for the future as a team.
Overall, this was exactly what Texas A&M needed out of this game: a tune up ahead of their rivalry matchup against the Texas Longhorns this coming Friday. Those Longhorns take on Arkansas later today in what will be a letdown-lookahead spot for them before this pivotal matchup.
For Texas A&M, getting to 11 wins for the first time since 2012 is hugely meaningful. They've all but completely locked up a playoff spot by this point, which is massive for this program going forward.