Breaking down Le'Veon Moss's fourth quarter heroics for Texas A&M football
Texas A&M football's offense, thanks to the lack of a consistent vertical passing component, was spinning its wheels for a lot of the day on Saturday. The Arkansas defense was delivering, doing their part as the stout rush defense that the numbers showed they were coming into the day.
When nothing had been working all day for the Aggies—open passes dialed up by Klein missed by Reed, the Hog defense hedging against the Aggies suddenly having downfield success, Reed's legs becoming a complete non-factor—one man stepped into the limelight and took control.
Le'Veon Moss had had a quiet game coming into the fourth quarter, with only four carries up until that point. He flipped that around completely in the final frame, racking up 90 yards on 6 carries—good for 15 YPC. The highlight of this stretch was his three runs on the touchdown drive, where he went for 23, then 8, then 15 yards on three straight plays.
Junior RB Le’Veon Moss went over the 1,000-yard mark in career, ending the contest with 1,069 rushing yards to crack the A&M top 50 at No. 49.#GigEm pic.twitter.com/l7ymF7FrU2
— Texas A&M Athletics Communications (@12thmanPR) September 29, 2024
The Hogs started to load up against the run even more than they had been, but whether it was the sheer strength of the Aggie OL, the hard-charging style of Moss, or Tommy Moffitt's strength and conditioning program showing its results, they were unable to bring him down.
Make no mistake: though it was Tre Watson that got the touchdown, this was a Le'Veon Moss drive. But he wasn't done yet.
After one of the more improbable punts you'll ever see by the Razorbacks, the Aggies were backed up inside their own one. Credit where credit is due, the unshakeable Reed completed a pass to Jabre Barber on a designed rollout to get the Ags out from under the shadow of their own goalposts. But then, Moss made one more play—a thirty yard dash that ended up drawing a facemask penalty—and even then the Hogs couldn't bring him down.
He then salted away the win with a pair of seven-yard runs on the Aggies' next possession after a forced fumble by Nic Scourton. According to Billy Liucci on the Loochador podcast, as well, Moss was reportedly banged up in this one—which makes this performance all the more impressive.
More and more, Moss has the look of a premier SEC back. With the way this A&M rushing offense is coming along, that development has to be up there as one of the most promising for the Aggies yet this year.