This one was much less dramatic, and, in retrospect, kind of a dud. It was an exciting environment, to be sure, and came with a lot of buildup. A primetime matchup with a name-brand, out of conference opponent? Even in the early-season Texas heat (mitigated by the kickoff time, of course), this was a hot ticket.
What took place, of course, was a bit of a grind of a game. Texas A&M football eventually took a 17-3 lead not long into the second quarter, but Max Johnson couldn’t do a whole lot in his first start for the Aggies. The only players to generate significant offense on that night were Devon Achane and Ainias Smith.
This was also a game that signaled bad things to come for the then-freshman class. Smoke Bouie, Denver Harris, Chris Marshall, and Evan Stewart were all suspended for the game, which certainly didn’t help the offense.
Tyler Van Dyke, unlike a year later, was unable to do much against the Aggie secondary. Several times, Aggie DBs should have intercepted his errant passes, but they gave him chance after chance with their drops.
This game was another testament to the faithfulness of the Aggie fanbase. Only a week prior, Texas A&M football walked off the field in disgrace after losing a 17-14 game to App State. To show out in such huge numbers was quite the statement—not lost on announcers Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler, either.