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COLLEGE STATION —Texas A&M quarterback Trevor Knight figures his teammates will gather in 2026, slap a few backs and dissect every detail of what happened Saturday at Kyle Field.
“Ten years from now, we’ll meet up with the guys and laugh about it,” Knight said. “It was a special night.”
A night with a fine, chalked line between laughter and tears, even a decade from now. No. 8 Texas A&M edged No. 9 Tennessee 45-38 in double overtime, a contest the Aggies led 28-7 in the third quarter before their wheels rolled off, and they furiously tightened them back on before 106,248 fans, the second-largest crowd in Kyle Field history.
“Five years ago when we decided to make the move to the SEC, this was the kind of game our administration and our people envisioned,” A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said.
Memorable touchback
Well, minus the late-game madness, although the Aggies will happily accept the result, in moving to 6-0 for the first time since 1994 under then-coach R.C. Slocum.
“This team just goes about its business and is not really interested in drama,” Sumlin said.
The drama is certainly interested in the Aggies, because it has sought them out plenty this season.
A&M safety Armani Watts sealed the victory with a gameending interception in the second overtime, after Knight had scored on a 1-yard touchdown run, but the craziest moment occurred late in the fourth quarter.
With a little less than two minutes remaining and A&M leading 35-28, freshman Trayveon Williams broke loose for what appeared to be a game-clinching touchdown run of 73 yards. Only he actually made it 71 yards along the left sideline, before Tennessee cornerback Malik Foreman, who’d given frantic chase, punched out the ball from behind, and it rolled into the end zone for a touchback.
“You could not script everything that happened after Trayveon got to the 2-yard line,” said Sumlin, shaking his head.
Tennessee, which never led in regulation, responded to Foreman’s mighty hustle with an 80-yard drive, capped by an 18yard touchdown pass from Josh Dobbs to Alvin Kamara with 41 seconds remaining.
A&M quickly responded with its own clutch drive, but Daniel LaCamera missed a 38-yard fieldgoal try that would have won the game in regulation.
Each team booted a field goal in the first overtime, and A&M had the ball first in the second go-round.
That’s when Knight hooked up with Christian Kirk for a 24-yard completion across the middle, setting up what turned out to be the winning touchdown by Knight, who bulled his way in from the left side.
On Tennessee’s first play of the second overtime, Watts stepped in front of a Joshua Dobbs pass at the A&M 6-yard line, and the party was on in College Station.
“We had seen that play earlier in the first half,” Watts said of a previous incompletion to a wideopen Volunteers receiver. “They came back to it, thinking it would be open again.”
Kyle Field milestone
A&M (6-0, 4-0 SEC) won its first top-10 game at Kyle since 1975, and first in three tries as SEC members (the Aggies exited the Big 12 prior to the 2012 season).
The Aggies’ continued bid to win their first SEC West title was greatly aided by seven turnovers by Tennessee (5-1, 2-1), which had lived on the edge all season with multiple comeback victories, including a Hail Mary to win at Georgia a week prior to its first visit to College Station.
“There aren’t many teams that could overcome all of that and get the game to overtime,” Tennessee coach Butch Jones said of the outcome at A&M.
The table is now set, at least from the Aggies’ end, for a showdown at top-ranked Alabama on Oct. 22. The Crimson Tide won at Arkansas on Saturday night and will play at Tennessee this coming Saturday; the Aggies are off that same day, leading to their trip to Tuscaloosa, Ala.
“The bye week,” Sumlin said, “comes at a great time.”
Williams rushed for 216 yards, the most by an A&M true freshman. A&M led the nation with 50 tackles for loss entering Saturday and then added eight more, including sacks by Myles Garrett and Donovan Wilson.
Tennessee played without a handful of injured starters on defense, and minus running back Jalen Hurd.
The Aggies played without starting receiver Ricky Seals-Jones (ankle) for a second consecutive week; defensive end Garrett, offensive tackle Jermaine Eluemunor and receiver Speedy Noil returned to action after missing A&M’s 24-13 victory at South Carolina a week prior.