AGGIES RALLY
BehindMond, offense rallies to shut out Tigers in final quarter to keep their playoff hopes alive
A&M pulls off a comeback win at Auburn; Rice ends 30-game skid against ranked teams.
Senior quarterback Kellen Mond is aware of Texas A&M’s recent history against Auburn – it’s more personal to him than anyone, including third-year A&M coach Jimbo Fisher.
“Auburn is a really good team, and they’ve had really good teams in the past,” said Mond, before dropping a sharp reminder: “My freshman year, this was the team I was benched against.”
That was in 2017, before Fisher even arrived atA&M.
Saturday, the four-year starter finally earned the last laugh against the Tigers in directing a 31-20 comeback victory at Jordan-Hare Stadium and snapping a three-game losing streak to Auburn.
“A huge win,” Mond readily admitted.
For a bigger reason than earning payback on the Tigers, however. By overcoming a fourth-quarter deficit and prevailing by double digits, No. 5 A&M kept firmly in themix for its first fourteam College Football Playoff berth. Fisher was asked afterward if he thought the win was “convincing” enough to impress the CFP committee down the stretch.
“That’s for y’all to judge,” Fisher said. “I’m glad we’re winning and glad we’re playing and don’t really care … I’m not worried about ‘convincing,’ I’m worried about us playing well and doing the best we can each and every play.”
A&M (7-1) trailed Auburn (5-4) 20-14 early in the fourth quarter before its offense kicked into overdrive. The Aggies outscored the Tigers 17-0 over the final 13:31 to win their sixth consecutive game, including the last five by double digits.
“When we needed a play to happen, we had the play happen,” said tight end Jalen Wydermyer, who had both of the Aggies’ touchdown catches. “Our practices prepare us for the fourth quarter – our fourth quarter drills prepare us for the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter is the most important quarter of the game, so we prepare for it. We’re just more prepared.”
A little luck played a role in the win, too. A&M’s goahead touchdown in the fourth quarter occurred when Mond found Wydermyer
over the middle for a 20-yard touchdown pass – with a big hiccup along the way.
Mond’s pass was underthrown and bounced off the outstretched hands of Auburn linebacker Zakoby McClain. Wydermyer coolly followed the deflected ball and hauled in the score in lifting A&M to a onepoint lead on a 75-yard drive a little more than a minute into the fourth quarter.
“It wasn’t a good (thrown) ball, and obviously I can say that,” Mond said with a slight smile. “I’ve got to put it higher – I can’tmiss on those. I understand I can’t do that again.”
Buoyed by the 21-20 lead, A&M’s defense forced a three-and-out possession by Auburn’s offense, and the Aggies responded by marching 77 yards for another touchdown, a drive keyed by Mond’s 38-yard completion to Ainias Smith to the Auburn 4-yard line.
A play later, the versatile Smith lined up at tailback
behind Isaiah Spiller, who took a turn at fullback, and Smith punched in another score behind Spiller’s blocking.
“That says a lot about him and our football team,” Fisher said of the tailback Spiller’s willingness to play fullback in helping propel A&M to a 28-20 lead with 8:12 remaining.
By then, Spiller was toying with the Tigers in rushing for a game-high 120 yards on 20 carries. Fisher consistently leaned on the run game, with shifty freshman Devon Achane adding 99 yards on only nine carries in wearing down Auburn.
Fisher’s hardnosed strategy
worked as A&M finishedwith a season-high 313 rushing yards, and the Tigers appeared gassed on defense by the time Aggies kicker Seth Small booted a 32-yard field goal with 1:09 remaining to put the contest out of reach.
The Aggies have won their last five games against Mississippi State, Arkansas, South Carolina, LSU and Auburn by an average of 19 points, and defeated No. 6 Florida 41-38 before that. Their lone loss is 52-24 at top-ranked Alabama in Week 2.
“We need to make a statement every timewe hit the field that we can play,” Wydermyer said. “Because there are always going tobe people who say, ‘A&M ain’t this’ or ‘A&M ain’t that,’ (but) we can play, we’re ballers. We’ll just take the field every time and see what happens.”
The Aggies are scheduled to host Mississippi on Saturday, but the Rebels have paused football activities through at least Wednesday
because of multiple COVID-19 cases. Mississippi would have only two days of practice leading to the game. A&M is set to close out its regular season at
Tennessee on Dec. 19 and the CFP committee is scheduled to name its final four Dec. 20.
Mond on Saturday became the third quarterback in SEC history to throw for at least 9,000 yards and rush for at1,500 yards in his career, joining Florida’s Tim Tebow and Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott.
For a second straight week, A&M five-star freshman receiver Demond Demas did not play for an undisclosed reason, and safety Demani Richardson missed the game because of an injury. Fisher said Demas was “unavailable,” and Richardson was “nicked up” and week-to-week with the setback.
In addition, cornerback Elijah Blades returned to the program thisweek after originally opting out of his senior season in the summer.