Texas A&M improves to 5-0 with Alabama looming next on schedule

Fueled by an opportunistic defense, a strong performance from sophomore quarterback Kyle Allen and more than 104,000 fans, No. 14 Texas A&M earned its first home SEC victory since 2013 Saturday night overwhelming No. 21 Mississippi State.

Allen outshined his counterpart, Dak Prescott, who struggled finding time and room to operate most of the night against the swarming Texas A&M defense led by defensive end Myles Garrett. The Aggies never trailed in the 30-17 win.

A week after his defense allowed more than 200 rushing yards to Arkansas, defensive coordinator John Chavis had his unit pressuring Prescott throughout the first half and well into the second until Prescott chose to become more of a running threat. Mississippi State didn’t help itself with a pair of fumbles when the offense was moving the chains.

Allen threw a pair of first-quarter touchdown passes. The first went to Ricky Seals-Jones, who was later ejected from the game for targeting. Allen also connected with Damion Ratley on a 29-yard score.

Malik Dear scored a 52-yard touchdown in the second quarter to keep the Bulldogs in the game, but the Mississippi State offense didn’t get back into the end zone until early in the fourth quarter when Prescott ran in from four yards out.

Allen produced his second consecutive 300-yard passing day with 322 yards. He completed 25 of 41 passes and also ran for 65 yards on a night when he didn’t have two of his best weapons for all or part of the game. The Aggies improved to 5-0 and seem to be coming around on defense with a week off before hosting Alabama in what will be one of the biggest games of the season in the SEC West.

For more on Texas A&M visit Aggieyell.com

For more on Mississippi State visit BulldogBlitz.com

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[Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo