Ole Miss stifles Texas A&M 23-3
No. 24 Ole Miss bounced back from its loss to Memphis last week with a convincing 23-3 win over No. 15 Texas A&M Saturday night.
The Ole Miss defense prevented the Texas A&M offense from getting anywhere near the end zone. Or, if you prefer, the Texas A&M offense prevented itself from getting anywhere near the end zone.
A week after quarterbacks Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray threw a combined four interceptions – Allen’s three picks were returned for touchdowns – against Alabama, Texas A&M’s passing game was utterly out of sorts again. It was so bad that Allen was benched for third-string quarterback Jake Hubenak, a junior college transfer, in the fourth quarter. Murray didn’t see the field.
Allen finished 12-34 passing for 88 yards and an interception. Hubenak was 6-12 passing for 46 yards. A&M’s deepest drive got to the Ole Miss 24-yard-line.
Ole Miss QB Chad Kelly’s statline wasn’t pretty either. He threw three interceptions, including one made by star Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett after he deflected the ball to himself. Ole Miss’ offensive success was promed by the run game.
The Rebels’ ran for 40 yards in the 37-24 loss to Memphis. Saturday night, Ole Miss finished with 230 yards on 50 carries. Perhaps Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze and his offensive staff took a look at Alabama’s offensive gameplan? The Tide spread out Texas A&M and gashed the Aggies’ defense up the middle with running back Derrick Henry.
The A&M defense, with defensive coordinator John Chavis coming over from LSU, was supposed to be a much improved unit in 2015. But it’s hard to survive when you have an offense that’s struggling as poorly as A&M’s is. In addition to its passing struggles, the Aggies couldn’t get anything going on the ground either. RB Tra Carson finished with 14 carries for 48 yards.
The Aggie offense has shown flashes in 2015. No matter who plays quarterback there are plenty of weapons to succeed with freshman receiver Christian Kirk, Carson and WRs Speedy Noil and Ricky Seals-Jones. But not only has A&M struggled against what could be the two best defenses in the SEC over the past two weeks, it’s looked downright incompetent.
And it’s why A&M is now out of the conference title hunt barring November madness. While it has an identical record (6-2) to Ole Miss, the Rebels are in a much preferred position with just one conference loss. If Ole Miss can keep running the ball successfully to take pressure off Kelly, the SEC West, and a trip to Atlanta, is still in play.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
