Texas A&M takes down Auburn

[aubiefifty 17,488]

Texas A&M takes down Auburn at Kyle Field for the first time

11/6/2021, 7:35pm

5-6 minutes

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Early in the fourth quarter, Bo Nix was lying face-down in the grass. Aggieland was erupting in cheer, white towels were waving in the air and Texas A&M had just scored a touchdown.

Nix had fumbled on a second-and-10, Texas A&M picked up the loose ball and ran it back 24 yards for the scoop-and-score. It was the only touchdown scored by either team in the lowest-scoring game between Auburn and Texas A&M since 1911.

The winning streak is over. Auburn saw its unbeaten record at Kyle Field slip away and its SEC Championship hopes fade as the Tigers lost 20-3 to the Aggies on Saturday.

"We didn’t play well enough to win today," said Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin. "A&M was a good team. There’s things we have to go back and focus on. Same things that we talk about every single week; it doesn’t change. It’s a matter of doing those things consistently week in and week out."

Auburn’s defense carried over from the Ole Miss game, but Jimbo Fisher and the Aggies took the points when inside Auburn territory. No fourth-down stops in the red zone for Auburn this time, just Texas A&M field goals.

Texas A&M’s Seth Small made four field goals in five attempts, the only points the Aggies scored from offensive possessions.

Meanwhile, the three points that Auburn scored was the lowest number of points since 2012 when Alabama shut out the Tigers 49-0.

It was a career day for Oscar Chapman, who had a career-high seven punts in the game. That says it all for Auburn, which totaled 226 yards of total offense, a season-low.

"I just don’t think we found that play, that momentum, that spark to really get us—on the offensive side in particular—to get us going," Harsin said. "And we had our opportunities, and you know, there was plenty of self-inflicted wounds that we had in there: dropped passes, we lost the ball -- we fumbled it."

Nix completed less than 50% of his passes for the sixth time in his career for 153 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. The junior quarterback has not fared well against Texas A&M in his career and it continued on Saturday.

Texas A&M is the only team in the SEC west that Nix has not had a 200-yard passing game against. Throughout his career, Nix has totaled just 397 yards passing and one touchdown pass against the Aggies in three games. As far as considering to put back up quarterback TJ Finley in, Harsin mentioned that other factors, like receiver separation and opportunities for a throw, played a role in Nix's performance.

"I felt like Bo could get us back in the game, that we could get that spark," Harsin said. "That’s something that he’s shown and that we’ve done throughout the season, we just didn’t get it." 

While the offense struggled, the defense held its ground. Dating back to last week against Ole Miss, Derek Mason’s defense has not allowed a touchdown in six quarters.

Similar to the LSU game, Auburn’s defense struggled to contain its opponent's offense on their opening possession. The Aggies drove 80 yards in 14 plays, chewing up over five minutes of clock before settling for a field goal to go up 3-0.

Auburn answered with a field goal on its ensuing possession, the only time the Tigers scored.

After the 80-yard opening possession by Texas A&M, Auburn's defense forced a pair of three-and-outs and held the Aggies to 70 total yards for the remainder of the half.

The game was deadlocked at three by the midway point, the first 3-3 tie at halftime for Auburn since 1997.

Texas A&M regained the lead late in the third when Small hit his second field goal of the night to put the Aggies in front 6-3. The field goal was the lone source of points in the third quarter, setting up a potentially-close finish in the fourth quarter. 

That was not the case, as offensive woes for Auburn only got worse in the fourth.

The fumble recovery for a touchdown with 13:13 remaining extended Texas A&M’s lead from 9-3 to 17-3 after the Aggies converted the two-point conversion. With the rate of offensive production low, the gap between Auburn and the lead, while still only two-possession, was a far reach.

Auburn only had 52 yards of offense and two turnovers in the final 15 minutes of play.

"It comes down to some execution," Harsin said. "It comes down to creating some momentum. We didn't create that momentum to really get us going and to get the drive going the way we need to and having those type of plays we had in the past." 

Now with two losses in conference play, Auburn no longer holds the cards in the SEC West. Instead, Texas A&M will have to lose at least one conference game, either to Ole Miss or LSU, for Auburn to have a chance at Atlanta.

The Tigers will return home to Jordan-Hare Stadium on Nov. 13 to face Mississippi State at 11 a.m. CST. That game will be broadcast on ESPN.