Aggies grind down Bulldogs in 31-9 victory

COLLEGE STATION — No. 6 Texas A&M dismantled Mississippi State in good old fashioned SEC style Saturday night, dominating both lines of scrimmage and running the ball down the Bulldogs’ throat.

The Aggies (5-0, 2-0 SEC) ran for 299 yards and defensive end Cashius Howell sacked Mississippi State (4-2, 0-2 SEC) quarterback Blake Shapen three times as the Aggies rolled 31-9 before 108,572 at Kyle Field.

“We wound up winning an SEC game going away. That’s always hard to do,” coach Mike Elko said. “We out-rushed them 299 to 77. That’s going to win you a lot of football games in this conference.”

Slow start leads to early deficit

A&M’s offense started very slowly, but the defense made a statement almost immediately. Linebacker Daymion Sanford, who had an outstanding game with 9 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and an interception, sacked Shapen on the second play from scrimmage. Howell picked up his first two plays later, forcing a punt. 

The Aggies didn’t do much with the football on their first drive, being called for two penalties before running an offensive play that counted. The Bulldogs followed with what was easily their best drive of the night, a 15-play, 83-yard drive that took up 5 minutes, 45 seconds. But the drive ended up with just three points on a 24-yard field goal by Kyle Ferrie.

A&M would respond with a 17-play drive of their own, covering 82 yards — but they needed 83. In a frustrating flashback to last year, running back Rueben Owens was stuffed for a loss by two Bulldogs on fourth and goal from the 1-yard line. 

The Aggie defense forced a quick 3 and out, but quarterback Marcel Reed threw an ill-advised deep ball to a double-covered Theo Ohrstrom that was picked off by Mississippi State’s Kelley Jones at the Bulldogs’ 19-yard line. 

Interception changes momentum

Mississippi State looked like they had momentum as they moved the ball into Aggie territory, but Howell hit Shapen’s hand as he threw on 1st and 10 from the A&M 44. The ball fluttered up into the air like a popup, and Sanford was waiting for it at the Aggie 26 for the interception. He returned it 10 yards and the A&M 36 and brought momentum back to the home side.

“I was in man coverage, and honestly, I knew he was gonna throw the ball, but as soon as I see the ball in the air, like, kind of wobbly. So I just, you know, just ran to it,” Sanford said. “And, pray to God, and I tried to go score, but, you know, my legs gave out.”

After a pass interference penalty on third down moved the ball into Mississippi State territory, Reed (13-23, 180 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT; 6 carries, 30 yards, 1 TD rushing) finally came to life, finding a wide open KC Concepcion (4 catches, 61 yards, 2 TD) at the Bulldogs 2-yard line, then dragged a Mississippi State defender with him into the end zone to give the Aggies a 7-3 lead with 1:51 remaining in the first half. That would be the score at halftime, but Elko said there was no need for yelling or chair-throwing.

“We had to find ways to get Marcel settled down. I think we all knew that he saw some things not clean enough, missed a couple of throws,” Elko said. “We had the turnover as we were getting in the red zone to score points. We had the fourth down stop again as we were going in to score points. And so wasn’t all negative in the first half, but we had to find ways to get into a rhythm.”

Running game wears down the Bulldogs

Once A&M found its rhythm, it kept it — but it didn’t happen immediately after halftime. The Aggies needed some time to find the end zone again, punting on their first two drives. But on A&M’s third possession, the dam broke as Mississippi State, who only held the ball for 21 minutes, 43 seconds all game, began to wear down.

“You could just tell that they were getting tired,” Owens said. “You know, in the first half, the safety is coming down trying to lay a hit on you. As the game went on, they didn’t want to do keep doing that.”

Owens started the drive with a 17-yard run, which was immediately followed by a 42-yard catch and run by Mario Craver (6 catches, 80 yards; 2 carries, 35 yards, 1 TD) that moved the Aggies to the Mississippi State 2. Two plays later, Reed found a leaping Concepcion for his second touchdown of the night.

After the defense forced another 3 and out, the Aggie offense marched 79 yards in 10 plays to score for a second consecutive possession, courtesy of a an electric 7-yard run by Reed, who juked several Mississippi State defenders on his way to pay dirt.

The game truly spiraled out of control for the Bulldogs on their first play from scrimmage down 21-3. Shapen connected with receiver Anthony Evans on a pass over the middle, but nickel Jordan Shaw punched the ball out from behind and into the waiting arms of safety Dalton Brooks, who returned it to the Mississippi State 24. Four plays later, Craver scored on a jet sweep to make it 28-3 A&M. For the first time this season, the Aggies used Concepcion and Craver as options in running plays, something Craver welcomed.

“Just get the ball in my hands quick,” he said. “Really, no like complications.”

Mississippi State would score their lone touchdown on their next possession on a perfectly thrown 44-yard pass from Shapen to receiver Brenen Thompson. But the Bulldogs botched the hold on the extra point and holder Marlon Hauck was wiped out by corner Will Lee to end the play.

A&M would add a 27-yard field goal from Randy Bond on their next drive to close out the scoring. Owens would add 60 of his career-high 142 rushing yards on three straight carries, including a 37-yard run, to move the Aggies to the Mississippi State 14.

The Bulldogs were unable to do anything on their final possession of the game, but Howell sacked Shapen once more to get his hat trick for the evening. The senior defensive end now has 7 sacks on the season, more than any Aggie had in all of 2024.

“He’s really good. We tried to tell everybody that in the off season, and nobody really wanted to hear that,” Elko said of Howell.

When it was over, the Aggies had overcome a slow start to dominate a team that has been a serious irritant in past seasons. But Mississippi State couldn’t stay on the field or stop the Aggie running game, allowing A&M to do something they haven’t done frequently against the Bulldogs: win handily. The stat sheet showed the extent of A&M’s domination, as the Aggies outgained Mississippi State 479-219 while racking up 4 sacks, 9 tackles for loss and two turnovers on defense.

“This is the second week in a row that in an SEC football game when we had to get big and physical, we were able to get big and physical and pound out yards. And yards are hard to come by running in this conference,” Elko said. “You know, there’s so many big athletic bodies, and our offensive line is doing a really good job. Our backs are doing a really good job. It was awesome to see Ruben go out tonight and have the night that he had, running for 142 yards and really carrying the rock the way he did. It’s really cool to see, and that’s a big part of success in this conference, and we’ve got to continue to do it.”