Aggies stomp Missouri 38-17

COLUMBIA, MO. — The weather got chilly at Farout Field during Saturday’s matchup between No. 3 Texas A&M and No. 22 Missouri, but the real chill came from the Aggies, who put Missouri’s season on ice.

“I don’t know how many times someone has gone on the road these three weeks in this in this conference, and finish that stretch 3-0, and so it’s a credit to the character we have in the locker room,” coach Mike Elko said.

The Aggies (9-0, 6-0 SEC) took control of a physical contest in the second half, sending Missouri (6-3, 2-3 SEC) fans to the exits well before the end of a 38-17 bashing.

Slow start, then a game-changing turnover

The game looked like it was going to be a defensive slugfest early on, as the Aggies scored the first touchdown of the game with 1:16 remaining the first quarter when Marcel Reed connected with a leaping Ashton Bethel-Roman (2 catches, 26 yards, 1 TD)

Neither team scored in the second quarter until the waning moments, when one of the most bizarre plays of the year occurred. On a 3rd and 10 at the Missouri 42, linebacker Daymion Sanford hit Tigers quarterback Matt Zollers (7-22, 77 yards) as he was starting his throwing motion. The ball flew backwards and into the arms of safety Dalton Brooks, who took off and took the ball down to the Missouri 2-yard line. 

“I seen (Sanford) come through and hit him, and there’s the ball. I thought, ‘There’s the ball, don’t drop it. There’s the ball, don’t drop it.”

Sanford said he had no idea what had happened after he hit Zollers. 

“Once we hit (Zollers), I was surprised that (Brooks) got the ball because I looked up and I seen him running,” Sanford said.

Two plays later, running back EJ Smith (6 carries, 24 yards, 1 TD) scored with a mere 20 seconds remaining in the half.

Missouri got the ball to start the third quarter but couldn’t do anything with it. A 52-yard punt gave A&M the ball at their own 32, but running back Rueben Owens (13 carries, 102 yards, 2 TD) immediately ripped off a 16-yard run, the longest for the Aggies at that point in the game. 

The Aggies moved the ball to the Missouri 48, where they faced a 3rd and 6. After calling an audible, Reed (20-29, 221 yards, 2 TD) took the snap and immediately fired a sidearm pass to receiver KC Concepcion (4 catches, 84 yards, 1 TD), who broke through the grasp of a Tiger defender desperately holding onto his undershirt and sprinted 48 yards for a touchdown to put the Aggies up 21-0 with 11:26 to go in the third quarter.

“Great check by Marcel. Great execution,” Elko said.

The Tigers got on the board on their next drive, largely courtesy to a 55-yard kickoff return by Damarion Fowlkes that set Missouri up at the A&M 40-yard line. It still took Missouri nine plays to get into the end zone, with running back Jamal Roberts (17 carries, 110 yards, 1 TD) finally scoring from 4 yards out.

It looked like the Tigers were going to have a chance to get even closer as A&M went 3 and out, but the Aggies ran a perfectly-executed fake punt that Brooks ran down to the Missouri 18. A&M couldn’t put the ball in the end zone, but Randy Bond’s 32-yard field goal put A&M up 17 at 24-7.

“He should’ve scored on both,” Owens said lightheartedly. 

Elko said the combination of trying to regain momentum and the looks Missouri was giving on their punt rush made it a good time to call for the fake.

“The momentum seemed like it kind of had gotten away. They put the drive together, they went out and stopped us. It was 21-7 and we just, we’ve gotten some exotic block looks against us. Some people have been overloading things, and they’re not sound against fakes. And so we felt like we had an opportunity at the right time presented itself.”

Aggies wear Tigers defense out

The Aggies could have put the game away on their next possession, but Bethel-Roman fumbled on the first play of the fourth quarter, giving the Tigers the ball back at their own 17. Missouri would cap the drive with a 49-yard field goal by Oliver Robbins, cutting the A&M lead to 24-10.

Given the ball again, the Aggies did salt the game away as they finally started to wear down the Missouri defense. After Reed kept the drive going with a 4-yard scramble on 3rd and 3 at the A&M 31, the Aggies faced another 3rd down, this time a 3rd and 2, at their own 43. Owens then sprinted through the left side of the A&M line and sprinted 57 yards untouched to put the Aggies up 31-10.

“The offensive line, with the little time that I had, parted them like the Red Sea and I was outta there,” Owens said.

Elko said he had told the offense to keep plugging away with the running game, even though the Aggies only had 23 yards on 16 carries at halftime.

“I challenged them at halftime. I challenged both sides. Only one side responded,” Elko said. “I think we were able to go out and kind of find a little bit better rhythm in the run game.”

Running back Ahmad Hardy (13 carries, 109 yards, 1 TD) scored on a 45-yard run on Missouri’s next possession, but the Aggie offensive line started to gash the Tigers’ defensive front on their responding drive. Smith ran for 17 yards and Reed added a 28-yard keeper to move the ball to the Missouri 13. Three plays later, Owens took the carry off tackle to the left and walked in for another score.

“When I scored my first touchdown, I looked up in the stands and I was like, ‘OK, there’s still a lot of people here.’ And then I scored that second time, I looked up in the stands again and nobody’s here,” Owens said. 

The Tigers muffed Jared Zirkel’s squib kick, and safety Myles Davis recovered at the Missouri 20. Instead of trying to score again, the Aggies essentially ran out the clock to win their third consecutive road game.

The stat sheet showed A&M’s level of domination. The Aggies rang up 464 yards of total offense to Missouri’s 284, converted half of their 14 third down conversion attempts and held onto the ball for nearly 12 minutes more than the Tigers, who came into the game fourth in the nation in time of possession. 

“I think we did the things we needed to do to be successful, and we’ll be excited to come back home,” Elko said.