Ad Disclosure
Texas A&M’s season started on a high note and then plummeted to rock-bottom by mid-fall. The Aggies ended their season on Monday with a win in the Liberty Bowl.
What were the most significant moments of Texas A&M’s 2014 season?
- The opening night win over South Carolina. The Aggies started 2014 as loudly as possible, traveling to play South Carolina on the road and blowing the Gamecocks out in emphatic fashion. The 52-28 win, in which first-time starter Kenny Hill threw for 511 yards, a school record, and set the bar far too high on the Aggies’ season. The win vaulted Texas A&M into the top 10 and became the impossible standard for their season.
Memorable quote: “We aren’t a one-trick pony.” — Kevin Sumlin - Comeback win over Arkansas. Hill faced adversity for the first time against the Razorbacks and struggled with the pressure. He got banged around a good bit and the offense was out of sync for the majority of the game. Hill and his receivers clicked in fourth quarter, scoring 21 unanswered in the fourth and overtime to pull out a gritty win.
Memorable quote: “In order to win a game like that, it takes a complete team.” — Kevin Sumlin - Mississippi meltdown. Over a two-week stretch against Mississippi State and Ole Miss, the Aggies tumbled from No. 6 in the polls down to No. 21, where they originally started the season after getting hammered in back-to-back games against the SEC West’s upstarts. The two losses exposed an array of issues, from an inability to handle physical defenses to the major breakdowns at all levels of defense.
Memorable quote: “We can’t win like that.” — Kenny Hill - Hitting botton in Bryant-Denny. Back in 2012, Johnny Manziel etched his name in college football lore with a spectacular performance against Alabama. Returning to the site of that landmark win, the Aggies were humbled to the tune of a 59-0 shutout loss, the first time a Kevin Sumlin-coached team had ever been shut out. HIll was yanked in the fourth quarter in favor of freshman, and he didn’t play another snap for the Aggies the rest of the way; Hill lost his job after Sumlin opened up several positions for competition on the offense and was suspended for a violation of team rules after Allen beat him for the starting nod.
Memorable quote: “It’s not just the quarterback. There are 10 other guys out there.” — Kevin Sumlin - Auburn upset. In Kyle Allen’s first career road start, the Aggies were heavy underdogs. The defense nearly let a big second-half lead slip away, but came up with two late fumble recoveries to make sure Allen’s four-touchdown performance didn’t go to waste. While Allen wasn’t that consistent the rest of the way, the performance on the Plains and his big bowl game give Aggies fans reason to believe they have their man going forward.
Memorable quote: “(Allen) definitely had a little swagger to him. He came in this game and he didn’t seem like a freshman at all, he seemed like he has started four years at this university.” — center Mike Matthews
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.
