Texas A&M hadn’t started a season 9-0 since 1992.
Forget the start; the Aggies hadn’t won 9 games in a single regular season since 2012.
With a 38-17 win over No. 22 Mizzou on the road on Saturday, No. 3 Texas A&M continued its best start in decades and all but solidified itself as a College Football Playoff participant. The Aggies play South Carolina and Samford at home before the regular-season finale against Texas. A 12-0 season is possible. At minimum, 11 wins should be expected.
Of course, A&M can’t look past the Gamecocks. But Mike Elko has this group locked in on the current task at hand each week. That was evident in Columbia on Saturday.
A&M led 14-0 at the halftime break. Facing a Mizzou team in desperation mode, the Aggie defense limited Mizzou to 122 total yards of offense in the first half. A third of that came on the first offensive snap of the game for the Tigers.
Mizzou tailback Ahmad Hardy broke a 40-yarder on his first touch. Hardy also had a 45-yard touchdown run in the fourth. For the game, he ran for 109 yards, pushing him over 1,000 yards rushing for the season and making him the ninth Tiger to rush for 1,000 yards in the SEC.
Jamal Roberts also ran for 110 yards and a score.
That was it for Mizzou. Freshman quarterback Matt Zollers, starting in place of the injured Beau Pribula, hit just 7 of his 22 passes for 77 yards. A&M also brought him down for 2 sacks.
The Tigers made it to the red zone only once. More than three-quarters of their yardage came on less than a fifth of their plays. Big plays were there to be had against the Aggies — if there’s an Achilles heel, it’s that — but Mizzou wasn’t efficient enough with its other snaps.
A&M’s offense was just as explosive. The Aggies averaged 6.8 yards per play. Marcel Reed completed 20 of his 29 passes for 221 yards and 2 scores. Reuben Owens II ran 13 times for 102 yards and 2 scores. They produced 11 explosives on the day.
No. 3 Texas A&M 31, No. 19 Mizzou 17
Here’s the A&M-Mizzou box score (use the dropdown menu to select team or player stats), followed by the complete play-by-play:
Marcel Reed vs Matt Zollers
Did Texas A&M Marcel Reed help his Heisman odds Saturday? Here’s a statistical breakdown of how Reed performed against Mizzou quarterback Matt Zollers:
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
