Matt Corral led Ole Miss to an early lead and the Rebels’ defense held off Texas A&M for a 29-19 victory Saturday night at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

In a game with New Year’s 6 bowl implications, No. 12 Ole Miss (8-2, 4-2) improved its status while snapping Texas A&M’s 4-game winning streak. The No. 11 Aggies fall to 7-3 overall and 4-3 in conference play.

Ashanti Cistrunk intercepted Aggies’ quarterback Zach Calzada and Snoop Conner dashed 13 yards for a touchdown to quell Texas A&M’s 2nd-half rally. Then AJ Finley followed with a pick-6 late to sew it away.

Ole Miss’ tempo offense put Texas A&M on its heels from the outset and the Rebels posted the game’s first 10 points before the Aggies could catch their breath.

Corral completed 4-of-6 passes for 53 yards in the opening drive of the game and Caden Costa connected on a 33-yard field goal to get the scoring started.

It was an impressive beginning but not as impressive as the following drive, a 94-yard march in 14 plays. Corral went 5-for-6 for 38 yards, including a 4th-and-goal, 2-yard touchdown pass to Dontario Drummond to give the Rebels a 10-0 lead midway through the 1st quarter.

Twice more the Rebels missed opportunities to reach the end zone. Corral was sacked at the Aggies 31 by Yulkeith Brown and fumbled, with Aggies’ Tyree Johnson recovering.

On the next drive, with the Rebels moving the ball easily but not by Corral’s arm, rather with run game, Corral was again sacked and fumbled on 2nd-and-goal from the Aggies’ 1-yard line. This time Ole Miss recovered and settled for a 32-yard field goal from Costa.

Midway through the 2nd quarter, the Rebels had Texas A&M outgained 291-77 but led just 13-0.

At halftime, the Rebels, who came into the game leading the SEC averaging 524.2 yards per outing, held a 408-91 advantage in total yardage but led only 15-0 on the scoreboard. Corral amassed 216 passing yards through the first 2 quarters while Jerrion Ealy added 122 more on the ground.

The Aggies quickly got back into a game they had been completely outplayed in over the opening 2 quarters. Taking the 2nd-half kickoff, Texas A&M drove 62 yards in 12 plays to set up a 30-yard field goal from Seth Small. The Aggies followed that with a trip to the end zone. Calzada completed all 4 passes (42 yards) and RB Devon Achane did the rest. Achane carried 3 times for 46 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown dash that cut the Rebels’ lead to 15-10.

The Aggies crept even closer with another field goal. Small booted a 43-yarder with 10:19 to go in the 4th quarter and the Rebels’ lead was just 15-13.

Ole Miss’ defense took over from there, fittingly ending the game with a sack.