Haynes King went down in the first quarter with a lower right leg injury and didn’t return. The No. 5 Aggies (2-0) gutted out a 10-7 victory over Colorado (1-1) at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

The redshirt freshman quarterback was injured on a scramble and hobbled off the field before being aided to the locker room. He watched the second half of the game from the bench in a walking boot and crutches.

Sophomore Zach Calzada struggled in his place, but came through in the clutch to help the Aggies extend their win streak to 10 games.

Trailing 7-3 since halftime, the Aggies needed one big drive in the second half, and got it with 2:41 left to play. Finally wearing down the Buffs defense, Texas A&M drove 77 yards in 13 plays, taking 5:09 off the clock. Calzada threw 18 yards to Isaiah Spiller in the corner of the end zone to put the Aggies in front, and their defense did the rest.

Texas A&M appeared to get the go-ahead score on the previous drive midway through the fourth quarter. Again, it was classic Aggies football, a sustained drive that they hadn’t put together to that point. It totaled 13 plays, 74 yards and took 6:02 off the clock.

Calzada was clutch then too, both with his arm and his feet. Twice he scrambled for first downs on 3rd-and-long. He found Jalen Wydermeyer on a key 29-yard completion, and then the big play of the drive, on 3rd-and-3 from the Buffs 13, Calzada once again scrambled out of the pocket, was hit at the 3 and fumbled the ball inches from the goal line with Colorado recovering in the end zone. The play was originally ruled a touchdown but reversed after review.

Colorado had taken a page from the Aggies’ playbook and used it against them; play good defense and possess the ball with a solid running game and smart play from your quarterback. It worked for about 57 minutes of the game.

The Aggies did not punt a single time in last week’s 41-10 victory over Kent State. They punted 3 times in the first quarter alone on Saturday and without their starting quarterback did not pick up a first down until the final drive of the first half, which resulted in their only points of the first half.

The Aggies drove 57 yards in 9 plays with Calzada completing 4 of 7 passes for 42 yards. He threw to 3 different receivers, Isaiah Spiller, Ainias Smith, and Jalen Wydermyer, and appeared to be settling in a little bit.

The drive, however, bogged down and Seth Small successfully booted a 41-yard field goal to trim Colorado’s lead to 7-3.

Colorado made it obvious that it would use its speed and quickness to move the ball on the Aggies by stretching their defense. That was no more evident than on the Buffs’ 12-play, 66-yard drive to the Texas A&M 5-yard line late in the second quarter.

But for some reason they went right at the Aggies on 3rd and 4th downs with less than a yard to go and consecutive quarterback sneaks right up the middle didn’t gain an inch. The Buffs thus made it obvious how not to attack the Aggies defense, turning the ball over in the red zone without adding to a 7-0 lead, and it cost them.