Zach Calzada gives Aggie fans, media emotional rollercoaster in thrilling victory
Zach Calzada gave Texas A&M an emotional rollercoaster on Saturday in the 10-7 win against Colorado.
For starters, the Aggies lost Haynes King to an apparent foot injury midway through the first quarter of the game at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver. Texas A&M turned to the sophomore Calzada, and King was later seen with a walking boot on the sideline.
King last week passed for 292 yards and 2 touchdowns in Texas A&M’s season-opening 41-10 win over Kent State in the first start of his Aggies career. In relief of King, Calzada was just 6-of-15 passing for 44 yards in the first half.
The offense continued to struggle until Calzada got a solid drive rolling, and churned out 13 plays and 74 yards before he fumbled on a near-touchdown at the goal line in a play that was reviewed and overturned.
But then Calzada threw a beautiful pass to Isaiah Spiller for an 18-yard touchdown strike to give the Aggies their first lead of the game with 2:41 remaining. He finished 18-for-38 passing for 183 yards and a TD.
Here’s a sample of the reaction from the Aggies game:
*quivers in Aggie*
— Lia Musgrave (@LiaMusgrave) September 11, 2021
What in the actual hell Aggies. Thought y’all were elite or something 🤣
— Christy (@sissy1287) September 11, 2021
— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) September 11, 2021
Poor Zach Calzada. Pressed into duty off the bench, struggled all day, finally put together a great drive … and fumbled the go-ahead touchdown into the end zone.
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) September 11, 2021
Zach Calzada inches from scoring on the dive into the end zone, but officials overrule TD call and Colorado recovers fumble. Buffaloes take over on own 35 on touchback, CU still leads 7-3 with 8:45 left in game.
— Brent Zwerneman 📰 (@BrentZwerneman) September 11, 2021
So, Aggies about to choke this one away?
— Carlos Flores (@CarlosFloresHOU) September 11, 2021
For the sake of all that is good, please let the aggies win this game. I don’t care about the team, but if every Jim Bob around isn’t spending every waking moment saying “our year” they will have to go back to drilling wells and lighting $ on fire. Can’t let an L kill this rally
— Energy_Matters 🥯🚨🍍 (@EnergyMatters3) September 11, 2021
No. 5 Texas A&M survives a scare in Denver.
Aggies squeak by Colorado 10-7 behind a stellar defensive performance and a late touchdown pass from Zach Calzada to Isaiah Spiller.
— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) September 11, 2021
Calzada keeping the Aggies alive@AggieFootball | #GigEm pic.twitter.com/mBTCNsTKDE
— Collin Wilson (@_Collin1) September 11, 2021
Touchdown, Aggies! That was some throw by Calzada.
— Raphielle Johnson (@raphiellej) September 11, 2021