Texas A&M is officially 6-0, y’all. The Aggies beat Florida 34-17 at Kyle Field in a game that had a little bit of everything… early panic, defensive redemption, a whole lot of ground game, and a fourth quarter that felt like what we wished Jimbo would do when he was here.
It wasn’t super flashy, but didn’t have to be. The Aggies looked like a damn good team that finally knows how to win.
Florida opened the game with DJ Lagway carving up the Aggie secondary and walking in for an easy touchdown. For a few minutes, it looked like trouble.
Then Marcel Reed decided, nah. On the first snap of A&M’s drive, he dropped a perfect deep ball to Mario Craver for 67 yards despite a busted play fake where the back went the wrong way. Craver bobbled it for a second but hauled it in, blowing past both the nickel and the safety. One play later, Reed kept it himself and walked in for the score.
Two drives later, Reed found Jamarion Morrow out of a backfield look that completely fooled Florida. 14-7 and Kyle Field was rocking.
Florida tied it at 14, but A&M didn’t blink. Le’Veon Moss ripped off a 22-yard touchdown run and from there, the tone was set. This was going to be a long and physical night for Florida’s front seven.
The Aggies were looking balanced and playing mean in the trenches. Moss ran with his usual violence, picking up yards after contact. Unfortunately he was helped off the field and didn’t return. You could feel his absence as the ground game slowed down and everything looked a little rushed.
By halftime, A&M had nearly 300 yards of offense against a defense that only gives up 295 per game.
The Aggie Defense really settled in and started doing the right things getting pressure, forcing punts, and making us do the good kind of yelling at our TVs. How about this 3rd down defense?
Cashius Howell’s strip sack in the third quarter set up a field goal to make it 24-14. Florida’s only answer was a long drive that ended in three points instead of seven. From that point on, the Gators were stuck in neutral.
Reed did toss one bad pick in the end zone, but the defense bailed him out by forcing a turnover on downs. That’s when the Aggies went into clock control.
A&M slowed everything down with heavy sets and pieced together a 13-play, 8-minute drive capped by a Rueben Owens touchdown.
Florida’s next drive? Another strip sack. Hell yes. Aggies recovered and bled most of the clock, tacking on a field goal.
Final: Texas A&M 34, Florida 17.
It wasn’t perfect, but it was grown-up football.
Reed continues to look more comfortable every week. And the defense put together one of its best halves of the season.
Six games, six wins. I said 10 wins in the preseason, I’m just saying maybe I wasn’t giving them enough credit.
Source link
