Saturday was a moment of truth to see if Missouri football was ready to play their best opponent so far this season: No. 21 Texas A&M. The Aggies came off a big-time shocker the previous week at home in College Station, knocking off the top team in the nation: Alabama. The Aggies coming into this game were only favored by 10.5. They squared off against a Mizzou defense which had been struggling all year, but was given the ability to change their identity of being the worst defense in DI football, against a Top 25 opponent.
The game was underway, the Aggies won the coin toss and elected to defer, to receive the second half kickoff. Mizzou had an opportunity to spark the game early, which they hadn’t been able to do all season against competent opponents. Mizzou started with the ball, and they weren’t looking to have their first drive stalled with a three and out. They picked up an early 3rd down, with a pass from Connor Bazelak to wide receiver Chance Luper for 9 yards to keep the drive going. Bazelak looked promising early, taking his time in the pocket and delivering sharp and precise passes to his wide receivers. Then suddenly, the spark had been extinguished. Bazelak was looking towards the sideline and threw an interception right to Aggies defensive back Jaylon Jones. Jones returned the interception for 17 yards, setting the Aggies offense up with a great chance of taking the momentum early in the game.
The Aggies pounced on the great field position, with a 13-yard run by running back Isaiah Spiller setting them up on the 9-yard line about to punch it in for a touchdown. The Tigers’ defense tried to hold Texas A&M to three points, but on 3rd-and-2, Aggies quarterback Zach Calzada threw a touchdown pass to wide receiver Ainias Smith, giving Texas A&M the early 7-0 lead and command of the game. Then not even four minutes into the game, Mizzou’s offense was stopped again and forced to punt the ball back to the Aggies. The latter team didn’t look back after that, with their two-headed monster in the backfield of Spiller and Devon Achane leading the way. Spiller started the feast on Saturday early, picking apart the front seven of Mizzou. On the drive, Calzada handed the ball off to Spiller, in which he broke free and scores a 48-yard touchdown. At that point, the Tigers tried not to lose control and let the game get out of hand quickly, but their slow start provided doubt regarding their ability to stay in it.
Missouri’s next possession stalled again, thanks in part to the Aggie defense. They were only able to get one first down on the drive. Texas A&M got the ball back and ran it down Missouri’s throats; their drive started at their own 16-yard line, and while using some clock, they moved the ball all the way down the field and set themselves up for another touchdown. In the red zone late in the first quarter with 3:42 left, Mizzou’s defense had an opportunity on 3rd-and-15 to hold the Aggies to only a field goal, but they gave all kinds of running room to Devon Achane, who scored on a 20-yard rushing touchdown to make it 21-0.
The Tigers really needed Bazelak to get the offense moving in the right direction, but on a 2nd-and-8 play, his pass was picked off by Aggies defensive back Antonio Johnson. The Aggies once again had the ball again in great field position, starting the drive on the Mizzou 30-yard line with 53 seconds left in the first quarter.
To start the second quarter, a holding call deflated the Texas A&M drive and backed them up. They had to settle for a 54-yard field goal attempt, which was missed by Seth Small. Then with 10:43 left in the second quarter, Missouri finally responded and adds a touchdown of their own: a 32-yard run by Tyler Badie. Then late in the second with 4:45 left in the quarter, the Aggies went on a drive that lasted almost five minutes and capped it off with the second touchdown of the day by Smith. Mizzou’s offense couldn’t do anything to close the half, even though Mizzou’s defense was able to pick off Calzada late in the half, with sophomore Jaylon Carlies notching the pick. The Aggies entered the second half with the 28-7 lead, though.
Texas A&M started with the football in the second half. Mizzou’s defense stepped up and made the Aggies punt the ball back early in the third. In the first possession of the second half for the Tigers, they were being very conservative and taking what the defense was giving them, which translated into a touchdown by Dominic Lovett. At 28-14, Missouri was suddenly right back in the game and had a promising chance to make the game a potential upset.
With 8:12 left in the third quarter, Texas A&M wasn’t trying to do anything fancy or overly aggressive to help the Tigers sneak back into the game. They went almost seven minutes before they punched in another rushing touchdown by Achane put the finishing touches on the game.
After that score by the Aggies, Missouri couldn’t do anything, and Texas A&M just ran out the fourth quarter in a celebration fashion. They won the game by a score of 35-14.
Two of the star performers in the game were Texas A&M’s aforementioned running backs. Achane finished with 16 rushing attempts for 124 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Spiller had 20 rushing attempts for 168 yards and a touchdown.
With the loss, Mizzou dropped to 3-4 on the season and 0-3 in the SEC. The Tigers have a bye this week and then will travel to Nashville, TN to face Vanderbilt on Oct. 30th. Texas A&M is 5-2 and 2-2 in the conference. They will travel back home to face South Carolina on Oct. 23rd.