Saturday, November 23
Auburn, Ala.
6:30 PM
Texas A&M
8-3 , 5-2
41
at
43
Auburn
5-6 , 2-5
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
OT
OT
OT
OT
F
Texas A&M
0
7
14
10
7
3
0
0
41
Auburn
14
7
7
3
7
3
0
2
43
Team Stats
TAM
AUB
Total Yards
464
469
Pass Yards
297
301
Rushing Yards
167
168
Penalty Yards
39
62
1st Downs
28
22
3rd Downs
10
5
4th Downs
1
1
TOP
36:35
23:25
1st Quarter
TAM 0, AUB 7
AUB - Hunter,Jarquez 2 yd run (Vachon,Ian kick), 10 plays, 65 yards, TOP 03:33
TAM 0, AUB 14
AUB - Coleman,Cam 63 yd pass from Thorne,Payton (Vachon,Ian kick) 2 plays, 64 yards, TOP 00:38
2nd Quarter
TAM 0, AUB 21
AUB - Coleman,Cam 15 yd pass from Thorne,Payton (Vachon,Ian kick) 6 plays, 88 yards, TOP 02:59
TAM 7, AUB 21
TAM - Bussey,Terry 1 yd run (Bond,Randy kick), 15 plays, 75 yards, TOP 08:56
3rd Quarter
TAM 14, AUB 21
TAM - Thomas,Noah 14 yd pass from Reed,Marcel (Bond,Randy kick) 10 plays, 76 yards, TOP 05:30
TAM 21, AUB 21
TAM - Thomas,Noah 73 yd pass from Reed,Marcel (Bond,Randy kick) 1 plays, 73 yards, TOP 00:10
TAM 21, AUB 28
AUB - Hunter,Jarquez 1 yd run (Vachon,Ian kick), 4 plays, 55 yards, TOP 01:36
4th Quarter
TAM 24, AUB 28
TAM - Bond,Randy 32 yd field goal 4 plays, yards, TOP 01:29
TAM 31, AUB 28
TAM - Daniels,Amari 8 yd run (Bond,Randy kick), 9 plays, 80 yards, TOP 03:58
TAM 31, AUB 31
AUB - Vachon,Ian 29 yd field goal 15 plays, 74 yards, TOP 02:28
OT Quarter
TAM 38, AUB 31
TAM - Walker,Jahdae 12 yd pass from Reed,Marcel (Bond,Randy kick) 5 plays, 25 yards, TOP 00:00
TAM 38, AUB 38
AUB - Hunter,Jarquez 2 yd run (Vachon,Ian kick), 4 plays, 25 yards, TOP 00:00
OT Quarter
TAM 38, AUB 41
AUB - Vachon,Ian 41 yd field goal 5 plays, 2 yards, TOP 00:00
TAM 41, AUB 41
TAM - Bond,Randy 42 yd field goal 4 plays, 1 yards, TOP 00:00
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
22
TD
3
YDS
297
INT
1
Players Mentioned
K
/ Football
WR
/ Football
RB
/ Football
DB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
DL
/ Football
WR
/ Football
WR
/ Football
LB
/ Football
LB
/ Football
Photo by: Evan Pilat/Texas A&M Athletics
No. 15 Aggies Fall at Auburn in 4 OT, 43-41
Nov 23, 2024 | Football
AUBURN – The No. 15 Texas A&M football team fell on the road to Auburn, 43-41, in four overtimes Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Texas A&M (8-3, 5-2 SEC) erased an early 21-0 deficit with three unanswered scores, including a 15 play, 75-yard drive in the second quarter, followed by a quick pair of touchdown catches from Noah Thomas, including a career-long 73-yard grab to tie the game 21-21 midway through the third quarter. Auburn (5-6, 2-5 SEC) answered back with a score as the Aggies trailed 28-21 entering the fourth frame.
Randy Bond made it a 28-24 game with a 32-yard field goal after the Aggies forced their first turnover of the night when Scooby Williams deflected a pass that landed in the hands of BJ Mayes at the Auburn 15-yard line.
Ol' Sarge's Charges took their first lead, 31-28, as Amari Daniels capped off an 80-yard drive with a powerful 8-yard run up the middle with 4:01 remaining in the fourth. As the teams traded possessions, the feisty Tigers clawed back with a 29-yard field goal in the closing seconds to even the score and send the game to overtime at 31-31.
The Aggies struck first in overtime with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Reed to Jahdae Walker to take a 38-31 lead. Auburn responded with a touchdown of its own and regained the lead after a 41-yard field goal in the second overtime. A 42-yard field goal from Bond forced a third overtime between the two squads.
After neither team was able to convert their 2-point attempts in the third, the Tigers found the end zone in the fourth to take a 43-41 advantage. The Aggies failed to convert on their ensuing attempt as they dropped their second road contest of the season.
Team Notes
So many emotions. Obviously you can't come out and get down 21-0. You can't let the ball get over your head on the road and expect to be successful. I was very disappointed with how we started the game on defense. And then to show the heart and the character to come back the way we did on the road, in that environment, with all that emotion, and get ourselves back and a chance to win it...we had a 4th-and-2 to win the game, couldn't get it done. A drive to win the game, couldn't get it done. Had opportunities on both sides of the ball in overtime to go out there and make the play to win the game and couldn't get it done. And so ultimately that's on me. We have to be much better in those situations to get where we want to go. And so it's unfortunate, but on to the next. Obviously we've got a big one next week and we've got to figure out how to get back and get ready to go.
What happened on the first three drives with the big pass plays?
The ball went over our head. I mean, it just went over our head, like, you can't let the ball go over your head. It was three explosive pass plays. Just can't let them happen. You can't let the ball go over your head. If you want the specifics of it, one of them, we jumped offsides and they threw it up and the kid made a play, we just got lost in coverage. The other one they motioned and we were very loose on the motion and let the kid run right down the field and get behind us. And then the third one they threw a 14-yard curl and we missed the tackle and he went for 60.
How much was their tempo catching you off guard, especially in the first quarter?
I don't think so. I think they hit one early where we didn't get it done right, but the tempo, they hit us on a couple of tempo runs in the second half. Those were more problematic, I thought, than anything on the third down. They hit the one early for sure, but I don't think outside of that that the tempos on the third down were problems. They got the tempo runs going in the second half. When we got back to 21-21 and they got the lead back out to 28-21, that was all tempo runs. We did an awful job with that.
What did you think about the way the team responded after going down 21-0?
Yeah, I mean, it's tremendous heart and tremendous fight for sure. um, Nobody has a script for what happened, and nobody blinked and nobody backed up and and we just kept fighting and got it tied up. We let them go down the field and score again, figured out a way to go score and just unfortunately we could not close the game. We had multiple chances to close the game and we just didn't do it.
Early in the game what contributed to being unable to finish drives?
I think we just we got off schedule down inside the 30-yard line the first couple of drives. Marcel let the one ball go and it sailed on him and that was the pick. The other drive we got behind the chains when we got into that 35-yard area and just couldn't get it going. Obviously we've been pretty good at that, unfortunately we couldn't (tonight). I thought we had a couple short field opportunities that were really disappointing that we didn't do better with. You know, at 21-7 they missed the punt and we weren't able to go out there and do anything with that. We had the interception and we didn't get that into the end zone. And so we had some opportunities on some short fields, but, again, we put our quarterback in a hole down 21 nothing on the road. That's not a great way to play football.
Did you like the looks on the two-point plays even though you didn't get them?
I mean, it's hard to say you like anything when it doesn't work. Obviously those are the plays that that we felt good about. We felt like we ran the play we wanted to run against the look. I thought on the first one we needed to keep going. I think if we keep going, we've got a wide open guy in the back of the end zone and we just didn't get over there in our progression. The second one, unfortunately, we just didn't throw it and catch it.
What were your thoughts on Marcel's performance overall?
I don't know what his stat line looked like, but I thought he battled in that environment, almost threw for 300 yards, ran for another 66. And so I thought he did a really good job keeping it going, not getting outside of himself, not forcing the football, not doing things that sometimes young kids do in those types of situations that try to get it all back at once. So from that perspective I thought he did a nice job.
Alabama also lost which means you still get to play in the SEC title game with a win next week, what's the key to moving past this loss and knowing you can still achieve those goals?
Yeah, I mean this one's certainly gonna hurt and and we're obviously extremely disappointed because we had ourselves in a really good position. And this is back-to-back road games where we haven't been able to get it done. And so that part of it's not going to go away. But obviously, with who we play and what we're still playing for, there's still going to be a lot of energy going into that stadium next weekend.
What did you think about Terry Bussey in a new position?
Yeah, it was good. We didn't put him in a new position. We just moved him around. We felt like at wide receiver we had the ability and flexibility to kind of move him around a little bit more and we didn't think it was right o move him to running back, but obviously he's a kid that's really good with the ball in his hands. And so we felt like there were some opportunities at wide receiver to move him around and we tried to do that a lot tonight and I think we were able to get him a lot more touches than we've been able to in some other games. So that was good, obviously he's a good player.
Where was Will Lee tonight?
Will Lee got hurt. Unfortunately, Will went out of the...we lost Jaydon Hill and Will Lee within like the first eight plays of the game, so both of those guys were out. We'll figure out what their status is moving forward. I don't think they're long-term things, but both of those guys were out within the first eight plays of the game.
Texas A&M (8-3, 5-2 SEC) erased an early 21-0 deficit with three unanswered scores, including a 15 play, 75-yard drive in the second quarter, followed by a quick pair of touchdown catches from Noah Thomas, including a career-long 73-yard grab to tie the game 21-21 midway through the third quarter. Auburn (5-6, 2-5 SEC) answered back with a score as the Aggies trailed 28-21 entering the fourth frame.
Randy Bond made it a 28-24 game with a 32-yard field goal after the Aggies forced their first turnover of the night when Scooby Williams deflected a pass that landed in the hands of BJ Mayes at the Auburn 15-yard line.
Ol' Sarge's Charges took their first lead, 31-28, as Amari Daniels capped off an 80-yard drive with a powerful 8-yard run up the middle with 4:01 remaining in the fourth. As the teams traded possessions, the feisty Tigers clawed back with a 29-yard field goal in the closing seconds to even the score and send the game to overtime at 31-31.
The Aggies struck first in overtime with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Reed to Jahdae Walker to take a 38-31 lead. Auburn responded with a touchdown of its own and regained the lead after a 41-yard field goal in the second overtime. A 42-yard field goal from Bond forced a third overtime between the two squads.
After neither team was able to convert their 2-point attempts in the third, the Tigers found the end zone in the fourth to take a 43-41 advantage. The Aggies failed to convert on their ensuing attempt as they dropped their second road contest of the season.
Postgame Notes
Team Notes
- Texas A&M racked up 464 yards of offense against the Tigers, marking the fifth time this season they have tallied over 450 yards.
- The Maroon & White were 5-for-5 in the red zone with four of those trips resulting in a touchdown.
- This marked the 21st overtime game in program history, and the first time the Aggies had gone to overtime since topping LSU in seven overtimes in 2018.
- The Aggies have registered at least one interception in seven of their 11 games this season, while the defense has forced a turnover in eight of 11 games.
- The Maroon & White held Auburn to 5-for-14 on third downs, marking the eighth game this season that opponents were held to five-or-less conversions with 10-or-more third down attempts.
- Freshman QB Marcel Reed connected on a career-best three touchdown passes against Auburn to give him 12 for the season, which is good for fifth on A&M's freshman passing TDs list. His season-high 297 passing yards in the game upped his season total to 1,492 to put him at fourth among Aggie freshmen all-time.
- Junior WR Noah Thomas registered the second 100-yard game and second multi-touchdown game of his career, finishing the night with a career-high 124 yards and two touchdowns.
- Thomas' pair of scoring grabs upped his career total to 13 to tie him with Albert Connell (1995-96) for 12th all-time at A&M.
- Freshman WR Terry Bussey scored the second touchdown of his young career with a 1-yard stretch into the end zone to put A&M on the board.
- Sophomore LB Taurean York led the defense for the sixth time this season with the third double-digit tackles game of his career, tallying 10 takedowns against the Tigers.
- Senior DB BJ Mayes recorded his third interception of the season when he caught a pass broken up by junior LB Scooby Williams.
- Graduate K Randy Bond's 32-yard field goal in the fourth quarter gave him sole possession of fourth on A&M's all-time list with 58 career makes after also sending a 42-yarder through the uprights in overtime.
- Bond tallied 11 points in the game to mark the 12th time in his career and fifth time this season he has contributed double-digit points.
Postgame: Mike Elko
So many emotions. Obviously you can't come out and get down 21-0. You can't let the ball get over your head on the road and expect to be successful. I was very disappointed with how we started the game on defense. And then to show the heart and the character to come back the way we did on the road, in that environment, with all that emotion, and get ourselves back and a chance to win it...we had a 4th-and-2 to win the game, couldn't get it done. A drive to win the game, couldn't get it done. Had opportunities on both sides of the ball in overtime to go out there and make the play to win the game and couldn't get it done. And so ultimately that's on me. We have to be much better in those situations to get where we want to go. And so it's unfortunate, but on to the next. Obviously we've got a big one next week and we've got to figure out how to get back and get ready to go.
What happened on the first three drives with the big pass plays?
The ball went over our head. I mean, it just went over our head, like, you can't let the ball go over your head. It was three explosive pass plays. Just can't let them happen. You can't let the ball go over your head. If you want the specifics of it, one of them, we jumped offsides and they threw it up and the kid made a play, we just got lost in coverage. The other one they motioned and we were very loose on the motion and let the kid run right down the field and get behind us. And then the third one they threw a 14-yard curl and we missed the tackle and he went for 60.
How much was their tempo catching you off guard, especially in the first quarter?
I don't think so. I think they hit one early where we didn't get it done right, but the tempo, they hit us on a couple of tempo runs in the second half. Those were more problematic, I thought, than anything on the third down. They hit the one early for sure, but I don't think outside of that that the tempos on the third down were problems. They got the tempo runs going in the second half. When we got back to 21-21 and they got the lead back out to 28-21, that was all tempo runs. We did an awful job with that.
What did you think about the way the team responded after going down 21-0?
Yeah, I mean, it's tremendous heart and tremendous fight for sure. um, Nobody has a script for what happened, and nobody blinked and nobody backed up and and we just kept fighting and got it tied up. We let them go down the field and score again, figured out a way to go score and just unfortunately we could not close the game. We had multiple chances to close the game and we just didn't do it.
Early in the game what contributed to being unable to finish drives?
I think we just we got off schedule down inside the 30-yard line the first couple of drives. Marcel let the one ball go and it sailed on him and that was the pick. The other drive we got behind the chains when we got into that 35-yard area and just couldn't get it going. Obviously we've been pretty good at that, unfortunately we couldn't (tonight). I thought we had a couple short field opportunities that were really disappointing that we didn't do better with. You know, at 21-7 they missed the punt and we weren't able to go out there and do anything with that. We had the interception and we didn't get that into the end zone. And so we had some opportunities on some short fields, but, again, we put our quarterback in a hole down 21 nothing on the road. That's not a great way to play football.
Did you like the looks on the two-point plays even though you didn't get them?
I mean, it's hard to say you like anything when it doesn't work. Obviously those are the plays that that we felt good about. We felt like we ran the play we wanted to run against the look. I thought on the first one we needed to keep going. I think if we keep going, we've got a wide open guy in the back of the end zone and we just didn't get over there in our progression. The second one, unfortunately, we just didn't throw it and catch it.
What were your thoughts on Marcel's performance overall?
I don't know what his stat line looked like, but I thought he battled in that environment, almost threw for 300 yards, ran for another 66. And so I thought he did a really good job keeping it going, not getting outside of himself, not forcing the football, not doing things that sometimes young kids do in those types of situations that try to get it all back at once. So from that perspective I thought he did a nice job.
Alabama also lost which means you still get to play in the SEC title game with a win next week, what's the key to moving past this loss and knowing you can still achieve those goals?
Yeah, I mean this one's certainly gonna hurt and and we're obviously extremely disappointed because we had ourselves in a really good position. And this is back-to-back road games where we haven't been able to get it done. And so that part of it's not going to go away. But obviously, with who we play and what we're still playing for, there's still going to be a lot of energy going into that stadium next weekend.
What did you think about Terry Bussey in a new position?
Yeah, it was good. We didn't put him in a new position. We just moved him around. We felt like at wide receiver we had the ability and flexibility to kind of move him around a little bit more and we didn't think it was right o move him to running back, but obviously he's a kid that's really good with the ball in his hands. And so we felt like there were some opportunities at wide receiver to move him around and we tried to do that a lot tonight and I think we were able to get him a lot more touches than we've been able to in some other games. So that was good, obviously he's a good player.
Where was Will Lee tonight?
Will Lee got hurt. Unfortunately, Will went out of the...we lost Jaydon Hill and Will Lee within like the first eight plays of the game, so both of those guys were out. We'll figure out what their status is moving forward. I don't think they're long-term things, but both of those guys were out within the first eight plays of the game.
Postgame: Albert Regis
Postgame: Marcel Reed
One-on-One: Adam Cushing
Thursday, September 11
The Aggie Football Hour (Ep 3)
Wednesday, September 10
The Pulse #12.2 | Family Over Everything
Wednesday, September 10
One-on-One: Will Lee III
Wednesday, September 10
