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Texas A&M made a statement on Saturday. Well, at least its defense did. And backup QB Max Johnson had a few things to say as well in the Aggies’ 27-10 victory over Auburn at Kyle Field.
No, Auburn is not considered a contender for SEC West honors, but the Aggies needed to let the rest of the league know that they are, and Saturday provided that opportunity.
Mission accomplished. The Aggies used a smothering defense and Johnson provided just enough offense in relief of Conner Weigman to lift them to the upper half of the SEC West pecking order moving forward.
Player of the Week: QB Max Johnson
Coming off the bench for the injured Weigman (ankle), Johnson woke up the Aggies’ offense. The veteran QB looked cool and calm in the pocket and engineered a pair of TD drives that allowed the Aggies to pull away.
Johnson completed his first 5 passes, including TD tosses to Jake Johnson and Evan Stewart covering 22 and 37 yards respectively, turning a 6-3 nail-biter into an insurmountable 20-3 advantage. For the game, Johnson completed 7 of 11 passes for a game-high 123 yards.
Freshman of the Week: LB Taurean York
The 6-0, 230-pound 3-star prospect from Temple led the defense in tackles for the 2nd game this season. He followed up a 7-tackle game at Miami with Saturday’s performance, an 11-tackle effort against Auburn.
It was an outstanding game that included 1 solo tackle for loss and 2 assists. He also assisted on a sack.
Biggest surprise: Pass defense
The Aggies nearly completely shut down Auburn’s passing game. Between pressuring the Tigers’ QBs, who were for the most part inaccurate in the throws they were able to get off, and a secondary that kept receivers in check, the Aggies limited Auburn to 56 yards passing.
The Aggies allowed just 9 completions on Auburn’s 23 attempts, a pleasant surprise that kept the Tigers’ offense off balance. Auburn’s inability to connect with its passing game played a key role in its converting on just 3 of 15 3rd downs.
Biggest concern: Injury to Weigman
He certainly wasn’t having his best game at Texas A&M, but the ankle injury to Weigman is concerning. Just before halftime, after compiling an 8-for-14 game for 70 yards, the Aggies’ starting QB suffered an ankle injury and did not return.
The severity of the injury was not immediately known, but Weigman sat for the remainder of the game while Johnson sparked the offense.
Developing trend: Tougher to throw on the Aggies
After giving up 374 passing yards to Miami in Week 2, the Aggies have cleaned up the pass defense over their past 2 games. As mentioned, the Aggies yielded just 56 passing yards on Saturday and coupled with the 95 allowed to UL-Monroe in the previous game, have given up just 151 passing yards over their past 2 outings.
Key stat: 7 sacks/15 TFL
The Aggies were able to pressure Auburn’s QBs and got home 7 times for sacks. Edgerrin Cooper led the way with a career-high 2. Walter Nolen (1.5), McKinnley Jackson (1.0) and Chris Russell Jr. (1.5) also played key roles along with Shemar Stewart (0.5) and Taurean York (0.5), who handed in a career-high 11 tackles. They were instrumental in the Aggies’ total of 15 tackles for loss totaling 56 yards.
First impression about Week 5: Another must-win
Just like beating Auburn, Texas A&M must win next Saturday against Arkansas if it wants to remain a contender in the SEC West. Arkansas, like Auburn, is not considered to be a threat in the division, and that’s what makes this game a must-win.
Knocking down the pretenders is what contenders do, and after Saturday’s encouraging victory that’s what the Aggies must repeat when they take on the Razorbacks at noon ET in the Southwest Classic at Jerry World.
Glenn Sattell is an award-winning freelance writer for Saturday Down South.
