COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, “Gus Malzahn has taken the Auburn Tigers into College Station and defeated Texas A&M on the road.”
No this isn’t an article from the 2013 season… or the 2015 season… or the 2017 season. The Auburn Tigers defeated the Texas A&M Aggies 28-20 in the conference opener for both squads. This marks the 4th straight road victory for Auburn against Texas A&M.
This game was lopsided throughout most of the afternoon, with the Tigers leading 28-10, with 6:01 left in the 4th quarter. A late push by the Aggies forced the score to be much closer than the game story was told.
The Tigers Started off the scoring with a 57-yard run by wide receiver Anthony Schwartz on a reverse. Schwartz’s run dazzled many in attendance by splitting two Texas A&M defenders with his world-class speed.
“Another thing we talked about was getting off to a fast start,” Malzahn said. “We were able to get off to a fast start. We kind of took the crowd out early.”
Malzahn was not lying, the Tigers offense got off to its fastest start of the year.
Two drives later, Auburn unshackled the arm of Joey Gatewood, as he connected with John Samuel Shenker on a six-yard touchdown pass. The touchdown pass was the first of Gatewood’s career.
The Tigers headed into halftime with a 14-3 lead.
Auburn’s defense sparked another quick touchdown for the Tigers, when safety Daniel Thomas forced a fumble, which he recovered.
The Tigers took this opportunity to march down the field, where quarterback Bo Nix hit wide receiver Seth Williams in stride on a slant route for the touchdown.
The game slowed pace until the 4th quarter, when Texas A&M scored their first touchdown of the game on 27-yard touchdown pass from Kellen Mond to Quartney Davis.
Auburn responded to this touchdown, with one of their own. The Tigers ripped off a 12-play, 69-yard drive that took over six minutes off of the clock. The drive was finished off by a JaTarvious Whitlow touchdown.
Texas A&M fought back, and made the score look much better than the game played. Despite this fact, Auburn was able to hang on to secure their conference victory of the season.
Auburn’s offense looked to be clicking well today; a trend that the Tigers will hope to continue when SEC foe Mississippi State comes into town.
