Football Falls to No. 9 Alabama

Saturday, October 17

College Station

2:30 PM

Texas A&M

5-1 , 2-1

Alabama

6-1 , 3-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Alabama

Texas A&M

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Oct 17, 2015 | Football

Box Score

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) -- Derrick Henry ran for a career-high 236 yards and two scores and No. 10 Alabama added a school-record three touchdowns on interception returns to get a 41-23 win over No. 9 Texas A&M on Saturday.

Alabama (6-1, 3-1 SEC) built a 28-6 lead in the second quarter thanks to 55- and 6-yard touchdown runs by Henry and interception returns of 33 and 93 yards.

Christian Kirk returned a punt 68 yards for a score just before halftime and Texas A&M (5-1, 2-1) added another touchdown on a 3-yard reception by Ricky Seals-Jones after a fumble early in the third to cut it to 28-20.

But Alabama kicked two field goals before Minkah Fitzpatrick's 55-yard interception return for a score, his second of the day, made it 41-23 and sealed the victory.

Kyle Allen, who entered the game having thrown 79 passes without an interception, was 20 of 40 for 263 yards with a touchdown and a career-high three interceptions. Freshman Kyler Murray took over for a few possessions and was also picked off.

The Aggies got within 34-23 with a 36-yard field goal with about eight minutes left. They were driving again after a stop on defense when Fitzpatrick became the first player in Alabama history to return two interceptions for touchdowns in a game.

Henry, who extended his school record by scoring in his 12th straight game, had already surpassed his previous career-best of 148 yards rushing with 10 minutes left in the second quarter and he had 178 at halftime.

Alabama was up by 8 when Adam Griffith made a 32-yard field goal to make it 31-20. Kyler Murray was intercepted on the last play of the third quarter and the Crimson Tide added a field goal on the ensuing drive.

Murray played the last possession of the first half and the first one of the third quarter, which resulted in a punt. Cyrus Jones fumbled the return and it was recovered by Donovan Wilson.

Allen returned and connected with Seals-Jones on a 44-yard pass before finding him again for a 3-yard touchdown on the next play, cutting Alabama's lead to 28-20 early in the third.

Myles Garrett blocked a punt on Alabama's next possession, and it was recovered by the Aggies. But A&M's offense stalled, and the Aggies came away empty after a missed 52-yard field goal attempt.

Kirk had his second punt return for a touchdown this season when he took it back 68 yards to cut the lead to 28-13. Kirk, who became the first A&M player to return two punts for TDs in a season since Aaron Glenn in 1993, caught the ball in the middle of the field and darted to the edge, where he evaded several defenders and then simply outran everyone else.

A crowd of 105,733 was announced, including former President George H.W. Bush and wife Barbara, Astros star rookie Carlos Correa and former A&M and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans.

Alabama linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton was ejected for targeting in the second quarter after a hit on Texas A&M's Sam Moeller on a punt return.

Taylor Bertolet made field goals of 54 and 52 yards in the first half for A&M.

Allen's high throw was intercepted by Eddie Jackson, and he took it 93 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-6. Jackson tight-roped the sideline and zigzagged away from several would-be tacklers for the third-longest interception return in school history.

Alabama took a 7-0 lead when Fitzpatrick returned an interception 33 yards for a touchdown on A&M's second drive.

Henry burst through the line and juked Armani Watts a few yards down the field en route to a 55-yard touchdown run that pushed Alabama's lead to 14-0 with about 5 1/2 minutes left in the first quarter.

TEAM/GAME NOTES

• Today's crowd of 105,733 was a 2015 high and exactly 3,000 over capacity. It was the largest crowd since the completion of the Kyle Field redevelopment and the official capacity was lowered from 106,000 to 102,733.

• The Aggies fell to 2-4 in Associated Press top 10 matchups at Kyle Field.

• The Aggies entered the game with consecutive turnover-free performances but suffered a season-high four turnovers against Alabama (all via interceptions).

OFFENSIVE NOTES

• True freshman WR/RS Christian Kirk surpassed the 1,000-yard plateau in season all-purpose yards today in the sixth game of 2015, which matched the fastest to 1,000 by "'Lectric" Leeland McElroy in 1995. His 1,170 all-purpose yards ranks seventh on the Aggies' single-season chart.

• With 212 all-purpose yards, it was Kirk's third 200-plus yard game of his six-game career. Kirk had 11 rush yards, 90 receiving, 25 kickoff returns and 86 punt returns.

• Kirk moved into fifth place on A&M's list for receiving yards by freshman with 599 and sixth place for season receptions by a freshman with 39.

• Sophomore QB Kyle Allen connected on the 30th TD pass of his career when he threw a 3-yard strike to WR Ricky Seals-Jones in the second quarter. He is the ninth player in school history to reach the 30-touchdown plateau.

• Sophomore WR Ricky Seals-Jones registered his first career 100-yard receiving game with 107 yards and one TD on six receptions. Seals-Jones previous career-high was 84 yards, twice: vs. Rice in 2013 and vs. Ole Miss in 2014.

• Junior WR Josh Reynolds moved into the top 20 on Texas A&M's career receiving yardage chart with 1,281 yards. With 18 yards, Reynolds will pass both Barney Harris (1967-69) and Bob Long (1966-68) on the A&M career receiving yardage list.

• Senior RB Tra Carson rushed for 46 yards vs. Alabama to raise his career rushing total to 1,386 yards which pushed him past former teammate Trey Williams (1,343), John Kimbrough (1,357), Ja'Mar Toombs (1,360) and Thomas Sanders (1,379) on the A&M career rushing list.

DEFENSIVE NOTES

• The Aggies reached double-digits in tackles for losses for the third time this season with 15 against the Crimson Tide. Prior to 2015, the TFL game-high in the Sumlin era was 12 vs. Vanderbilt in 2013. A&M opened the year with 14 vs. Arizona State and then had a Sumlin-era high 16 vs. Nevada.

• It was the most TFLs given up by Alabama in 2015 (previous high was nine vs. Wisconsin).

• Junior DE Myles Garrett had another massive game with 5 total tackles, a blocked punt, a sack, two tackles for loss, a QB hurry and a batted down pass.

• The A&M defense forced a turnover for the 10th straight game, bringing the 2015 season total to nine (3 INT, 6 FR) in 6 games. A season ago, the Aggies forced just 10 TOs (5 INT, 5 FR) in 13 games. The last time the Aggies did not force a TO was last season's match-up with the Crimson Tide.

SPECIAL TEAM NOTES

• Senior PK Taylor Bertolet connected on the fifth and sixth 50-yard plus field goal of his career with a 54- and 52-yard bombs in the first half. Barefoot PK Tony Franklin owns the school record for career 50-yard FGs with 16 from 1976-79.

• With his 68-yard TD return late in the first half, true freshman WR/RS Christian Kirk became the first Aggie to return two punts for touchdowns in a season since Aaron Glenn in 1993. Glenn led the nation with a school record 19.9 average that season. Kirk also had a 79-yard TD return in the season-opener vs. Arizona State. It was the third 50-yard plus punt return of the season for Kirk.

GAME CAPTAINS / COIN TOSS

• Game captains were OC Mike Matthews, RT Germain Ifedi, DE Myles Garrett CB Brandon Williams. The Aggies won the toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff.

Ricky Seals-Jones, Texas A&M Sophomore Wide Receiver
On playing in a game with 3 pick sixes…
"I have back in high school. Kyle was flushed out of the pocket and was just trying to get it to us. It's part of the game. It happens."

On struggling to get momentum on offense…
"Alabama is a great team. They are physically sound. Every mistake we made they capitalized on it; that was on us. We just weren't clicking when we were supposed to and they capitalized."

On fighting despite the turnovers…
"We just kept fighting. We would come to the sideline and talk about it. Then we'd get back out there and keep fighting. We fought until the end."

On moving on…
"We just have to come in on Monday and work to get ready for Ole Miss. This game is behind us."

AJ Hilliard, Texas A&M Junior Linebacker
On containing Alabama's run game…
"Alabama did a great job of making plays early on in the first half. We did a poor job of pressing our gaps and playing our defense the way we need to play it. A lot of that is on me. They were hitting up the middle and we just weren't pressing our gaps well enough. Derek Henry was hitting his holes and making it hurt."

On staying in the game despite the turnovers…
"We have playmakers. We are going to make plays. Our coaches make great calls. It's all about execution. Against a team like Alabama you can't make as many mistakes as we did as a team. On offense, defense, special teams, you just can't make that many mistakes against a team like Alabama, because they are going you pay. And, they made us pay."

On cutting the lead down to eight…
"At that point, we thought we were going to come back and win it. We knew at halftime that we had a lot of work to do. We weren't going to give up. We were going to come out and play even harder than we did in the first half. That's what we did, and we came up short."

Julien Obioha, Texas A&M Defensive Lineman
On containing Alabama running back Derrick Henry…
"On defense if one guy is out of his gap a great back like Henry will find it and run it up the seam for 80 yards. I think we had little hiccups here and there, but once we went back to the drawing board and corrected them we did a good job of containing Henry."

On where the team will go from here…
"The way I look at it, if we win the rest of our games we go to the SEC title. We have to win out and the only way we can do that is by beating Ole Miss next week. We can't do anything about the Alabama game anymore so we're on to Ole Miss."

Germaine Ifedi, Texas A&M Offensive Lineman
On playing under adversity…
"You've got to roll with the punches. Adversity is going to happen, but we did our best to try to move on from it and not focus on the bad things that happened in the game. We've focused on not letting adversity affect us. The score may look a little lopsided, but I feel like we were into the game and playing hard up until the end."

On the team's mindset going into the next game…
"We're going to move on. We're going to watch the tape and then move onto Ole Miss. This is a mentally tough team, we're not going to dwell on this loss. We're going to fix the things that need to be fixed like we would after a win or a loss. We'll be prepared for Ole Miss."

Texas A&M vs. Alabama
Postgame Quotes
October 17, 2015

Jake Coker, Alabama Senior Quarterback
On the game…
"I thought we played well to start out with, but towards the end, I'm not really happy with our play offensively. We've got to work on some things and we'll pick it up. Our defense did one heck of a job today. They really carried us."

On defensive touchdowns…
"Three touchdowns defensively is pretty hard to beat. I'll take that any day."

On Derrick Henry…
"I've gotten to where I don't get too surprised anymore. You see him doing things like that all the time and he did what Derrick does, today. Very impressive.

Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M Head Coach
On the quarterback play …
"We were not very good at that position today. We had three pick-sixes. It's hard to win when you play that way. Both guys had been playing well up until today so I have to go back and look at the video. The bottom line is that Alabama was a good football team. But, also you can't play the way we did tonight, giving away 21 points, against a good football team and expect to win."

On the turnover…
"When you play a quality football team like Alabama your mistakes are amplified. Instead of balls just being on the ground, Alabama was returning them for touchdowns. You look at the game, that's 21 points right there. Alabama had a lot to do with the way we played. I thought the second half we had an opportunity there with the blocked punt. But, they drove the ball and then for whatever reason we could not get the ball in the end zone. I thought our defense in the second half shored some things up. We played a lot differently in the second half as far as the total defense and the running game. It gave us the opportunity along with the special teams to make it a one score game. But ultimately you can't spot somebody that many points, especially one that caliber."

On playing from behind…
"The game got to a point where we had to throw it to get back in it. It went just the opposite of how we wanted it to go. The game got ahead of us. But nobody has been able to do that consistently against Alabama. The combination of two things, our inability numbers wise, but also the situation where we forced to try to fight our way back into the game. You think as a coach that your comfortable doing that, but Alabama was able to take that away by forcing turnovers and scoring points off them."

Slim Margin of Error…
"Mistakes against quality teams like that are amplified. They caught three of our mistakes and ran them back for 21 points. There are a lot of lessons to be learned there for players and coaches alike. That's the nature of very well coached teams like Alabama. We had opportunities in the third and fourth quarter when the game wasn't getting away from us. At halftime, believe it or not, we actually felt halfway decent. We hadn't played very well, but here's the score of the game, if we can execute here and get things shored up we can win this game. I was actually pleased with how our guys approached the second half. Even with the long drive we were able to hold them to field goal and we still had a chance. There are not a whole lot of positives when you lose, but I thought our defense played hard all the way unto the end. I didn't see that last year in this game. The score is different this year but a loss is a loss."

Post-game message…
"My message was pretty simple. 'Yeah we are disappointed and yes we could have played better, but that is a good football team we just lost to.' We need to learn from the mistakes and how they can be amplified. Here is where the maturity and leadership aspect comes into play. We still have all our goals ahead of us. We got beat today, but we are tied with them in the SEC standings and we head on the road next week. What we have to do as a team is acknowledge what happened tonight, be truthful with where we our as a team and what we can get fixed, lean on each other, put this one away and move on with the rest of the season."

Texas A&M vs. Alabama
Postgame Quotes
October 17, 2015

Nick Saban, Alabama Head Coach
On today's win…
"This was a great team win, we know this was going to be a really tough game against a very good team in a difficult place to play."

Takeaway from today's game…
"The thing I'm probably most proud of with our players is when we lost the momentum of the game in the second quarter when we dominated the game in the first quarter. Players really responded well in the second half to go out there and compete."

On the defense's big day…
"The four interceptions were huge in the game. Three scores on defense is unprecedented and probably some kind of record. Minkah [Fitzpatrick] having two is fantastic for a freshman."

On Alabama in big time games…
"You have to hand it to this team. This is the second team ranked in the Top 10 that we've beaten on the road in some really tough places to play. I think you have to respect the competitive character of this team, my hats off to them."

Jonathan Allen, Alabama Junior Defensive Lineman
On the defense's big day…
"They deserve it. They work so hard throughout practice. We all feed off each other, today we were feeding off of the secondary. They executed to the best of their ability and that's all we can ask for."

On the team's performance since Ole Miss…
"I feel like we're a different team from week to week. You don't win the game on Saturdays, you win the game on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, which are preparation. I feel like we've improved, but we're definitely not satisfied or happy with anything we've done up to this point."

Reggie Ragland, Alabama Senior Linebacker
On today's game…
"We played a good game against a good team that likes to spread the ball out and get the ball to their playmakers. They have a heck of a quarterback that can do that, and we contained him. Everybody did their jobs."

On the momentum before and after halftime…
"The crowd got into it, but we had to stay poised and that's what we did. We came out and we made a play. Guys got pick sixes and everybody did their job. The offense did a heck of a job today."

On the defense's big day…
"Anytime the defense scores more than the offense, that's a great day for the defense. I'm proud of everybody in the secondary, they did a great job today."

Derrick Henry, Alabama Junior Running back
On today's performance…
"I just had to keep my head level, just help my offense, do what I have to do, help us get a win and make plays."

On Texas A&M…
"They have a great defense and good defensive coordinator so we just had to worry what we do throughout the week, how we prepare, come out and execute the plan that we had for the game."