No. 6 Aggies Fall at No. 1 Alabama

Saturday, October 22

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

2:30 PM

Texas A&M

6-1 , 4-1

Alabama

8-0 , 5-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Texas A&M

Alabama

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Oct 22, 2016 | Football

Box Score Photos Box: ALA 33, A&M 14 (PDF)

By: Associated Press / Texas A&M Media Relations

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Jonathan Allen returned a fumble 29 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter to help No. 1 Alabama beat sixth-ranked Texas A&M 33-14 Saturday.

The Crimson Tide (8-0, 5-0 SEC) moved on as the powerhouse league's last unbeaten team, getting yet another in a long string of defensive scores. Allen, a lineman, scooped up the ball after Ryan Anderson knocked it loose from Keith Ford to finally build a cushion over the Aggies (6-1, 4-1), who led 14-13 well into the third.

It was 20-14 when Allen extended Alabama's streak to 10 games with a score on defense or special teams, half the duration of a winning streak now at 20 going into an open date.

Alabama's freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts then galloped 37 yards for another score, stepping out of a defender's grasp and making a nifty move to get past another. The Tide was rolling again, a powerful encore to easy wins over ranked Tennessee and Arkansas teams.

The Aggies seemed likely to put up the biggest fight, with a defense that kept the pressure on Hurts and a handful of big runs by quarterback Trevor Knight. Then Allen and Anderson changed that in an instant.

The Tide defense sustained a big loss when safety Eddie Jackson was injured on a late punt return. Coach Nick Saban said Jackson, a senior, is out for the season with a broken leg.

Alabama racked up five sacks of Knight, who had engineered Oklahoma's Sugar Bowl upset of Alabama as a redshirt freshman with a 348-yard, four-touchdown performance. He passed for 164 and ran for 24 in the semi-rematch.

Hurts passed for 166 yards and rushed for 93 more, throwing for a pair of touchdowns while getting intercepted twice. Damien Harris rushed 17 times for 126 yards.

ABOUT THE GAME..
Texas A&M took a 14-13 early in the third quarter against Alabama but the Crimson Tide scored the final 20 points of the game to earn a 33-14 victory.
•   The loss was the Aggies' first since last year's bowl game and dropped their overall record to 6-1 and their SEC worksheet to 4-1.
•   The Aggies fell to 2-12 all-time in games against the top-ranked team in the Associated Press Top 25.

NOTABLES..
•   Texas A&M entered the game as one of the FBS leaders in QB sacks and tackles for loss and that trend continued against the Crimson Tide as the Aggies generated a trio of QB sacks and 12 total tackles for loss. The 12 tackles for loss were the second-most by the Aggies in 2016.
•   Junior DE Myles Garrett finished with a game-high 3.5 tackles for loss and a QB hurry while also chipping in a season-high seven tackles. Garrett now has 43.0 tackles behind the line of scrimmage in his 31-game career at Texas A&M.
•   Senior LB Shaan Washington was the Aggies' team leader in tackles for the third time this season with 11 stops, including seven solo tackles, and he also contributed a QB hurry.
•   Sophomore WR Christian Kirk, who entered the game as the SEC leader with 40 catches, reeled in a game-high nine catches for 58 yards and scored on a 25-yard catch early in the third quarter. It was the 12th TD catch of Kirk's career and moved the sophomore into the Aggies' career top 10 list after just 20 games.
•   Senior WR Josh Reynolds' second-quarter TD catch was the 23rd of his career. He is one TD behind Ryan Swope, who is No. 2 on Texas A&M's career list. Jeff Fuller holds the school record with 34 from 2008-11.
•   Senior SS Justin Evans, who was named the Midseason National Defensive Player of the Year by NFL.com, logged his fourth pickoff of the season with an INT on the final play of the first half against the Crimson Tide.
•   Junior RB Keith Ford was just off his season high for rushing with 62 yards on 15 carries. Ford had a season-high 65 yards in the season-opener vs. UCLA.
•   With three more inside-the-20 punts against Alabama, junior punter Shane Tripucka now has 17 after seven games.
•   Returning to action after missing two games was junior WR Ricky Seals-Jones, who contributed a receiving first down with an acrobatic 25-yard catch.
•   The Aggies rushed for 114 yards and passed for 164 yards against the Crimson Tide, marking the first time this season that the team failed to reach the 200 yard plateau in rushing and passing. Coming into the game, the Aggies were averaging 274.3 rushing and 258.5 passing and were the only FBS team that had rushed and passed for at least 200 yards in every game.
•   Alabama ran nine offensive plays on their initial series of the game on its way to a field goal. It was the most plays allowed by the Aggie defense on the opponent's first offensive drive (previous high was four plays by UCLA in the season-opener).
•   Junior nickelback Donovan Wilson was ejected for targeting in second quarter on an interception return by senior LB Claude George. It was the first INT of George's career.

GAME CAPTAINS, 12TH MAN
•   Game captains for the Aggies were graduate transfer QB Trevor Knight, junior WR Ricky Seals-Jones, senior LB Shaan Washington and junior DE Myles Garrett. Also a captain without going to midfield was senior DB Alex Sezer Jr. The Aggies won the toss and deferred their choice to the second half.
•   The Aggies' 12th Man representative was sophomore LB Cullen Gillaspia (Katy, Texas) in his seventh straight start. A former walkon, Gillaspia was awarded a scholarship at the end of fall camp.