COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) -- Damien Harris ran for 124 yards and a touchdown, and Jalen Hurts had a touchdown pass and ran for another score to help top-ranked Alabama remain undefeated with a 27-19 win over Texas A&M on Saturday night.
The Aggies (4-2, 2-1 Southeastern Conference), who entered the game as 26 1/2 point underdogs, made the game interesting, but in the end freshman quarterback Kellen Mond was simply too inexperienced to help them topple a team as talented as Alabama.
Alabama (6-0, 3-0) had rolled past Vanderbilt and Mississippi by a combined scored of 125-3 over the last two weeks, but got much more of a test from the young Aggies.
Mond was 19 of 29 for 237 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He also ran for a touchdown and lost a fumble.
Hurts threw for 123 yards and ran for 56.
Mond connected with Damion Ratley on a 32-yard pass on fourth-and-9 to get the Aggies to the 3 late in the third quarter. They were facing another fourth down later in the possession when Mond evaded one sack and got the ball off just as he was hit, finding Christian Kirk on for a 2-yard touchdown pass to get the Aggies to 24-10. Kirk grabbed the ball just before his knee hit the ground.
The Aggies were driving again early in the fourth quarter when Minkah Fitzpatrick intercepted Mond near the goal line for his first pick this season.
But Alabama couldn't move the ball and had to punt out of the end zone. Cullen Gillaspia, who wears Texas A&M's beloved 12th man jersey, blocked JK Scott's punt in the end zone for a safety to make it 24-12.
Texas A&M couldn't do anything on its next drive, with Mond getting sacked twice and losing two yards on a run to force the Aggies to punt.
Alabama added a field goal with about two minutes left to make it 27-12.
Mond cut the lead to 8 with a 1-yard run with 17 seconds left, but the Aggies ran out of time to do anything else.
Alabama took its opening drive of the second half 75 yards, capped by an 8-yard touchdown pass from Hurts to Henry Ruggs to extend the lead to 24-3 early in the third quarter.
Later in the third quarter Robert Foster simply dropped what should have been an easy catch before fumbling after a catch on the same drive. It was Alabama's first turnover since Nov. 24, 2016 and earned Foster a talking to from coach Nick Saban as soon as he reached the sideline.
The Aggies led 3-0 early after Daniel LaCamera made the longest field goal of his career and the first over 50 yards with a 52-yard field goal.
The lead didn't last long as Damien Harris ran 75 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the next series.
"The energy level in that stadium tonight was awesome...our fans have been fantastic and we really appreciate that." -@CoachSumlin #12thMan pic.twitter.com/UB7dxWwLDt
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) October 8, 2017
"These guys play w/great effort. They care abt each other. The people in that locker room aren't real happy rt now." -@CoachSumlin #12thMan pic.twitter.com/LqKWRxIDj9
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) October 8, 2017
"We're just looking to get better every week...if we get better every week there's not a game that we can't win." -@CoachSumlin #12thman pic.twitter.com/LK2REYRGNu
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) October 8, 2017
"He hasn't always done everything right but he's given us a chance in all these games." @CoachSumlin on @TheKellenMond #12thMan #BAMAvsTAMU pic.twitter.com/5RWmpjr3mm
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) October 8, 2017
"Heart. Guys played with everything they had." -@Cgillaspia on what he saw from his teammates #12thMan #BAMAvsTAMU pic.twitter.com/4QOP3DbWdH
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) October 8, 2017
"It's real disappointing...but you have to take positives too. I think there's a lot to build on from this." -@Cgillaspia #12thMan pic.twitter.com/ZaB3ila9rj
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) October 8, 2017
"As the season goes on we're going to keep growing stronger." -@ChristianDavon2 #12thMan #BAMAvsTAMU pic.twitter.com/qsSdMLUsFk
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) October 8, 2017
Notables ...
• Junior PK Daniel LaCamera opened the game's scoring with a 52-yard field goal, which was the longest of his career and the first 50-yard plus boot by an Aggie since 2015.
• Junior WR Christian Kirk reeled in his fifth receiving touchdown of 2017, which was also the 21st of his 32-game career. Kirk's 21 receiving touchdowns rank No. 4 in school history behind Jeff Fuller (34), Josh Reynolds (30) and Ryan Swope (24).
• Junior LB Cullen Gillaspia, who is in his second season as the 12th Man, recorded the first punt block of his career when he batted down a JK Scott boot that went out of bounds for a safety. Gillaspia's block was the first by an Aggie since another 12th Man, Sam Moeller, blocked a punt vs. Vanderbilt in 2015. Moeller's punt block also resulted in a safety. The safety agianst Alabama was the first by the Aggies since Jarrett Johnson recorded a two-pointer against Prairie View A&M last season (Sept. 10, 2016).
• Sophomore Tyrel Dodson tallied a career-best 16 tackles against the Crimson Tide, which were the most by an Aggie this season. The Frankston, Tenn., native finished with 10 solo tackles, six assists, 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack on the night.
• Dodson's 16 tackle performance was the most by an Aggie since Armani Watts recorded 20 stops against Ole Miss on Oct. 24, 2015.
• The Maroon & White recorded nine tackles for loss on the night, the second-most they have recorded this season (12 TFL vs South Carolina). Dodson, senior Armani Watts (2.0) and junior Otaro Alaka (2.0) each finished with multiple TFL.
• Freshman Kellen Mond finished with a pair of touchdowns on the night (1 passing / 1 rushing), his third game with multiple scoring plays on the season. The IMG Academy product finished 19-for-29 through the air for 237 yards.
• Mond became the fifth freshman (third true freshman) to reach 1,000 passing yards in program history, totaling 1,057 yards through the first six games of his collegiate career.
• Sophomore Trayveon Williams passed 1957 Heisman Trophy winner John David Crow on the Aggies' career rushing list. The Houstonian has tallied 1,479 rushing yards in 18 career games.
• Texas A&M recorded 3 sacks against Alabama, their 7th straight game with 2-or-more sacks. The Aggies entered the day tied for 2nd in the country in QB takedowns (20.0).
• The Aggie defense forced a pair of fumbles (1 FR) againt Alabama bringing their season total to 11 (1.83 FF/game), A&M forced 15 fumbles in 13 games last season (1.2 FF/game).
GAME CAPTAINS, 12TH MAN
• Game captains for the Aggies were Cullen Gillaspia, Christian Kirk, Trayveon Williams and Armani Watts. Alabama won the toss and deferred their choice to the second half. Texas A&M received the opening kickoff.
• The Aggies' 12th Man representative was junior LB Cullen Gillaspia (Katy, Texas) in his 19th straight start.
50-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF SWC CHAMPION 1967 AGGIES HONORED
• The 1967 Texas A&M football celebrated the 50th anniversary of its improbable Southwest Conference Championships and subsequent win over Alabama in the 1968 Cotton Bowl.
• •The 1967 Texas A&M's squad's appearance in the 1968 Cotton Bowl was the Aggies' first trip to the famed New Year's Day bowl in more than 25 years and wasn't repeated until 1985. It was also Aggies' first bowl game appearance in a more than a decade.
• The Aggies' 1968 Cotton Bowl appearance was Texas A&M's only trip to the New Year's Day classic in a span of 44 seasons.
• The coaching matchup in the 1968 Cotton Bowl featured Texas A&M's Gene Stallings versus Alabama's Paul "Bear" Bryant, who had coached Stallings during his four-year run as the Aggies' head coach from 1954-57. Stallings was one of the famed "Junction Boys" from the infamous training camp in Junction, Texas in Bryant's first season in 1954.
• The Aggies downed the Kenny Stabler-led Crimson Tide, 20-16, in the Cotton Bowl. QB Edd Hargett earned Game MVP honors after connecting on touchdown passes to Larry Stegent and Tommy Maxwell.
• After the game, the legendary Bryant carried Stallings, his former player and assistant coach, off the field on his shoulders.
• The 1967 Aggies were coming off nine straight losing seasons since the departure of Bryant to Alabama in 1957.
• Stallings' Aggies started the 1967 season with four straight narrow losses to SMU, Purdue, LSU and Florida before reeling off six straight wins to clinch the conference title and a trip to the Cotton Bowl.
• The first of the six straight wins came against Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas, when quarterback Edd Hargett scored on a 15-yard touchdown run as time expired as the Aggies earned a 28-24 victory.
• The Aggies closed the regular season with a 10-7 win over Darrell Royal's Texas Longhorns that snapped a 10-game losing streak to their arch rivals. An 80-yard TD pass from Hargett to Bob Long in the fourth quarter was the winning score.
• Nine members of the 1967 team earned first-team All-SWC honors in 1967, which was most all-conference Aggies in program history at the time. Earning All-SWC were: Edd Hargett, QB; Bob Long, OE; Tommy Maxwell, S; Rolf Krueger, DT; Bill Hobbs, LB; Grady Allen, DE; Larry Stegent, OHB; Steve O'Neal, P; and Dan Schneider, OT.
