Each Monday in After "Math", we'll take a look inside the numbers from the weekend's football game, and we'll do it through the words of the Aggie coaching staff.
For more insight on each football game, make sure to tune in to "The Pulse: Texas A&M Football" (Wednesdays, 4:00 PM CT on FOX Sports Southwest and 6:30 PM CT on KBTX-TV).
AFTER MATH: AUBURN
by Will Johnson '01
12th Man Productions
They say Jordan-Hare Stadium is 'on the plains'. That's not entirely accurate.
Plains are mostly flat, with maybe some soft, rolling hills. There's coziness involved when hearing this description of Auburn University and its football home.
In reality, Jordan-Hare Stadium is rugged, harsh territory. There is nothing soft about it. Only the toughest and sharpest survive the venue.
With a three-game SEC losing streak in tow, Texas A&M trekked into this mislabeled location to take on the third-ranked Tigers Saturday.
Many thought the Aggies wouldn't make out.
But, this team had a formula.
From the beginning the Aggies got it right. They scored first for the 31st time in the Kevin Sumlin era (36 games). That's beneficial because Auburn is 14-0 under Gus Malzahn when striking the initial scoring blow.
The Ags did it downfield. They seemed to know where to hit Auburn. As good as the Tigers are, no team in the SEC allows more plays of 20-plus yards. Look how A&M built its early advantage.
Auburn left the middle of the field wide open on the fourth play of the Aggies' opening drive. Kyle Allen and Malcome Kennedy made them pay. Sixty yards later, it was 7-0.
“That was a big play,” says Kevin Sumlin. “Malcome was emotional before the game, and vocal. That let me know he was healthy finally. Everybody took a deep breath after (the play) and said 'we're back'.”
On the next A&M possession, a back-shoulder throw from Allen to Josh Reynolds could not have been executed more perfectly. When the ball was released, Auburn's senior cornerback Jonathan Mincy had coverage. When Reynolds made the grab, Mincy had gone lost. Two first-year Division I players confounded a veteran. Easy TD, and its 14-0.
Auburn would come back certainly. But not all the way back. Onereason is the Aggies were stout against vaunted Tiger quarterback Nick Marshall. Sure, running back Cameron Artis-Payne got his yards with a season-high 221. But it's Marshall who beats teams. Not Artis-Payne. Marshall on this afternoon rushed for a season low 3.7 yards per carry.
Another reason the Tigers were held a bay was an early 'response' by the Aggies. The coaching staff had been asking this team to answer adversity for a while. When Auburn made it 14-14 to grab momentum, the A&M reply was brilliant.
Trey Williams returned the ensuing kickoff past the Aggies' 40 yard line, but an illegal block brought the ball all the way back to the six. Kyle Allen and the offense lost somewhere in the range of 35 yards of field position on the play, and started in a hole. And near the student section end of Jordan-Hare Stadium, no less.
Allen's answer was to go 5-for-7 passing on the drive for 64 yards. One completion came on 3rd and 8, and it moved the chains. Another was for 23 yards to Ricky Seals-Jones to cap it.
One has to believe this is exactly what Kevin Sumlin had in mind when asking his team to respond.
Of course, getting a blocked field goal by Myles Garrett and ensuing touchdown return by Deshazor Everett didn't hurt anything at all. Everett was right where he needed to be.
“That's his job on that play,” Sumlin dissects. “Deshazor is supposed to contain in case there's a fake and look for the block for a scoop and score. That's exactly what you hope would happen.”
The Tigers roared again in the second half, but two late turnovers doomed them. Several say the Aggies got breaks. That's exactly right—they did. But there is something about catching a break every now and then. Simply tabbing it good fortune doesn't suffice.
“What's the old saying? 'The harder I work, the luckier I get,'? I think there's something to that,” says Sumlin. “That's how you become opportunistic, by playing hard.”
In the end the Aggies may have beaten Auburn at their own game. When it's close, and the score gets elevated, Auburn usually comes out on top. They have no problem getting into a scorefest with anyone.
Since 2005, the Tigers were 16-1 in games where they and their opponent scored more than 30 points. The only loss – last year's national championship game versus Florida State (the Seminoles won 34-31).
They're now 16-2 in this category.
What does it all add up to?
E + E = W. That was the formula.
Energy and effort led to a win that the college football world didn't see coming.
One of the thrills of Saturday was the Texas A&M sidelines from start to finish.
Rarely did any player sit on the bench. They borderline crowded the field.
The offense yelled for the defense. The defense yelled for the offense.
Jordan-Hare Stadium is often at a peak volume. The Aggies used the heralded venue to turn their intensity up a notch.
'Create Your Own Energy'. You'll hear it throughout the program on road trips. Saturday was a shining example of it. Away from home, the Aggies fed off each other.
“That's all you've got,” says Sumlin of playing on the road.
Players who participated in every snap were loud. But they couldn't outdo the ones who never saw the field. There were several Aggies who made the trip that didn't show up in the boxscore's participation chart. But make no mistake about it, they contributed to this victory.
There is only one way to venture into one of the great stadiums in college football, face the No. 3 team in the country as a heavy underdog, and come out victorious.
That way is together.
That's how the Aggies traversed this rugged path.
With the college football world thinking they'd get devoured in the Tigers' lair…the Aggies indeed made it out.
They made it out just fine.