Football Takes Down UAB, 41-20

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) -- Trayveon Williams ran for 167 yards and two touchdowns to lead Texas A&M to a 41-20 win over UAB on Saturday night to snap the Blazers' school-record eight-game winning streak.

Kellen Mond threw two touchdown passes to Jace Sternberger as the Aggies (7-4) got their second straight win after losing their previous two games.

UAB (9-2), which clinched their first Conference USA West division title last week, lost for the first time since Sept. 8 in a mistake-filled game which included two interceptions by Tyler Johnston, a fumble returned for a touchdown, and three missed field goals and a blocked extra point.

Things went wrong for the Blazers immediately, with Andre Wilson fumbling the opening kickoff, which was recovered by Larry Pryor and returned 17 yards for the score.

UAB bounced back on the next possession, using a 10-play, 75-yard drive, capped by a 9-yard touchdown reception by Wilson to tie it at 7-7.

The first touchdown by Williams, a 9-yard run, put Texas A&M back on top 14-7 with about six minutes left in the first quarter.

Nick Vogel's first missed field came after that, with the 43-yard attempt clanging off the left upright and sailing right back at him.

The Aggies were up 17-7 early in the second quarter when Vogel missed again, this time his 44-yard attempt was blocked by Jayden Peevy.

UAB was driving late in the second quarter when Donovan Wilson intercepted Johnston to give the Aggies the ball back. The second TD by Williams, who has seven 100-yard games this season, came a few plays later to extend Texas A&M's lead to 24-7.

The Aggies got the ball back with 11 seconds left in the first half and attempted a 39-yard field goal after an incomplete pass, but it was wide right to leave them up by 17 at halftime.

Texas A&M added a field goal on its first possession of the second half and Vogel's third miss came after that.

Sternberger extended Texas A&M's lead to 34-7 when he grabbed a 25-yard touchdown reception late in the third. His 20-yard catch extended it to 41-13 with about nine minutes left.

The Blazers recovered a fumble to set up a 10-yard TD reception by Wilson before Sternberger's second touchdown, but Vogel's extra point attempt was blocked.

UAB entered the game leading the nation with a school-record 38 sacks and piled up seven in a win over Southern Miss last week. They didn't have nearly as much success in getting to the mobile Mond, sacking him just once.

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ABOUT THE VICTORY

• With the 41-20 victory over UAB, Texas A&M improved to 7-4, which marked the program's ninth straight season of at least seven victories.
• The win over the No. 25-ranked Blazers (Amway Coaches poll) marked the Aggies' second victory over a top 25 opponents (also beat No. 13/15 Kentucky).

 
NOTABLES  

• The 60-yard punt by Braden Mann was his 14^th punt of 60-or-more yards this season which gives him sole possession of the NCAA record for 60-yard punts in a season. He was tied with Ryan Plackemeier of Wake Forest from the 2005 season. For the game, Mann …
• The Aggies opened the game with perhaps the quickest score in school history. True freshman LB Brian Johnson forced a fumble on the opening kickoff and was scooped up and returned 17 yards for a score by junior DB Larry Pryor just nine seconds into the game. It was the first fumble return of the season for the Aggies, and it was the team's first fumble return for a TD since Deshazor Everett had a 12-yarder vs. SMU on Sept. 21, 2013.
• Sophomore Jayden Peevy blocked a pair of UAB kicks tonight, one FG and one XP. It was the Aggies' second FG block of the season (Daylon Mack vs. ULM) and marked the first time since the 2017 Auburn game that the Aggies blocked more than one kick in the same game.
• The SEC's leading rusher Trayveon Williams posted his fourth multiple touchdown game of the season TD rushes of nine yards and one yards. For the game, Williams rushed for 167 yards on 20 carries which moved his season total to 1,326 yards. He becomes the sixnth player to eclipse the 1,300-yard barrier in a single season as he moved past Tra Carson (1,165 in 2015), Greg Hill (1,216 in 1991) and Bob Smith (1,302 in 1950) to No. 5 on the Aggies' single season rushing list. On the career rushing chart, Williams moved into sole possession of fifth with 3,181 yards.
• Junior TE Jace Sternberger continued to build on his tight end school record for TD catches in a season with his seventh and eighth touchdown grabs against the Blazers. He reeled in TD catches of 25 yards and 20 yards. He now has at least one 20-yard plus catch in 10 of 11 games in 2018. Sternberger entered the game as the FBS's co-leader in TD catches by a tight end. Sternberger passed Rod Bernstine (710, 1986) for the most yards by an A&M TE in a single season, he has 729 yards on the season on 42 catches.
• The Aggies forced a season-high three takeaways with a fumble recovery and two pickoffs. The A&M defense tallied a season-high 11.0 TFL including 3 sacks. The Aggies finished with a season-high 3 forced fumbles.
• Tonight's game was the first of the season that the Aggies didn't win the time of possession battle.
• Texas A&M entered the night 84^th in the country at 6.8 penalties per game but drew only one flag in the contest, on the last drive of the night.

 
GAME CAPTAINS, 12thMAN 

• Texas A&M's game captains for the UAB game were senior LB Otaro Alaka, senior SAF Donovan Wilson, junior RB Trayveon Williams and junior C Erik McCoy. Texas A&M won the toss and deferred its choice to the second half.
• Senior RB Cullen Gillaspia was the Aggies' 12th Man for the 37th straight game.

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