
Football Falls at No. 1 Alabama
Sep 22, 2018 | Football
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- Tua Tagovailoa passed for 387 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another score to lead No. 1 Alabama to a 45-23 rout of No. 22 Texas A&M on Saturday.
The Crimson Tide (4-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) easily passed the first test against a ranked team. Kellen Mond and the Aggies (2-2, 0-1) couldn't put up nearly the fight they had in a 28-26 loss to No. 3 Clemson.
Tagovailoa completed 22 of 30 passes before leaving after Henry Ruggs III took a shuttle pass 57 yards for a score late in the third. His first attempt went for a 30-yard touchdown to a diving DeVonta Smith, and he hit tight end Hale Hentges for two more scores.
Damien Harris didn't get many touches but had a 35-yard run and a 52-yard catch.
Mond completed 16 of 33 passes for 196 yards with a touchdown but was intercepted twice, including on his first throw. He collected 98 yards rushing despite getting sacked seven times.
The SEC's top rusher, Trayveon Williams, found little room to run. He gained 31 yards on eight carries.
Texas A&M seemed poised for a while to give the Tide its first test of the season. But Tagovailoa & Co. kept answering and scored 10 points in the final 1:09 before halftime for a 31-13 lead.
Tagovailoa set up a touchdown with a 52-yard pass down the right sideline to Harris. Then freshman cornerback Patrick Surtain Jr. intercepted Mond's deep ball and the Tide drove for a field goal.
GAME NOTES
ABOUT THE GAME
- The Aggies fell to 2-2 overall and 0-1 against SEC opponents with the 45-23 setback against the Crimson Tide Saturday afternoon at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tusclaoosa, Ala.
NOTABLES
- Junior P Braden Mann etched his name into the NCAA record books after averaging 60.8 yards per punt on five punts against the Tide. Mann's single-game ledger bested the previous record of 60.4 yards set by Lee Johnson of BYU against Wyoming on Oct. 8, 1983 and Quinn Sharp of Oklahoma State against Nebraska on Oct. 23, 2010.
- Mann opened his ledger with a 65-yard boomer that traveled approximately 64 yards in the air before bouncing into the end zone. He entered the game with 51.7 average, on pace to shatter the current school-record of 47.5 set by Drew Kaser in 2015.
- After 89 pass attempts without an interception to start the season for QB Kellen Mond, the sophomore signal-caller suffered a pickoff his first pass of the game.
- The turnover was quickly turned into Tide points when when DeVonta Smith reeled in a 30-yard TD catch at 14:10. It was the fastest score against the Aggies since South Carolina's AJ Turner scored on a 75-yard run at 14:47 of the first quarter on 10/1/2016.
- Senior SAF Donovan Wilson was ejected due to targeting for the second time this season (Northwestern State).
- The Aggies scored their first touchdown of the game on a 15-yard TD catch by junior TE Jace Sternberger. It was his fourth TD catch of the season, which is just one off the tight end school record.
- Sternberger's 15-yard TD catch from QB Kellen Mond culminated a 99-yard drive, which ties a school record. It was the Aggies' first 99-yard drive since 2017 season-opener against UCLA.
- True freshman PK Seth Small connected on three field goals, including a 52-yarder in the second quarter that matched the Aggies' season long (by Daniel LaCamera vs. Northwestern State).
- Sophomore QB Kellen Mond rolled up 98 yards on 18 carries, falling just shy of his second career 100-yard performance. For the game, Mond gained 294 total yards -- 196 through the air and 98 on the ground.
- Senior SAF Deshawn Capers-Smith led the Aggies with eight tackles on the day, just one shy of his career-high (9 at Mississippi State in 2016), while Senior DL Landis Durham matched his career-high with seven stops against the Tide (7 vs. Mississippi State in 2017).
- The A&M defense matched a season-high with seven tackles for loss, registered by seven different players including the first of the season for Junior CB Charles Oliver and freshman SAF Leon O'Neal, Jr.
GAME CAPTAINS, 12thMAN
- Texas A&M's game captains for the Alabama game were senior LB Otaro Alaka, senior DL Kingsley Keke, junior RB Trayveon Williams and junior C Erik McCoy.
- Senior RB Cullen Gillaspia was the Aggies' 12th Man for the 30th straight game.
Team Stats

TAMU 0, UA 7
UA - DeVonta Smith 30 yd pass from Tua Tagovailoa (Joseph Bulovas kick) 1 plays, 30 yards, TOP 0:08

TAMU 7, UA 7
TAMU - J. Sternberger 15 yd pass from Kellen Mond (Seth Small kick) 8 plays, 99 yards, TOP 4:15

TAMU 7, UA 14
UA - Tua Tagovailoa 1 yd run (Joseph Bulovas kick), 9 plays, 75 yards, TOP 4:10

TAMU 10, UA 14
TAMU - Seth Small 52 yd field goal 4 plays, 22 yards, TOP 2:11

TAMU 10, UA 21
UA - Hale Hentges 23 yd pass from Tua Tagovailoa (Joseph Bulovas kick) 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:00

TAMU 13, UA 21
TAMU - Seth Small 32 yd field goal 8 plays, 60 yards, TOP 3:26

TAMU 13, UA 28
UA - Hale Hentges 6 yd pass from Tua Tagovailoa (Joseph Bulovas kick) 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:15

TAMU 13, UA 31
UA - Joseph Bulovas 47 yd field goal 3 plays, 17 yards, TOP 0:19

TAMU 13, UA 38
UA - Josh Jacobs 3 yd run (Joseph Bulovas kick), 7 plays, 80 yards, TOP 1:29

TAMU 16, UA 38
TAMU - Seth Small 25 yd field goal 10 plays, 67 yards, TOP 4:30

TAMU 16, UA 45
UA - Henry Ruggs III 57 yd pass from Tua Tagovailoa (Joseph Bulovas kick) 2 plays, 92 yards, TOP 0:29

TAMU 23, UA 45
TAMU - Kellen Mond 9 yd run (Seth Small kick), 11 plays, 88 yards, TOP 5:26