No. 18 Aggies Head to Missouri

Saturday, October 16

Columbia, Mo.

11:00 AM

Texas A&M

Missouri

Photo by: Craig Bisacre/Texas A&M Athletics

Oct 15, 2021 | Football

By: Athletics Communications

Texas A&M looks to ride the momentum of the historic win over No. 1 Alabama as the Aggies head to Columbia to battle former Big 12 foe Missouri on Saturday morning.

Game 7: Texas A&M (4-2, 1-2) at Missouri (3-3, 0-2)

Saturday, October 16 • 11:03 a.m. (CT)
Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field (60,168)
TV: SEC Network
Radio: Texas A&M Sports Network, Sirius 119/XM 202
Live Audio: 12th Man Mobile app
Live Stats: Click Here

GAME NOTES (PDF)

COLLEGE STATION, TX - 20211009 - Texas A&M Aggies Football vs. Alabama Crimson Tide

What to Watch For

The former Big 12 foes meet for the first time since 2014 as the Aggies look keep the momentum going and continue to build in the win column.
Junior RB Isaiah Spiller has been Texas A&M’s most consistent performer on offense this season as he ranks fifth in the SEC, averaging 81.83 rushing yards per game and fourth with 491 total yards, scoring a touchdown in four of the last five games.
Junior TE Jalen Wydermyer is climbing A&M’s career receiving touchdowns list as he enters the week with 14 ... His next grab will tie him for eighth with Malcome Kennedy (2011-14).
Wydermyer is 44 yards away from Martellus Bennett’s record of 1,246 career receiving yards by a tight end as he enters the week with 1,202 to date.
Junior DeMarvin Leal and graduate Micheal Clemons have been a force to be reckoned with on the defensive line over the last three games, as the pair has combined to tally 11.0 TFL, 7.0 sacks and 10 QB hurries.
Senior PLK Seth Small’s next point will move him into a tie for No. 2 on the Aggies’ all-time scoring list with placekicker Kyle Bryant, who scored 325 points from 1994-97.
Small is already tied with Bryant at No. 2 with 60 career field goals and is within range of 2011 Lou Groza Award winner Randy Bullock’s school record of 63 three-pointers.

Quick Hits

With last week’s win over No. 1 Alabama, Texas A&M joined Alabama (6) and Auburn (3) as the only FBS programs with three or more wins over an Associated Press No. 1 team since 2000.
The Aggies ended Alabama’s 19-game winning streak in front of 106,815 fans in Aggieland, the most at Kyle Field since the stadium was reconfigured in 2015.
Sophomore QB Zach Calzada had a breakout game in the win over top-ranked Alabama, finishing the game 21-of-31 for 285 yards, sending three passes to the end zone and setting career highs in nearly every category.
Junior WR Ainias Smith ranks 10th in the nation and leads the SEC among players that have returned at least 10 punts as he averages 10.13 yards per return ... His 427 career punt return yards rank 12th on A&M’s all-time list.
Sophomore DB Antonio Johnson leads the Aggies with 47 tackles on the season, good for sixth in the SEC ... His 32 solo takedowns are the third-most by any player in the league.
Senior S Leon O’Neal Jr. leads the SEC and ranks 12th nationally with seven passes defended on the season, having broken up five passes and picked off two more.
Quick starts have been a harbinger of Aggie victories in the Jimbo Fisher era ... The Aggies are 22-4 when scoring first and a perfect 21-0 when leading after the first quarter.

Series History

Texas A&M leads the all-time series, 8-7, which dates back to 1957.
Missouri has won seven of the last nine meetings. Mizzou's last three victories in the series have been by one touchdown.
A&M and Missouri were founding members of the Big 12 in 1996, and eventually both joined the SEC on July 1, 2012.
The two teams have only met three times since they both joined the SEC. The Aggies' last win in the series came in the first year in the league (2012), 59-29, at Kyle Field.
The Maroon & White are 4-1 against the Tigers when A&M is the only team ranked.
The Aggies hold the longest winning streak of the series at six games.
Texas A&M is 2-3 all-time in Columbia, with wins in 1992 and 1999 and losses in 2003, 2007 and 2013.

Milestone Watch

Junior TE Jalen Wydermyer needs one touchdown reception to move into eighth on A&M’s career receiving TD’s list ... Wydermyer’s 14 career touchdown grabs are already a school record among tight ends.
Wydermyer is also chasing the career receiving yards by a tight record at A&M as he is 44 yards shy of Martellus Bennett’s 1,246 career yards.
Junior WR Ainias Smith needs one touchdown to move into the top 10 on A&M’s all-time career receiving TDs list as he enters the week with 13 career scores through the air.
Senior PLK Seth Small is three field goals away from the all-time program record, having sent 60 attempts through the upright so far in his career ... Small is also one point away from sitting in second on A&M’s all-time scoring list.

Isaiah Spiller and Ainias Smith pregame before the coin toss

Three-Headed Monster

Juniors WR Ainias Smith and RB Isaiah Spiller, along with sophomore RB Devon Achane, have become a relentless force for the Aggies, scoring 11 of the team’s 16 TDs so far this season.
The trio led the offense in week one with Achane and Spiller racking up 124 and 113 rushing yards, respectively, and Smith adding 100 receiving yards ... Achane and Smith also each made a pair of trips to the end zone in the victory.
In the win over No. 1 Alabama, the three Aggies scored four of the team’s five touchdowns as Smith had a pair of TD grabs, including the game-tying score with three-minutes remaining to position the Aggies for victory ... Spiller added a first quarter run into the end zone before Achane took a 96-yard kickoff return to the house in the third quarter.
Smith and Achane are the only players on the roster to have scored a rushing and receiving touchdown in the same game ... Smith did so against Arkansas and at Tennessee last season, while Achane hauled in a 52-yard pass and used a 3-yard run to return to the end zone on the very next drive at South Carolina.

It's Spiller Time

Junior RB Isaiah Spiller has remained as one of A&M’s most consistent performers in the backfield, as he ranks in the top five in the SEC with 491 rushing yards on the year, averaging 81.83 per game.
Spiller has rushed for over 100 yards in a game three times this season and 13 times in his career, most recently tallying 100 yards against Mississippi State ... Only Cyrus Gray (2003-06, 15) and Trayveon Williams (2016-18, 14) have tallied more 100-yard games since the Aggies made the move to the Big 12 in 1996.
Spiller has been a go-to in the end zone for the Aggies, scoring a touchdown in four of the last five games, including a 25-yard run to the end zone against No. 1 Alabama and a then-team season long 67-yard sprint to the end zone against No. 16 Arkansas.
After adding 26 yards through the air against the Razorbacks, Spiller is one of only six current players in the Power 5 to have tallied more than 500 receiving yards and 2,000 rushing yards in their career ... He is the sixth Aggie RB to reach the 500+ plateau in career receiving yards, most recently Trayveon Williams did so with 561 yards from 2016-18.

Achane Shows His Speed

Sophomore RB Devon Achane wasted no time settling into his second season in Aggieland, picking up where he left off after last season’s Orange Bowl MVP performance when he put up 140 yards on 12 carries and two scores.
Achane leads A&M’s kickoff return team that ranks No. 2 in the nation, averaging 45 yards per return.
Achane put his speed on display in the win over No. 1 Alabama when he returned a third quarter kickoff 96 yards, the 16th-longest return to the end zone to extend the A&M lead.
Against Kent State, Achane rushed for his second consecutive 100-yard game (127), with both games featuring a 60-plus yard sprint for a touchdown ... In the win over New Mexico Achane’s success came through the air as he caught all three passes that came his way and finished the day with 45 yards and the second receiving TD of his career.
The talented sophomore also runs track for the Aggies, already receiving NCAA All-America selections in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay ... In his first season, Achane clocked the 11th fastest time in A&M history in the 200m (20.31), along with a 10.22 100m.

Swiss Army Knife

Junior WR Ainias Smith has been called a “Swiss Army Knife” by head coach Jimbo Fisher because of his do-it-all ability on the field.
Smith leads the Aggies with 285 receiving yards on 26 catches this season, making four trips to the end zone ... Smith recorded the fifth multi-touchdown game of his career when he grabbed a pair of TD passes in the win over No. 1 Alabama, including the late game-tying score that positioned A&M for victory ... It was the second time in his career he scored multiple times against the Crimson Tide.
A&M’s go-to on punt return, Smith currently ranks in the top 20 nationally and second in the SEC, averaging 10.13 yards per return ... He is quickly climbing A&M’s all-time career chart, entering the week ranking 12th all-time with 427 yards on 47 returns.
Smith is already the only player in Texas A&M history to gain 250+ yards as a receiver, rusher, punt returner and kickoff returner, and is one of 10 players in SEC history to reach the plateau ... Smith is one of three SEC players to have accomplished the feat in the past decade.
Against Mississippi State, Smith became the third player in SEC history to rack up 1,000 receiving yards while also gaining 250+ yards as a rusher and returner (punt and kickoff) ... The others are Kentucky’s Randall Cobb (2008-10) and LSU’s Skyler Green (2002-05).
In the season opener against Kent State, Smith scored a pair of receiving touchdowns while chipping in 127 all-purpose yards (100 receiving, 16 rushing, 11 punt return).

Wydermyer Setting the Standard

Junior TE Jalen Wydermyer continues to set the bar for A&M tight ends, as his 14 career TD receptions are the most in program history by a tight end.
• Against Colorado, Wydermyer became the fourth tight end all-time at A&M to tally over 1,000 receiving yards in his career.
• Entering the week, Wydermyer ranks 28th on A&M’s all-time career receiving yards list with 1,202 ... He is 44 yards shy of Martellus Bennett’s tight end receiving yards record of 1,246.
• Wydermyer scored six touchdowns in each of his first two seasons, the second-most in a season by a tight end in program history ... He continues to chase Jace Sternberger’s 10 TD receptions in 2018.

Knocking Down No. 1

The Aggies earned their third victory in program history of the AP No. 1 team when they defeated Alabama 41-38 on a 28-yard Seth Small field goal as time expired.
A&M ended Alabama’s 19-game winning streak, limited the Crimson Tide to just 10 points in the first half, the fewest points they have put up in the first half since being held scoreless by Georgia to start the 2017 national title game.
Fourteen Aggies registered career highs in the game, including sophomore QB Zach Calzada, who completed 21 passes for 285 yards and three touchdowns through the air ... The A&M offensive line had one of its best games of the season and did not allow the Alabama defense to get to the quarterback.
The Aggie defense was disruptive all night, as it sacked Alabama four times in the win, the most against Alabama since 2018, while graduate DL Micheal Clemons also tallied three QB hurries.
Junior WR Ainias Smith scored a pair of touchdowns against Alabama for the second time in his career, including a 25-yard reception that eventually tied the game at 38-all with three minutes remaining.