Texas A&M
3-2 , 0-2
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Mississippi State
3-2 , 1-1
Aggies Downed by Mississippi State
Oct 02, 2021 | Football
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION--The No. 15 Texas A&M Aggies fell to the Mississippi State Bulldogs, 26-22, on Saturday night at Kyle Field.
Despite the loss, multiple Aggies had career days. Antonio Johnson led the defense with a career-high 15 tackles. Aaron Hansford set a career high in tackles with 13 and DeMarvin Leal had a career-high 2.0 sacks.
Isaiah Spiller finished with 100 yards rushing off 16 carries. Devon Achane rushed eight times for 69 yards, which included a 41-yard run.
After an early A&M interception, the Bulldogs began in Aggie territory but the Maroon & White defense limited the damage to three points. Spiller helped the Aggies answer back, accounting for 54 of the 65 yards on the Aggies’ ensuing TD drive that was capped off by an 11-yard pass to Jalen Wydermyer.
Mississippi State drove down the field and answered with a 1-yard score through the air, and the Aggies followed with 40- and 37-yard field goals by Seth Small to give the Maroon & White a 13-10 lead at the 2:47 mark of the second quarter. Mississippi State scored a TD with 1:16 remaining in the first half to take a 17-13 lead into the intermission.
Both teams remained scoreless up until the 6:54 mark of the third quarter, when Mississippi State extended the lead to 24-13 on a 20-yard TD pass. The Aggies followed with a 10-play, 75-yard scoring drive, which was capped off by a Zach Calzada 25-yard touchdown run, and a Small 44-yard boot to bring A&M within two (24-22). The Aggies had a final chance to score that started at their own 11-yard line, but the Maroon & White’s chances ended with a safety.
Team Notes
- The Aggies held the opponent under 100 rushing yards for the second time in 2021. The 30 rushing yards was the fewest by an opponent in 2021.
- A pair of true freshmen got their first career start for the Aggies – DB Tyreek Chappell and DB Deuce Harmon.
- Today’s captains against Mississippi State were WR Ainias Smith, DL DeMarvin Leal, RB Isaiah Spiller and OL Kenyon Green.
Individual Notes
- Junior RB Isaiah Spiller rushed for 100 yards on 16 carries. It marked his third 100-yard game of the season and the 13th of his career.
- Spiller moved into 15th place on A&M’s career rushing list with 2,427. He passed Bob Smith (2,415 – 1949-51) in the game. He also moved into 20th place on A&M’s career list for rushing attempts with 430. He passed Tra Carson (428 – 2013-15) in the career.
- Sophomore QB Zach Calzada had a 25-yard TD run at the end of the third quarter. It marked his first career TD run and the longest run of his career.
- Junior TE Jalen Wydermyer hauled in his 13th career TD pass midway through the first quarter to move into 10th place on A&M’s career TD list.
- Wydermyer registered his 23rd consecutive game grabbing a reception.
- Junior WR Ainias Smith reached the 1,000-yard plateau for career receiving yards, ending the game with 1,012.
- Sophomore DB Antonio Johnson registered a career-high 15 tackles. It marked his first career game with double digits in the tackle column. The 15 tackles was the most for an Aggie since Tyrel Dodson recorded 16 against Alabama in 2017.
- Graduate LB Aaron Hansford logged a career-high 13 tackles in the game. He reached the 100-tackle plateau for his career, ending the game with 104.
- Freshman DB Tyreek Chappell logged career highs with seven tackles and four PBU.
- Junior LB Andre White Jr. equaled a career high with eight tackles.
- Junior WR Jalen Preston hauled in a career-long 38-yard reception midway through the second quarter.
- Senior PK Seth Small scored 10 points to move into 3rd place on A&M’s career scoring list, passing Todd Pegram (309 – 2002-05) with 313. He ended the game ranked 21st on the SEC career list for kicker scoring.
- Small made three field goals to move into 3rd place on A&M’s career list, passing Todd Pegram (56 – 2002-05) and Tony Franklin (56 – 1975-78) with 58. He ended the game ranked 18th the SEC career list.
- Small nailed two field goals between 40-49 yards in the game, to improve to 6-of-6 on the year from the range. He improved to 9-of-9 in field goals inside of 50 yards this season.
- Small made one PAT to move into fourth place on A&M’s career list, tying Terry Venetoulias (139 – 1990-93). He ended the game ranked 22nd the SEC career list.
Postgame Quotes: Jimbo Fisher
COACH FISHER: I think our kids played hard. I'm disappointed in the outcome. We've got to play better. In those games where every possession matters, every play matters, every situation matters, and we've got to play better, execute better, and we've got to coach better and find ways to help them just find their plays. I know it sounds like -- that's it. We've got to help them. They've got to play better. And some key moments, we gave some things there and had some opportunities and, you know, unfortunately we started off bad. We got a turnover off the bat. Though it was a good throw there, looked like. I'll see on the film. Popped up in the air, and they get a pick, and defense did a good job there. We come right back and answer with a touchdown drive. Great drive, come back down, move the football, ran the football well against a team -- I knew it was going to difficult to run. Our guys did a nice job in that regard.
Then they come back and got a drive. Then we come back and got a drive. Kept answering up offensively. And, you know, then they stopped and we got a drive. Then they had a two-minute drive and went right down and get ahead 17-13. Then we lose it.
Then we get the stop -- I can't remember, second half. They come back and scored. Then we come back and got back to 24-19, missed a two-point conversion. Thought we had that there. Got to see that.
And then next drive had a field goal. Then next drive, it was two minutes. They had some critical -- they had a third and we had a third and 16, holding. We had them backed up. Had a third and 16 and holding. Had a third and 10. They converted third and 9, third and 10 on the last drive. We got to find a way to get off the field. We had four, five minutes to go in the game and had good momentum in the game and played it.
But they made the plays we didn't. We didn't find the inches, and we got to play better. We go to do a better job overall in all three phases.
Had a couple of opportunities. I thought [Isaiah] Spiller ran the ball really well. I thought [Devon] Achane ran the ball very well. Thought Zach [Calzada] grew up and made some really good plays at times. A couple things he's got to get cleaned up. But he's growing. He's a quarterback. Thought he made some big plays in some big-time situations there to keep us in the game, Making plays.
We've got to score in the red zone. That's unfortunate. We had a chance there on that third and long. Maybe could have hit one right there in the red zone. Had a chance at the end, but that's the way it goes right now. We're an inch or two short. We've got to find them. We've got to figure them out and get ready to play and grow.
Q. If I can ask a couple of things, Jimbo. First of all, on that last series where you all did settle for a field goal, on the 18 and first down, did you think you had that play set up?
COACH FISHER: They were blitzing and coming. We went to have a shot, had a guy in the flat and a boot coming over. It was one of the plays we had earlier in the game. We'd been running the ball very effectively, thinking about coming back on. If we had a good second, we would have gone four downs right there probably and went on in. We got to take a shot, we ran it, mixed it. Just completed the pass right before it for eight yards. Had a one-on-one trying to get a corner out with a flat route and a play action boot. They were crashing off that end. The next play, you saw them crashing and we had a four-yard loss.
Q. And Kenyon [Green] back to guard. Y'all ran the ball really well.
COACH FISHER: That's where we want to be. That's where we wanted to put him in the first place and get these young guys developed. Hopefully that's where we can stay. I like that group. I thought they did a pretty solid job. A couple of mishaps there. We had a protection breakdown there on that third and 4 in the red zone in the third quarter. We had a chance. We picked the wrong one up. But yes, thought he did a good job. Thought he played pretty solid in there.
Q. And then did Mike [Elko] play too soft on the rushing 3 and dropping eight?
COACH FISHER: Yeah, but we also got beat in man. We were mixing in. We weren't doing a good job covering in man. We were trying to mix man and zone and trying to pick places to go. We'll look at the film and see, see what we can and cannot do. We'll make that judgment when we look at the film.
Q. Mississippi State missed the field goal. Obviously I know you're pinned up in your own end. That's the stuff you're talking about, when you have a chance to go down and kick a field goal and win the game. You just got to find a way to do that, right?
COACH FISHER: They didn't miss. They punted. We had the ball at the 10-yard line. We got to find a drive with 2:20 left in the game or get a stop on third and 16 or get a stop on third and 10. We got them backed up on the 20 or 30. We could have got great field position. We didn't get that stop.
And then we've got to find a way in two minutes to get a drive. I have to look at the third-down play. I don't know what happened. It was a protection or whatever, what happened right there. But they got the safety off it.
Had an opportunity with the ball and had four possessions. Had to maximize them on offense. Like I say, they did a good job of eating the clock and doing the things they did controlling it. Controlling it with the passing game.
Q. How much do you think the loss of Buddy Johnson and Bobby Brown have harmed this defense?
COACH FISHER: I mean, those guys are great players, but we've got other guys out there playing really well. And we've got other guys that are banged and bruised. But, listen, those guys are doing what they're supposed to be doing. Anytime you lose great players, it always affects you. But we've got other guys. I don't think that has anything to do with what's going on.
Q. And then what's your overall attitude of your defense's performance tonight?
COACH FISHER: We gave up too many controlled drives and ate so much clock. Like I said, we only had four possessions in the second half; and the last one came with two minutes to go and one of them was at the 10. I think we've got to find a way to get some more three-and-outs. We have got to play a little better man coverage and win those battles a little bit. And on third down, we got to get off the field a little bit.
On offense, you got to maximize drives and score touchdowns. Every inch matters and playing good teams. Before I make a judgment, we'll evaluate the film and look at it.
Q. I know you need to look at the film, but when you look at some of Zach's [Calzada] inconsistencies, is it more having to do sometimes with the reads? Is it more of a physical execution?
COACH FISHER: He made some really good plays today, too. Let's go back now and some of that, too. It's not all Zach. Adds a couple pressures. We missed a blitz right time down there in the red zone. We had a chance to be a one-on-one post. We didn't pick up a blitz inside and didn't pick it up.
He had a couple of plays at the end, but he got pressure. I have to look at that on the safety. I don't know what happened. But he led us on some nice drives. Made a scramble for a nice touchdown. Made a great touchdown throw.
I'll look at one of the others in the red zone. But he's getting better and get better, each time he sees it. This is the third game he's played.
We've got to continue to play better around him, too. The first interception, hits a guy perfect with the ball. Gave up three points. So, I mean, if they catch those balls, what does that do for his confidence going the other way? It's a double-edged sword. We've got to play better as a unit and hang together and figure it out.
Q. I know after last week you said that y'all can still achieve all your goals. Does the loss today change what those are at all?
COACH FISHER: It possibly does, and you don't worry about it. You play the next game. You set goals at the beginning of the year, and then you look at the end of the year if you get your goals. You don't play every week -- you play every week to be a good football player, to be a good team, to win the next game and keeping score to play your tails off.
We have got to become a good football team. Let's line up and keep playing and see where the year takes us.
Q. Jimbo, for the past couple of weeks, you've been talking about Jalen Wydermyer, wanting him to have a more complete game. Would you say this was probably his more complete game than what you saw initially?
COACH FISHER: It seems like it. I'll wait and see and see the film. I know one time on a corner route, we had one coming off the goal line on third down, down there, which could have got.
Tried to get him the ball. Tried to get him the ball at the end of game. That's where we were trying to go with it both times. At the end, they double covered him on one side and bracketed him on the other. We had to work the other side.
Zach [Calzada] made great reads and come off of them, went to the guys he had to come to in what he was doing.
Jalen, I thought we had a solid week of practice and seemed to play a very good game.
Q. And Isaiah [Spiller] as well, his physicality -- I think everyone see between the trenches, but also that home-run speed that he has in the open field. What do you see from him consistently every single week?
COACH FISHER: He's doing good. He's playing well. I thought he played one of his better games today. Got back in since the first game. At times had a few inconsistencies the last couple weeks. But he's always a team leader, plays his heart out, physical guy. We've got to keep trying ways to get involved.
Q. You touched on it a little bit. I'm sure you're glad Seth [Small] made his field goals. But how tough was it not being able to punch it for six looking back?
COACH FISHER: It was. We missed a block once. I got to see a read on one. I got to see that. The last one, we had a chance. Tried to have a play action on first down and then tried to get a nice run. But we ended up -- that's one run. I think we lost four on that on second and 10.
We had been running pretty good. And that was a run we had pretty good at different times. Unfortunately, they hit us on a blitz, which I knew they were coming. They were going to. They picked that down. And then third down, we almost picked it up. Just got to keep going.
Q. Coach, I have a couple of questions. First on Zach's [Calzada] run that was the touchdown run, was that the play call? Or was that him feeling the pressure and then just tucking it and running it?
COACH FISHER: He had pressure. We should have slid and had protection on it. He knew it, knew the hot guy was coming. They guy came flat and he just stepped around and made a good play.
Q. You talked on Monday about not letting one loss to become two. How do you do the two not to become three?
COACH FISHER: You go back to practicing and do the same thing Learn your lesson. I mean, we practice better. We've got to play better and finalize it, and go have a good week of practice.
Postgame Quotes: Devon Achane
Q. Devon, it may be not exactly something that sounds great at this point, but it looked like the running game got going some tonight. How did it feel for you and Isaiah [Spiller] to start getting off after the struggles the last couple of weeks?
DEVON ACHANE: It felt pretty good to get the running game going. We started off early. I think it was a lot there. We wasn't focused on making big runs. We were just taking what they was giving us.
Q. This is y'all's third game this season where the other team scored first. Going forward, what do you guys need to do to make sure you guys get that quick punch in and take the lead early?
DEVON ACHANE: Yeah, that's one thing we've got to do. When we get the ball, we haven't been scoring like the first time we get the ball. We got to go to practice and work on that. Working out coming out fast and strong.
Q. You guys got into the red zone three times, had to settle for field goals. How tough was it not punching in for six, especially when you had some chances there to get it in there?
DEVON ACHANE: It was relative. A lot of that stuff came from missed protections or a bad snap. Just the little things that we need to work on. Just silly mistakes.
Q. Devon, from your point of view, I know you're running routes sometimes, but when you go to the sidelines, what's causing the inconsistencies in the passing game?
DEVON ACHANE: I would say -- I don't know how to answer that question. We just had a bad play.
Q. Overall, the whole game?
DEVON ACHANE: Say, like, some of our passes were there, the quarterback (Zach Calzada) was under a lot of pressure. So he was just trying to make a play, just doing what he can do.
Q. Devon, on your big run, you had a really nice block from Jalen Preston on the outside. How important was that for you to be able to set yourself up to get a field goal and put yourself almost in red-zone range to have that block?
DEVON ACHANE: That was very important. When I come back, that's what we need. We need all 11 of us on the field blocking. Even though it was a 40-yard run, he was still blocking like he had the ball. That's what we need on this team, we need a lot of leadership and a lot of people who want to play.
Q. I know the last week, you and Isaiah [Spiller] have been a little frustrated with attention to detail in the run game. Do you feel like the holes were a lot more open there for you today than maybe in the past couple of games.
DEVON ACHANE: Yeah, you know, because we went to practice. Once you go to practice, and you got to work on little things. So after today, we're going to get back started Monday and just work on the passing game, the running game and making sure we're coming out strong and fast.
Q. I know Coach [Fisher] and Isaiah [Spiller] also said last week that after last week's loss, goals are still attainable. Does the loss today change how y'all look at how you look at your goals for the season at all?
DEVON ACHANE: Not at all. We've got a standard. We've got to meet that standard. Just because we took an L, that don't mean that we be sad on ourselves. We've still got to come to practice with champion mindset.
Q. Devon, can you talk about the disappointment of starting conference play 0-2?
DEVON ACHANE: It's very disappointing. This team, nobody wants to lose. So to be 0-2, I just feel like we've got to come together as a group, as a team, and not be down, and not point the finger at each other. We've got to come together and be a team and go to practice and work hard and get better day by day.
Postgame Quotes: Antonio Johnson
Q. Antonio, I know you guys have now lost two in a row in the SEC to start conference play. Can you just kind of talk about the disappointment of that start?
ANTONIO JOHNSON: We came out kind of slow. And last week we came out kind of slow, too. We knew we had to come out firing on all cylinders. Playing in the SEC, you can't expect to come out slow and win a game like that.
Q. At times, was it frustrating with how consistently they were able to connect on the underneath passes when y'all were giving them that? Did you feel at times maybe you all were a little too soft in the coverage?
ANTONIO JOHNSON: We knew all week that's what they like to do. We just had to match the routes better.
Q. Antonio, you kind of saw two young players playing in Tyreek [Chappell] and Deuce [Harmon], especially one on the edge and one playing with that extra nickel formation running the dime. What did you see from both of them, especially with their growth? But more so Tyreek on the outside?
ANTONIO JOHNSON: They both have a lot of heart. Freshmen playing in the SEC, big, tall roles. They both made plays tonight. Tyreek made great plays tonight. He made a big third down stop. They kept trying him. He held his own. They're going to be great in this league.
Q. Hi, Antonio, you guys allowed the Bulldogs to accumulate 408 passing yards. How unacceptable is that? And what is the defense's attitude going forward?
ANTONIO JOHNSON: Any defense give up 400 yards, that's not your goal. We knew that's not our goal. We just got to go back, look at the film and see where the mistakes was at and come back next week and fix them.
Q. Antonio, it seems like over the last couple of weeks, we've heard a lot of, we've got to practice better. Is the practice not going the way you want it to go?
ANTONIO JOHNSON: This week the intensity and the focus of practice was better. There's always room for improvement. This week, we know we got to lock in extra hard because we can't lose no more. We know on defense we've got to lock in. Offense, we've got to lock in. We've got to lock in all aspects of the game -- special teams, offense and defense.
Q. Antonio, did Coach [Mike] Elko change anything up at halftime coverage-wise for the second half?
ANTONIO JOHNSON: No. We have a game plan for the week. He made slight changes for the front, but it wasn't really too much of a change for the back end.
Q. What were you seeing, when you got pressure from -- [DeMarvin] Leal was able to get home a couple of times, but for the most part you guys were in coverage back there. Did you expect your pass rush to generate more of a better pass rush tonight?
ANTONIO JOHNSON: We were only sending three for the most part tonight. But we knew we was going to have to cover longer. We knew they were going to do their best to get to the quarterback and rush him to get him off his timing with the receivers and stuff. They did a good job. We just had to do our end on the back end.
Q. Antonio, first time kind of playing in a more dime-base for most of the game, was there any bit of frustration knowing that you were probably an inch away from making a big-time play, but pass rush wasn't able to generate as much as you wanted to? You weren't able to get that ceiling play?
ANTONIO JOHNSON: Been a dime the whole game. In a box was different for me and in the college league. So I had to adjust. But I had faith in my guys on the outside. Like I said earlier, Deuce [Harmon] made a lot of plays in the pass game. Leon [O'Neal Jr] made a lot of games in the pass game. I just -- wherever coach (Jimbo Fisher) need me to play, I play. And I have faith in my boys on the back-end.
Q. Antonio, with the offense only converting four third downs across the whole game, what kind of extra pressure does that add to your guys' defense? What do you have to adjust and do differently?
ANTONIO JOHNSON: I would say added pressure. We know we have to play. We know we have to help offense. At times when we're not playing good, offense has to help us. That's how it go. We just got to do our job honestly.
Postgame Quotes: MSU Coach Mike Leach
On the importance of earning a ranked win on the road…
“It was good. It’s always good to win in Kyle Field. I’ve done that more than most people have, and it’s always awesome when you can make it happen. We took a step today. We still have a ways to go, but we took a step in the right direction.”
On the atmosphere in Kyle Field…
“Kyle Field is one of the greatest places to play in college football. I would be willing to hear your list of stadiums where you want to play, but if this place is below your top-five I would recommend finding another line of work. It’s not going to get any better than this. There’s no game day environment quite like Texas A&M.”
Team Stats
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MSU 3, TAM 0
MSU - Mccord,Nolan 24 yd field goal 6 plays, 19 yards, TOP 02:28
MSU 3, TAM 7
TAM - Wydermyer,Jalen 11 yd pass from Calzada,Zach (Small,Seth kick) 5 plays, 65 yards, TOP 02:23
MSU 10, TAM 7
MSU - Walley,Jaden 1 yd pass from Rogers,Will (Mccord,Nolan kick) 12 plays, 75 yards, TOP 06:28
MSU 10, TAM 10
TAM - Small,Seth 40 yd field goal 8 plays, 44 yards, TOP 03:12
MSU 10, TAM 13
TAM - Small,Seth 37 yd field goal 10 plays, 56 yards, TOP 05:38
MSU 17, TAM 13
MSU - Polk,Makai 15 yd pass from Rogers,Will (Mccord,Nolan kick) 5 plays, 75 yards, TOP 01:31
MSU 24, TAM 13
MSU - Polk,Makai 20 yd pass from Rogers,Will (Mccord,Nolan kick) 10 plays, 77 yards, TOP 04:18
MSU 24, TAM 19
TAM - Calzada,Zach 25 yd run (), 10 plays, 75 yards, TOP 05:36
MSU 24, TAM 22
TAM - Small,Seth 44 yd field goal 7 plays, 42 yards, TOP 02:28
MSU 26, TAM 22
MSU - Pickering,Nathan 0 yd safety
