Aggies Host No. 1 Alabama at Kyle Field

Saturday, October 9

Bryan-College Station

7:00 PM

Texas A&M

Alabama

Tickets

Photo by: Craig Bisacre/Texas A&M Athletics

Oct 08, 2021 | Football

By: Athletics Communications

Texas A&M concludes a two-game homestand on Saturday night when the Aggies host No. 1 Alabama at Kyle Field.

Game 4: Texas A&M (3-2, 0-2) vs #1 Alabama (5-0, 2-0)

Saturday, October 9 • 7:10 p.m. (CT)
Kyle Field (102,733)
TV: CBS
Radio: Texas A&M Sports Network, Sirius 133/XM 191
Live Audio: 12th Man Mobile app
Live Stats: Click Here

GAME NOTES (PDF)

What to Watch For

The Aggies will look to bounce back after dropping their first two games of conference play.
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 90.60 yards per game and fourth with 6.54 per rush.
Junior TE Jalen Wydermyer is climbing A&M’s career receiving touchdowns list as he enters the week with 13 career TDs ... His 11-yard grab against Mississippi State moved him into the top 10 all-time at A&M and his next grab will tie him for ninth with Tony Harrison (1990-93).
Wydermyer needs 52 receiving yards to move into second on A&M’s all-time career list among tight ends ... He is 117 yards away from Martellus Bennett’s record of 1,246 as he enters the week with 1,129 to date.
Sophomore DB Antonio Johnson has led the defense in tackles in three of the team’s five games this season and leads the team on the year with 41 takedowns so far, 29 of which are solo tackles ... He recorded the first double-digit tackles game of his career with 15 against the Bulldogs.
Senior PLK Seth Small is just six points away from moving into third on A&M’s all-time career scoring list, he has scored 303 points to date ... Randy Bullock, who was recently inducted into the Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame, owns the school record of 365 points from 2008-11.

Quick Hits

Against Arkansas, junior RB Isaiah Spiller became just the sixth Aggie rusher to tally over 500 career receiving yards, upping his total to 502 with 34 yards through the air.
Junior WR Ainias Smith ranks seventh in the nation and leads the SEC among players that have returned at least 10 punts as he averages 10.53 yards per return ... His 423 career punt return yards rank 12th on A&M’s all-time list.
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 10.0 TFL, 6.0 sacks and seven QB hurries.
Sophomore P Nik Constantinou ranks 9th in the country, averaging 47.8 yards per punt on the year ... Constantinou, who was named SEC Punter of the Week for his efforts against New Mexico, has sent 11 of his 23 punts more than 50 yards downfield and landed 13 of them inside the 20.
A&M boasts the fifth-best scoring defense in the country, giving up 12.6 points per game so far this year.
The Aggies saw great production out of their freshmen against New Mexico, with wide receivers Demond Demas and Moose Muhammad III making not only the first catches of their young careers, but the first TD receptions as well.
Quick starts have been a harbinger of Aggie victories in the Jimbo Fisher era ... The Aggies are 21-4 when scoring first and a perfect 20-0 when leading after the first quarter.

Milestone Watch

Junior RB Isaiah Spiller needs 15 rushing yards to move into the 14th spot on A&M’s all-time career list ... He is five touchdowns away from breaking into the top 16 on the Aggies’ all-time career rushing TDs chart.
Junior TE Jalen Wydermyer needs one touchdown reception to move into ninth on A&M’s career receiving TD’s list ... Wydermyer’s 13 career touchdown grabs are already a school record among tight ends.
Junior WR Ainias Smith needs two touchdowns to move into the top 10 on A&M’s all-time career receiving TDs list as he enters the week with 11 career scores through the air.
Senior PLK Seth Small needs 12 points to move into second on A&M’s all-time career scoring list.

Three-Headed Monster

Juniors WR Ainias Smith and RB Isaiah Spiller, along with sophomore RB Devon Achane, have become a reliable force for the Aggies.
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.
Spiller has remained as one of A&M’s most consistent performers in the backfield, already rushing for over 100 yards in three of the first five games ... He scored the 21st rushing touchdown of his career on a team season-long 67-yard sprint to the end zone against 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.
Smith has still been utilized in the backfield, despite making the move back to receiver in the offseason ... He flexed his versatility last year as he led the Aggies with 10 total touchdowns, six through the air and four on the ground.
Smith is already the only player in school history with 200+ career yards in rushing (369), receiving (1012), punt return (423) and kick return (257) ... The rarity has only been achieved by 14 SEC players, including notables like Carnell “Cadillac” Williams of Auburn, Randall Cobb of Kentucky and Chris Rainey of Florida.
Last year, Achane was second on the team and among SEC freshmen RBs with 364 rushing yards on the season, scoring four times on the ground and once through the air ... His biggest performance of the year earned him Orange Bowl MVP honors after tallying 140 yards on 12 carries, making two trips to the end zone.
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.

No Fly Zone

The Aggie defense boasts the fifth-best scoring defense in the nation as well a top-25 passing defense ... A&M is allowing 177.2 yards per game through the air and 12.6 points per game through four games this season.
The defense stepped up big in the second half at Colorado, allowing just 54 yards of total offense, including only 23 yards through the air, to keep A&M in position to win ... The unit did not allow the Buffaloes to convert a third down in the half and gave up just four first downs the entire game.
A&M ranks third nationally in red zone defense.
Sophomore DB Antonio Johnson leads the Aggies with 26 tackles on the season and is currently tied for second in the SEC with four passes defended on the year.
Senior DL Jayden Peevy, who was named SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week for his efforts against Colorado, is tied for fourth in the SEC with three passes defended.