No. 13 Aggies, No. 12 Auburn Set to Clash at Kyle

Saturday, November 6

Bryan-College Station

2:30 PM

Texas A&M

Auburn

Photo by: Olivia Treadwell/Texas A&M Athletics

Nov 05, 2021 | Football

By: Athletics Communications

13th-ranked Texas A&M hosts No. 12 Auburn in a nationally-ranked and nationally-televised showdown on Saturday inside a sold-out Kyle Field. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. (CBS).

Game 9: Texas A&M (6-2, 3-2) vs Auburn (6-2, 3-1)

Saturday, November 5 • 2:39 p.m. (CT)
Kyle Field (102,733)
TV: CBS
Radio: Texas A&M Sports Network, Sirius 134/XM 190
Live Audio: 12th Man Mobile app
Live Stats: Click Here

GAME NOTES (PDF)

Team Entrance with 12th Man Connor Choate

What to Watch For

Texas A&M and Auburn meet for the 12th time as the Aggies look to make it four straight on the season and pick up their first win over the Tigers at Kyle Field.
Junior RB Isaiah Spiller remains one of the SEC’s top rushers as he ranks third with 761 yards on the year, while his 95.13 ypg average ranks fourth in the league ... He is 48 yards away from cracking the top 10 on A&M’s all-time career rushing yards list.
Sophomore RB Devon Achane needs 28 yards on the ground to become the 50th Aggie to pass the 1,000 career yards mark, entering the week with 972.
Junior OL Kenyon Green was named SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week for the third time this season following the South Carolina game when the Maroon Goons cleared the way for two 100-yard rushers for the second straight game ... The unit ranks 18th nationally and third in the SEC allowing just 3.38 TFL per game on the year.
Junior TE Jalen Wydermyer recently passed Martellus Bennett’s record of 1,246 receiving yards among tight ends ... He is 57 yards away for cracking the top 20 among all players entering the week with 1,306 career receiving yards.
After only making 1.0 sack through A&M’s first five games, senior DL Tyree Johnson has gotten to the QB five times in the last three games ... His 6.0 sacks on the season are good for third in the SEC.
Senior PLK Seth Small ranks second on A&M’s all-time scoring list with 343 career points ... Small is also in need of one field goal to break the tie with 2011 Lou Groza Award winner Randy Bullock for the all-time career field goals record at A&M, entering the game with 63.

Quick Hits

Texas A&M posted 283 yards on the ground at Missouri and 290 against South Carolina to tally 280+ rushing yards as a team in back-to-back games for the first time since the 2012 season when the Aggies totaled 352 at Auburn and 361 at Mississippi State.
Junior WR Ainias Smith ranks fifth in the nation and leads the SEC as he averages 14.3 yards per return ... His 95-yard punt return for a touchdown against South Carolina was the first special teams score of his career and the sixth-longest return in SEC history.
Sophomore RB Devon Achane has tallied three consecutive games with 150+ all-purpose yards (175 vs. Alabama, 151 vs. Mizzou and 154 vs. SC) ... The last time an Aggie accomplished the feat was by Trayveon Williams in 2019 ... He currently ranks second in the SEC, averaging 127.0 AP yards per game this season.
As a team, the Aggies rank fourth in scoring defense in the country, allowing just 16.1 points per game ... The unit is averaging 3.0 sacks per game on the year, good for 13th nationally.
A&M scored on all five trips to the red zone against the Gamecocks and have now scored on 16 of its last 17 trips to the red zone, dating back to the New Mexico game.
For the third straight game, the Aggies tallied at least 24 points in the first half (Alabama-24, Missouri-28) with 31 points through the first two quarters against the Gamecocks.
Quick starts have been a harbinger of Aggie victories in the Jimbo Fisher era ... The Aggies are 24-4 when scoring first and a perfect 23-0 when leading after the first quarter.

Milestone Watch

Junior RB Isaiah Spiller is in need of 48 yards on the ground to crack A&M’s top 10 in career rushing yards, he enters the week with 2,743.
Junior WR Ainias Smith is just 59 yards away from cracking the top 10 on A&M’s all-time career punt return yards list, tallying 522 on 49 returns so far in his career.
A&M is looking for its fourth game of the year with a pair of 100-yard rushers ... The last time the Aggies had four games in a season with two 100+ yard rushers was 1990.
Senior PLK Seth Small is one field goal away from the all-time program record ... He enters the game in a tie for first with Randy Bullock (2008-11), having each sent 63 career attempts through the uprights.

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 18 of the team’s 25 TDs 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.
• At Missouri, the three players combined to score all five of A&M’s touchdowns, with Smith and Achane each making two trips to the end zone ... For the second time this season, Spiller and Achane each recorded over 100 rushing yards.
• Each of the three players recorded a TD against South Carolina with Smith getting the game started taking a 95-yard punt return to the end zone, while Spiller and Achane also made it back-to-back 100-yard rushing games.
• 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 ... He ranks in the top four in the SEC with 761 rush yards on the year, averaging 95.13 per game.
• Spiller has rushed for over 100 yards in a game five times this season and 15 times in his career, most recently rushing for 102 yards against South Carolina ... He is tied with Cyrus Gray (2008-11) for the most 100-yard rushing games by an Aggie since A&M 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 six of the last seven games, including a 25-yard run to the end zone against No. 1 Alabama and a 67-yard scoring sprint 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 is Off the Chain

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 the SEC and ranks seventh nationally averaging 7.07 yards per carry, while also pacing A&M’s kickoff return team that ranks No. 1 in the county, averaging 43.6 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 to the end zone.
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 347 receiving yards on 31 catches this season ... His six receiving touchdowns on the year put him in third in the SEC.
Smith has recorded six multi-touchdown games in his career, three this season ... Most recently, Smith caught a pair of scoring passes against No. 1 Alabama, including the game-tying score with three minutes remaining, before making two trips to the end zone in the first half at Missouri.
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).
A&M’s go-to on punt return, Smith currently ranks fifth nationally, boasting a league-best 14.28 yards per return average ... He recorded the first special teams TD of his career on A&M’s first possession of the game against South Carolina when he posted the sixth-longest punt return in SEC history, going 95 yards to the house.
He is quickly climbing A&M’s all-time career chart, entering the week ranking 11th all-time with 522 yards on 49 returns.

Wydermyer Setting the Standard

Junior TE Jalen Wydermyer continues to raise the bar for Aggie tight ends, holding the all-time career records for receiving yards and TDs among tight ends in A&M program history.
• Wydermyer recorded the fifth multi-touchdown game of his career when he hauled in a pair of scoring passes against South Carolina ... His 16 career TD grabs are a school record among tight ends.
• Wydermyer’s 75 receiving yards against the Gamecocks moved him past Martellus Bennett for the most career yards by a TE ... He currently sits in 22nd among all players at A&M with 1,306 career yards to date.
• Against Colorado, Wydermyer became the fourth tight end all-time at A&M to tally over 1,000 receiving yards in his career.
• 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.

Johnson Makes Presence Felt

Sophomore DB Antonio Johnson has emerged as one of the SEC’s top tacklers among DBs in his first season as the Aggies’ starter at nickel.
Johnson has tallied 55 tackles on the season, which is tied for the most on the team and is third among SEC defensive backs.
On the season, Johnson has led the team in tackles in three games, including against Mississippi State when he tallied a career-high 15.
Johnson is third on the team with five passes defended on the season and recently recorded the first interception of his career when he picked off Missouri in the first quarter and returned the ball 6 yards.