Auburn falls to Texas A&M in wild game at Jordan-Hare

November 8, 2014

Auburn Tigers
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Texas A&M Aggies
14
21
3
3
41
(3) Auburn Tigers
14
3
7
14
38


Quick Stats
AU
A&M
Total Plays
80
64
1st Downs
31
22
3rd down efficiency
7-11
4-10
4th down efficiency
0-0
0-0
Total Yards
582
453
Passing Yards
219
277
Comp-Att
15-21
19-29
Yards per pass
10.4
9.6
Rushing Yards
363
176
Rushing attempts
59
35
Yards per rush
6.2
5.0
Penalties-Yards
8-65
5-47
Turnovers
3
1
Fumbles lost
3
0
Interceptions thrown
0
1
Time of Possession
32:40
27:20

Stat Leaders
Passing
C-Att
Yds
TD
Int
AU: Marshall
15-21
219
1
0
A&M: Allen
19-29
277
4
1
Rushing
Car
Yds
TD
Long
AU: Artis-Payne
30
221
2
34
A&M: T. Williams
10
72
0
28
Receiving
Rec
Yds
TD
Long
AU: Bray
6
65
1
31
A&M: Kennedy
4
118
1
60

2014 Schedule
08/30
W
(6) Auburn 45, Arkansas 21
09/06
W
(5) Auburn 59, San Jose St 13
09/18
W
(5) Auburn 20, (20) K-State 14
09/27
W
(5) Auburn 45, La Tech 17
10/04
W
(5) Auburn 41, (15) LSU 7
10/11
L
(3) Miss St 38, (2) Auburn 23
10/25
W
(5) Auburn 42, S Carolina 35
11/01
W
(4) Auburn 35, (7) Ole Miss 31
11/08
L
Texas A&M 41, (3) Auburn 38
11/15
-
Auburn @ Georgia
11/22
-
Auburn vs. Samford
11/29
-
Auburn @ Alabama
12/06
-
SEC Championship Game

By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com

AUBURN, Ala. -- Texas A&M's freshman quarterback played like no rookie in Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday. Kyle Allen threw four first-half touchdowns and the Aggies beat back Auburn's repeated comeback tries to stun the No. 3 Tigers 41-38 in front of a sold-out Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Auburn's Cameron Artis-Payne tried to answer, cruising to a 1,000 yards rushing for the season in the first half, and running past 200 yards for the game in the third quarter.

But it wasn't enough for the Tigers, whose comeback was sidetracked at the end of the first half when A&M blocked a field goal and returned it for a touchdown. Auburn fumbled at the A&M 3 with 2:37 remaining down by three and again at the Aggies' 29 with 54 seconds left.

A&M led 35-17 at the half and 38-24 after three quarters. A Nick Marshall 31-yard scoring pass to Quan Bray cut it to 35-31 with 14:54 remaining.

A&M's Josh Lambo kicked a 27-yard field goal to make it a two-score game with 7:54 remaining. But Marshall completed a 52-yard pass to Sammie Coates, and then scored on a 6-yard run to cut A&M's lead to 41-38 with 6:42 remaining.

Marshall then hit Ricardo Louis with a long pass and Auburn got to the A&M 3. But Auburn fumbled on a missed handoff and the Aggies recovered with 2:37 left. That was an eternity.

Auburn fell to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the Southeastern Conference, and lost leading receiver Duke Williams to a knee injury in the second quarter. Texas A&M, which started the year in the Top 25 and fell out of the rankings, improved to 7-3 overall and 3-3 in the league.

Artis-Payne did his thing, going over 1,000 yards rushing for the year in his first season as a starter. He became the 18th Auburn player to reach that milestone. It's the 25th time a Tiger has done it.

But the defense allowed 35 first-half points, though A&M ran only 28 plays. The Aggies' ability to score quickly also showed in time of possession. Auburn the ball 20 minutes in the first half. A&M had it 10. It all happened quickly.

Texas A&M had more touchdowns (2) than Auburn had plays (1) barely two minutes in the game. Allen was sharp from the beginning, first throwing a 60-yard TD pass to Malcome Kennedy and then a 36-yard scoring pass to Josh Reynolds. That was 14-0 in lightning fashion.

The Tigers tried to come back behind Artis-Payne and Marshall. Artis-Payne had two TDs in the first half and Marshall scored on 1-yard run late in the third quarter to cut A&M's advantage to 38-24.

Auburn was more methodical than A&M most of the game, especially early when it tied the game before the first quarter was done, with Cameron Artis-Payne scoring on a 2-yard run and then again on a 34-yard run to complete drives of 13 and seven plays.

A&M was back at it early in the second quarter when Allen threw a 23-yard TD pass to Ricky Seals-Jones and, three minutes later, a 7-yard touchdown pass to Reynolds for a 28-14 lead with 10:29 left in the second quarter.

Auburn answered with a 30-yard field goal, but a 41-yard try on the last play of the first half was a disaster. Myles Garrett blocked Carlson's try and Deshazor Everett returned it 65 yards for a touchdown to make it 35-17.