AUBURN, Ala. – Two rushing touchdowns from Bo Nix weren't enough for Auburn on Saturday as the Tigers fell, 31-20, to No. 5 Texas A&M in the home finale.
"I'm disappointed for our seniors on senior day that we couldn't get them a victory," Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said. "Those guys have won a whole lot of games here, and I'm disappointed we couldn't get a victory the last time on their home field."
Auburn battled back from an early 7-0 deficit, and Nix's first score put the Tigers ahead 10-7 late in the first half. The sophomore quarterback did his best Houdini impression, escaping two defenders in the backfield and avoiding a sack. He then rolled left, ran toward the end zone and lowered his head at the goal line, willing himself in for six.
Texas A&M responded with a touchdown to take a 14-10 lead into halftime, but the Tigers marched down the field on the opening drive of the second half and scored on a 3-yard touchdown run from Nix, his second of the game.
For Nix, it was the first time in his career with two rushing touchdowns. He finished with 49 yards on the ground and 144 yards through the air on 15 of 23 passing.
"I thought our quarterback competed," Malzahn said. "He made some plays out of nothing. The touchdown play he made down there on the 5-yard line when they had him, two or three guys had him and he circled back out and got in the end zone, that was a 'wow' play. He's a great competitor, and I thought he did some very good things today."
Following Nix's second touchdown run, Auburn continued to have success on the ground with freshman Tank Bigsby ripping off a 42-yard run on the next drive. It was the longest run of Bigsby's young career, and it led to a 24-yard field goal from Anders Carlson to make it 20-14.
Bigsby, Nix and junior Shaun Shivers spearheaded an Auburn rushing attack that finished with 196 yards on 30 carries, averaging 6.5 yards per carry. Bigsby paced the Tigers with 76 yards on nine carries while Shivers also carried it nine times for 68 yards.
"You could see Tank was a little healthier today than he was last weekend," Malzahn said. "He broke the long one. If he would've been healthy, I think he would've house-called that. And I thought Shaun did some good things, too. He ran very hard."
The offense hit a snag in the fourth quarter, though, and Texas A&M scored 17 unanswered points in the final 15 minutes to pull away for the victory.
Defensively for Auburn, linebacker Zakoby McClain finished with a career-high 17 tackles, including two tackles for loss. It was the sixth double-digit tackle game of the season for McClain who also recorded his third sack and first forced fumble of the season. McClain now has a team-high 94 tackles through the first nine games.
Auburn (5-4) will wrap up the regular season next Saturday at Mississippi State.
Gallery: (12-5-2020) Auburn vs. Texas A&M
GAME NOTES
- Captains: K.J. Britt, Big Kat Bryant, Bo Nix, Shaun Shivers
- Coin Toss: Auburn wins the toss and defers. Texas A&M will receive
- Attendance: 17,490
- First-time starters for Auburn: none
- Auburn has scored in 102 consecutive games, the second-longest streak in school history
- Auburn records its fifth 200-yard rushing game of the season
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/OFFENSE
- Seth Williams now has 1,995 career receiving yards, ranking 7th among Auburn career leaders, passing Freddy Weygand (1,946 from 1984-88) and Darvin Adams (1,978 from 2008-10)
- Eli Stove is 7th in Auburn career receptions with 127 and Seth Williams ranks 8th with 124
- Anthony Schwartz is 12th in Auburn career receptions with 112; next is Rodgeriqus Smith (114 from 2004-08)
- Schwartz ranks 17th in Auburn career receiving yardage with 1,401 yards, passing Freddie Hyatt (1,396 from 1965-67); next is Ronney Daniels (1,446 from 1999-2000)
- Eli Stove ranks 25th in Auburn career receiving yardage with 1,134 yards, passing Terrell Zachary (1,106 from 2007-10) and Tim Christian (1,126 from 1966-68)
- Tank Bigsby ranks 6th among Auburn all-time freshman rushing leaders with 642 yards, passing Tommy Agee (604 in 1983) and Carnell Williams (614 in 2001)
- Bigsby's 42-yard run in the third quarter was a career long
- Bo Nix now has six rushing TD for the season and 13 for his career; this is his first career game with two rushing scores
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/DEFENSE
- Zakoby McClain records his third sack of the season and his first forced fumble of the season (fourth of his career)
- McClain records the sixth double-figure tackle game of his career with a career-best 17 tackles
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/SPECIAL TEAMS
- Anders Carlson is now 7th in career scoring at Auburn with 258, passing Cody Parkey (253 from 2010-13); next is Damon Duval (260 from 1999-2002)
- Carlson is now 6th in career PAT made at Auburn with 114; next is Damon Duval (125 from 1999-2002)
- Carlson is 4th in Auburn career field goals made with 48; next is John Vaughn (50 from 2003-06)