COLLEGE STATION, Texas. – In a game that featured no offensive touchdowns, No. 13 Texas A&M beat No. 12 Auburn 20-3 Saturday in front of 109,835, the second largest crowd in Kyle Field history.
"We didn't play well enough to win today," Auburn coach Bryan Harsin said. "Texas A&M is a good team. Plenty of opportunities for us to learn from this and be a better football team. It's disappointing."
Texas A&M's Michael Clemons recovered a fumble and returned it 24 yards early in the fourth quarter for the game's only touchdown. The Aggies added a two-point conversion pass to lead 17-3.
After a long Texas A&M run, Donovan Kauffman forced a fumble that Roger McCreary recovered at Auburn's 5-yard line.
Auburn (6-3, 3-2) drove 41 yards but came up 1 yard short on fourth down to give the Aggies possession at the Tigers' 46 with 6:50 to play.
Ladarius Tennison's 4-yard tackle for loss on the first play of the second half led to a three-and-out. Tennison registered a career high eight tackles. Smoke Monday led Auburn with nine tackles.
The Tigers then drove 56 yards on 10 plays but missed a chance to take a lead when a 33-yard field goal attempt was wide right.
Texas A&M (7-2, 4-2) used a 49-yard completion to set up a 29-yard field goal to take a 6-3 lead with 3:39 remaining in the third quarter.
Seth Small's third field goal gave the Aggies a 9-3 lead with 13:40 left in the game. Small's fourth field goal made it 20-3 with 3:16 remaining.
After Texas A&M kicked a field goal on its first drive of the game, Auburn answered with a 14-play drive of its own, with Shaun Shivers twice moving the chains on third down, first with a 10-yard catch-and-run on third-and-9, then a 7-yard run on third-and-5.
Auburn earned first downs on three consecutive plays beginning with the Shivers run, then Nix connected with John Samuel Shenker for 12 yards, followed by Nix's 11-yard rush, setting up Anders Carlson for a game-tying 32-yard field goal with 15 seconds left in the first quarter.
Auburn's defense forced back-to-back three-and-outs in the second quarter, but the Tigers were unable to capitalize on favorable field position.
Auburn's defense prevented the Aggies from converting on all six third-down attempts in the first half, leading to a 3-3 halftime tie. The Aggies finished 3-for-13 on third down while Auburn was 4-for-16.
"The defense played well throughout the game," Harsin said. "Did some good things in the red zone."
Bo Nix completed 20 of 41 passes for 153 yards. Tank Bigsby rushed for 69 yards on 15 carries, a 4.6 average per rush. Shenker led Auburn with 50 receiving yards on four catches. Shivers caught all six of his targets for 40 yards.
"We just didn't execute when we needed to," Shenker said. "They're a great team. They had a great plan against us."
The Tigers return to Jordan-Hare Stadium next Saturday to host Mississippi State at 11 a.m. on ESPN.
"We have to make sure we go back and look and learn and use that going into this next week as we prepare for the next game," Harsin said.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
