On a day full of upsets around college football, Texas A&M managed to avoid an upset bid from Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi. Josh Lambo‘s short field goal as time expired gave Texas A&M a wild 41-38 victory. The win paired with some losses around the country should help the Aggies move up in the rankings on Sunday.
A game short on scoring in the first half, or at least shorter than expected, turned in a second half that saw momentum swing back and forth. Things really got crazy in the fourth quarter. Texas A&M extended their four-point lead with a field goal to open the fourth quarter, but Ole Miss quickly responded with a quick seven-play, 51-yard touchdown drive capped by a Barry Burnetti touchdown pass to Evan Engram from nine yards out. It was starting quarterback Bo Wallace who tossed the next touchdown pass, this time to freshman Laquon Treadwell, from just inside the red zone roughly 90 seconds later, capitalizing on a fumble by Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel. Manziel and Texas A&M had an answer though, driving 75 yards on seven plays for a touchdown, served up by the speedy feet of Trey Williams for a nine-yard score.
Ole Miss and Texas A&M continued to exchange blows, first with Wallace connecting with Jaylen Walton for a 50-yard touchdown, and then with Manziel leading the Aggies down field for a six-yard touchdown run to cap a 75-yard drive. Manziel would lead the game-winning drive after Ole Miss went three-and-out with three incomplete passes to leave TexasA&M with more than enough time. Manziel rushed for 25 yards and completed a 14-yard pass to move the Aggies down to the Ole Miss 32-yard line and running backs Ben Malena and Tra Carson helped set-up the game-winning field goal attempt by Lambo from the Ole Miss 15-yard line.
Manziel did not have a touchdown pass, but he did run for two and put up big numbers. For the fourth time in his career Manziel passed for 300 yards (346) and rushed for 100 yards (124). That is the most times that has happened in FBS history.
The Aggies are now 5-1 and still looking good in the SEC West picture, although they will need some help if they are to get by Alabama in the standings to earn a trip to Atlanta at the end of the season. For the Aggies, the next few weeks should result in wins against Auburn, Vanderbilt and UTEP (non-conference, of course), and likely against Mississippi State. That would set up a 9-1 Texas A&M team to hit the road for their final two games at LSU and surprisingly strong Missouri. The Aggies should also be moving up in the rankings with the upsets that were occurring in other games. Stanford and Georgia losing should allow Texas A&M to move up at least two spots when the new polls are released, and the BCS standings are coming shortly.
Ole Miss linebacker and leading tackler Serderius Bryant had to be taken off the field on a stretcher after a tough collision with Manziel on a fourth down run that went for a first down. Earlier in the game, Ole Miss lost Robert Nkemdiche as well to a strained hamstring suffered while chasing Manziel.