The Texas A&M Aggies held off the comeback attempt by the Texas Tech Red Raiders and won 45-40. Texas A&M had given up double-digit leads to the Oklahoma St. Cowboys and the Arkansas Razorbacks in each of the past two weeks, but Saturday night they held off a Texas Tech to win in another high scoring game.
The Texas A&M defense stepped up in this matchup by not allowing Texas Tech to score touchdowns, but instead held them to four field goals and holding Texas Tech to those field goals was the key difference in this game. Texas Tech quarterback Seth Doege was able to move the ball tonight and had a good night by throwing for 389 yards and three touchdowns, but when Texas Tech moved into Texas A&M territory they had multiple drives stall and had to settle for field goals.
Texas Tech also had difficulty running the ball when they lost their starting running back Eric Stephens to a left leg injury. Stephens had 102 yards before he left the game at the end of the third quarter, and the Texas Tech running game was not the same for the rest of the game.
Texas A&M was more balanced and was led by quarterback Ryan Tannnehill who passed for a modest 189 yards and one touchdown, but he also ran for 55 yards and two scores. The running game for Texas A&M got going once they started giving the ball to Cyrus Gray in the second quarter. On the day Gray rushed for 115 yards and had one touchdown; Christine Michael also played a key roll in the rushing game with 52 yards and a touchdown.
Texas A&M is 3-2 on the year and host the Baylor Bears next week.
For more on this game head over to the Texas A&M Aggies blog I am the 12th Man or Texas Tech Red Raiders blog Double T-Nation.