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A&M and Mississippi State Play in the "Game of the Year"
Starkville, Mississippi-Texas A&M would travel to Mississippi State for it's first game of the year. The Aggies were looking for some big time revenge in this rivalry game know as the Sweet Southern Showdown. Last season the Aggies had a poor showing at home losing to the Bulldogs 35-14. This year's match up would be much closer and produce what may go down as the game of the year.
Mississippi State won the toss and elected to kick to the Aggies. It became very apparent that the Aggies gameplan was to keep the ball away from the athletic and fast Mississippi State offense. On their first drive A&M used up over half the first half before QB Tannehill got his first career touchdown pass hooking up with McCoy from the 14. After the Texas A&M score Mississippi State was looking to answer with points of their own and did just that. Using mostly short possession type passes the Bulldogs marched down the field and Relf found the highly touted freshman Young in the corner of the endzone to knot things up at 7. The Mississippi State touchdown cam with under a minute to go in the half and it seemed as if it was going to be a ball control game, but it turned into a shootout very quickly. A&M went back to the ground on it's next drive and marched it down the field with ease. FB Russell ran hard on the drive and was rewarded with a 4 yard TD. The Bulldogs were not to be outdone as they moved across midfield to the 41 yard line. Relf took the snap and scanned the field he found a streaking Bumpis open for the long touchdown pass tying the game at 14. A&M would try to use as much clock as they could on their next drive to leave no time for Miss State to operate. Russell again capped off the drive with a TD run but this time it was from 16 yards out as he trucked two Bulldogs. With 29 seconds to go it looked like Mississippi State wouldn't have enough time to produce points, but poor coverage by the Aggies said otherwise. Two long passes had the Bulldogs set up at the 41 with 10 seconds left. One more good pass and they would be in field goal range. Instead the Bulldogs went for the homerun and they got it. Relf hit Wilder in the endzone from the 41 with 3 seconds left.
MSU Ties it Before Half
Mississippi State would receive to start the second half and after driving, was held to a field goal from DePasquale. The Bulldogs had their first lead of the game at 24-21. A&M got a big kick return out to their own 45 yard line that looked to set them up for more points. Faced with a third and five Tannehill fired a pass to his top receiver Jeff Fuller who saw the ball go off his and and leave the Aggies with their first fourth down of the game. The Aggies punted the ball away the ball was fair caught at the 15 yard line. On the very next play Mississippi State looked to open the game up as Relf threw a deep pass down the sideline to Wilder who out ran everybody for the 85 yard touchdown and 31-21 lead. At this point it was not looking good for the Aggies, but they knew if they could get a score it would keep the pressure on the Bulldogs. Some excellent defense held A&M to a three and out and it looked as if Mississippi State was going to run away with it. But that is when disaster struck for the Bulldog faithful who was all out in full force. The Bullock punt sailed down into the arms of stud freshman Reggie Young. Young made the first big mistake of his career as he thought he had enough room to make the first defender miss, but he didn't The ball was forcibly jarred loose from Young and Porter of the Aggies was there to scoop it up and run it in from 32 yards out and turning the game completely around.
The Game Changing Play that Gave A&M Life
At that point Mississippi State could have packed it in and said the Aggies are going to win this game. Instead they showed the character of true champions and sent a message to the nation. They took their time getting down the field but they were set up at the 34 with just over 5 minutes left in the game. Relf again found his top target Wilder for his third touchdown of the game. The Bulldogs were back on top by 10 and looked to have things under control yet again. It was now the Aggies turn to show the nation the type of character they had. They were backed into a corner, trailing by 10 points and having only 5 minutes left to comeback, not to mention the fact Mississippi State had already complied over 400 yards of offense. The Aggies knew it was possible but they needed to abandon their slow gameplan and work fast and that is what they did. A good mix of run and pass moved A&M into scoring position very quickly. With 4:11 left in the game Tannehill took in a run over the right side to cut the lead back down to 3 at 38-35. Coach Bryant was now left with the decision to either kick it deep or try for an onside kick. Despite not being able to stop the Bulldogs all day Bryant had his team kick it deep. It proved to be a smart decision as the defense was able to come up with a crucial stop and force a punt. Following the punt A&M was 65 yards from the endzone and the win and they had 1:37 left to work with. A&M kicker Bullock is able to hit from as far as 60 yards so the Aggies knew if they could get it to the around the 40 yard line they would at least have a chance to tie. A&M quickly moved into MSU territory and looked as if they might be able to get into the endzone. The Bulldog defense was able to bear down and hold A&M to a 35 yard field goal attempt. Bullock made it right down the middle but he left Mississippi State 42 seconds to work with, 13 seconds more than it took them to score before half. Coach Bryant knew his defense would have to make at least one spectacular play if they hoped to get a stop and force overtime. Little did Coach Bryant know they would force two big plays, but the game would not go to overtime. Mississippi State moved the ball quickly down the field and were already to the A&M 45 with 32 seconds left nd one timeout. Then came the defensive play of the game, for the time being, as freshman RE Nealy sacked and stripped Relf. The ball was loose and if A&M came up with it they would be just inside Bullock's field goal range. There was a mad scramble for the ball but the Bulldogs came up with it. Now faced with a 2nd-and-25 at the 30 Mississippi State would have to make a big play to get into field goal range. The Bulldogs elected to save their final timeout after the sack and the clock ran all the way under 20 seconds before the next snap. Relf took the snap in the gun and looked deep for his favorite targets, but they were both covered. Relf looked to his check down man for the safe play to run out the clock, but made his only mistake of the game and it turned out huge. Relf threw well wide of his target and right into the hands of Fredrick the A&M safety. Fredrick had nothing but green grass in front of him as he took it in for the score putting the Aggies ahead 45-38 with 4 seconds left.
Pick Six for the Victory
Prior to that pass Relf had a staggering statline of 18-24, 404 yards, 4 tds. That pick and another interception on the failed hail mary that Mississippi State tried on the last play clouded slightly the numbers that Relf put up, but make no mistake he played brilliantly. Relf who broke the school single season yards and touchdowns mark looks to put up even bigger numbers this year and is off to a great start. The game was over and the Aggies celebrated on the Bulldogs field. They had been looking forward to this game all offseason and had come up with a huge come-from-behind-gut-check victory that should set the tone for the whole season. Next week A&M will have its home opener when it hosts a tough UCLA team at Kyle Field.
Texas A&M Stats
Ryan Tannehill: 8-11, 96 yards, 1 TD, 16 atts, 75 yards rush, 1 TD
Caleb Russell: 18 atts, 99 yards, 2 TDs
Ryan Williams: 6 tks (1 TFL)
Terrence Frederick: 3 tks, 1 INT, 1 Td
Mississippi State Stats
Chris Relf: 235.1 rating, 18-26, 4 TDs
O'neal Wilder: 3 Rec, 160 Yards, 3 TDs
Chad Bumphis: 5 Rec, 141 Yards, 1 TD
Other Highlights
85 Yard TD Pass
Sack Saves A&M
