The numbers that tell the tale of the Aggies’ season-opening loss to the Irish
Texas A&M came up short in their bid to make a statement win in the first game of the Mike Elko era, falling to Notre Dame 23-13 in front of 107,000+ fans at Kyle Field on Saturday night.
Here are a few of the stats that tell the tale of how the game played out.
0: Sacks or turnovers forced. Just like many predicted, this turned out to be a defensive battle, and while the A&M defense played well overall, a drive-killing sack or a takeaway could have easily swung this game. If you could have either stoped a Notre Dame scoring drive, or set up the offense with a short field, you never know how the game might have changed.
1: Receiver with more than two catches. Obviously this is bound to happen when you only complete 12 passes, but it had to be a frustrating night for any pass-catcher not named Jahdae Walker (and even he only had six catches for 31 yards).
2.0: Yards per carry advantage for Notre Dame. The Irish’s ability to get chunk plays in the run game in the second half (and A&M’s inability) was perhaps the biggest difference in this game. Both teams ran more than they passed, so Notre Dame averaging 5.8 yards per attempt to the Ags’ 3.8 loomed large.
40%: Conner Weigman’s completion percentage. Many will focus on his two interceptions, and while they certainly didn’t help the cause, they also weren’t ultimately the deciding factor in the game. What was more troublesome was Weigman’s innacuracy throughout the night, even on short to intermediate throws. While he didn’t have a ton of open receivers, the hopes of Weigman’s play being able to overcome other shortcomings did not come to fruition on Saturday.
54: Yards per punt for Tyler White, with three punts being downed inside the 20. While it didn’t change the result of Saturday’s game, White’s booming punts are a sign of encouragement going forward. A year ago, Nik Constantinou averaged just 41.3 yards per punt and didn’t have a single game where he averaged as much yardage as White did last night.
107,315: Fans at Kyle Field. It was the fourth-largest crowd in Kyle Field history, and led to an electric atmosphere for a national TV audience. But as it feels happens all too often, the elite crowd could not will the Aggies to the win.
Certainly not the outcome that anyone hoped for, but at the end of the day, it’s the first game of a new regime, and all that “new” sometimes takes time to come together. The Aggies still have plenty of opportunities to have a good season, and that begins next Saturday against McNeese (and really ramps up a week later when they travel to Florida.