The numbers that tell the tale of an unexpected obliteration of Mizzou
After two weeks of somewhat ugly wins, Texas A&M delivered the school’s most thorough beatdown of a ranked opponent in recent memory. Can’t say I saw this one coming, but boy am I glad it came!
Here’s the stats that fully illustrate A&M’s dominance over the Missouri Tigers.
Salient Stats
- 3: SEC wins. It’s the first time A&M has started 3-0 in SEC play since 2016, and they, along with Texas and LSU, are the only teams remaining without a conference loss. It’s hard to imagine a better spot to be in as the Aggies head into the bye week.
- 6: Sacks for the A&M defense. Early in the season, we talked about how the A&M pass rush was being effective, but teams were mitigating it by getting the ball out quickly, and as such, the Aggies had only five sacks through their first four games. Well, it seemed Arkansas and Missouri were not content to dink and dunk, and they have done so at their own peril, because after getting three sacks against the Hogs, A&M got to Mizzou QB Brady Cook six times on Saturday. The Aggies also have 18 tackles for loss over the past two week. If they can keep up this pressure, it will make things a lot easier on the rest of the defense.
- 11.5: Yards per carry for Le’Veon Moss. Yet again, he looked like an absolute force out of the backfield, showing good patience/vision and elite physicality. That combined for 138 rushing yards, most of which game on a 75-yard TD run to open the second half. I mentioned last week that after not scoring a touchdown in each of the last three games (despite averaging 100+ yards per game), we needed to find a way to get Moss in the endzone. Well, they did it three times this week, so consider that wrong rectified.
- 15: Conner Weigman. No stat, just Conner Weigman. After missing three games due to injury, and many questioning whether he should get the starting job back, Weigman showed exactly why he won the job to begin with. He looked in command, found open receivers, delivered accurate passes and also made plays with his legs. It was as good a performance as you could have hoped for in Weigman’s return, and it could mean big things for this team’s ceiling in 2024.
- $19.98: The cost on the Sam’s Club website of the Texas A&M fleece blanket that “mysteriously” ended up in Mizzou WR Theo Wease’s College Station hotel room. It was supposedly from A&M CB Will “The Blanket” Lee, though Mike Elko intimated in the postgame press conference that reporters should ask Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz how it got there.
- 30: Rushing yards for Tiger RB Nate Noel. Much like Arkansas’ Jaquinden Jackson a week before, Noel came into the game as one of the SEC’s leading rushers, and then proceeded to get bottled up by the Aggies. A strong defensive line seems to be getting better and better each week, which is terrifying for the teams remaining on the Aggie schedule.
- 34: How many years it’s been since the Ags won a game against a ranked opponent by 31 points or more. That, of course, was their 64-13 throttling of BYU in the 1990 Holiday Bowl.
- 58%: The Ags’ third down conversion rate. Given that they had been at 38% on the season coming into this game, that’s a welcome change. And with Weigman delivering in the passing game at such a high level, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.
- 512: Total yards for the A&M offense. It’s the most A&M has gained against any team this season outside of McNeese, and was made even more impressive by how balanced they were: 236 yards on the ground and 276 yards through the air. It should be noted that Mizzou was only allowing an average of 219 yards per game, and the Ags surpassed 300 yards by halftime.
Enjoy not being stressed this week. No stress about this past week’s performance, and no stress about the game ahead (because there isn’t one). Is this…hope?