Auburn storms field after upsetting Texas A&M, causes College Football Playoff race turmoil

Texas A&M saw its College Football Playoff hopes seemingly disappear after suffering its third loss of the season to Auburn on Saturday. The Aggies fell by a score of 43-41 at the hands of the Tigers, who put together a late comeback drive to kick a game-tying field goal with five seconds remaining and force overtime.

A winner was still not decided even after four extra periods had been played as Payton Thorne found KeAndre Lambert-Smith for the score over the middle in the fourth OT. A&M had a chance to answer but a pass hit Amari Daniels right in the hands, but he dropped it to give Auburn the win. Fans then took to storming the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium after pulling off the improbable victory.

Auburn wins on an aTm drop in the end zone pic.twitter.com/8fPEOIcAAt

— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) November 24, 2024

A&M got the ball first in the extra period and scored a touchdown to take the 38-31 lead, putting the pressure on Auburn. The Tigers kept their cool to answer with a score of their own as Jarquez Hunter ran in a two-yard TD to send it to double overtime.

From there, the Tigers got the ball first in the second overtime. Unfortunately, they would go backward several yards but still managed to kick a field goal. They had to rely on their defense to come up with a stop but thankfully, it forced a field goal as well.

Both teams went scoreless in the third overtime as Auburn got the ball again to start the fourth OT.

Auburn jumped out to a 21-0 advantage early in the game and led by two touchdowns at the half. However, Texas A&M would find a way to storm back and take its first lead of the game, 31-28, after Daniels scored an eight-yard touchdown with 4:01 remaining.

The Tigers punted on the next drive but later got the ball back with 2:30 remaining at their own 15-yard line. They got past the 50 after a 23-yard scramble from Thorne and then in field goal range a few plays later to set up Ian Vachon.

Hunter had a performance to remember on his Senior Day as he finished with 130 yards rushing and three touchdowns in the win. Auburn (5-6, 2-5 SEC) also kept itself alive for a bowl game ahead of its season finale against Alabama in Week 14.

As for the Aggies, they are one of three SEC teams who suffered their third loss of the season on Saturday along with Ole Miss and Alabama. That has shaken up the CFP race in a major way and it will be interesting to see how the rankings are affected.