How It Happened: No. 19 Tennessee 20, Texas A&M 13
No. 19 Tennessee’s offense sputtered against Texas A&M Saturday afternoon but the Vols got enough on defense and special teams to hold off the Aggies in a 20-13 win inside a sold-out and checkerboard Neyland Stadium. Here’s how it happened, as it happened:
First Quarter
Texas A&M 7, No. 19 Tennessee 0 (8:29, 1Q): After stopping Tennessee on the game’s opening possession, Texas A&M got the ball and went 80 yards on seven plays to open the scoring on a 2-yard touchdown run by quarterback Max Johnson. The Vols had two penalties for 20 yards on the first two plays of the drive and later a 29-yard pass from Johnson to Noah Thomas set the Aggies up with first-and-goal at the 4-yard line.
No. 19 Tennessee 7, Texas A&M 7 (1:44, 1Q): The Vols tied the game on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Joe Milton III to tight end Jacob Warren late in the first quarter. The Vols went 51 yards on six plays for the touchdown. Tennessee’s defense forced a three-and-out on the previous A&M possession, after the Vols went for it on fourth-and-2 at the Texas A&M 18-yard line and failed.
Second Quarter
Texas A&M 10, No. 19 Tennessee 7 (10:48, 2Q): The Aggies jumped back in front with an 11-play, 51-yard drive that was capped with a 41-yard field goal. Tennessee sacked Johnson twice on the drive, but he also converted a third-and-17 under pressure to keep the scoring drive alive.
At The Half
Milton threw for just 38 yards in the first half, completing 6 of 11 passes, including the 7-yard touchdown to Warren. The Vols rushed 126 times as a team on 24 carries, averaging 5.3 yards per touch. They had 87 yards in the first quarter, surpassing the 84.0 yards per game Texas A&M’s SEC-best run defense give up.
Johnson completed 7 of 11 passes for the Aggies for 107 yards and A&M ran 15 times as a team for just 31 yards.
The Vols opted to go for it on fourth-and-2 at the A&M 18 on their first possession but Milton threw incomplete after rolling right. In the second quarter, Charles Campbell missed a 51-yard field goal attempt wide right.
Third Quarter
No. 19 Tennessee 14, Texas A&M 10 (6:47, 3Q): Dee Williams does it all on Tennessee special teams. First he downed a Tennessee punt on the 1-yard line and, after Texas A&M went three-and-out backed up against its own end zone, Williams took a punt back 39 yards for a touchdown to give Neyland Stadium new life and put the Vols ahead 14-10.
No. 19 Tennessee 14, Texas A&M 13 (3:15, 3Q): The Aggies answered Tennessee’s touchdown drive with an eight-play, 68-yard drive that ended with a 24-yard field goal to cut the deficit to one point. A 28-yard pass from Johnson to Noah Thomas was the biggest play of the drive, which started with a 20-yard screen pass.
Fourth Quarter
No. 19 Tennessee 17, Texas A&M 13 (3:48, 4Q): Campbell kicked a 31-yard field goal to extend Tennessee’s lead to four with just under four minutes left. The drive covered 53 yards over 10 plays but was derailed by an offensive facemask penalty. It gave the Vols 12 penalties for 115 yards on the game and was the 22nd penalty of the game in total.
