5 takeaways from Texas A&M’s win over Missouri: Aggies’ two-headed monster dominates in backfield

While many Texas A&M fans were still celebrating the defeat of historic then-No. 1 Alabama last Saturday, the maroon and white were back into the Bright Football Complex sitting in Kyle Field’s south end zone, preparing to continue the momentum into Missouri.

The preparation was immediately apparent as A&M came out firing en route to a 35-14 victory over the Tigers in Columbia, Mo. With the win, the Aggies level out their conference record to 2-2 and improve to 5-2 on the season.

Here are five takeaways from A&M’s second-straight win:

You can’t kill what’s already dead

A&M’s offense recognized the weakness in Missouri and capitalized.

Coming into Saturday, the Tigers had the worst rushing offense in the country, allowing 288.3 yards on the ground per game. The Aggies’ first half game plan took advantage, allowing A&M to post 193 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns through the first two quarters alone, with the yards split almost evenly between junior Isaiah Spiller and sophomore Devon Achane.

The maroon and white totaled 283 rushing yards in the game and gave the duo of backs their second game in which they both had 100-plus yards — a feat that had been accomplished by an A&M offense since 2019. Achane scored two touchdowns with 124 rushing yards and Spiller scored once with 168 yards.

“They did a good job and they ran the ball well,” A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said. “There’s still some more out there I think they can get. We could have got them in the passing game a little more, too. They ran hard and did a good job.”

Ainias ‘end zone’ Smith

In 2020, then-sophomore Ainias Smith had A&M’s second most touchdowns with 10, behind only Kellen Mond. Six of the end zone trips in the season came from the air while four were on the ground.

Against Missouri, Smith reeled in two passes in the end zone, bringing his season touchdown total to six, already matching last season’s receiving mark and trailing only to redshirt sophomore quarterback Zach Calzada. While now playing primarily slot receiver and taking less snaps in the backfield, Smith leads the Aggies in receptions and receiving yards.

Smith’s team-leading three receptions for 34 yards against the Tigers have furthered his status as a consistent target for Calzada.

Regression of Calzada

It appears as if Calzada has a habit of playing to his opponent’s skill.

The signal-caller headed into Alabama with the lowest completion percentage in the SEC, yet seemed to make a serious leap in talent against the Tide, posting a 67.7 completion percentage, three touchdowns and 285 yards. Calzada returned back to mediocre levels against a lower-caliber conference opponent, completing only 13 of 25 passes for 148 yards.

In each of his starts, Calzada has thrown an interception. While the Aggies’ offensive line continued the strength it showed against Alabama and only allowed one sack to the Tigers, Calzada’s tendency to overthrow short passes and display general inaccuracies returned.

“Is there a lot [Calzada] can do better? Yes, and he has got to,” Fisher said. “But he’s still making [critical plays]. He’s still progressing. I thought he played a solid game, but there’s still a lot more he can.”

Small limitations

Through the trials and tribulations of the Aggies’ 2021 season, one thing has remained consistently impressive: special teams.

Senior placekicker Seth Small had only missed one field goal through six games before facing Missouri, including the game-winner over Alabama and a season-long make of 49 yards. However, against the Tigers, Small missed a 54-yard field goal and a 48-yarder, both short.

“Missed two field goals today. Had a bad snap on the second one. That’s uncharacteristic,” Fisher said.

The start of something not-so-new?

After defeating then-No. 4 Florida on the weekend of Oct, 10 — Fisher’s birthday weekend — in 2020, the Aggies built a win-streak that lasted 11 games. Now, following another upset victory of Fisher’s birthday weekend, A&M yet again looks like a brand new team.

For two-straight weeks, A&M’s offense has played with an energy that was lacking before the win, and the other side of the ball has experienced similar success.

“Since Saturday, it was an emphasis [to move on],” Spiller said. “I feel like we really honed in on that this week. It was an early game so we didn’t want to come out, lull. We didn’t want to be a one-hit wonder. We did what we had to do and we’re going to do what we have to do next week, too.”

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