Field Level Media
Dec 5, 2020
Kellen Mond threw for 196 yards and accounted for three touchdowns Saturday as No. 5 Texas A&M kept its hopes of a College Football Playoff spot alive by rallying in the fourth quarter for a 31-20 win at Auburn in a Southeastern Conference game.
Mond got a break on his go-ahead scoring strike of 20 yards to Jalen Wydermyer just 1:29 into the fourth quarter. The pass could have been intercepted near the goal line by Zakoby McClain, but it deflected off his hands and into Wydermyer's.
The Aggies (7-1, 7-1 SEC) made it 28-20 on a 4-yard run by Ainias Smith with 8:12 left, and wrapped up the result on Seth Small's 32-yard field goal with 1:09 left.
Mond completed 18 of 23 passes, one week after hitting only 11 of 34 attempts in a driving rainstorm against LSU. Isaiah Spiller added 120 yards on 20 rushes, while Devon Achane chipped in 99 yards on nine attempts, as Texas A&M finished the day with 510 total yards. It was the sixth straight win for the Aggies.
Bo Nix completed 15 of 23 passes for 144 yards while rushing for 49 yards and both Tiger touchdowns. Auburn fell to 5-4 overall and in SEC play with its first back-to-back losses since 2018.
After struggling on offense last week in a 20-7 win over LSU, Texas A&M opened the game with an impressive 75-yard drive that took more than six minutes off the clock. Mond found Wydermyer for a 10-yard touchdown pass near the back right corner of the end zone.
Auburn's offense finally found traction late in the first quarter, marching 71 yards and getting a 37-yard field goal from Anders Carlson just 49 seconds into the second period. Nix gave the Tigers a 10-7 lead at the 3:36 mark with a spectacular 5-yard scoring run, avoiding a sack and traversing almost the width of the field from right to left.
The Aggies responded with a touchdown to take the advantage to halftime. Just 24 seconds before the break, Mond snuck in from the 1 to cap their second 75-yard scoring drive and make it 14-10.
--Field Level Media