Texas A&M 25, Vanderbilt 0: What We Learned

[caption id="attachment_19483" align="alignright" width="300"]Photo by Will Leverett Photo by Will Leverett[/caption] Welcome back, Kyle Allen. Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin didn’t name the starting quarterback until minutes before kickoff against Vanderbilt, but he made the right decision by going with the sophomore. Allen looked confident and comfortable leading the Aggies to a dominant victory, finishing 18-of-36 with a touchdown pass and 336 yards. His completion numbers could’ve been much better had his receivers not dropped a handful of passes early, but credit Allen for keeping his composure and putting the ball right on the money time and time again. He didn’t get much help from his offensive line either, but he showed good scrambling ability and managed to get the Aggies downfield with efficiency. He did miss a few throws, including two that very possibly could’ve resulted in touchdowns, but Allen turned out a solid performance and should start next week against LSU. Texas A&M’s rush defense answered the call. Vanderbilt’s best chance of winning this game hinged on the Aggies not being able to contain the Commodore rushing game led by Ralph Webb. Texas A&M has been, well, really bad this season stopping the run, but the defense was stout all-around in the shutout performance. The Commodores notched just 148 yards with 125 coming on the ground, and the Aggies held Webb to just 79 yards. With a trip to Death Valley up next on the schedule, the Aggie rush defense needs to build on this strong performance if it wants to contain the likes of Leonard Fournette. Not to be outdone, A&M’s special teams and secondary were impressive against the Commodores, too. The Aggies gave up just 23 passing yards and tabbed an interception in the second quarter. The special teams unit blocked a punt in the first quarter and almost got a few others as the game went on, swarming to the punter every chance they got. Aggies have to finish in the red zone. This was a good win for A&M, but it should’ve been much more one-sided. Allen had the Aggie offense driving pretty consistently, but they struggled on third-and-short situations behind a lackluster rushing performance that ended with 150 yards. A&M made four trips into the red zone and each one resulted in a field goal attempt, three of which were converted. Tip your cap to A&M kicker Taylor Bertolet for finishing 6-of-7, but field goals aren’t going to be enough all the time.