UCLA vs Texas A&M recap: 3 things we learned

Unranked Texas A&M survived a fourth quarter flurry to defeat No. 16 UCLA in overtime.

The matchup between the #16 UCLA Bruins and the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field on Saturday began as a duel between kickers. True freshman JJ Molson made 3 field goals on 4 attempts, scoring UCLA’s only points in the first half. Texas A&M’s sophomore kicker Daniel LaCamera missed his first but made his second field goal attempt. The only touchdown scored in the first half came on a 7-yard run by Texas A&M running back Keith Ford. When the first half ended, the Aggies were up by a single point, 10-9.

Scoring heated up in the second half, which was truly a tale of two quarters. Texas A&M dominated the third quarter, scoring two touchdowns on their first three drives, and the Aggies seemed to be well on their way to a dominant the victory. A&M’s defense frustrated Josh Rosen and the Bruins, who gained a total of only 39 yards in the entire third quarter and punted on four consecutive drives. The fourth quarter, however, was a different story. The Bruins scored two touchdowns and threw for a 2-point conversion to tie the game with 2:39 left to play. At the end of regulation, the game was tied 24-24.

In overtime, the Aggies pushed the ball down to the UCLA 2 yard line, but the Bruins held A&M on three straight plays, forcing the Aggies into a 4th and less than 1 situation. On the Aggies’ final play, UCLA collapsed on Ford, who went up the middle without the football, as Trevor Knight kept the ball and walked into the endzone to give the Aggies the lead. On UCLA’s try, the Bruins moved the ball down to the A&M 5 with two downs to score. Two incomplete passes later, one of which was dropped for a possible game-tying touchdown, the Aggies celebrated their home victory.

Three Things We Learned

Myles Garrett and the Aggies defensive line are too fast and too strong to be stopped for an entire game. As the game wore on, the A&M pass rush ramped up the pressure on Rosen, who was sacked 5 times and threw 3 interceptions.

Trevor Knight was composed under pressure and managed game situations effectively with both his arm and his legs. The Oklahoma transfer could be the leader the Aggies had hoped to find. He completed 22 passes to 8 different receivers and ran for the winning touchdown in overtime.

The running back tandem of Keith Ford and Trayveon Williams impressed and will no longer remain under the radar. They split the carries and combined for 159 yards. Williams averaged 6.3 yards per carry, and Ford averaged 4.6 yards per carry. More importantly, they forced UCLA’s defense to come forward, which left receivers Josh Reynolds, Christian Kirk, and Ricky Seals-Jones open across the field.

Highlights

https://twitter.com/UCLAFootball/status/772210230180536320

Odds

The spread had the Aggies as 3-point favorites against the Bruins, and they covered it. With overtime, the teams scored a combined 55 points, exceeding the 53-point O/U.

Next Week

Texas A&M will be at home again next week against the Prairie View A&M Panthers, who will play Texas Southern this Sunday in their season opener.

UCLA will return home to the Rose Bowl next week to play against the UNLV Rebels, who are coming off a Week 1 run-away victory against Jackson State.