Photo Credits: Noah Ponce
COLLEGE STATION, TX
The Aggies fell short in their SEC opener against Kentucky with a final score of 31-21. Despite the brutally hot weather, the 12th man showed up with an attendance of over 105,186. Throughout the game, Kentucky dominated on both the offence and defence fronts, leading to a commanding victory against the aggies.
On the first play of the game, Terry Bussey suffered a lower-body injury, which will result in him being out for the remainder of the season. The Aggie defense starts strong, leading to a scoreless first quarter with the Aggies receiving the ball at the end of the quarter.
The Aggies started the second quarter strong with a scoring drive, with a touchdown pass to Carsyn Baker. Kentucky quickly claps back with a 3-minute scoring drive, tying the game at 7-7 going into the half.
Kentucky started to run away with the game after halftime, with a touchdown on the first drive of the second quarter. Kentucky continued to score two more unanswered touchdowns in the third quarter to lead to a score of 28-7. The Aggie offence began to show signs of life in the fourth quarter, with two touchdowns and even more drives reaching the red-zone. However, a Kentucky field goal and late game interception by Marcel Reed made it impossible for the Aggies to come back in the fourth quarter.
Student Takeaways:
As a fan, this week’s game was hard to watch. Marcel Reed had a disappointing performance, failing to convert on key plays in the red-zone and on fourth down. However, the largest step back from the Aggies was from the defense. Reed had many lackluster performances at home last year, but was often bailed out by strong defensive stops. This was not the case this week, as the defense was unable to get stops against Kentucky, causing Kentucky to run away with the game.
Next week is against a tough opponent, going into Baton Rouge to face the LSU Tigers. The season is not over for the Aggies and they will have the opportunity to prove themselves in the upcoming weeks.
