2020 Texas A&M Aggies football team

2020 Texas A&M Aggies football
2020 Texas A&M Aggies football
Orange Bowl champion
Orange Bowl, W 41–27 vs. North Carolina
Conference	Southeastern Conference
	Western Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 4
AP	No. 4
Record	9–1 (8–1 SEC)
Head coach	Jimbo Fisher (3rd season);
Offensive coordinator	Darrell Dickey (3rd season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Mike Elko (3rd season)
Base defense	4–2–5
Home stadium	Kyle Field
	Seasons ← 2019 2021 →

The 2020 Texas A&M Aggies football team represented Texas A&M University in the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Aggies played their home games at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, and competed in the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They were led by third-year head coach Jimbo Fisher. The Aggies finished the season 9–1 with a final ranking of #4 in both the AP and the Coaches poll.

2020 Southeastern Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
East Division
No. 13 Florida x	8	–	2	8	–	4
No. 7 Georgia	7	–	2	8	–	2
Missouri	5	–	5	5	–	5
Kentucky	4	–	6	5	–	6
Tennessee*	3	–	7	3	–	7
South Carolina	2	–	8	2	–	8
Vanderbilt	0	–	9	0	–	9
West Division
No. 1 Alabama x$#^	10	–	0	13	–	0
No. 4 Texas A&M	8	–	1	9	–	1
Auburn	6	–	4	6	–	5
LSU*	5	–	5	5	–	5
Ole Miss	4	–	5	5	–	5
Arkansas	3	–	7	3	–	7
Mississippi State	3	–	7	4	–	7
Championship: Alabama 52, Florida 46
# – College Football Playoff champion ^ – College Football Playoff participant $ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions * – Tennessee vacated all wins due to NCAA violations. LSU was ineligible for postseason due to self imposed ban. Note: Due to COVID-19, the SEC played a conference-only schedule. Rankings from AP Poll.

Preseason

SEC Media Days

In the preseason media poll, Texas A&M was predicted to finish in fourth in the West Division.^[1]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
Media poll (West Division)
1	Alabama	660 (86)
2	LSU	489 (8)
3	Auburn	488
4	Texas A&M	454 (2)
T5	Ole Miss	238
T5	Mississippi State	238
7	Arkansas	121

Coaching staff

Name	Position	Season at Texas A&M
Jimbo Fisher	Head coach	3rd
Darrell Dickey	Offensive coordinator and Quarterbacks coach	3rd
Tommie Robinson	Running backs coach	1st
James Coley	Tight ends coach	1st
Dameyune Craig	Wide receivers coach	3rd
Josh Henson	Offensive line coach	2nd
Mike Elko	Defensive coordinator and safeties coach	3rd
T. J. Rushing	Defensive backs coach	1st
Terry Price	Defensive ends coach	9th
Elijah Robinson	Defensive line coach	3rd
Tyler Santucci	Linebackers coach	1st
Jerry Schmidt	Strength and Conditioning Coach	3rd

Schedule

Texas A&M announced its 2020 football schedule on August 7, 2019.^[2] The 2020 schedule consisted of 7 home, 4 away, and 1 neutral game in the regular season.

The Aggies had games scheduled against Abilene Christian, Fresno State, Colorado, and North Texas, which were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[3]^[4]^[5] In place of the canceled games, Florida and Tennessee were added to the Aggies' schedule to fill out the 10-game, conference only format.^[6]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 26	6:30 p.m.	Vanderbilt	No. 10	Kyle Field College Station, TX	SECN Alt.	W 17–12	24,073
October 3	2:30 p.m.	at No. 2 Alabama	No. 13	Bryant–Denny Stadium Tuscaloosa, AL	CBS	L 24–52	19,424
October 10	11:00 a.m.	No. 4 Florida	No. 21	Kyle Field College Station, TX	ESPN	W 41–38	24,709
October 17	3:00 p.m.	at Mississippi State	No. 11	Davis Wade Stadium Starkville, MS	ESPN	W 28–14	13,142
October 31	6:30 p.m.	Arkansas	No. 8	Kyle Field College Station, TX (rivalry)	SECN	W 42–31	27,114
November 7	6:00 p.m.	at South Carolina	No. 7	Williams–Brice Stadium Columbia, SC	ESPN	W 48–3	16,253
November 28	6:00 p.m.	LSU	No. 5	Kyle Field College Station, TX (rivalry)	ESPN	W 20–7	23,607
December 5	11:00 a.m.	at Auburn	No. 5	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL	ESPN	W 31–20	18,297
December 19	11:00 a.m.	at Tennessee	No. 5	Neyland Stadium Knoxville, TN	ESPN	W 34–13	22,645
January 2, 2021	7:00 p.m.	vs. No. 13 North Carolina*	No. 5	Hard Rock Stadium Miami Gardens, FL (Orange Bowl)	ESPN	W 41–27	13,737
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll and CFP Rankings (after November 24) released prior to game All times are in Central time

^[7]

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	13	13*	10	10	13	21	11	7	8	7	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	4
Coaches	13	13*	10	11	13	20	11	9	8	7	6	6	6	6	5	5	5	4
CFP	Not released												5	5	5	5	5	Not released

Game summaries

Vanderbilt

	1	2	3	4	Total
Commodores	3	2	7	0	12
No. 10 Aggies	7	0	7	3	17

Statistics

Statistics	VAN	TAMU
First downs	17	17
Total yards	255	372
Rushing yards	105	183
Passing yards	150	189
Turnovers	2	3
Time of possession	33:59	26:01

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Vanderbilt	Passing	Ken Seals	20/29, 150 yards, TD, 2 INT
	Rushing	Ja'Veon Marlow	16 rushes, 65 yards
	Receiving	Amir Abdur-Rahman	5 receptions, 72 yards, TD
Texas A&M	Passing	Kellen Mond	17/28, 189 yards, TD
	Rushing	Isaiah Spiller	8 rushes, 117 yards
	Receiving	Caleb Chapman	4 receptions, 40 yards, TD

Texas A&M started their 2020 season against Vanderbilt at home. This was their third time playing Vanderbilt and they continued their undefeated streak against them.

At No. 2 Alabama

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Aggies	7	7	3	7	24
No. 2 Crimson Tide	14	21	7	10	52

Statistics

Statistics	TAMU	ALA
First downs	25	22
Total yards	450	544
Rushing yards	115	109
Passing yards	335	435
Turnovers	2	1
Time of possession	37:42	22:18

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Texas A&M	Passing	Kellen Mond	25/44, 318 yards, 3 TD, INT
	Rushing	Haynes King	5 rushes, 43 yards
	Receiving	Ainias Smith	6 receptions, 123 yards, 2 TD
Alabama	Passing	Mac Jones	20/27, 435 yards, 4 TD, INT
	Rushing	Brian Robinson Jr.	10 rushes, 60 yards
	Receiving	John Metchie III	5 receptions, 181 yards, 2 TD

This was A&M's thirteenth time to face Alabama, the ninth time since the Aggies moved the SEC. Alabama continued their win streak against A&M since 2013.

No. 4 Florida

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Gators	14	7	7	10	38
No. 21 Aggies	7	10	7	17	41

Statistics

Statistics	FLA	TAMU
First downs	22	32
Total yards	402	543
Rushing yards	90	205
Passing yards	312	338
Turnovers	1	1
Time of possession	25:23	34:37

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Florida	Passing	Kyle Trask	23/32, 312 yards, 4 TD
	Rushing	Nay'Quan Wright	6 rushes, 31 yards, TD
	Receiving	Kadarius Toney	7 receptions, 92 yards, 2 TD
Texas A&M	Passing	Kellen Mond	25/35, 338 yards, 3 TD
	Rushing	Isaiah Spiller	27 rushes, 174 yards, 2 TD
	Receiving	Caleb Chapman	9 receptions, 151 yards, 2 TD

Originally A&M wasn't supposed to play Florida. This was the fifth meeting between the two teams and third since A&M moved to the SEC.

At Mississippi State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Aggies	0	14	14	0	28
Bulldogs	0	0	7	7	14

Statistics

Statistics	TAMU	MSST
First downs	17	15
Total yards	325	217
Rushing yards	186	-2
Passing yards	139	219
Turnovers	1	2
Time of possession	30:32	29:28

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Texas A&M	Passing	Kellen Mond	13–23, 139 yards, 2 TD, INT
	Rushing	Isaiah Spiller	18 rushes, 114 yards, 2 TD
	Receiving	Chase Lane	2 receptions, 70 yards, TD
Mississippi State	Passing	Will Rogers	15–18, 120 yards, TD
	Rushing	Jo'Quavious Marks	7 rushes, 25 yards
	Receiving	Malik Heath	5 receptions, 57 yards, TD

This was the fourteenth meeting between the two teams, the ninth since A&M moved to the SEC. A&M evened up the series tied 7 and 7.

Arkansas

	1	2	3	4	Total
Razorbacks	7	7	3	14	31
No. 8 Aggies	14	14	14	0	42

Statistics

Statistics	ARK	TAMU
First downs	29	25
Total yards	461	442
Rushing yards	222	182
Passing yards	239	260
Turnovers	0	0
Time of possession	27:01	32:59

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Arkansas	Passing	Feleipe Franks	23/31, 239 yards, 3 TD
	Rushing	Rakeem Boyd	18 rushes, 100 yards, TD
	Receiving	Treylon Burks	7 receptions, 112 yards, 2 TD
Texas A&M	Passing	Kellen Mond	21/26, 260 yards, 3 TD
	Rushing	Isaiah Spiller	21 rushes, 82 yards, TD
	Receiving	Jalen Wydermyer	6 receptions, 92 yards, 2 TD

At South Carolina

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Aggies	7	14	13	14	48
Gamecocks	0	0	0	3	3

Statistics

Statistics	TAMU	SC
First downs	26	9
Total yards	530	150
Rushing yards	264	50
Passing yards	266	100
Turnovers	0	2
Time of possession	38:21	21:39

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Texas A&M	Passing	Kellen Mond	16/26, 224 yards, 4 TD
	Rushing	Isaiah Spiller	18 rushes, 131 yards
	Receiving	De’Von Achane	2 receptions, 70 yards, TD
South Carolina	Passing	Collin Hill	8/21, 66 yards, 2 INT
	Rushing	Kevin Harris	13 rushes, 39 yards
	Receiving	Shi Smith	7 receptions, 64 yards

LSU

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	0	0	0	7	7
No. 5 Aggies	10	3	7	0	20

Statistics

Statistics	LSU	TAMU
First downs	14	16
Total yards	267	267
Rushing yards	36	162
Passing yards	231	105
Turnovers	3	0
Time of possession	26:28	33:32

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
LSU	Passing	T. J. Finley	9/25, 118 yards, 2 INT
	Rushing	Tyrion Davis-Price	11 rushes, 18 yards
	Receiving	Terrace Marshall Jr.	10 receptions, 134 yards, TD
Texas A&M	Passing	Kellen Mond	11/34, 105 yards
	Rushing	Isaiah Spiller	28 rushes, 134 yards, TD
	Receiving	Ainias Smith	3 receptions, 36 yards

At Auburn

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Aggies	7	7	0	17	31
Tigers	0	10	10	0	20

Statistics

Statistics	TAMU	AUB
First downs	29	16
Total yards	509	340
Rushing yards	313	196
Passing yards	196	144
Turnovers	0	0
Time of possession	38:00	22:00

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Texas A&M	Passing	Kellen Mond	18/23, 196 yards, 2 TD
	Rushing	Isaiah Spiller	20 rushes, 120 yards
	Receiving	Jalen Wydermyer	8 receptions, 89 yards, 2 TD
Auburn	Passing	Bo Nix	15/23, 144 yards
	Rushing	Tank Bigsby	9 rushes, 76 yards
	Receiving	Seth Williams	3 receptions, 51 yards

The Aggies scored 17 unanswered points in the 4th quarter. The Aggies then got their 1st win against Auburn for the first time since 2016.

At Tennessee

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Aggies	7	17	0	10	34
Volunteers	7	6	0	0	13

Statistics

Statistics	TAMU	TENN
First downs	28	13
Total yards	497	213
Rushing yards	216	24
Passing yards	281	189
Turnovers	1	2
Time of possession	44:09	15:51

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Texas A&M	Passing	Kellen Mond	26/32, 281 yards, TD, INT
	Rushing	Isaiah Spiller	26 rushes, 89 yards, TD
	Receiving	Jalen Wydermyer	5 receptions, 71 yards
Tennessee	Passing	J. T. Shrout	6/14, 104 yards, TD, INT
	Rushing	Ty Chandler	7 rushes, 31 yards
	Receiving	Cedric Tillman	2 receptions, 61 yards, TD

Vs. No. 13 North Carolina (Orange Bowl)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Aggies	7	10	0	24	41
No. 13 Tar Heels	3	10	7	7	27

Statistics

Statistics	TAMU	UNC
First downs	19	18
Total yards	457	324
Rushing yards	225	90
Passing yards	232	234
Turnovers	0	1
Time of possession	32:13	27:47

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Texas A&M	Passing	Kellen Mond	16/26, 232 yards
	Rushing	De’Von Achane	12 rushes, 140 yards, 2 TD
	Receiving	Ainias Smith	6 receptions, 125 yards
North Carolina	Passing	Sam Howell	18/31, 234 yards, 3 TD, INT
	Rushing	British Brooks	15 rushes, 53 yards
	Receiving	Josh Downs	4 receptions, 91 yards, TD

Players drafted into the NFL

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Club
3	66	Kellen Mond	QB	Minnesota Vikings
4	117	Bobby Brown III	DT	Los Angeles Rams
4	128	Dan Moore	OT	Pittsburgh Steelers
4	140	Buddy Johnson	ILB	Pittsburgh Steelers

References

^ "Preseason SEC media poll, All-SEC Team announced". SECSports.com. Southeastern Conference. September 23, 2020.
^ "Texas A&M Football Announces 2020 Schedule". Texas A&M University Department of Athletics. August 7, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
^ Talty, John (July 30, 2020). "SEC moves to conference-only 2020 schedule, pushes back start of season". AL.com. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
^ Bromberg, Nick. "Pac-12 follows Big Ten's lead and won't play non-conference games in 2020". Yahoo News. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
^ Dellenger, Ross. "Sources: SEC Adopts Conference-Only Schedule With Sept. 26 Start". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
^ Dellenger, Ross (August 7, 2020). "SEC's New Schedule: Winners, Losers and... Mizzou". si.com. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
^ "2020 Texas A&M Aggies Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved January 11, 2020.

[1] "Preseason SEC media poll, All-SEC Team announced". SECSports.com. Southeastern Conference. September 23, 2020.

[2019sched-2] "Texas A&M Football Announces 2020 Schedule". Texas A&M University Department of Athletics. August 7, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2020.

[3] Talty, John (July 30, 2020). "SEC moves to conference-only 2020 schedule, pushes back start of season". AL.com. Retrieved July 30, 2020.

[4] Bromberg, Nick. "Pac-12 follows Big Ten's lead and won't play non-conference games in 2020". Yahoo News. Retrieved July 10, 2020.

[5] Dellenger, Ross. "Sources: SEC Adopts Conference-Only Schedule With Sept. 26 Start". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 30, 2020.

[6] Dellenger, Ross (August 7, 2020). "SEC's New Schedule: Winners, Losers and... Mizzou". si.com. Retrieved August 18, 2020.

[7] "2020 Texas A&M Aggies Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved January 11, 2020.

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