Here’s a statistical look, by the numbers, at the Aggies’ 20-3 win over UMass Saturday at Kyle Field.
-4:46 - Time of possession disadvantage in the game. That comes two weeks after Florida possessed the football 14:14 longer than the Aggies and a week after Auburn held the ball at a +12:52 clip. A&M’s time of possession vs. UMass was 27:37. Meanwhile, the Minutemen produced 32:23 of offensive football. The Aggies rank #118 in time of possession (27:31 per game). A&M was #3, #11 and #3, respectively, in ToP during Jimbo Fisher’s first three seasons in Aggieland.
#1 - A&M’s national ranking in pass plays allowed over 30 yards. One of the true bright spots on defense is the lack of big plays given up this season through the air. The Aggies have allowed just five passes of 30-plus yards this season. The next best SEC teams in this category are Auburn, Florida and South Carolina, with 10 passes allowed over 30 yards (#15). Overall, the Aggies have allowed just 11 plays from scrimmage this season of 30-plus yards. That is tied with Iowa for fourth nationally and tops in the SEC. The next best teams in the league in that category are Florida and Georgia, with 15 (#17).
#2 - A&M’s national ranking in pass defense. The Aggies gave up just 55 yards through the air against UMass and head into the season finale with LSU allowing an average of 152.5 passing yards per game. That leads all FBS teams other than Boise State (145.4) and is 10 spots in the national rankings better than #2 in the SEC (Kentucky is #12 at 176 YPG).
#5 - Devon Achane’s national ranking in kick return average. This season, Achane has 11 returns for an average of 28.36 yards per return and one touchdown. That’s currently second in the SEC behind Mississippi State’s Lideatrick Griffin, who leads the nation with an average of 31.2 yards per return.
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Amari Daniels ran for 67 yards on 17 carries vs. UMass.
+10 - A&M’s advantage in the big play category. The Aggies produced an impressive 11 plays of 20-plus yards vs. UMass. A&M came into the game with just 39 plays over 20 yards, meaning that 22 percent of its explosive plays this season came against UMass. Eight of the 11 came in the first half. Five came on the ground (Conner Weigman runs of 22, 29 and 32 yards; Le’Veon Moss run of 23 yards; Amari Daniels run of 26 yards), and six came through the air (Conner Weigman passes of 22 and 25 yards to Moose Muhammad; 20 yards to Jalen Preston; a 22-yard touchdown to Noah Thomas; 25 yards to Earnest Crownover; 28 yards to Donovan Green). The Minutemen had just a single play of 20 or more yards in the game ... a Brady Olson pass to Josiah Johnson for 21 yards late in the first quarter.
13 - Consecutive games vs. FBS teams in which the Aggies failed to score more than 28 points. A&M managed just 20 points on Saturday. The last time A&M scored more than 28 points in an FBS game was a 44-14 win over South Carolina last season at Kyle Field.
15.6 - “Havoc Rate” for the A&M defense in the game. Havoc Rate is an advanced metric from longtime stat man Bill Connelly that is determined by calculating the total number of tackles-for-loss, passes defended (including INTs) and forced fumbles divided by the total number of plays. The Aggies had zero interceptions, two forced fumbles, two pass breakups and six TFL (2 sacks/4 run TFL) vs. UMass. That’s 10 “Havoc Points” divided by 64 defensive snaps for a game rating of 15.6, meaning that the Aggies created havoc on exactly 15.6 percent of the Minutemen's offensive snaps. On the season, A&M’s Havoc Rate is 15.8 (123 havoc plays/777 total plays). Last season, the Ags had a Havoc Rate of 17.8. It was 19.1 in ’20 and 18.6 in ’19. A&M ranked fifth in the nation in 2018 with a Havoc Rate of 20.4.
18.8% - UMass’ third down conversion percentage on Saturday. The Aggies held the Minutemen to just 3-of-16 on third down and 0-of-2 on fourth down. The effort improved A&M’s national ranking in opponent third-down rate from #59 (37.4%) to #43 (35.6%).
20% - A&M’s conversion rate on third down in the game. The Aggies were 2-of-10 in this category and have now dropped to #114 in third-down percentage offensively (32.6%). That is last in the SEC and 25 spots worse than the next worse team (Auburn at #89 at 36.6%) in the national rankings.
#50 - A&M’s national ranking in total defense. The Aggies allow an average of 363.5 total yards per game. A&M ranked ninth and 14th in total defense the previous two seasons.
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Muhsin Muhammad III reeled in three catches for a game-high 75 yards vs. UMass.
83.3 - Average receiving yards per game for Moose Muhammad over his last six games played. After his mysterious suspension/benching, the sophomore hauled in three catches for 75 yards vs. UMass on Saturday. Muhammad opened the year with just one catch for 16 yards total in the first four games of the season and did not play at all vs. Appalachian State and Miami, but he has come alive in the back half of the season. He has had at least six catches and at least 75 yards receiving in four of the last six contests.
#108 - A&M’s national ranking in scoring offense. The Aggies managed just 20 points vs. UMass and average an abysmal 21.4 points per game this season. That’s dead last in the SEC and one spot behind Kentucky (21.7) in the national rankings.
#123 - A&M’s national ranking in run defense in 2022. The Aggies gave up just 113 rushing yards to UMass on Saturday to stop the bleeding from the previous three games. They are now allowing an average of 211 rushing yards per game. That’s dead last in the SEC, and Stanford, Arizona and Colorado are the only Power 5 programs allowing more on the ground per game than A&M. In the previous four seasons under Mike Elko, the Aggies never ranked below 35th nationally against the run and were in the top three overall in two of those seasons. A&M is 114th nationally in yards per carry (4.76) ... also at the very bottom among SEC teams.
#129 - A&M’s national ranking in runs allowed over 10 yards. The Aggie defense has given up 80 runs of 10-plus yards through 11 games. That leads only Hawaii (81) and Georgia Southern (87) in the national rankings. The last time A&M gave up more than 80 runs of 10 or more yards in an entire 13-game season was 2016 (82).
145 - Combined rushing yards in the game for young tailbacks Le’Veon Moss and Amari Daniels ... with 118 of those coming in the second half. Moss ran the ball 12 times for 78 yards (6.5 average) and a touchdown, while Daniels gained 67 rushing yards on 17 carries (3.9 average).
257 - Total yards from scrimmage for Conner Weigman in the game. The freshman quarterback was 11-of-19 passing for 191 yards and a touchdown and added 66 yards on eight carries. That included nine plays (3 runs and 6 passes) over 20 yards for Weigman ... all but one in the first half.
1969 - The last time A&M opened the season with 10 straight games of failing to score more than 31 points. The Aggies defeated Sam Houston State, 31-0, in the season opener and haven’t scored more than 28 points since. You have to go back 53 years to find the last time that has happened at A&M. In ’69, Gene Stallings’ squad went an entire season without scoring more than 31 points in a single game.
1970 - The last time A&M finished the season with fewer than two conference wins. The Aggies are 1-6 in SEC games ... the worst record in the entire league. With only SEC West champion LSU remaining, A&M is in serious danger of going 1-7 in conference play. You have to go back to 1970 to find in-conference futility of this level. That year, Gene Stallings’ Aggies opened the season with wins over Wichita State and #12 LSU on the road (the Hugh McElroy game) before dropping nine straight and finishing 0-7 in the Southwest Conference.
A&M in national stat rankings
Team
• Time of Possession = #118 (27:31)
• Turnover Margin = #84 (-2)
• Penalties = #79 with 6.5 penalties per game
- #46 with 49.3 penalty yards per game
Offense
• Total O = #96 (355.5 YPG)
• Scoring O = #108 (21.4 PPG)
• Rushing O = #94 (130.3 YPG)
• Passing O = #74 (225.3 YPG)
• Yards Per Play = #67 (5.67 YPP)
• First Downs = #93 (19 PG)
• 3rd Down Conversions = #114 (32.6%)
• Red Zone TD% = #85 (58.8% - 20-of-34)
• Explosiveness = #65 (50 plays over 20 yards)
- #92 with 18 plays over 30 yards
- #104 with 7 plays over 40 yards
- #77 with 4 plays over 50 yards
- #26 with 4 plays over 60 yards
• Explosive Run Plays = #44 (16 plays over 20 yards)
- #49 with 7 plays over 30 yards
- #81 with 2 plays over 40 yards
- #38 with 2 plays over 50 yards
- #21 with 2 plays over 60 yards
• Explosive Pass Plays = #71 (34 plays over 20 yards)
- #107 with 11 plays over 30 yards
- #91 with 5 plays over 40 yards
- #85 with 2 plays over 50 yards
- #36 with 2 plays over 60 yards
• Sacks Allowed = #80 (25)
• Tackles For Loss Allowed = #68 (62)
Defense
• Total D = #50 (363.5 YPG)
• Scoring D = #33 (21 PPG)
• Rushing D = #123 (211 YPG)
• Passing D = #2 (152.5 YPG)
• Yards Per Play Allowed = #29 (5.1 YPP)
• First Downs Allowed = #70 (20.4 PG)
• Opponent 3rd Down Conversions = #43 (35.6%)
• Opponent Red Zone TD% = #17 (47.5% - 19-of-40)
- #6 in Opponent Red Zone Scoring % (70% - 28-of-40)
• Explosiveness Against = #47 (46 plays allowed over 20 yards)
- #4 with 11 plays allowed over 30 yards
- #17 with 6 plays allowed over 40 yards
- #59 with 5 plays allowed over 50 yards
- #66 with 3 plays allowed over 60 yards
- #38 with 1 play allowed over 70 yards
• Explosive Run Plays Against = #115 (21 plays allowed over 20 yards)
- #61 with 6 plays allowed over 30 yards
- #61 with 3 plays allowed over 40 yards
- #68 with 2 plays allowed over 50 yards
- #95 with 2 plays allowed over 40 yards
• Explosive Pass Plays Against = #12 (25 plays allowed over 20 yards)
- #1 with 5 plays allowed over 30 yards
- #8 with 3 plays allowed over 40 yards
- #45 with 3 plays allowed over 50 yards
- #26 with 1 play allowed over 60 yards
- #61 with 1 play allowed over 70 yards
• Sacks = #96 (18)
• Tackles For Loss = #47 (68)
• Interceptions = #125 (4)
• Fumble Recoveries = #12 (11)
Special Teams
• Field Goal % = #94 (68.4% - 13-of-19)
• Punting = #65 (41.8 Avg.)
• Kick Returns = #18 (22.4 Avg.)
- #2 in kick return TDs (1)
• Explosive Kick Returns = #23 (4 returns over 30 yards)
- #12 with 2 returns over 40 yards
• Opponent Kick Returns = #131 (33.3 Avg.)
• Explosive Kick Returns Allowed = #37 (2 return allowed over 30 yards)
• Punt Returns = #97 (5.6 yards per return)
• Explosive Punt Returns = #62 (1 return over 20 yards)
• Opponent Punt Returns = #24 (4.1 Avg.)
• Explosive Punt Returns Allowed = #38 (1 return allowed over 20 yards)
Individual
• RB Devon Achane = #20 in rushing yards (98.56 YPG); #78 in yards per carry (5.6 Avg.); #18 in total yards from scrimmage (120.3 Avg.)
- #63 in total TDs from scrimmage (9); #26 in runs over 10 yards (28); #30 in runs over 20 yards (9)
- #6 in all-purpose yards (155 Avg.); #5 in kick return average (28.4 Avg.)
• WR Evan Stewart = #45 in receptions per game (5.4 Avg.); #68 in receiving yards per game (67.4 Avg.)
• DL Fadil Diggs = #3 in forced fumbles (3)
• DL McKinnley Jackson = #14 in kicks/punts blocked (1)
• DL Albert Regis = #14 in kicks/punts blocked (1)
• DB Antonio Johnson = #33 in forced fumbles (2)
• DB Demani Richardson = #33 in forced fumbles (2)
• DB Jardin Gilbert = #92 in interceptions (2)
• PK Randy Bond = #65 in field goal % (75% - 12-of-16)
• PK Caden Davis = #14 in kickoff average (64.02 Avg.); #3 in touchback % (81.6%)
• P Nik Constantinou = #65 in punting average (41.76 Avg.)
