Texas A&M Wins Liberty Bowl
{fshare id=5893}
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — In a game in which Texas A&M and West Virginia combined for 1,001 yards and 82 points, just two points off a Liberty Bowl record, it was perhaps ironic that defense made the difference.
Specifically, it was the Aggies’ defense, which came up with a series of key stops in the second half Monday in a 45-37 win over the Mountaineers.
Playing its first game since the dismissal of defensive coordinator Mark Snyder following the season finale, Texas A&M gave up 236 yards and 27 points in the first half, although one touchdown came courtesy of a 35-yard interception return by West Virginia safety KJ Dillon.
But interim defensive coordinator Mark Hagen squeezed an inspired second-half performance out of the Aggies. They forced three punts on the Mountaineers’ first four possessions.
Later, they forced a fumble from wide receiver Kevin White that cornerback De’Vante Harris covered at the Texas A&M 37-yard line with 13:08 left, then stopped a fourth-and-6 play at the 17 less than five minutes later.
“We just wanted to play hard and do a good job,” said Aggies linebacker Otaro Alaka, who had seven tackles. “We really focused on stopping their running game, because we thought that was an underrated part of their team.”
West Virginia’s only second-half touchdown, a 4-yard pass from
quarterback Skyler Howard to tight end Elijah Wellman with 2:32 left, pulled the Mountaineers within eight points. But Texas A&M quarterback Kyle Allen’s 21-yard pass to wide receiver Malcome Kennedy moved the chains on third-and-3 and enabled the Aggies to run out the clock.
Allen completed 22 of 35 passes for 294 yards and four touchdowns, while running for a fifth. The freshman had plenty of help, as Texas A&M amassed 235 yards on the ground and controlled the ball for nearly 19 minutes in the second half.
It was a major turnaround for Allen, who helped put the Aggies in a 17-7 first-quarter hole after forcing the pass that Dillon returned for six points.
“The coaches said to me, ‘Forget about it, you know what you can do.’ I just had to trust my line protecting for me and my receivers,” Allen said. “And we were able to run the ball, which also helped.”
Tailback Tra Carson went for 133 yards on 25 carries, while backup Trey Williams added 86 yards on 11 attempts, including an 18-yard touchdown run with 7:44 left in the third quarter for a 38-27 lead.
Williams compiled 235 all-purpose yards, the fourth-highest total in Liberty Bowl history. He and Allen cashed in a fourth-down gamble in the first quarter as he went 40 yards with a short pass over the middle, cutting West Virginia’s lead to 17-14.
That was part of a wacky 55-point first half that saw the teams combine for 34 first-quarter points. In addition, Texas A&M lost leading tackler Howard Matthews; the strong safety was ejected about five minutes into the game for targeting.
The Aggies managed to survive and take a 28-27 lead into the locker room when Allen ran 14 yards down the left sideline. He appeared to turn the wrong way at the play’s start, but he improvised and turned the mistake into six points with 53 seconds on the clock, making a couple of tacklers miss.
Although the Mountaineers yielded 529 yards and 28 first downs, Dillon said they actually tackled well most of the day.
“But I think we missed tackles on key plays that really hurt us,” he said.
Howard threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns for West Virginia (7-6), but he completed just 20 of 45 passes in his second start. Senior Clint Trickett, who started 11 games, gave up football on Friday after announcing he had been diagnosed with five concussions in 14 months.
White caught seven passes, giving him 109 for the season, for 129 yards and a 49-yard score in the second quarter.
“I thought Skyler did a great job, but we didn’t make enough plays as receivers,” White said.
