News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
GAINESVILLE – The Texas A&M football team dominated every facet of the game Saturday afternoon as they rolled past Florida, 33-20, at ‘The Swamp.’
From start to finish, the Aggies (2-1, 1-0 SEC) showed to be the superior team as they outgained the Gators (1-2, 0-1 SEC), 488-301, on the day. Marcel Reed made his first career start in the Maroon & White and finished the day completing 11-of-17 passes for 178 yards and two scoring strikes, while adding 83 yards rushing on 13 carries and one touchdown. Le’Veon Moss eclipsed the century mark for the first time this season and second of his career after tallying 110 yards on 18 rushes.
The Aggie defense limited Florida to 52 yards rushing, while Marcus Ratcliffe, Jayvon Thomas and Bryce Anderson each recorded an interception. Ratcliffe, Taurean York and Shemar Stewart tallied five tackles each.
After receiving the opening kick, the Aggies struck first as Randy Bond connected on a 31-yard field goal to cap off a 14 play 62-yard drive. Following a Florida punt, the Maroon & White extended their lead to 10-0 behind a 29-yard touchdown pass from Reed to Theo Melin Öhrström with just under 30 seconds left in the first quarter. On the drive, the Aggies marched 92 yards on nine plays in 5:12.
In the opening quarter, Texas A&M outgained the Gators 174-8 en route to a 10-0 advantage.
Despite a 37-minute weather delay, the Aggies remained hot as Bond made it 13-0 with his second field goal of the afternoon, this time from 48 yards out. After forcing the third Florida punt of the afternoon, Ol’ Sarge’s charges marched 99 yards on 15 plays to stretch the lead to 20-0 courtesy of a Reed 1-yard rushing score with under a minute remaining in the half. On the drive, 97 of the 99 yards came on the ground as the Maroon & White continued to control the line of scrimmage.
Defensively, the Aggies imposed their will in the opening half, holding the Gators to 73 yards of offense and only 7 yards rushing. Ratcliffe put an exclamation point on the first half with an interception in the end zone as time expired, marking the second pick of the season for the sophomore.
After Florida broke through on the scoreboard with a 14-yard pass from Graham Mertz to Elijah Badger, the Aggies answered 49 seconds later when Reed connected with Cyrus Allen for a 73-yard touchdown. A failed two-point conversion by the Maroon & White made the score 26-7 with 11:00 left in the third.
Texas A&M later extended its lead to 33-7 when Bryce Anderson capitalized on a Will Lee III deflection as the junior picked off Mertz and took it to the house for a 42-yard touchdown. The pick-six was the first of the year for the Aggies and the first of Anderson’s career.
The Gators added a pair of late scores to trim the Aggie deficit to 33-20 with 5:13 remaining in the fourth quarter. Thomas came up with the Aggies’ third interception to end the Gators’ threat with 2:37 remaining, before the Maroon & White ran out the clock.
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Texas A&M Football Post Game Notes
Texas A&M 33, Florida 20
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (Gainesville, Florida)
Team Notes
- Texas A&M rushed for 310 yards, marking the first time to rush for 300-plus yards in consecutive games since 2012 when the Aggies totaled 352 yards at Auburn and 361 yards at Mississippi State.
- The Aggies limited Florida to just 52 rushing yards in the game, making it back-to-back games of keeping their opponent in double-figures on the ground.
- The Texas A&M offense showed its explosiveness recording 10 rushes of 10-plus yards and completing five passes of 15-plus yards.
- Texas A&M’s 15 play 99-yard scoring drive late in the second quarter was the longest scoring drive since going the same distance on eight plays against Alabama in 2018.
- The Aggies finished the win with two 90-plus yard scoring drives, adding a 9-play, 92-yard drive that resulted in a 29-touchdown reception in the first quarter to mark the first time A&M has had two 90-plus yard scoring drives in the same game since Nov. 23, 2007, when the Aggies had an 11-play, 95-yard and 4-play, 90-yard scoring drives against Texas.
- The Texas A&M defense recorded three interceptions in a game for the first time since the Mississippi State game last season.
Individual Notes
- Freshman QB Marcel Reed made the first start of his career throwing a career-best two touchdown passes in the win and finishing the day 11-of-17 passing for 178 yards, while adding 83 yards rushing on 13 carries and one touchdown.
- Junior RB Le’Veon Moss registered the second 100-yard game of his career and first of the season with a career-high 110 yards on 18 carries.
- Junior RB Amari Daniels tallied 68 yards on 13 carries in the win to up his career total to 1,014 and eclipse the 1,000 yards mark for his career.
- Sophomore TE Theo Melin Öhrström hauled in a 29-yard pass for his first career touchdown grab on just his second career catch to extend the Aggies’ early first quarter lead.
- Junior WR Cyrus Allen extended his streak to 16 straight games with at least one catch, dating back to his time at Louisiana Tech. Allen led the receivers catching all three passes thrown his way for 81 yards and the first touchdown of his Aggie career.
- Junior DB Bryce Anderson registered his first interception of the year and the second of his career, returning the pick 45 yards to the end zone for his first career score.
- Sophomore DB Marcus Ratcliffe made it back-to-back games with an interception when he picked off a pass as the clock hit zero in the first half.
- Sophomore DB Jayvon Thomas picked off a pass late in the game to record the first interception of his career.
- Junior DL Shemar Stewart matched his career high and helped lead the team with five tackles in the win.
- Graduate K Randy Bond’s 49-yard field goal in the second quarter moved his career total to 44 made field goals and gave him sole possession of sixth on A&M’s all-time list.