Texas A&M-Clemson recap: Aggies fall short, but show flashes of brilliance in 28-26 loss

By Will Leverett

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COLLEGE STATION —  Texas A&M was defeated by No. 2 Clemson, 28-26, in Jimbo Fisher’s first big test in Aggieland.

The game came down to the wire as Kellen Mond marched the maroon and white down the field connecting with receiver Kendrick Rogers, bringing the Aggies within two with 46 seconds left. The potentially game-tying two-point conversion failed as Kellen Mond rolled to his right and lobbed it into the end zone resulting in an interception.

Here are three takeaways after the thrilling loss.

Big plays prove costly

The Texas A&M defense was stout for the majority of the game, especially in the interior. The Aggies shut down Clemson running back Travis Etienne, who had just 47 rushing yards in the game. The defensive effort forced the Tigers to beat them in the passing game.

The A&M secondary looked to part, with the exception of two 64-yard receptions that both led to touchdowns. Both of the touchdowns came as a resultant of missed tackles. Aside from the two big plays, the defense held Clemson’s quarterbacks to just 170 yards.

Kellen Mond was calm cool and collected under pressure

Though he was sacked three times and under pressure from the Clemson defensive front for almost the entire night, Kellen Mond looked leaps and bounds different than the frantic quarterback we saw when he took the reins last year as a true freshman.

Mond, who finished the game with a career-high 430 passing yards, three touchdowns and 55 rushing yards. He was fantastic on the run and moved the chains with his feet as well. The signal-caller moved around the pocket with ease and made some great throws under immense pressure. On several occasions, Mond was rolling to his right with hands in his face and fit the ball in tight windows. The quarterback looked much more confident and proved himself against a tough Clemson defense.

Clemson’s fearsome four locks down Trayveon Williams

Texas A&M running back Trayveon Williams torched the Northwestern State defense, accumulating 240 yards in two and a half quarters of work in last week’s season-opener. Williams faced a much tougher task on Saturday, pitted against one of the best defensive lines in college football history. Williams wasn’t able to shred the ferocious defensive front in Saturday night’s contest, tallying 43 yards on 17 carries.

The feature back’s inability to get past Clemson’s first line of defense had a lot to do with the outmatched offensive line’s inability to get inside leverage on the Clemson front, leading to a lack of holes to run through. In the second half, the offense used Williams in more of a receiving capacity, dumping the ball to him with space in front of him. He finished with 40 receiving yards and three receptions.

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