By The Numbers: Texas A&M 48, ULM 10

Well, that was...fun doesn’t seem to be the word we are looking for here. Eventful? Exciting? How about

Well, that was a win that ended up being by a large margin despite many areas of uncertainty that, if repeated next week, will prove disastrous.

Let us look at some of the numbers to try to get a handle on it.

1. Interception. The defense forced their first turnover of the year. Nice work, Larry Pryor.

2-11. Third down conversions for ULM. The defense was already fifth-best in the country at opponents’ third down conversions heading into this game, so another sub-.200 performance helps the cause here.

2/2. Field goals by Seth Small. We had a true freshman step in and make all of his kicks with LaCamera on the sideline in a walking boot. Great first performance.

3. TD passes called back by holding. Was it three? I don’t think Mond was enjoying this at all, folks.

4. Sacks by the defense. After averaging ¹⁄₂ sack per game through the first two weeks, it looked like Elko dialed up the pressure. There was much blitzing, but there was also a decent line push.

5. Penalties, for 55 yards. It seemed like a lot more than this. Maybe they all just occurred at crucial moments.

6. Tackles by the defense’s leading tackler (3-way tie). Remember last week when we were happy that our linebackers both led the team in tackles? Well, this week it was the two safeties and a defensive end.

7.4. Yards per carry by Kellen Mond. He finished with 67 on the ground and a pair of rushing TDs. He’s getting more comfortable with the ground game, while still maintaining poise in the pocket and not taking off too quickly.

8. Combined catches by Ausbon/Davis, for over 100 yards. On a night when the passing game didn’t seem to be clicking, the top two wideouts still put together a decent stat line.

9. Aggies with a rush of 10+ yards so far on the season. We’ve got four players who have 100 or more rushing yards through three games, including Mond. We came here to chew gum and run the dang ball, and it looks like we’re all out of gum.

78-yard blocked FG return for a touchdown before halftime. What a great momentum swing. Tyrel Dodson showing off his scoring abilities again, but Daylon Mack made it happen by eating up space in the middle when the ULM kicker sent it straight into the line.

530 yards of offense. The team has gone over 500 in each of the first three games. Wow, who would have thought that losing Mazzone would actually improve the offense’s performance? Going into the game, the Aggies were 3rd in the country in total offense behind Oklahoma State and Ohio State, two teams who played ranked teams. The NCAA’s stat page has not been updated for week 3 yet and I’m too lazy to do the calculations myself. We’re right up there at the top with all the usual suspects: West Virginia, UCF, Texas Tech, and....Boston College? What a great sport.

630 miles to Tuscaloosa. We’re just going to have the first road test of the season be against the most horrifying team in existence. Coach ‘em up, Jimbo.