On Saturday, top-ranked Clemson beat Texas A&M for a second straight year.
The defending national champions controlled the lines of scrimmage on both sides of the ball in a 24-10 victory over the then 12th-ranked Aggies. However, that isn’t the way Texas A&M linebacker Buddy Johnson saw it.
“We didn’t stay on the gas … we let off the gas and they took advantage of it,” A&M linebacker Buddy Johnson said, according to Aggies Sports.com. “We’ve got to fix that. We’ve got to bring more next time, and we have no excuses for that.”
That sounds like an excuse.
The Tigers averaged nearly 4.0 yards per carry and held A&M to 53 yards rushing and 1.96 yards per carry. By the way, Clemson scored 17 points in the second quarter to grab control of the game.
When did the Aggies actually have their foot on the gas?
Heading into its last drive, Texas A&M had just 198 total yards, compared to Clemson’s 390 and trailed 24-3. The Aggies went on a 16-play, 91-yard drive from there, which ended with a Kellen Mond 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jalen Wydermyer on fourth-and-goal with 6 seconds to play.
After the game Mond spoke to the media with a cut bleeding and swollen on his left cheek which made it look like he was in a boxing match more than a football game. So why did Johnson think the Aggies had control at any point in the game?
They led just 3-0 early in the second quarter, but they were far from being in a situation where they took their foot off the pedal. If anyone took their foot off the pedal it was Clemson.
The Tigers struggled in the third quarter to put the game away and finally got its 3-touchdown lead with 5:50 seconds left in the third stanza on a 4-yard Lyn-J Dixon touchdown. They could have added another touchdown in the fourth quarter, but Trevor Lawrence underthrew a wide-open Justyn Ross, which would have gone for six more points. Instead with was intercepted by A&M at its 9-yard line.
If anyone took its foot off the gas pedal, it was Clemson, not A&M. It’s a shame Johnson will not give credit where credit is due.
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