'We Rallied': Texas A&M Aggies Focused on Positives From Ole Miss Loss
Hobbled, tired and one drive away from taking a lead against a top-10-ranked Ole Miss Rebels squad, Max Johnson trots back onto the field at Vaught Hemingway Stadium.
The Texas A&M Aggies quarterback has done this before. Every play, actually. He's had to, especially with Conner Weigman's season being cut short by injury.
When the Aggies needed a leader, they turned to Johnson. And he was there.
That's why, despite being hit time and time again, the senior stayed in the game. He looked exhausted — which was only exaggerated by the constant camera attention he got in the fourth quarter — but he never wavered. He couldn't afford to.
As the Aggies crept closer and closer to the Rebels throughout Saturday's game, they added pressure, but never quite got over the hump. Ole Miss used long, methodical drives to ensure that.
But there came a certain point where that just didn't work out.
Nov 4, 2023; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Texas A&M Aggies wide receiver Ainias Smith (0) and running back Le'Veon Moss (8) react after a touchdown during the first half at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
A brotherly connection followed by a one-yard touchdown run and then a forced punt gave the ball back to Johnson's Aggies, and suddenly, they had a chance to take a lead. And that they did, on a Johnson keeper.
Texas A&M had officially erased its two-score deficit to start the game and found itself with a lead on the No. 10-ranked team in the country at their home stadium.
"I feel like we rallied as a team," Aggies receiver Ainias Smith said. "Our whole message entire week was 'Let's come together. Let's show the world what we can really do."
The Aggies did. They proved that they weren't pushovers and that they could hang with any team in the SEC West — their games against Alabama and Tennessee proved that too — but that's only part of the equation. The other part is winning.
That, they haven't figured out yet.
A 47-yard-field goal with no time remaining literally fell short, as did Aggies kicker Randy Bond's team when the clock hit triple zeros. Ole Miss walked away with a regulation win and remained in contention for its half of the SEC, while the Aggies suffered their third winnable loss to fall just one game above .500.
Despite all of it, however, Texas A&M is focused on the positives.
"That was a tremendous college football game," Fisher said. "Disappointing that we came out on the wrong end of it. ... We've got to find a way to make one more play.
"We've got to find a couple of inches and cure this problem."
So, where does that start? There are multiple places the Aggies could hyperfocus on. For one, starting games.
Texas A&M got off to a slow start — though slow might be an understatement. The Rebels went up 14-0 and took with them all of the momentum, which Fisher emphasized following the game.
"We needed to start the game a little quicker," Fisher said. "We got first downs on offense, but didn't finish drives. We had a couple of self-inflicted wounds [as well] and they got hot."
Self-inflicted wounds are another place to look for Texas A&M. Ole Miss wasn’t the only example of that.
During the Alabama game, careless turnovers allowed the Crimson Tide to mount its comeback, and against the Volunteers, an offensive collapse kept the Aggies out of the endzone as they once again came short of an upset.
But despite it happening multiple times, it didn’t make the loss against Ole Miss hurt any less.
"For our kids, it [hurts]," Fisher said. "The way we battled back and the heart they showed. ... you want them to be rewarded for how hard they played."
Smith certainly agreed, also giving credit to Bond in the process.
"It was tough," Smith said of the loss. "Randy is a great person. I have all the respect for him and the work that he puts in. He's a great kicker for us, but at the same time, he wasn't able to get the job done, and it hurts. That's how I was feeling. I was hurt."
Hurt or not, Smith also emphasized the importance of the Aggies sticking together and standing up for one another — one of the other positives that came from “rallying”.
"I don't want anybody to throw shots at Randy," Smith said. "He's an amazing person. A great player for us, and he does his job. He comes to work every day and he's a grinder. We're just going to have to keep getting better."
As Texas A&M looks at the uncharted path in front of it, there are a lot of issues. Things to fix. Problems to address.
However you want to phrase it, they’re there. But there are positives, too.
Max Johnson and his on-field leadership is one of them, as is Smith’s instant defense of his teammate, who was likely hurting even more than him.
The Aggies may not have had the season they’ve hoped for — not by a long shot — but they’re not done yet,
And they’re choosing to remind themselves of that.
