The Aggies came into the week knowing that they would be without a number of players in their Week 10 matchup against the Florida Gators, but when a flurry of rumors and eventual reports of the flu virus spreading within the Texas A&M locker room throughout the week, it was confirmed on Saturday morning that 6 players, including starting quarterback Conner Weigman were affected and would miss the game. Add those players to a total of 31 missing from either injury, suspension, or sickness this season.
That left quarterback Haynes King to step in for his 5th start of the season, as the offense was left in the hands of playmaker Devon Achane to carry the load once again, in a first half that saw the Aggies put up 24 points behind 3 touchdowns from Achan (2 rush, 1 pass), highlighted by a 65 yard run in the first offensive play of the game for the Aggies. In the second half, the Aggie offense went scoreless, as King looked sluggish, while Achane couldn’t get it going due to poor run blocking.
Texas A&M’s defensive struggles continued, giving up 20 points to the Gators in the first half, and 21 in the second half, as the Florida ground game racked up 292 rushing yards, while Quarterback Anthony Richardson (17/28, 201 passing, 2 TD, 7 rush, 78 yards, 2 TD) had himself quite an afternoon. As blame could be put on the lack of bodies due to the pre-game injuries to players like Fadil Diggs, and Antonio Johnson, a lot of the game will be put on defensive coordinator D.J Durkin.
As the offense stalled drive after drive after trailing 34-24 for most of the second half, Haynes King fumbled twice near their goal line, and after a late turnover on downs in one of their final offensive possessions, running back Montrel Johnson Jr.’s 5-yard touchdown run sealed the 41-24 victory for the Gators.
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