Nr. 5 Texas A&M ended its best season in the Jimbo Fisher era with a 41-27 victory over North Carolina, no. 13, in the Orange Bowl. It was the first New Year’s six-ball appearance for the Aggies and their biggest bowling game since the 1998 season. To end up on the winning side, they place an exclamation point on their argument as one of the best teams in the country in 2020.
Texas A&M was excellent in the fourth quarter and stormed back to a 27-20 deficit with three quick hits to close out the game, and the final two come from Devon Achane. Isaiah Spiller, who had 50 yards and two touchdowns in the win, was out of the game and that opened the door for Achane, who broke the game open with his 76-yard touchdown run.
Achane finished the game with 140 runs and two shots on 12 attempts, with another 24 yards on two catches.
The Texas A&M defense also deserves a lot of credit for the way the Aggies ended the game, turning a back-and-forth affair into a double-digit victory. Buddy Johnson, DeMarvin Leal and the rest of the defensive front were relentlessly putting pressure on Sam Howell and stopping the stormy attack that missed two thousand divers in Javonte Williams and Michael Carter. Texas A&M finishes the game with four pockets and nine dives for loss, giving the necessary points to clinch the victory against a Tar Heels offense, moving the ball effectively through the first two and a half quarters of the game.
North Carolina’s success early on was the most notable highlight in the first half, underlined by an absurd throw and catch from Howell to Dazz Newsome to give the Tar Heels a 13-10 lead late in the second quarter.
But Kellen Mond, who tied the Johnny Manziel school record of 93 total touchdowns with a quick score in the fourth quarter, led the Aggies attack right into the field for a fantastic response to the score at 17-13 to walk ahead. North Carolina recorded the only attack in the third quarter to take the lead, forcing an attempt at field goals early in the fourth quarter and then achieving an attack on a 75-year-old bomb from Howell to Josh Downs.
Texas A&M can now point out that it not only ended the year with just one loss, but that it beat North Carolina by the same margin as Notre Dame, the team that finished one place ahead of it in the College Football Playoffs. has. It may be an Aggies team that felt on selection day, but it was lined up for a top-four position in the final polls thanks to this performance against an entertaining Tar Heels team that will increase in the ACC.
CBS Sports has been constantly updating this story with the latest of the 2021 Orange Bowl with live scores, analyzes and highlights for Texas A&M against North Carolina.