No. 24 Texas A&M beats No. 13 Miami 17-9

Texas A&M bounced back from its Week 2 defeat to Appalachian State with a 17-9 win over No. 13 Miami on Saturday night.

The game was as much of an offensive struggle as the score indicated and while Texas A&M’s quarterback switch paid off with a win, the offensive results weren’t too inspiring with Max Johnson at QB instead of Haynes King.

The Aggies had just 265 yards of total offense and Johnson was just 10-of-20 passing for 140 yards. The LSU transfer got the start on Saturday night after King threw for 97 yards in the loss to App State.

Much like Appalachian State did a week ago, Miami had the ball more than the Aggies did. But they settled for five field goal attempts in Texas A&M territory, including at the end of 12-play drive in the third quarter.

A&M took a 17-3 lead at the start of the second half when Johnson found Devon Achane on a 25-yard TD pass. Miami responded with a 71-yard drive that took over six minutes but the Hurricanes and coach Mario Cristobal eschewed going for it on 4th and goal at the A&M 4 to kick a short field goal.

Miami never got that close to the end zone again, though A&M tried to gift the Hurricanes a golden opportunity for a tie with less than four minutes to go. Ainias Smith dropped a punt inside his own 10 but somehow grabbed the ball off the turf before a horde of Hurricanes descended upon the ball.

The Hurricanes got one more opportunity to get a touchdown and a two-point conversion for the tie but didn't get much into A&M territory before turning the ball over on downs when Tyler Van Dyke's pass went through Brashard Smith's hands.