Texas A&M wins the Capital One Orange Bowl over North Carolina 41-27. Five thoughts and analysis of the game, and what it all means.
Texas A&M wins the Capital One Orange Bowl
Final Score: Texas A&M 41, North Carolina 27
CFN Prediction: Texas A&M 34, North Carolina 20
Line: Texas A&M -10, o/u: 65.5
5. It’ll go down in history as a misleading Orange Bowl – and ACC bowl season
It was a much, much closer game than the 41-27 final score, but stats are stats.
Including the College Football Playoff games, the Orange Bowl continues to be a bit of a dog – at least in the final score.
This game makes it ten of the last 13 decided by double-digits, and going way back, it’s been 18 of the last 25.
It’ll also go down as a misleading bowl season for the ACC.
CHAMPIONS! 🍊🏆#GigEm pic.twitter.com/CZZoG1Hm5q
— Texas A&M Football 🍊🌴 (@AggieFootball) January 3, 2021
Yeah, it was 0-6 – you are what your record is – but two of the losses came in the College Football Playoff, Wake Forest was an underdog to Wisconsin, NC State was a slight dog to Kentucky, Miami was an underdog to Oklahoma State – and lost QB D’Eriq King to a knee injury just as the team got rolling – and there was this loss.
North Carolina played a whole lot better than 41-27.
The ACC was the dog in five of the six games, but after a wildly fun year getting two teams into the playoff, it was a rough finish.
NEXT: North Carolina gave it a phenomenal run
4. North Carolina gave it a phenomenal run
Yeah there were teams this bowl season that got hammered after not having a slew of their main guys around – Florida and San Jose State were two of the obvious ones who just weren’t the same.
North Carolina was missing its two star running backs and leading receiver – Michael Carter and Javonte Williams from the backfield, and Dyami Brown from the passing game – against the best defense in the SEC, and the offense still managed 324 yards of total offense and was in the game up until the final six minutes.
Yeah there were puzzling losses to Florida State and Virginia, but losing to Notre Dame and Texas A&M was totally acceptable – especially, again, after missing too many key guys against the Aggies.
The running game couldn’t overcome the missing parts with just 90 yards, and QB Sam Howell kept pushing the deep plays and did enough to keep the game alive, but it just wasn’t enough.
This is a fun team with a phenomenal quarterback and a style that’s going to be a problem for the rest of the ACC next season.
NEXT: Texas A&M finally won by going Texas A&M
3. Texas A&M finally won by going Texas A&M
All year long, Texas A&M has been the slowish, methodical team that relied on time of possession, control and grinding things down to a dead stop.
And then, with the score tied at 27, it got the one big play that finally turned things around for the Aggies.
It was a perfect situation for a team like A&M. There was just over five minutes to go, grind out the drive, wind down the clock, kick the field goal, leave the building. Instead, Devon Achane took it to the outside, showed incredible balance got into the clear and he was gone 76 yards for the game-winning score.
WHAT A RUN.
DEVON ACHANE 76 YARDS FOR SIX.
(📍 @CapitalOne) pic.twitter.com/Nk4CZ35Z3b
— ESPN (@espn) January 3, 2021
When it was time to put it away, the Aggies came up with the stop on the ensuing drive, drove down in three plays and got another Achane score. For the team that was known for its slow-and-go style all year, it managed to put up an Orange Bowl record 24 points in the fourth quarter and survived the team with the high-powered, big play offense.
In the end, the team with the running game put up huge points by running it.
And yet …
NEXT: Texas A&M won, even though it really didn’t go Texas A&M
2. Texas A&M won, even though it really didn’t go Texas A&M
How did Texas A&M win games this season? It DOMINATED the time of possession battle, keeping the ball for over 35 minutes a game.
It had it for 32 minutes. Great, and not far off, but it didn’t have the ball and grind out drives like it normally does.
Did it own third downs? A&M was third in the nation in time of possession and second in third down conversions, but it only converted 5-of-13 tries against the Tar Heels.
The nation’s best punt return defense allowed a 23-yard return by UNC’s Dazz Newsome, but the passing game that wasn’t big on the downfield plays or yards after the catch on a regular basis got close to nine yards per pass by Kellen Mond.
It did go Texas A&M on penalties – a problem all year – with nine that always seemed to stop any momentum, and the D that allowed just 317 yards per game gave up 324, and it did go Texas A&M in the most important way.
It won.
NEXT: Was Texas A&M really the fourth-best team?
1. Was Texas A&M really the fourth-best team?
I sort of thought so in the debate for the College Football Playoff, but what’s done is done, there was no right answer, and Alabama deserved to be in the national title game no matter what.
This game didn’t prove anything after the fact. Notre Dame got in, Texas A&M didn’t, and whatever … Texas A&M won the Orange Bowl.
It was easy to dismiss the Aggies as stodgy, or not that great, or overrated because of its style – and the social media world was happy to do that in the first half – but this was Texas A&M. This is what it does.
This. pic.twitter.com/EmNldmUKlY
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) January 3, 2021
In the end, the Aggies were this close to getting into the College Football Playoff, it’s only loss was on the road to a devastating Alabama team that – by the way – still had Jaylen Waddle, who caught five passes for 142 yards and a score in the 52-24 win.
It might not have always been scintillating, and there might not have been that second amazing win on the slate to get the Aggies that fourth spot, but 9-1 with an Orange Bowl win is a very, very nice step forward for a program that has everything in place to do this on a regular basis.
