COLLEGE STATION — Needing a stop to keep its season alive, Texas A&M football was killed by a familiar foe late against Miami: the run game.
For the third time this year, the Aggies were gashed on a crucial drive, dooming them to a 10-3 loss to the Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff. Miami running back Mark Fletcher Jr. finished with a season-high 172 yards, 56 of them on a back-breaking run in the fourth quarter that led to the lone touchdown of the game.
A&M’s lapses in run defense follow a fourth-quarter struggle against Texas that allowed the Longhorns to run the final 2 minutes, 26 seconds off the clock. In a win against Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish used the run game to get into the end zone and give them a chance to win the game on a two-point conversion.
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The Aggies beat Notre Dame, but much like the loss in Austin, it was the final frame that proved to be the Aggies’ undoing Saturday. Miami had 85 rushing yards in the first three quarters before churning out 90 in the fourth.
“(Fletcher) got loose,” head coach Mike Elko said. “They found some runs and started getting their wide receivers involved on inside gaps. It created some heavy power football. We just didn’t handle it well enough.”
Texas A&M defensive tackle DJ Hicks (5) misses a tackle on Miami running back Mark Fletcher Jr. (4) during the round one College Football Playoff game at Kyle Field on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025 in College Station, Texas.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
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It was also the second time A&M allowed a back to have a season high. Texas running back Quintrevion Wisner racked up 155 yards; his second-best performance was 93 against Oklahoma.
‘A weakness of ours’
A&M’s run defense was average among SEC teams at 127.1 rushing yards allowed per game. But Miami finished with 175 rushing yards on the ground. Even the jet sweep that was credited as a pass resembled a run play with receiver Malachi Toney taking a forward toss behind the line of scrimmage.
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Just minutes after the season ended, Elko wasn’t shy about calling his team’s run defense a deficiency. Fielding questions about what could’ve been different for a team that had a share of the lead in the SEC standings most of the year, he acknowledged he will need to take a hard look at stopping opposing ground games next year.
When A&M encountered these problems earlier in the season (against UTSA as well), multiple Aggies said the fix was simple, but the Hurricanes proved that’s not the case against similar talent.
“Clearly that was a weakness of ours,” Elko said. “It’s hard to make a weakness a strength in the middle of the season. We’ve got to look at what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. We have to figure some things out this offseason.”
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A poor finish to the game, and the season
In some ways, the final game of the season was a mircosom of the season as a whole. A&M dominated the first three months of the season before nearly being upset by lowly South Carolina and a loss to Texas over the final few weeks.
The Hurricanes punted on their first four drives of the game before punting just once in the final seven. A&M held its opponent to zero points in the first half and just three points after three quarters.
Still, for the second game in a row, the other team found a way to break down the Aggies, scoring the go-ahead touchdown to take a lead they would never relinquish.
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“We went into the game with a light-box mentality to defend some of the other things they did well,” defensive coordinator Jay Bateman said. “It took them a while, but they figured it out.”
An 11-0 start made way for an 11-2 finish. And now, instead ending Year 2 under Elko on a high note, the Aggies are faced with questions.
The biggest question facing Elko, who signed a lucrative extension last month, is how can they learn to finish better against tough competition. A 7-1 start last season gave way to an 8-5 finish. This year was better no doubt, but once again momentum slowed when A&M didn’t have an obvious talent advantage. The next step is beating other quality team consistently.
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“We’ve got to continue to elevate,” Elko said. “We’re battling to become a championship program. We’ve got work to do to develop this program into what it needs to become.”
Reach Texas A&M beat reporter Tony Catalina via email at Anthony.Catalina@statesman.com.