Texas A&M Aggies 25, Vanderbilt Commodores 0: A&M Smothers the Commodores

Kyle Allen started at quarterback for Texas A&M for the first time in four games and the Aggies rode him, kicker Taylor Bertolet and their defense to a comfortable 25-0 victory Saturday at Vanderbilt.

Allen had 231 passing yards in the first half, including a 95-yard touchdown pass to Josh Reynolds, to go along with a trio of first-half field goals for Bertolet. Bertolet did miss a late first-half field goal, but redeemed himself with a later try to give the Aggies a halftime lead of 16-0. Bertolet ended up with six field goals to wrap up the scoring, along with Reynolds' touchdown catch.

Allen finished the game with 336 yards, but only the single touchdown pass, as the A&M offense could move the ball until reaching the red zone. The Aggies got inside the Vanderbilt 20-yard line four times, but failed to punch the ball into the end zone for a touchdown from there, resulting in several of Bertolet's seven opportunities.

No matter of A&M's offense bogging down when in the red zone; Vanderbilt had nothing to counter. Kyle Shurmur drew the start again at quarterback for the Commodores, but failed to have an impact against John Chavis' defense. Shurmur went 3-of-12 passing for 19 yards and offered little contribution to the Vanderbilt offense before being lifted for Johnny McCrary. McCrary ended up only throwing four passes, hitting on two of them for four yards.

In total, Vanderbilt had under 150 yards of offense and failed to get inside the Texas A&M 25-yard line. Ralph Webb led the Commodores with 79 rushing yards and Dallas Rivers got 30 yards on a pair of back-to-back first-half runs, but that was about it for the offense.

The loss officially knocks the Commodores from bowl contention and was a step back after appearing to be gaining some momentum to end the 2015 season with the close loss to Florida and victory over Kentucky. The Commodores travel to Knoxville to face Tennessee next Saturday.

For the Aggies, a double-digit win season is still in play, with a road trip to Baton Rouge to face a wounded LSU squad and what could end up being a decent bowl game. After the midseason struggles for Kevin Sumlin's team, that would have to be considered a success.