MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Texas A&M football coach Jimbo Fisher pulled a hamstring as he tried to avoid the players who wanted to give him a celebratory cooler bath.
Luckily, Fisher didn’t have to run in the Orange Bowl. Devon Achane did more than enough of that for the Aggies.
Achane had two touchdowns in the final 3:44, including a 76-yarder that put Texas A&M ahead to stay, and the Aggies beat North Carolina 41-27 on Saturday night – capping a winless bowl season for the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“North Carolina had one heck of a team, man,” Fisher said. “That was one of the great Orange Bowls. But I also say, there’s a heck of a football team standing in front of me.”
Kellen Mond passed for 232 yards and ran for a score for the Aggies (9-1), who were in the Orange Bowl for the first time since 1944 and were one spot away from making the four-team College Football Playoff field. Fisher improved to 3-0 in Orange Bowls, with his first two wins coming at Florida State.
Achane’s go-ahead score came on a play on which he nearly tripped over one of his own blockers, broke a tackle and then got loose down the left sideline.
“Ain’t nobody catching me,” Achane said.
The Aggies made a fourth-down stop on the ensuing possession, and Achane – the game’s MVP after a 140-yard performance, taking over for Isaiah Spiller after he got “a little banged up,” Fisher said – sealed the win on a 1-yard run with 1:34 left. It was fitting that in a season when young players scored the overwhelming majority of Texas A&M’s touchdowns, a freshman had the final two scores.
“I just can’t wait for next season,” Achane said.
Sam Howell passed for 234 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Josh Downs, for the Tar Heels (8-4), who were 13th in the final CFP rankings. North Carolina was without leading rushers Javonte Williams and Michael Carter, leading receiver Dyami Brown and top tackler Chazz Surratt – all of whom opted out of the bowl game.
“We lost 4,000 yards coming into the game and still had a chance to win,” coach Mack Brown said.
The ACC sent two teams to the playoff but went 0-6 in bowls, with four of those losses by two touchdowns or more.
Howell – a likely Heisman Trophy candidate in 2021 – did his best to change that stat. He tied the Tar Heels’ career touchdown passes record of 68 with his three against the Aggies, all of which gave North Carolina leads.
The first go-ahead throw from Howell ended with Dazz Newsome make a diving 28-yard grab with 4:56 left in the half to put the Tar Heels ahead 13-10. The next was a 10-yarder to Downs with 8:01 left in the third for a 20-17 lead, a drive extended when Texas A&M had an interception in the end zone waved off by penalty. And the third was a 75-yarder to Downs early in the fourth, when Howell saw him break free, pointed to him and let the ball fly.
“We’re able to compete with anybody,” Tar Heels linebacker Tomon Fox said.
But every time UNC went up, Texas A&M answered.
A 3-yard run by Spiller late in the half put the Aggies up 17-13, a chip-shot field goal by Seth Small tied the game at 20 with 14:02 remaining, and Mond had a 4-yard touchdown run with 10:11 left to tie the game at 27. Mond’s rushing score was the 93rd touchdown he was responsible for at Texas A&M, tying Johnny Manziel’s school record.
The rest was up to Achane, and Fisher is already thinking about 2021.
“I’m going to tell you this: We ain’t done yet,” Fisher said.
At worst, Texas A&M should remain No. 5 and match its best AP poll finish since finishing No. 1 in 1939; the Aggies were also No. 5 to end the 1956 and 2012 seasons.
The Southeastern Conference improved to 6-2 this bowl season with the Orange Bowl victory, and top-ranked Alabama – which dealt the Aggies their only loss this season – is set to take on Big Ten winner and third-ranked Ohio State (7-0) in the College Football Playoff title game Jan. 11 in the same stadium.