Quotes, Notes & Video: A&M 38, Mississippi State 13

Kevin Sumlin

On the road win and playing with confidence…

"We're playing with a lot of confidence now. In order to be successful on the road and start the way we've started the last couple of weeks, that confidence level has got to be high. The coaching staff has done a great job of preparation. Our guys are understanding the plan, and it's a tribute to the seniors who have really pushed this team. We are nicked up … we do have injuries … but those guys are playing with great effort and are executing. That's given us a real chance to be successful early in games."

On the play of Johnny Manziel…

"There are a number of great plays that he has made for us over the course of the year. Johnny has the green light to take off when he wants. He was able to do some great things with his feet this game, especially on third downs. We were also getting some great downfield blocks for him."

On Damontre Moore battling injury and playing with max effort…

"Damontre has battled through the last few weeks. He hasn't been himself injury-wise, but he's starting to get better. You could see it today. [He is] making the extra-effort plays. Damontre is known as a sack guy but he's made plays sideline-to-sideline and making plays down the field. That's what good teams do and players understand that there is no substitute for effort. Effort is the price of admission. Our guys are getting that and [having] it being reinforced by our better players brings the other guys on the team along."

On the team's ability to get better and better…

"We were a little sloppy in the second half. We have to continue to work on our kicking game. We left some points out there, field goal-wise, before the half and in the second half. We missed some tackles in the second half. There are a lot of things that we can continue to get better. Mondays are big days for us because we're honest with ourselves. A lot of times, when you win, it's easy to overlook things.

"These guys have done a really good job of coming in on Monday, putting the last win behind them, learning from their mistakes and trying to improve on them. As long as we continue to do that and get that type of leadership from our seniors and the guys in the locker room, we'll continue to get better."

On getting the team ready for a showing at Alabama next week…

"We have done things the same way every week. The more you win, the bigger the games get week-by-week. Consistency in preparation is the key for us. We will approach this week just like we have done every other week."

A&M players

Running back Ben Malena on Manziel's ability to improvise…

"We're very fortunate to have a quarterback like that because the play is never over. When Johnny starts improvising, [it's important] to get into the play to help him out … block for that extra second or leak out into a route. You know that he can find you."

Center Patrick Lewis on the key to the quick starts so far this season…

"It's something that we practice. We practice starting fast in practice. Our offense is really fast so we do our best to come out throwing haymakers. We want to score on that first drive to get the game started. We feel like if we get the momentum early, we can keep on pushing it and pushing it."

Defensive end Damontre Moore on pressuring MSU quarterback Tyler Russell…

"Proper preparation [was critical]. We knew that Russell was a poised quarterback and he doesn't get rattled too easily. He just sits there, which is a good thing and a bad thing. Sometimes, he will stay in there and make an extended play, but if you get a good pass rush and he is still standing there when we are coming, it's a bad thing [for us]. It's a mixture of that, preparation and great coaching on our end."

Middle linebacker Jonathan Stewart on team’s performance...

“Defensively, we had a couple of lapses on the two touchdowns we gave up, but we played a great game overall. Our offense played great. Whenever our offense gets up 21-0, it kind of forces the other team to panic.”

Sean Porter on how the defense can continue to improve…

"There is a lot of things that we can clean up. We can still get a whole lot more turnovers on defense. We can play better run defense and better on the back end. They caught a lot of out-routes on us this week. We have a lot of things that we can still clean up. We haven't reached our potential yet."

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On the black uniforms...

Kevin Sumlin…

"With the announcement of the 'Snow Bowl' game and the petition of Mississippi State to wear all white, adidas basically approached us with an idea. With two adidas teams here, it was a chance for them to put together a special uniform for both teams.

"I'm not saying that it was the reason that we won, but you can't argue with the energy to start the game on the road. I know that it didn't hurt us at all. The guys were excited when they saw the helmets and it was a good look for us today. For our recruits and for our current team, it gave us a little energy and I know that it didn't hurt at all."

Ben Malena…

"They had their all white … we came out in all black. I loved the all-black uniforms. It's just something different. When everybody came into the locker room, [we] got excited. I think it added a little bit more motivation to us going out there and getting ready to play."

Patrick Lewis…

"When we walked into the locker rooms and we saw that it was the all-black uniforms, we were really excited and I think that created the juice that we went out there with today as a football team. Nobody was really expecting it and it created an energy that I hadn't seen from this team in a while, so that was really good."

Damontre Moore…

“We were excited, but honestly I was too focused on the game. After the game was over though, I thought they were pretty cool. I didn’t want to get too caught out of my mindset, but when they first brought the uniforms in there was screaming and yelling like we had just won a game.

"There were rumors we would have the all-black uniforms at the beginning of the season, so when we didn’t get them we were disappointed. When they brought these out they caught us off guard. It was an exciting and overwhelming experience.”

Jonathan Stewart...

"We all love it and our senior class never thought we would see black jerseys here. It's great. It's a testament to Coach Sumlin, the equipment staff, the AD and everybody involved who had a decision in the black jerseys. We loved it and fortunately we were able to go out and great [in] them. Hopefully the occasion comes again where we can wear them again."

Sean Porter…

"I loved them. Everybody loved them. We were really surprised about it. We were begging for these uniforms for a couple of years from the equipment guys. I guess they finally listened to us. Nobody knew until we walked into the locker room. It was a complete surprise to all of us and we loved it."

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Post-game notes

About the win
* The Aggies improved to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the Southeastern Conference with today’s 38-13 win over Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss.

* It was A&M’s first-ever victory in Starkville, Miss. It was also A&M’s first trip to Starkville.

* The win improves the Aggies’ record away from Kyle Field in 2012 to 5-0.

* Head coach Kevin Sumlin’s winning streak away from his home field im­proved to 11 straight — six at Houston in 2011 and five at Texas A&M in 2012.

* Sumlin improved his overall record to 5-3 against top 25 teams, and the 2012 Aggies improved to 2-2 against the top 25.

* The win over No. 17 Mississippi State (Associated Press) was the Aggies high­est ranked road win since beating No. 11 Texas in Austin, 12-7, in 2006.

Offense rolls again
The Texas A&M offense rolled again with 693 total yards on 90 plays. It was the eighth straight game with 400-plus yards, which is a school record (previous best was six games).

The 400+ total yards streak:

• at SMU — 605
• South Carolina State — 448
• Arkansas — 716
• at Ole Miss — 481
• vs. Louisiana Tech — 678
• LSU — 410
• at Auburn — 671
• at Mississippi State — 693

Miscellaneous
* Redshirt freshman QB Johnny Manziel accounted for 440 total yards, including 129 on the ground and 311 through the air.

* Senior WR Ryan Swope had his second straight 100-yard receiving game with 121 yards on nine catches. Last week, he had 140 yards and two scores on six catches. In his last three games, Swope has contributed 25 catches for 342 yards and two TDs.

* The Aggies scored first against Mississip­pi State, marking the 14th straight game that A&M has scored the initial points of the game.

* With a 1-yard TD run by Ben Malena on the Aggies’ first offensive possession of the game, A&M has now scored a TD on its first drive in six straight games.

* A&M has scored on its first drive in seven of nine games in 2012.

* In the first half of the past two games, A&M scored on 10 of 12 drives with nine TDs and a field goal. Both non-scoring drives ended with missed field goals.
 
All-black unis
The Aggie players were surprised to learn when they arrived at Davis Wade Stadium today that they were wearing specially-designed all-black uniforms for the matchup with Mississippi State.

De­signed by adidas, the uniform is a mirror image of the Aggies’ usual uniform ex­cept with black as the primary color and maroon trim. The helmet design was a collaborative effort between Riddell and Hydro Graphics Inc., and fades from black to maroon. The Lone Star logo design on the helmet is a fusion of the school’s tra­ditional “TAM” mark within the state of Texas outline, which was unveiled as a part of the base adidas uniform back in July.

“With Mississippi State receiving a special exemption to wear white uni­forms at home, we were approached by adidas with an opportunity to do some­thing very exciting and distinctive for this game, without straying too far away from our traditional look,” Texas A&M head football coach Kevin Sumlin said. “I know the players are pumped and ready for this big game, and I think the recruits will like the new look.”

Today’s game marked the first time the Aggies haven’t worn maroon or white in a game in more than 80 years when A&M’s school colors were red and white.
 
Captains, 12th Man
* Game captains for the Aggies were: se­nior center PATRICK LEWIS, senior safe­ty STEVEN TERRELL, senior linebacker SEAN PORTER, senior wide receiver RYAN SWOPE and senior 12th Man CJ JONES. Mississippi State won the toss and elected to receive. A&M has lost the toss in seven straight games. It was the first time the Aggies have kicked off first in 2012.

* Making his fifth 2012 start and 17th of his career at 12th Man was defensive back C.J. JONES, a senior from Klein For­est HS in Houston.