Domination on the ground leads A&M to a 52-10 victory over McNeese

The Aggies eased concerns of footwork by letting their feet work.

Texas A&M (1-1) leaned heavily on its running game on Saturday at Kyle Field to rumble past overmatched McNeese (1-2) for a 52-10 college football victory, which wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicated.

Behind running back Le’Veon Moss’ crashes, running back Amari Daniels’ dashes and freshman receiver Terry Bussey’s flash — the plural form seems inevitable — the Aggies rolled up 333 rushing yards (or 999 feet) and five touchdowns.

Their running game could have been more dominant if not for the benevolence of A&M head coach Mike Elko, who refused to run up the score or the carries for his top three rushers.

Moss only had nine carries for 84 yards. Daniels had 12 attempts for 75. Bussey turned his one carry into a 65-yard touchdown.

“I think we went out there and established the line of scrimmage,” Elko said. “I thought we hit the holes the right way. Le’Veon is a really talented back, so we gave him a lot of space to run today, and he was able to take advantage of it.”

Unfortunately, the Aggies were not able to take advantage of opportunities in the season-opening 23-13 loss to Notre Dame last week.

The primary reason for that disappointment was the unexpected struggles of junior quarterback Conner Weigman, who later apologized to teammates for the most unproductive outing of his career.

Poor footwork was largely blamed for Weigman’s uncharacteristic inaccuracy.

His foot placement was dramatically better. So was his football placement.

In less than a half of work, Weigman completed 11-of-14 passes for 125 yards and two touchdowns.

“I thought his footwork was amazing,” said Elko, playfully stressing the amazing. “Conner is going to respond. We talked about that. There’s a lot more to this season than just responding today.

“But we certainly didn’t anticipate anything else than what he did on Monday owning it (at a press conference). Coming out and having a really good week of preparation. Coming here today and playing.”

Weigman completed his last seven passes to six different receivers for 78 yards and two touchdowns. The last one was a 3-yard slant to Moose Muhammad III, which staked the Aggies to a 35-0 lead with 4:36 remaining in the first half.

That’s a far cry from a week ago when he completed just 12-of-30 attempts.

“I felt like the last game and the outcome of what happened really changed him when he came out today,” center Kolinu'u Faaiu said. “He really attacked the game today. That’s what everybody wants to see from a quarterback.

“The level of fire he had on the sideline for us. … No matter if we scored or came to the sideline kicking a field goal, it was always just, ‘Let’s move on to the next play. Let’s score, and let’s not have to kick another field goal.’”

The Aggies' only field goal — a 42-yarder from Randy Bond — came with redshirt freshman Marcel Reed directing the offense.

Reed also led two drives for touchdowns. Of course, one of those “drives” was Bussey’s 65-yard explosion on a jet sweep.

“He’s an extremely talented kid. We’ve known that for a long time,” Elko said. “I think he’s getting better at learning how to be a receiver. Don’t forget he wasn’t really a full-time receiver in high school.”

Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

The Aggies’ 52-10 victory over McNeese State on Saturday marked the first under head coach Mike Elko.

There were defensive highlights, too. Will Lee III and Marcus Ratcliffe had interceptions. Also, A&M’s run defense limited McNeese to 52 rushing yards, 76 total yards and just two first downs in the decisive first half.

Any success McNeese had was in the fourth quarter, primarily against backups and freshmen.

But that’s the way it’s supposed to be against an FCS opponent willing to accept a beat-down for a paycheck. A&M could have posted any score it wanted.

Previous coaches have defined lackluster victories over outmanned opponents as “great wins.”

To his credit, Elko did not. He admitted there’s difficulty ascertaining A&M’s level of improvement from the first game.

“It’s so hard to judge,” he said. “We went out there and did what we’re supposed to do. We’ve got to continue to improve. We’ve got to continue to detail up what we’re doing. We’ve got to get better. A lot of that stuff will be next week in ‘The Swamp.’”

Ah, yes, “The Swamp” looms. Southeastern Conference play beckons next week. A&M hasn’t won a conference road game since October of 2021, so a trip to one of the SEC’s most hostile venues could be treacherous.

That game will better reveal how much the Aggies have improved and where their season may be headed.

They must put their best foot forward.