Click here to view Texas A&M’s postgame press conference.
Game #1: No. 8 Texas A&M 50, Missouri State 0
Records: Texas A&M (1-0, 0-0), Missouri State (0-1, 0-0)
Box Score
The Aggies did what a top-10 football team is supposed to do on Saturday night. It just took them a little while to get it done.
After a sluggish start, the No. 8 Aggies gained traction in the second half and rolled past overmatched Missouri State for a 50-0 season-opening football victory before 107,782 at Kyle Field.
College Football Playoff contenders are expected to “hang-a-half-a-hundred” on inferior opponents. A lot of them did this weekend.
No. 1 Ohio State beat opening opponent Ball State by 53 points. No. 3 Georgia beat Tennessee State by 60. No. 5 Texas, No. 6 Indiana and No. 10 Oklahoma exceeded the 50-point mark. No. 7 Miami came up just short in stomping Stanford, 45-6, on Friday night.
A&M proved the old adage that first impressions can be deceiving.
Stopped by self-induced problems like dropped passes, an offensive pass interference penalty and a fumble in the red zone, the Aggies maintained a mere 12-0 lead with less than a minute remaining in the first half.
But just 29 seconds before halftime, quarterback Marcel Reed hit Mario Craver with a 12-yard touchdown pass that ignited the offense.
A&M scored touchdowns on its first four series of the second half and a field goal on its fifth.
“Everybody wants these things to go perfect, and they won’t,” coach Mike Elko said. “The (halftime) message was just, ‘We’ve got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. We’ve got to go out there, and we’ve got to play the game that we’re capable of playing.’ And we did it.
“Obviously, there’s things that happened in the first half that can’t continue to happen, and we’ve got to fix it and clean it up. There’s no doubt about it. But my message wasn’t anything other than we’ve got to go out and play better in the second half.”
“Everybody wants these things to go perfect, and they won’t. The (halftime) message was just, ‘We’ve got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. We’ve got to go out there, and we’ve got to play the game that we’re capable of playing.’ And we did it.”
- Texas A&M head football coach Mike Elko
Did they ever.
In the first half, the Aggies managed touchdown passes from quarterback Marcel Reed to Craver and Isaiah Horton, a David Olano field goal and a gift safety on a muffed punt return.
In the second half, Terry Bussey, Jamarion Morrow and Carsyn Baker ran for touchdowns, and Asher Murray hit a 47-yard field goal to hit the 50-point mark.
“That was a goal pregame,” Reed said. “I wanted to put up more (points), honestly. Definitely not satisfied. We left some money on the table a little bit.”
The defense was even better. The Aggies held Missouri State to just 67 yards of total offense, surrendered only four first downs (one via a roughing the passer penalty) and forced a turnover that led to a touchdown.
In hoping to repeat last year’s run to the College Football Playoff, the Aggies checked most of the boxes of areas of needed improvement.
Reed had a solid game. He completed 70 percent of his passes for 233 yards and two touchdowns. He did not throw an interception.
“I think, for the first game, I did pretty well,” he said. “I think the team did well. Obviously, it was kind of a slow start after the first touchdown, but we were trying to feel things out.”
Danny Grant, TexAgs
In the Aggies’ home opener, linebackers Noah Mikhail and Ray Coney combined for 13 tackles.
The defense didn’t allow long runs. The tendency to surrender runs of 20 yards or more was a recurring problem. A solution is desperately needed.
Missouri State didn’t manage a run longer than seven yards. Bears running back King Davis broke off one long run of about 20 yards, but it was called back because of a holding penalty.
Linebacker play was solid, with Noah Mikhail and Ray Coney combining for 13 tackles.
The kicking game was reliable. A year ago, any field goal attempt was a roll of the dice. Even supposed chip shots were long shots.
The Aggies’ kickers were 2-for-2. Good, so far.
But some boxes were unchecked.
• A&M wasn’t able to get an interception. Dating back to last season, that’s now four consecutive games and eight of the last nine games without a pick.
• Inconsistent offensive line play. The Aggies’ rebuilt offensive line is obviously still under construction with four new starters.
Reed was sacked on back-to-back plays to thwart a first-quarter scoring opportunity. The Aggies rushed for a so-so 76 yards in the first half, though they more than doubled the output (160) in the second half.
Elko had at least a partial explanation for the lethargic first half.
“Probably some of it was just nerves and anxiety a little bit,” he said. “You know, we had 11 new starters out there tonight on both sides of the ball, so there was going to be some bumps and hiccups in the road.
“I think when you watch the (game) tape, there’s going to be things that maybe looked like they were on the O-line that maybe weren’t. There’s going to be things that the O-line didn’t do as well as we would have liked, and then they’re going to need to fix it and clean up some things, for sure.”
Reed pointed out that the cleanup and repairs have already started.
“We didn’t have too much (data) on them,” he said. “So, (we) kind of had to come to the sideline each and every drive and kind of figure out what they were going to do next.
“So, I think for that, we did a pretty good job. In the second half, we bounced back and did what we’re supposed to do.”
