Sept. 15, 2007
COLLEGE STATION, Texas --Stephen McGee threw for 237 yards and a touchdown and Jorvorskie Lane had two short scoring runs to help No. 25 Texas A&M beat Louisiana-Monroe 54-14 on Saturday night.
The Aggies (3-0) scored on nine of their 10 possessions and amassed 547 yards, by far their best offensive showing of the season. A&M came into the game ranked 115th in passing offense, but McGee was rarely pressured and picked apart the Warhawks' 107th-ranked pass defense.
Kerry Franks caught McGee's TD pass and sure-handed tight end Martellus Bennett had six receptions for 98 yards.
Sophomore Mike Goodson had a TD run and rushed for 113 yards and backup quarterback Jerrod Johnson tacked on two late TD runs as the Aggies breezed through their final nonconference home game. Texas A&M plays at Miami next Thursday night before starting Big 12 play.
Calvin Dawson carried 20 times for 126 yards and a touchdown for the Warhawks (0-3). Dawson topped 100 yards rushing for the eighth consecutive game.
Louisiana-Monroe quarterback Kinsmon Lancaster went 13-for-23 for 116 yards, but threw two interceptions that led to 10 A&M points.
The Aggies scored on all five first-half possessions to take a 27-7 lead to the break. Lane had both of his touchdown runs in the opening half to reach 35 in his career, tying George Woodard for third on the school's all-time list.
Louisiana-Monroe gained 210 yards in the first half, but mustered only Dawson's 1-yard touchdown run that tied the game at 7 midway through the first quarter.
The Warhawks couldn't slow the Aggies' offense any better in the second half.
McGee went 4-for-5 on A&M's opening drive and found the speedy Franks open down the middle for a 20-yard touchdown.
Warhawks' defensive back Josh Thompson picked off McGee later in the third quarter, snapping McGee's streak of 150 passes without an interception.
Johnson, a 6-foot-6 redshirt freshman, replaced McGee on A&M's next series and finished a 13-play drive with a 7-yard TD run.
NOTES...
MCGEE'S PASSING FANCY-- Stephen McGee posted the seventh 200-yard passing night of his career with 237 yards on 19-of-33 passes with one touchdown against the Warhawks. It was the first 200-yard passing game of the season for McGee. McGee's 237 passing yards and 255 total offensive yards (18 rush) pushes his career totals past the 3,000- and 4,000-yard levels, respectively. Early in his second season as a starter, McGee became the 12th quarterback in school history to surpass 3,000 passing yards (3,006) and the 11th player to reach 4,000 in total offense (4,170).
McGee's third-quarter interception was his first of the season and it broke a career-best streak of 150 straight attempts without a pickoff that dated back to the 2006 Oklahoma game. It also stopped the Aggies' streak of scoring on six straight possessions.
BENNETT HONORS EVERETT WITH JERSEY CHANGE, BIG GAME- Tight end Martellus Bennett, wearing No. 85 in honor of his injured friend Kevin Everett of the Buffalo Bills, had one of the most productive games of his career, matching his career high with six catches for 98 yards. Bennett and Everett became friends after meeting on Bennett's recruiting trip to the University of Miami (Fla.). Everett, also a tight end, suffered a cervical spine injury last Sunday against Denver.
200 RUSH/200 PASS FOR AGGIES- With a balanced rushing and passing attack, the Aggies rushed and passed for more than 200 yards for the first time this season. The Aggies passed for 237 yards on 19-of-34 passing, while rushing for 310 yards on 42 carries. It was the second straight game the Aggies have rushed for 300 or more yards. A&M finished with 547 yards of total offense, its most since it had 694 against Oklahoma State in 2005 (399 rush/295 pass). Prior to last week, that game was also the last time A&M had rushed for more than 300 yards.
RANDOM NOTES:
MISCELLANEOUS - Today's 12th Man is junior Nick LaMantia, a walk-on from Sharyland High School in Mission, Texas. LaMantia has been the Aggies' 12th Man in every game this season. It is the 15th time that LaMantia has served as the 12th Man during his career. ... Game captains were Joey Thomas, Jordan Peterson, Devin Gregg and LaMantia.
Post-Game Quotes
JUNIOR DEFENSIVE BACK DEVIN GREGG: (On the game...) "We had a good week of preparation and we were determined to come out and play hard. We set our goal at halftime to come out strong and set the tempo in the third quarter."
JUNIOR QUARTERBACK STEPHEN McGEE: (On his aerial game against Louisiana-Monroe...) "I really have to give credit to the big guys up front. They gave me a lot of time today and the receivers did a good job of running their route. I was just pleased with our overall play tonight. We executed very well."
HEAD COACH DENNIS FRANCHIONE: (On the game...) "This was a very solid game. I thought we played well in all phases. I thought the interception by Jordan Peterson helped turn the momentum. You need to remember this club (Louisiana-Monroe) had not committed a turnover this season. It was important to have this type of game with a short week ahead of us. I am always pleased to get a lot of players into the game."
SENIOR TAILBACK CALVIN DAWSON: (On his 100-yard rushing game...) "A hundred yards is an individual goal and it's good to have. But, it really doesn't mean anything without a win. We were hoping we could come in and pull off an upset. It didn't turn out that way. We know Troy has a good team and we are going to have to go in next week on our off week and practice all week to get ready for them."
(On Coach Weatherbie's halftime comments to the team...) "He told us to put it behind us. We had some turnovers in the first half and we had to let it go. He told us not to worry about it anymore and play the football game like we did in the first half."
(On Texas A&M's big hits and playing at Kyle Field...) "They had some big guys and they hit hard. We expected it and were prepared for it. It didn't bother us too much. It was a great atmosphere (at Kyle Field) and I loved it."
HEAD COACH CHARLIE WEATHERBIE (On the game...) "We didn't play the way we were capable of playing. We had a couple of turnovers that killed us in the first half. We threw the ball average in the first half and we ran the ball pretty well all game. When you can run the ball, you have to be able to throw it, to take advantage of some opportunities and we didn't throw it well enough. Defensively, I'm not sure if we made them punt. We didn't get ourselves off the field. We have to improve there. We have to stop the run and the pass. When they score 54 points, you have to score 55 points."
(On halftime adjustments...) "We talked about what we needed to do to go back out and get back into the football game. We were down by 20 and we knew we would have to go back in and play well on defense. They were going to get the ball first. We thought that if we could go back out there, stop them and make them punt, then offensively let's go down and score and get ourselves back in this football game. We didn't get that done."
(On A&M's passing game...) "I think everyone is going to do that after seeing other people pass on us. I'm sure everybody is going to feel like they can throw the football on us."
(On Texas A&M's big hits...) "We have a broken leg (with our starting tight end Mitch Doyle). We had some guys bruised up and nicked up. The bye week comes at a great time for us."