Sept. 20, 2014
DALLAS, Texas(AP)--Kenny Hill accounted for 322 yards of offense in just the first half, Jeremy Tabuyo turned two short passes near the sideline into long touchdowns, and sixth-ranked Texas A&M rolled to a 58-6 victory Saturday over an SMU team playing its first game without coach June Jones.
Trey Williams ran for a pair of touchdowns for the Aggies, who are 4-0 for the first time since 2006 and will be back in North Texas next week.
Jones resigned Sept. 8, two days after the second game of his seventh season on The Hilltop. SMU's only score those first two games came on what turned out to be his final play as coach, a 33-yard touchdown pass in a 43-6 loss at North Texas.
Hill completed 16 of 22 passes for 265 yards with two touchdowns and his first interception at Texas A&M. He also had a 58-yard run that set up another touchdown as the Aggies built a 38-3 halftime lead in SMU's home opener.
Texas A&M led 17-0 in the first quarter after Tabuyo caught a short pass near the sideline, managed to stay in bounds and then weaved through defenders, including two that ran into each other after he got by for a 30-yard touchdown.
By then, the Aggies already had 254 of their 663 total yards -- and SMU (0-3) had minus-7 in its first game with defensive coordinator Tom Mason also serving as interim coach. The Mustangs finished with 241 yards.
On his only other catch of the game, Tabuyo turned a short pass from freshman quarterback Kyle Allen into a 50-yard score in the third quarter. The sophomore from Hawaii again caught the ball along the right sideline near defenders before breaking free.
Allen finished 8-of-15 passing for 130 yards.
Late in the first half, SMU receiver Der'rikk Thompson was bumped after an incomplete pass near the sideline, and his momentum sent him toward Texas A&M's live mascot, Reveille VIII. But a Texas A&M cadet stepped in front of the collie and kept Thompson from running into her.
The Aggies will play about 25 miles west next Saturday for a neutral-site SEC game against Arkansas at the Dallas Cowboys' stadium that will host the national championship game in January.
Hill threw an interception on Texas A&M's second possession, his first in 150 career attempts -- 128 this season.
The Mustangs then went three-and-out, and on the next drive Hill faked a handoff to Williams, followed him through the same hole and broke several tackles for a 58-yard gain before Williams scored on an 8-yard run.
Kolney Cassel got his first start for SMU but went 1 for 5 for 2 yards and was sacked three times. Garrett Krstich, the fourth different Mustangs quarterback already this season, was sacked five times while completing 13 of 24 passes for 137 yards.
Neal Burcham, the starter the first two games, is out for the season after injuring his elbow against North Texas.
ABOUT THE WIN...
• With the win, the Aggies move to 4-0 for the first time since 2006.
• It is the second 4-0 start of Aggie head coach Kevin Sumlin’s career. His University of Houston squad won the first 12 games of 2011.
• It was the Aggies’ sixth straight victory over the Mustangs.
• The Aggies remain perfect against non-conference opponents under Sumlin (11-0). A&M’s last non-conference loss came vs. Arkansas in 2011 when the Aggies were still in the Big 12 Conference.
• It’s the first time since 1978 that the Aggies have opened with four straight victory margins of 20 points or more.
Offense spreads it around ...
• Two more Aggies scored their first touchdowns of the season against the Mustangs (WR Jeremy Tabuyo and RB Brandon Williams). The Aggies now have nine receivers with touchdowns and five running backs with TDs.
About the Defense ...
• The Aggies generated a season-high eight sacks against the Ponies, which matched the high-water mark of the Sumlin era at Texas A&M. The Aggies also had eight sacks against Florida in the season-opener of 2012.
• The Aggie defense didn’t allow a SMU first down until the 7:28 mark of the second quarter.
• A&M allowed only 13 SMU first down for the game, which was a season-low. It was the fewest first downs allowed by the Aggies since last year’s UTEP game (10).
• The 241 yards allowed were the fewest of 2014 for the Aggie defense. It was the lowest opponent offensive output since Vanderbilt could muster only 198 yards in 2013.
• Opponents were kept out of the Aggie endzone for the second time in 2014. Texas A&M has allowed just one touchdown in the last three games (vs. Lamar, Rice and SMU).
About the offense ...
• The Aggies gained 663 total yards on 68 plays, which was the 13th game of the Sumlin era with 600 or more yards.
• It was the fifth highest offensive output of the Sumlin era.
• The Aggies averaged 9.8 yards per offensive play, which was the highest per-play average of the Sumlin era.
• The Aggies passed for 395 yards while rushing for a season-high 268 yards.
• The 268 rushing yards were the most by the Aggies since 2013 AT&T Cotton Bowl (326 vs. Oklahoma).
• The Aggies rushed for four touchdowns for the third time in four games.
• With 58 points against the Mustangs, the Aggies have surpassed the 200-point level in the fourth game of the season for the second straight year and for the second time since 1917.
• The 221 points scored by the 2014 Aggies after four games is a school record. In fact, it is the highest-scoring four-game span in school history. The previous high four-game scoring total was 211 by College Football Hall-of-Famer D.X. Bible’s 1917 team (first four games). Since 1950, there were 21 full seasons when the Aggies didn’t score 200 points.
long-range lambo ...
• Senior PK Josh Lambo boomed his career-long field goal with a 50-yarder in the third quarter. His previous long was 47 yards from last week vs. Rice.
• It was the Aggies’ first 50-yard FG since Lambo’s current teammate Taylor Bertolet booted a 50-yarder vs. LSU In 2012.
• Lambo remained perfect on placekicks in 2014 -- 5-of-5 on field goals and 29-of-29 on PATs.
Notables ...
• Seeing their first action of the season were veterans defenders De’Vante Harris and Shaan Washington, who were both injured during fall camp.
• Washington celebrated his return to the lineup with a game-high two QB sacks (-10 yards) and six tackles.
• Making his first career start was true freshman Nick Harvey, who is the fourth true freshman and fifth member of the 2014 signing class to earn starts in 2014.
• Sophomore DT Jay Arnold made his first start of 2014 and second of his career against SMU (also started the Chick-fil-A Bowl vs. Duke).
• Sophomore QB Kenny Hill had a career-long 58-yard gallop in the second quarter.
• Hill suffered the first INT of his career in the first quarter against the Ponies. Hill’s first pickoff came on the 128 attempt of 2014 and the 150th of his career.
• Sophomore WR Jeremy Tabuyo logged a pair of receiving TDs, which were the first of his career.
• Freshman Darrell Jackson, who redshirted at Blinn JC last year, was disruptive on defense with five tackles, a sack and three total tackles for losses -- all of which were the firsts of his A&M career.
• Also logging his first career QB sack was redshirt freshman DT Justin Manning, who is a Dallas Kimball grad.
• The Aggies’ eight QB sacks came from six different players. The Aggie OL allowed no sacks on 37 pass attempts.
Game Captains, 12th Man
• Game captains were senior Malcome Kennedy and juniors Julien Obioha and Drew Kaser. The Aggies won the toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff.
• Junior Sam Moeller was the Aggies’ 12th Man for the 17th straight game.
QUOTES...
Texas A&M
Head Coach Kevin Sumlin
What Texas A&M accomplished today...
“We got a lot of guys in. We got through the game without Mike Matthews, so he can get another week to rest his ankle. He could have played if we needed him. The positives were getting some guys back and getting through the game without injuries. We had the return of some folks like Shaan Washington.”
What he learned about his team…
“We had some young guys, especially in that second half, that played a lot of football. We will need depth going down the stretch when we play SEC opponents.”
On jumping on SMU early…
“That is already kind of our M.O. We want to start fast. The disappointing part of this game was starting it with three straight penalties on three straight plays. The thing we talked about at the end of the game was the third down percentage. Until that fourth quarter when we had backups in, we were pretty good.”
On the turnover margin…
“We are negative now because we didn’t get one today. We gave one away. That is two weeks in a row that we lost the turnover battle. The things we are continuing to work on are our penalties, our turnover margin has to improve and third downs. We accomplished some things but have areas to improve in.”
Sophomore Quarterback Kenny Hill
On his scramble...
“I thought it was big. It was a broken play and we were blocking great. I broke a couple tackles and found some room to the left. I think it showed that I can do it if I need to. I do not like to do it, but I can.”
On the sloppy start to the game…
“I’m more upset with the penalties than anything else. That is just mental, things we need to improve.”
On his interception…
“It was a miscommunication, mostly on my part. I did not signal to him pre-snap and we were thinking two different things.”
Sophomore Defensive Lineman Jay Arnold
Thoughts on the game…
“It was just another football game. It was nice for us to go out and prove ourselves. There are still lots of areas we need to improve on but a win is a win.”
On playing a team like SMU…
“Our job is to go out there and play the best football we can. We cannot help anything else. Just play the best we can play. There were some questions about what they would do, but overall we prepared for what we know.”
Thoughts on the QB’s play…
“I thought those guys did a great job today. It was great football. We all have areas we need to improve on but offense did great.”
SMU
Interim Head Coach Tom Mason:
On his first game as a head coach…
“I have to be patient with this team and let it grow. I still think we have some talent on this team and that this football team can come around when we get into conference. I’m going to enjoy this. This is a great institution and I love the people here. I still think we can win the conference and get to a bowl game.”
On his message to the team…
“What else would we be doing on a Saturday afternoon? We have the No. 6 team in the country in our stadium. It’s a full house. Shoot, it’s football.”
On his team’s effort…
“I didn’t expect miracles I knew I had to be a cheerleader on the sideline Our kids have to learn that when things are bad, you have to get your head up and forget about what has happened. I thought we played for four quarters. We played until the end and that’s all I can ask of those kids.”
On the quarterback situation…
“I left that up to Dan (Morrison) and he went with Kristich. We have to evaluate the situation and depth tomorrow. Kristich ran the ball well and threw the ball okay at times.”
On the seven-minute drive that led to a first half field goal…
“It’s a mindset, just believing that we can do that. I’m looking for small wins right now. That’s a small win.”
On his second stint as an interim coach…
“I think I’m the only guy in America to be an interim head coach twice. I really believe in what we do here and I believe we can make this program as good as we want it to be.”
Junior Quarterback Garrett Kristich
On the offensive performance…
“We know that that’s not the kind of performance we want to display. We need to finish in the red zone, especially. I think we got a little bit better today from the past weeks. We did move the ball a little bit, but we understand we need to get a lot better.”
On coming off the bench…
“I was pretty relaxed. We had nothing to lose. We’ve been lacking energy. We need to bring the spark back to SMU and my goal is to just bring some energy to my teammates and let them know I’m going to fight for you guys and you guys are going to fight for me.”
Senior Defensive Back Hayden Greenbauer
On the defensive performance…
“Defensively, we made a lot of mental mistakes. But those are things we can correct.”
On Coach Mason’s philosophy…
“It comes down to the fundamentals. Don’t overthink. Just play the play. Just do everything we’re coached to do and everything else will take care of itself.”