Aggies sack Utah State, 44-22

COLLEGE STATION — No. 19 Texas A&M was never really challenged by Utah State Saturday. Their biggest problems continue to be with themselves.

The Aggies (2-0) racked up 554 yards of total offense in blasting Utah State 44-22 before 100,062 at Kyle Field, but continued blunders made the score much closer than it should have been.

“(We’re) excited to be 2-0, obviously that was how the season had to open,” coach Mike Elko said. “And now the real challenges begin, and going up the South Bend next week.”

Aggies jump out to a huge early lead

It didn’t take A&M long to score, marching 55 yards in three plays with Marcel Reed capping the drive with a perfectly placed 34-yard touchdown to a streaking Terry Bussey. It was the first touchdown catch of Bussey’s career, and the first of his 4 catches for 55 yards on the day. 

The other Aggies — Utah State — surprisingly moved down the field a scored a touchdown of their own on their next drive. A roughing the passer penalty on Taurean York kickstarted the drive, then a lucky catch that turned into a 24-yard catch from Bryson Barnes to Brady Boyd moved Utah State inside the Aggie 20. USU scored on a wild 3-yard pass from normal wide receiver Anthony Garcia to running back Miles Davis on 4th and goal, with Garcia running for his life before tossing up a ball that Davis was able to dive under. But the two-point conversion was no good, allowing the Aggies to hold onto the lead.

A&M then went on a 24-0 run through the rest of the second half to put the game, for all intents and purposes, away. Jared Zirkel made his first field goal, from 37 yards, to make the score 10-7. 

At the start of the second quarter, Reed (19-28, 220 yards, 3 TD passing; 10 carries, 66 yards, 1 TD rushing) started utilizing the quick passing game, with KC Concepcion taking a quick hitter for 15 yards and Ashton Bethel-Roman for another eight. An 11-yard run by Rueben Owens (7 carries, 40 yards) and an illegal hands to the face penalty moved A&M to the Utah State 1, and Reed walked in on a bootleg to make it 17-6.

Howell makes history with sack trifecta

A&M got the ball back in three plays, courtesy of defensive end Cashius Howell. Howell racked up sacks on three straight plays, the first time any player in FBS has accomplished that feat since 2015. 

“After the first one happened, you know, obviously starting to get confident within my pass rush. So, you know, they do it again,” Howell said. “(Left tackle Jake Eichorn) had kind of like over me, so that, gave me the inside lane to just shoot the inside lane. And that’s how I got the second one. And then after that, it was just like the third one, ‘Man, they pass it, who knows?’ I was just in like a flow state at that point.”

A&M didn’t score on their next drive, as Owens was stuffed on 4th and 1 on the Utah State 28, but USU had to punt again three plays later after linebacker Scooby Williams came untouched on a blitz and sacked Barnes, forcing a fumble that Utah State recovered.

This time the Aggies did score, marching 63 yards in six plays with Le’Veon Moss (10 carries, 68 yards, 1 TD) capping the drive by running through several arm tackles en route to a 21-yard touchdown run to make it 24-6. 

“I think we got him 10 carries. It was good to get him hit,” Elko said of Moss. “It was good to do every one of those just builds confidence in him, and, you know, it’s good, I think he came out of the game and really, really good headspace.” 

A&M got the ball back at their own 23 with 1:41 to go in the half and two time outs, which allowed Reed to operate the two-minute drill to perfection. After a quick hitter to Bethel-Roman picked up 17 and a bullet over the middle to Mario Craver added 15 more, Reed went around the left corner on a quarterback keeper that picked up 24 and moved the Aggies down to the Utah State 12. Two plays later, Reed rolled to his right and threw off balance, but still lobbed a pass between three USU defenders to find Concepcion for a 12-yard score and a 30-6 lead after kicker Jared Zirkel put the PAT kick off the upright.

“(Reed was) a little bit choppy in the vertical passing game. It was nice to see him, you know, connect on the one to (Craver) in the second half,” Elko said. “But then I think he did a really good job in the RPO game. I thought they gave us a lot of open access things and he took it … and I thought he looked like he was getting into a much better rhythm before he came out at the end.”

Up and down second half

For the second straight game, the Aggies opened up the second half with a defensive bust on a run up the middle, with Davis (10 carries, 50 yards rushing; 3 catches, 9 yards, 2 TD receiving) breaking loose for a 30 yard gain into A&M territory. Still, the Aggies should have gotten off the field but two penalties in third and long situations — a defensive holding call on cornerback Will Lee and a facemask on defensive tackle Albert Regis — kept the drive alive for Utah State. Barnes ended the drive with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Pegan, who suck past Lee into the right flat for an easy score. A two-point conversion was good, making the score 30-14. 

A&M wasted a 45-yard kickoff return by Bussey that set them up at midfield, as Reed badly missed Concpecion twice on third and fourth downs to turn the ball over at the Utah State 45. But the defense held up and faced a three and out, with freshman defensive end Marco Jones getting his first career sack courtesy of an intentional grounding call on Barnes.

The failure to convert on fourth down the previous drive appeared to light a fire under Reed, as he went six-for-six for 63 yards and a touchdown pass on the next drive. The scoring pass was an 8-yarder to Concepcion (6 catches, 73 yards, 2 TD), who crossed the entire back of the end zone before making a leaping grab for the score.

“My connection with (Reed) is getting stronger … and I can’t wait to see where it goes,” said Concepcion, who has four touchdowns in his two games as an Aggie.

A&M would narrowly avoid disaster on their next drive, as Reed was hit in the shoulder while diving forward on a second down run. He would leave the game, yielding to redshirt freshman Miles O’Neill, but Elko said after the game he expects Reed will be ready for next week’s matchup with Notre Dame.

O’Neill completed his first pass, a 25-yarder to Bethel Roman (3 catches, 48 yards), but then was picked off by Utah State corner Noah Avinger at midfield on a pass with no A&M player in the vicinity. The defense forced a three and out, and O’Neill (3-5, 99 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) would capitalize, throwing a 72-yard strike to Craver (5 catches, 114 yards, 1 TD) for A&M’s final touchdown.

“Obviously the pick wasn’t real good, and couple decisions I thought he could have made a little bit better. But obviously that ball, he threw was a really impressive deep shot and that’s what he can do you know he’s got the big arm and the big arm strength,” Elko said of O’Neill’s performance.

The Aggies emptied the bench at that point, but the reserves drew Elko’s ire as they gave up another garbage time touchdown for the second consecutive week.

“I thought we handled that game the way we needed to handle it through three quarters. I thought through three quarters we played the way we wanted to play,” he said.

Utah State scored on a 1-yard pass from Barnes to Davis with 4:22 left and had an opportunity to pick up more points in the waning moments, but defensive end Sam M’Pemba came up with a sack and fumble recovery to end the threat and, essentially, the game.

While there was concern about Reed’s condition and that of left tackle Trey Zuhn, who left in the first half with an injury (Elko said Zuhn should also be ready for Notre Dame), Howell’s trio of sacks was the subject on everyone’s mind after the game.

“I haven’t (seen that before),” Elko said. “I think that’s a first for me.”