COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Highly touted true freshman quarterback Kyler Murray ran for 156 yards and threw for 223 more in his first start for Texas A&M, and the Aggies ended a two-game slide with a 35-28 win over South Carolina on Saturday.
Tra Carson added 122 yards rushing and a touchdown andDonovan Wilson had a 60-yard interception return for the Aggies (6-2, 3-2 SEC), who played the first of three consecutive home games.
Brandon Wilds ran for 128 yards and two scores for the Gamecocks (3-5, 1-5) in their second game under interim coach Shawn Elliott since the resignation of Steve Spurrier. They won Elliott’s debut 19-10 over Vanderbilt two weeks ago before an open date.
Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin re-opened the competition for the starting quarterback job this week, and Murray was named the starter Friday. Murray completed 20 of 28 passes with a touchdown, and ran 20 times with the go-ahead score.
Kyle Allen threw 13 touchdowns with two interceptions as Texas A&M started 5-0. But the sophomore had three interceptions returned for touchdowns by Alabama in a 41-23 home loss, and was 1-of-16 passing in the second half (the only completion lost yards) of a 23-3 loss at Ole Miss last week.
Murray led Allen High to three consecutive Texas state championships and went undefeated as a starter in the Dallas-area school.
The game was tied three times before Texas A&M went ahead 28-21 on Allen’s 1-yard keeper on fourth down, when he faked a handoff to Carson and then swept left and scored untouched on the Aggies’ opening drive after halftime.
Less than 2 minutes later, Wilson’s pick-six put the Aggies up 35-21.
On the second play of the game, Murray gained 14 yards on a quarterback draw play. He had another 14-yard run and a 13-yard pass as the Aggies got to the 2 before Taylor Bertolet was wide right on a 25-yard field goal attempt.
Murray threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Josh Reynolds on the second drive, when he completed all four of his passes for 55 yards and had a 5-yard run.
The Gamecocks went ahead 14-7 early in the second quarter after former walk-on quarterback Perry Orth rolled right on an option play. When linebacker Shaan Washington drifted toward the running back, Orth cut up the field and scored untouched from the 6.
True freshman quarterback Lorenzo Nunez, lined up at receiver, scored on a 7-yard reverse for South Carolina.
There was an announced crowd of 102,154 at Kyle Field, but there were a lot of empty seats. Heavy rains and flooding in Texas over the previous 24 hours made travel difficult, if not impossible, for many fans, especially those from the Houston area.
The game was played under cloudy skies, but there was no rain and there were no issues with the grass field because of the drainage system underneath it.
TEAM/GAME NOTES
• With the win, the Aggies improved their season record to 6-2 to become bowl-eligible for the sixth straight year. Texas A&M has made 36 bowl trips in its history and have a FBS-best four bowl wins in the last four seasons.
• The Aggies remained undefeated in two games against the Gamecocks with victories in 2014 and 2015.
OFFENSIVE NOTES
• Texas A&M rushed for 321 yards, which easily bested the previous season high of 233 vs. Nevada. It was the first time the Aggies had surpassed the 300-yard mark in rushing yards since rushing for 326 yards against Oklahoma in the 2013 Cotton Bowl. It was the fourth 300-yard rushing game of the Kevin Sumlin era.
• True freshman QB Kyler Murray made his first career start against the Gamecocks. He became the first freshman QB to rush for over 100 yards in his starting debut in school history with 156 yards on 20 carries. He also passed for 223 yards to become the first A&M QB with 200 passing/100 rushing in a game since Johnny Manziel vs. Ole Miss in 2013 (346 pass/124 rush). The 156 rushing yards were the 11th-best total by an A&M freshman.
• Murray and senior RB Tra Carson became the first Texas A&M tandem to both have 100 rushing yards in a game since QB Johnny Manziel and RB Ben Malena did against Mississippi State in 2012, which is also the last time Texas A&M sported all-black uniforms.
• Carson’s 122 yards on 21 carries marked his third 100-yard rushing game of the season.
• Junior WR Josh Reynolds moved into Texas A&M’s career top five for touchdown catches with his 10-yard grab in the first quarter. Reynolds did it in the 21st game of his career.
TAMU Career Receiving TDs
Player, Years TDs
Jeff Fuller, 2008-11 34
Ryan Swope, 2009-12 24
Uzoma Nwachukwu, 2009-12 19
Bob Long, 1966-68 19
Josh Reynolds, 2014- 17
Mike Evans, 2012-13 17
• WR Christian Kirk moved into fifth place Texas A&M’s freshman single-season receptions list with 47 and fourth place on A&M’s freshman receiving yards list with 662.
• Sophomore WR Ricky Seals-Jones led the Aggies in receiving yards in three consecutive games for the first time in his career. Seals-Jones pulled in a game-high six catches for 88 yards against the Gamecocks.
DEFENSIVE NOTES
• Sophomore nickelback Donovan Wilson stepped in front of Perry Orth aerial offering for a 60-yard pick-six interception. It was Wilson’s team-best fourth pickoff of the year and his first pick-six TD. Wilson’s big play was the Aggies’ second pick-six of the year (De’Vante Harris, 40-yard INT TD return vs. Ball State).
• Wilson logged two INTs for the game, becoming the first Aggie with two picks in a game since Howard Matthews logged two INTs against UTEP on Nov. 2, 2013.
• Wilson’s five INTs on the season are the most for an Aggie since Sammy Davis recorded five picks in 2001. The five INTs is tied for 12th with a multitude of Aggies on the single-season list.
• Sophomore DE Myles Garrett had another stellar effort, logging seven tackles, including five solo takedowns, one sack, two TFL and a forced fumble. It was his fifth forced fumble of the season, tied for fourth on A&M’s single-season list, one behind the school-record of six held by Jacob Green (1978), Aaron Wallace (1987) and Dat Nguyen (1996). With the sack he passed Sam Adams (20.5 – 1991-93) and moved into 11th place on A&M’s career sack list with 21.
• Junior LB Shaan Washington tied a career-high with two TFL and recorded his fifth career double-digit tackle game with 10.
SPECIAL TEAM NOTES
• Senior P Drew Kaser had two punts downed inside the 20-yard line, bring his season total to 14 and his career total to 53.
GAME CAPTAINS / COIN TOSS
• Game captains were OC Mike Matthews, RT Germain Ifedi, DE Myles Garrett CB Brandon Williams. The Aggies won the toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff.
• Senior DB Sam Moeller was the Aggies’ 12th Man for the 34th straight game, which is a school record.
Texas A&M 35, South Carolina 28
October 31, 2015
Kyle Field
Post-game Quotes
Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M Head Coach
On the offense under Kyler Murray…
“At the Tuesday press conference I said we were going to change some things and I think it was pretty obvious our guys were more comfortable with what we were doing today. We ran close to 50 plays in the first half, so our tempo was a lot higher. Kyler Murray is comfortable in that setting; the coaching point was ‘be quick, but not in a hurry.’ He was able to communicate with our players and he did a great job communicating with us coaches during the game. The biggest thing for him was not forcing it but letting the game come to him. Once he settled down and actually began to read things out, he was effective.”
On the run game…
“I thought it was good. Other than Tra Carson running the way he did, the other story is James White getting 10 carries. He has gotten healthier. I think Tra knowing he has a chance to get off of the field and doesn’t have to carry the ball every snap probably helps him mentally. For Tra to get 21 carries and James to get 10, that makes the running game effective. Also, the pressure that Kyler puts on the edge to be able to contain things and not have everything crash down inside. The running game was effective today.”
On the defense…
“South Carolina utilized their bye-week well. They brought some things to the table, they’re well coached. The message today was the same as last week: you win and lose as a team. At different times we struggled on defense today. Donovan Wilson continues to make plays. Our three safeties are all over the field and have been since Arizona State. Those guys play well; if they don’t, we give up big plays. That’s a lot of pressure, but they accept that challenge. We’ve got some things we need to clean up, but you win and lose as a team. We made enough plays offensively to get that done today.”
On the receiving corps…
“I thought the big thing is that Ricky Seals-Jones has put together three solid weeks for the first time he’s been here. He’s turning into the guy that we wanted him to be as a big, physical receiver. We’ve still got to make competitive plays and I thought we competed for the ball. We inserted some quick game stuff with the slants and things like that to get ball out of Kyler’s hand quickly. I thought our guys did everything they had to do to catch balls. We’ve got playmakers out there, they just need to make plays. As a group it was a lot better today than it was a week ago.”
Texas A&M 35, South Carolina 28
October 31, 2015
Kyle Field
Post-game Quotes
Julien Obioha, Texas A&M Senior Defensive Tackle
On trouble stopping the run…
“One guy missing a tackle or one guy not fitting right. They have good ballplayers too. If you don’t fit it right their guy is going to get open and he’s going to run for a lot of yards. Especially the quarterback one, it was about 60 yards. It was just one guy not fitting it right. Luckily, we ran him down.”
On Kyler Murrays play today…
“Coming out of high school, he was really good. He’s really talented. They said he’s a lot like Johnny Manziel. He came out and showed it today. He did everything he needed to do to win the game. He did a really good job.”
On giving up third and longs…
“I think that’s a little bit on the D-line. We pride ourselves on our pass rush, and I don’t think we did an amazing job at times. We brought him down about four or five times. As the game went on we did a better job, but a couple times our pass rush wasn’t there.”
On Donovan Wilson‘s pick-six…
“Donovan Wilson is one of the best nickel backs in the country. He is certainly the best in the SEC. I have been saying this for a while. We have all-conference players are every position. Donovan Wilson is one of those all conference players. Today, he did what he needed to do. He always makes those plays.”
Germain Ifedi, Texas A&M Junior Offensive Lineman
On blocking for a quarterback like Kyler Murray…
“He’s great quarterback out there. When you’re able to do it effectively, it is fun blocking for any quarterback. He played his tail off today. He did a lot of great things for us.”
On changes to the blocking scheme…
“We didn’t change too much. A couple of small things that we were doing before on our run plays we changed up. It came to fruition today. We were able to have more running lanes due to the adjustments. We are happy we were able to make the adjustment.”
On running the football…
“It is a sense of pride for us. We weren’t happy that we were only able to rush for 90 yards the last two games. We were disappointed in ourselves and we had to step back and look ourselves in the mirror. We know that is unacceptable and we know that’s on us. Coach put the challenge on us this week and we accepted it. We said ‘We’re going to come out and run the ball. We don’t care who is front of us.” We came out and did that today.”
On the pick-six…
“He came up to us to before that drive and said ‘Don’t sit down on the bench because I’m going to get the ball back for us.’ He has come a long way. He came in here on a mission and he has gotten better week-to-week. He’s like the ‘Honey Badger’ of our defense. We know when he says he’s going to make a play that he is going to make the play.”
A.J. Hilliard, Texas A&M Junior Linebacker
On third and long conversion…
“We have to do a better job of being fundamentally sound. The next step in our defense is to be more consistent. You’ve already seen us make stop after stop. As we mature, we need to start being more consistent. We can make the stops, be we have to do it every down.”
On Donovan Wilson…
“We are around him every day. He is a ball hawk. He is doing the same thing in practice that he does on game day. It’s not a surprise to us at all.”
On the defensive adjustments…
“We are going to fight. We’ll make adjustments at halftime and go out there and give the same effort.”
On the adjustments…
“Sometimes we have the safeties playing by themselves. If they are reading the number one receiver and the tight end, it is hard for them to play both of them at the same time. We have to do a better job of jamming the receivers and giving them time to make their reads so they can play fast.”
On Kyler Murray…
“He played well. That’s not a surprise to us. He is a young player that makes plays.”
On winning ugly…
“It is all about the ‘W.’ It wasn’t pretty. Definitely too close for comfort, but we are going to go out there and fight. We are going to make plays whenever we need to make them. Offense played great. We tried to do our job of giving them a short field whenever we could. Both sides of the ball played well.”
On Chevis’ adjustments…
“Whenever we are out there messing up it is never Coach Chavis’ fault. Coach Chavis always makes the right calls. It’s up to us to execute those calls. We have the utmost confidence in Coach Chavis. It’s about getting it right and not making the same mistakes twice.”
Donovan Wilson, Texas A&M Sophomore Safety
On the interception and his ability to come through with the play…
“Coach just put them in a good position to make the play and I saw three go away, there was nothing but green grass.”
On his playing…
“I’m just out there trying to do my job.”
On the first interception…
“As soon as I saw three go away I knew two was following him and it was double slants inside.”
On what was throwing them off…
“It just was just small detailed things that we had to fix out there. We got it together in the second half. Everything went smooth after that.”
On the pick-six giving separation and his touchdown…
“It was a great game. There was a lot of momentum, took a little of pressure off the offense and the defense. Everything went smooth.”
On going against Kyler in practice…
“We go against him often. He is so athletic and can make the play last longer.”
Ricky Seals Jones, Texas A&M Sophomore Wide Receiver
On his performance the last three games…
“I’m just doing what they tell me to do at practice, getting better at the little things, and it’s paying off.”
On what he saw from Kyler…
“Poise, the first couple of series when he got in the game you could tell he was kind of nervous but after he sat back and got stable, he let it rip, let it go, and made plays. We just have to keep moving forward from this game and onto the next game.”
On what they expected from Kyler…
“What he did out there, he does at practice. So it was nothing new; him scrambling around making plays and hitting the holes. We knew his capability.”
On Kyler scrabbling and sliding…
“Yeah, it keeps him safe. But his scrambling it keeps the defense on their heels. It’s just hard for our offense to react. He is just doing a great job.”
Tra Carson, Texas A&M Senior Running Back
On what was different on the run game…
“I think Coach Spavital did a great job on simplifying things during the week. Making things much easier. The offense line did a great job today opening up holes and Kyler did a great job making the right reads. So we had success today.”
On the threat of Kyler running…
“It defiantly puts the defense on their heels. They can’t just T off and worry about me they have to worry about him because he is definitely throwing/running the ball”
On Kyler making the slide look cool…
“I guess Kyler learned from Johnny not to slide and decided he needed to get down and protect himself. We need him to continue doing that so we can have him for the next play.”
On picking up the win after the last couple of weeks…
“As offense we struggled to move the ball and score points. So today was definitely a weight off our shoulders, scoring points, and getting our confidence back. Getting us back rolling because we are not a bad offense, we just struggled in the previous weeks. I think it’s going to help us a lot moving forward.”
Texas A&M 35, South Carolina 28
October 31, 2015
Kyle Field
Post-game Quotes
Shawn Elliot, South Carolina Head Coach
Thoughts on the game…
“This was a tough loss to a good Texas A&M team, when you reflect on that game from just walking out of the locker room I think the team made improvements. They played with great effort. We need to make a few more plays offensively. Our defense gave us an opportunity to take it down the field. I told the team that if we did get it down there and score the touchdown, we were going to go for two and go for the win. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for us. We just didn’t get the job done. I saw improvements from our football team. A loss is a loss, we understand that and we are very disappointed in what we didn’t accomplish. But we improved as a group, as a team, and as a staff. It’s a process but, I thought we could have taken it today, we close but close just isn’t good enough sometimes.”
The interception returned for the touchdown…
“I think if you could take that one throw back he played really well. We had a wide-open receiver right behind him; if he had hit him we’d be talking about him differently. It was just one of those misreads, he took it back for a touchdown and that was a real momentum killer. I don’t think that was the difference. It was a critical play no doubt, there were a lot of other plays that you could have looked at that effected the game”
Stopping A&M’s offense…
“You can’t let the A&M receivers get open spaces. They get the ball out so quickly. They are very well coached, but they are a very talented football team. Their skill players are the best in the business.”
Brandon Wilds, South Carolina Senior Running Back
On the Offense’s Performance Today…
“It felt great. My O-Line loves the run block; the receivers are willing to help any way that they can. The running game alone was excellent today in my opinion. We put 28 points on the board. As an offense it felt like we did pretty good today. There was a couple of errors that we messed up on, but just go to practice and improve on those errors and try to be as perfect as we can.”
On Quarterback Perry Oth…
“We believe in Perry before the season even started. Perry is an excellent quarterback. Heart, he definitely has heart. Perry did good for the time being, ran blocks, ran well. He had 90 yards, pretty good, so just has to improve on some things.”
The Effect on Texas A&M’s Pick-Six…
“It was a setback, no denying it. The offense has to go out there and score again, as quick as possible.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics