BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 6 Texas A&M football team dominated the Sam Houston Bearkats, 31-0, recording the program’s first season-opening shutout since 1993 at Kyle Field on Saturday afternoon.
Sophomore Haynes King threw for a career-best 364 yards and recorded three touchdowns through the air. Preseason All-Southeastern Conference First Team selection Ainias Smith hauled in six passes for a career-high 164 yards and two touchdowns. Head coach Jimbo Fisher pushed his opening-day record to 11-1 overall and 5-0 while leading the Aggies.
The defense stifled the Bearkat (0-1) attack, giving up only 182 total yards and recording two takeaways. Sophomore Jardin Gilbert matched a career-high five tackles and hauled in the first interception of his career. Andre White Jr., broke up two passes and forced a fumble that halted a Sam Houston drive in A&M territory midway through the fourth quarter.
The Aggies (1-0) broke the scoring seal with 3:39 left in the first quarter as King connected with sophomore Yulkeith Brown on a 66-yard strike for Brown’s first-career reception and touchdown.
After a Caden Davis 40-yard field goal to give the Aggies a 10-0 advantage, A&M struck again with :50 seconds in the half as Smith hauled in a 63-yard pass from King.
Following a two-hour, 54-minute weather delay just prior to the start of the third quarter, the Maroon & White marched down the field on a 12-play, 71-yard drive that was capped off by a Devon Achane 1-yard rushing touchdown, pushing its lead to 24-0 with 8:52 remaining in the third.
The King-to-Smith connection made its presence known again early in the fourth quarter as King hit the speedster down the right sideline with 11:10 left in the game, extending the lead to 31-0 and putting away the Bearkats for good.
Listen to “Texas A&M Coach Jimbo Fisher (9.3.22)” on Spreaker.
Listen to “Aggie S Demani Richardson (9.3.22)” on Spreaker.
Listen to “Aggie WR Ainias Smith (9.3.22)” on Spreaker.
Listen to “Aggie DL Fadil Diggs (9.3.22)” on Spreaker.
Up Next
The Maroon & White plays host to App State (0-1) at 2:30 p.m., on Sept. 10 at Kyle Field. The game will broadcast on ESPN2 with tickets available through the 12th Man Foundation.
Texas A&M Football Post Game Notes
No. 6 Texas A&M 31, Sam Houston 0
Kyle Field (Bryan-College Station, Texas)
Team Notes
The Aggies are 5-0 in season-openers during the Jimbo Fisher era and have outscored their opponents 189-36 in those ballgames.
Texas A&M is now 27-4 when scoring first and a perfect 25-0 when leading after the first quarter under Coach Fisher.
The two 60-plus yard touchdown passes by sophomore Haynes King marked the first time an Aggie QB has sent multiple scoring passes over 60 yards to the end zone since Oct. 15, 2011, when Ryan Tannehill tossed a pair of 68-yard passes to Ryan Swope against Baylor.
Today’s captains against Sam Houston were WR Ainias Smith, DL Fadil Diggs, DB Demani Richardson and DS Connor Choate.
Saturday’s announced attendance was 97,946.
Individual Notes
Senior WR Ainias Smith extended his receptions streak, which dates back to the 2019 LSU game, to 24 games. He finished the game with six receptions, which brings his career total to 118 and moves him into a tie with Jalen Wydermyer (2019-21) for No. 11 on the Aggie all-time career list.
Smith registered the fourth 100-yard receiving game of his career, finishing with a career high 168 yards, which helped move him to 15th on A&M’s all-time career list with 1,485 yards.
Smith is the first Aggie to haul in two 40-plus yard receptions since Caleb Chapman did so against Florida on Oct. 10, 2020.
An early, career-long 63-yard touchdown reception paired with a 43-yard scoring grab in the fourth quarter gave Smith his sixth career multi-touchdown game and his fourth multi-receiving TD game.
The two touchdown receptions for Smith moved him into seventh on A&M’s all-time career list and bumped his total to 17 grabs, tying him with recent Texas A&M Hall of Fame inductee Mike Evans (2012-13).
Sophomore WR Yulkeith Brown scored a touchdown on his first career reception, bringing a 66-yard pass to the end zone to put A&M on the board in the first quarter.
Sophomore QB Haynes King returned to the field for the Aggies, recording the third start of his career and first since suffering a season-ending injury against Colorado in Denver last season.
King’s 364 passing yards were the most by an Aggie QB in a home season opener, bettering the previous best of 349 by Jerrod Johnson against New Mexico in 2009.
King became the first Aggie to total 300+ passing yards since Kellen Mond (2017-20) threw for 338 yards on Oct. 10, 2020, against Florida.
Sophomore DL Fadil Diggs and senior LB Chris Russell Jr. made a career high five tackles in the victory.
Sophomore DB Jardin Gilbert matched his career high with five takedowns and added the first interception of his career, returning the ball 13 yards.
In his first game as the Aggies’ primary placekicker, junior Caden Davis sent a 40-yard field goal through the uprights in the second quarter to register the first made field goal of his career.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics