Aggies Take on the Wildcats

Lexington, Kentucky-The Texas A&M Aggies took there 1-0 record on the road to face the 1-0 Kentucky Wildcats who have had a roller coaster week. After beating rival Louisville by a point the Wildcats faced a tough North Carolina team that they struggled against and then their coach Michael abruptly retired after the game. Everyone knew this would be a tough week for the Wildcats and it showed in the second half. After a valiant first half Kentucky fell by the way side. At the beginning of the game both teams struggled to move the ball in the torrential downpour, but a 77 yard catch and run gave Kentucky all the momentum and a 7-3 lead as the first quarter ended. The A&M offense struggled to find it's rhythm amassing only 80 yards of offense and turning the ball over once. Kentucky had good field position multiple times in the first half but the Aggies defense always stepped up. After a 35 yard run by Smith Kentucky found itself in the lead 14-6 and looking good when Cyrus Gray struck for the second time in as many games. He retunrned the ensuing kick off 87 yards to cut the lead to 14-13 with 49 seconds left. A big kick return set up a Kentucky field goal with 1 tick on the clock. With the half all but over it seemed the WIldcats would hold a 17-13 lead at the half. Kentucky kicked it deep but away from Gray. This was a bad choice however as it lead to the play of the game. McQueen gathered in the kick and bolted down the right side. He found a crease and ran his way into the endzone giving the Aggies a 20-17 halftime lead.


The second half would be all Aggies as Gray led the way with a career high 130 yards (1 TD), 100 his yards coming in the second half. Johnson came out of the halftime break playing much better and ended his day 15-24 with 158 yards and a TD. In the third quarter the Aggies scored 10 quick points then basically sat on the ball the rest of the game to ensure the victory. With the weather conditions as bad as they were the A&M coaches decided to take the ball out of Johnson's hands the last 7 minutes. Gray would add a touchdown half way through the fourth quarter that sealed victory. The big story of the game would be the play by the Aggies defense. They were greatly scrutinized following the performance against Minnesota, but responded with a terrific outing this week. They held he dangerous Wildcat ground attack to 31 yards with 35 coming on one run. The defense still seems to give up too many big plays as they gave up a 77 yard TD pass along with the 35 yard touchdown run. While the Aggies put up 37 points the offense played very poor. Special teams accounted for all but 12 of the 37 and the Aggies only managed 276 total yards. The Aggies offense will look to bounce back next week at home. That next game will feature the 2-0 Aggies taking on the 1-1 UAB Blazers.


Scoring Summary

First Quarter
FG TAMU: R. Bullock, 40 yd FG; 3-0 TAMU
TD UK: G. McCaskill, 77 yd pass from M. Newton; 7-3 UK

Second Quarter
FG TAMU: R. Bullock, 34 yd FG; 7-6 UK
TD UK: A. Smith, 35 yd run; 14-6 UK
TD TAMU: C. Gray, returned kickoff 87 yds; 14-13 UK
FG UK: L. Seiber, 47 yd FG; 17-13 UK
TD TAMU: J. McQueen, returned kickoff 8 yds; 20-17 TAMU

Third Quarter
TD TAMU: T. McCoy, 6 yd pass from J. Johnson; 27-17 TAMU
FG TAMU: R. Bullock, 37 yd FG; 30-17 TAMU

Fourth Quarter
TD TAMU: C. Gray, 5 yd run; 37-17 TAMU

Final: 37-17 Texas A&M


Texas A&M Stats

Offense
Jerrod Johnson: 15-24, 158 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
POTG-Cyrus Gray: 28 car, 130 yds, 1 TD, 4 rec, 28 yds, 1 KO return TD
T. McCoy: 4 rec, 34 yds, 1 TD

Defense
Kyle Mangan: 8 tkls, 3 TFL, 1 sack
Dustin Harris: INT