Aggies Post 67-0 Win Over Prairie View

Saturday, September 10

College Station

11:00 AM

Texas A&M

2-0

Prairie View A&M

1-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Prairie View A&M

Texas A&M

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Sep 10, 2016 | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery Box: A&M 67, PVAMU 0 (PDF)

COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (AP) -- Trevor Knight threw for 344 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score to lead No. 20 Texas A&M to a 67-0 rout of Prairie View A&M on Saturday.

Knight finished 21 of 37 and threw touchdowns of 8 yards to Speedy Noil and 34 and 64 yards to Christian Kirk in the second quarter as the Aggies (2-0) built a 38-0 halftime lead. Knight also rushed for a game-high 78 yards on seven carries in just over one half of play.

The Aggies extended its home non-conference win streak to 23 games. Texas A&M outgained the Panthers 672-205 in earning its largest shutout since defeating Missouri 73-0 on Sept. 18, 1993.

Texas A&M managed a 22-yard field goal in the first 10 minutes before busting the game open over the final 18 minutes of the half.

Keith Ford, who had two touchdowns, had an 11-yard scoring run with three minutes left in the opening quarter before Knight tight-roped the sideline for the final 5 yards of a 32-yard TD scamper to end the first.

Prairie View (1-1), which plays in the FCS Southwestern Athletic Conference, had a 38-yard field goal blocked and missed a 42-yard field goal in the first half.

Trey Green threw for 160 yards on 13 of 39 passing, but the Aggies' defense had pressure on Green throughout the game.

POSTGAME NOTES

WITH THE WIN...
•    Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin tallied his 38th career victory in Aggieland, which put him in a tie for sixth-most in program history with Charles B. "Uncle Charley" Moran (38-8-4 record from 1909-14.
•    The Aggies improved to 2-0 for the fourth straight season under Sumlin, which hadn't been done at Texas A&M since Emory Bellard won consecutive games to start the season from 1974-78.
•    The Aggies tallied their 23rd straight non-conference home victory.
•    The Aggies logged their first-ever victory over Prairie View A&M and its first-ever win over an opponent from the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

600-YARD DAY
•    The Aggies rolled up 672 total yards, marking A&M's first 600-yard day since totaling 663 yards against SMU in 2014. Today's offensive effort was the 14th 600-yard performance of the Kevin Sumlin era. The 672 total yards ranks 13th in school annals.

300+ FOR KNIGHT
•    Graduate transfer QB Trevor Knight tallied the first 300-yard passing game of his Texas A&M career with 344 against the Panthers. Knight had four 300-yard days while competing for the University of Oklahoma 2013-15.
•    For the game, Knight rolled up a career-high 422 total yards with 344 passing yards and 78 rushing yards. His previous total offense high was 376 vs. Iowa State (230 pass, 146 rush) in 2014.He accounted for four touchdowns with three aerial scores and 32-yard rushing touchdown.

BIG DAY FOR KIRK
•    Sophomore Christian Kirk was his usual productive self with five catches for 106 yards and two receiving touchdowns. It marked the fourth two-touchdown game of Kirk's 15-game Texas A&M career.

EVANS IMPRESSES...AGAIN
•    Senior SS Justin Evans, last week's Nagurski and Thorpe Defensive Player of the Week, had another strong game with a team-high five tackles (four solos), two pass breakups and a field goal block. Last week vs. UCLA, Evans had two pickoffs and posted the game-clinching pass breakup.

67-0
•    The 67-0 final marked the largest margin of victory for the Aggies in a shutout since Sept. 18, 1993 when the Aggies blanked Missouri, 73-0.
•    67 point margin of victory was the largest for the Aggies since topping Lamar 73-3 on Sept. 6, 2014.
•    The 67 points scored by the Aggies ranks 13th on A&M's all-time list.
•    The Aggies notched their first shutout at Kyle Field since Sept. 11, 2004 when Texas A&M blanked Wyoming, 31-0.

TO THE HOUSE
•    Junior CB Nick Harvey raced to a 73-yard touchdown on punt return early in the fourth quarter. It was the first punt return TD by the Aggies since Christian Kirk scored on a 68-yard return against Alabama in 2015.

FIRSTS...
•    Making their first career starts today were junior transfer RB Keith Ford, junior TE Tanner Schorp and sophomore CB Deshawn Capers-Smith.

MISCELLANEOUS
•    Junior WR Speedy Noil returned to action and the starting lineup after missing the season-opener due to suspension
•    Game captains for the Aggies were junior DE Myles Garrett, junior WR Ricky Seals-Jones, graduate QB Trevor Knight and senior DB Alex Sezer Jr. Prairie View A&M won the toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff.
•    The Aggies' 12th Man representative was sophomore LB Cullen Gillaspia (Katy, Texas) in his second straight start. A former walkon, Gillaspia was awarded a scholarship at the end of fall camp.
•    With his two receptions, senior WR Josh Reynolds moved into 10th place on Texas A&M's career receptions list with 109.
•    The Aggies had 13 different receivers catch at least one pass vs. PVAMU.
•    With a Jarrett Johnson sack in the end zone late in the fourth quarter, the Aggies logged their first safety since Nov. 9, 2013 (vs. Mississippi State).
•    Prairie View A&M's 32 rushing yards was the fewest yielded by the Aggie defense since allowing 31 vs. Sam Houston State on Sept. 4, 2010.

Post Game Quotes
Texas A&M 67, Prairie View A&M 0
September 10, 2016

Justin Evans, Texas A&M Senior Safety
On the first home shutout in 12 years…
"I didn't know it was the first one in 12 years, but it feels good. It's always good to get a shutout no matter who you're playing, but we got the shutout and now we have to move on to the next."

On keeping focused …
"No I don't think it's hard to keep focus. We know what our job is so we're going to come out and we're going to do that. Even in the second half when we got taken out and our backups got put in we were rooting for them. We want them to do just as good as we do. So no, I don't think it's hard to keep focused

On getting the shutout and recording a safety …
"We came out with a job and that was to not let them score. We made a few mistakes here and there where they had a few drives and they capped some plays off, but a as a whole we didn't give up any points. That was our job and that's what we did."

Avery Gennesy, Texas A&M Senior Offensive Tackle
On preparing for conference play and Auburn …
"There's always room for improvement. I think we did do what we wanted to do today which was run the ball, go fast, and do what we do. I think that's what we need to focus on and that's what we have to do."

On the young guys on the offensive line…
I think they're doing really well, they're taking their time and we're working on getting our cards all right. I think we're doing really well as a group, everybody talks about us being young as a problem but we don't look at it as a problem, we just fix it and we do our thing."

On the team taking care of business…
"We just focus on us. We just do what we have to do, focusing on us is what the main key is, just doing the little things right. I think that's what's going to take us far and I'm very excited for the season.

Daeshon Hall, Texas A&M Senior Defensive End
Good mood…
"It is always great to get a shutout. I am really excited for everyone who got to play. I think everybody who was able to play got a big play so it was exciting."

On Next week…
"Conference play is a little different we will just have to keep playing the way that helped us get this shutout."

On what they wanted to accomplish…
"Every game we want to try and shut the opponent down. We try to take advantage of what the other team does best. We knew UCLA was going to run and test our physicality and in this game we knew the quarterback would run the ball well."

Trevor Knight, Texas A&M Senior Quarterback
On today's start…
"We didn't start as quickly I hoped we would. There is not a whole lot of explanation for that besides execution. We have to execute better coming out of the gates, but we settled in and got some big plays going. I would like to see us start a little faster."

On tempo…
"I liked the tempo we had going today, especially when we were going real fast driving up and down the field. Our identity so far as an offense has been tempo and finding that rhythm."

On Speedy…
"He did a great job, there were a few plays we should have connected on, that will come. It is only week two, we will make those plays down stretch. I was excited for him to be back in there. He is an explosive player and is capable of being one of the top guys in this league. He is going to continue to progress as he has since I have gotten here."

Christian Kirk, Texas A&M Sophomore Wide Receiver
On Speedy's touchdown…
"I think it was a boost of confidence, it's been awhile for him and I know it was tough for him to sit out that first game, and he has been practicing his tail off. Saw his gradual increase in his play. You can see his hard work playing off."

On offense's focus…
"We changed all the little things that was wrong last year. Changing tempo, or sideline energy, just everybody doing their job, that's the main thing we stressed this week. This week was more about us, it wasn't about Prairie View it was about us sharpening the blade."

On takeaways from today…
"The number one thing that we take away from it is getting our young guys experience. That's really key because a lot of those guys haven't been able to see real in game action, and for them to get out there to practice their fundamentals and put work on the field."

Nick Harvey, Texas A&M Junior Defensive Back
On the defense's performance through two games…
"Everybody was just ready to play. I feel like this year could be a great year for the defense. I feel like we are going to do some great things this year."

On what a shutout means to you…
"They don't happen every day, so we are feeling great right now. We made some mistakes today but we got to get back to work on Monday and just be ready for Auburn."

On punt return touchdown…

"Going into this game, we knew the punts were going be short, and when we got one, that was going to be long enough for either one us to turn. I was in a great position, and I took it to the house."

Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M Head Coach
On today's win…
"I feel good. All week we talked about focus for four quarter. It's good to see because it means that they are listening about our standard and what we are looking for and guys playing to that standard. For the most part I felt like that happened today. We got off to a slow start and Trevor was a little excited again and this week he was a little high early. So next week he'll be right on target because the guy hasn't played in the last 19 weeks until the last two weeks of games, so he's nervous. We are learning more about him and he's learning more about us. We are anxious to see SEC play and get on the road a little bit. We have to communicate. We will practice with crowd noise like we always do."

On performances of all three quarterbacks….
"We wanted to get Jake out there and get him some work. He operated and did alright. It wasn't just the quarterbacks, but we were able to get a whole other line in there. In the third quarter, some of the receivers struggled a little bit, but they bounced back and it's great to see that. Those back up players are important especially special teams going down the stretch because players like Armani Watts and Justin Evans we are going to need to get off the field for special teams. Some players got better than last week and some didn't because this was their first game. It was great to get Jake and Connor in, who is obviously a crowd favorite. He's created his own fan base. He was happy to get in there and that was great for our team because he is a great team leader."

On his team…
"This team is this team. This team is about getting better each week and fixing the issues. We are trying to play to a certain standard and hold each other accountable. That's no different than any team we've had since we have been here. We will see where we go, but this team cares about each other and are hard on each other in a different way. They are being held to a certain standard regardless of who is across the line."

Willie Simmons, Prairie View A&M Head Coach
Opening statement…
"It was a tough game. We knew going into it that we were going to have to play above ourselves to have a chance against a top 20 SEC program. I'm proud of our guys though. I thought they competed for 60 minutes. They didn't quit. We gave them our best punch and that's all you can ask for. We will make some corrections. There were some things that we did that we can get better at. We'll watch the film tomorrow as a staff, we'll let the guys rest up, and then we'll come back. All of the goals we set at the beginning of the season are still there. Beating Texas A&M was never a goal of ours. Of course we wanted to, but win our conference, win all our home games, win all of our natural rivalries, win the SWAC, and win the Black College National Championship were our five goals. I'm proud of the guys. We'll get better, and we'll come back ready to go next week."

On playing at a place like Kyle Field…
"It shows us what we aspire to be. I told our guys, guys who aspire to play at the next level, you look at Myles Garrett that's what an NFL player looks like. Myles Garrett didn't walk into Texas A&M looking like that. After four years of eating right and four years of extreme conditioning in the weight room, he's made himself a Top 5 NFL draft pick. For our guys, it shows them the level we have to continue to work to. I told them, when you go in the cafeteria now, you think about this game. When you go in the weight room to lift weights, you think about this game."

On his team's performance…
"I thought Arthur Lockett played a phenomenal game. He competed all day long. You're talking about a guy who is 5' 8", 190 pounds going against two 6' 3" wide receivers. He played a phenomenal game. Terrence Singleton, for the second game in a row, I thought he showed up. He's a Baylor transfer, so you expect that level of play from him being a Power 5 transfer. Those two guys on the outside I thought did a phenomenal job. Demarco Lastrap had a career game—six catches for 88 yards. He didn't get many chances in the second half, but he showed up and made some big plays. All in all, some guys had some great individual efforts and we'll go from there."