Texas A&M
2-1
Louisiana
1-2
Aggies Move to 2-1 with 45-21 Win Over Louisiana
Sep 16, 2017 | Football
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Texas A&M needed a second-half comeback to defeat Louisiana-Lafayette 45-21 on Saturday at Kyle Field.
The Ragin' Cajuns (1-2) led 21-14 at halftime before the Aggies scored 31 consecutive points en route to the victory.
"We just talked about that in the locker room, that we were like two different teams," Sumlin said of the Aggies' Jekyll and Hyde showing. "We're a work in progress."
After much of the first half went wrong for A&M, the third quarter went entirely right, as the Aggies (2-1) scored 17 points in that span to grab the lead for good.
"In the second half they made some adjustments, they put a lot of people in the box to stop the run," Cajuns coach Mark Hudspeth said. "They were determined to make us throw the football to win the game, and we just didn't have that offensive rhythm in the second half that we had in the first half."
Freshman Aggies quarterback Kellen Mond, in beginning to live up to his preseason hype as a five-star prospect, collected a five-yard touchdown run and threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to fellow freshman Camron Buckley in the decisive third quarter.
"He's gotten better," Sumlin said of Mond. "He's more comfortable, and he's more assertive."
"We still have a lot of work to do this week, we can't be content with what happened today," said A&M safety Armani Watts, who collected two of the Aggies' three interceptions. "We just played with more emotion in the second half. You can't play this game without emotion. We stuck with it and knew our offense would come through."
ABOUT THE WIN
• Texas A&M rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit (21-14) to defeat the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, 45-21. The Aggies shut out Louisiana in the second half, while scoring the final 31 points of the game.
• The Aggies out-gained the Cajuns, 353-82, in the second half. A&M had 201 rushing yards in the second, while limiting the Cajuns to just 22 ground yards in the final two quarters. The Aggie defense limited UL Lafayette to 0-6 of third-down tries and just four first downs in the second half.
• The win was the Aggies' 27th straight home victory over non-conference opponents.
• Head coach Kevin Sumlin's record vs. non-conference teams at Kyle Field improved to 18-0.
• The Aggies improved to 6-1 all-time against the Ragin' Cajuns.
NEXT WEEK
• Texas A&M will open its 2017 SEC slate with an 11 a.m. matchup with Arkansas at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
• The Razorbacks were off on Saturday.
• Texas A&M has beaten the Razorbacks five straight times since joining the SEC in 2012.
NOTABLES
• Senior DB Armani Watts posted the first two-pickoff game of his career with a pair of thefts against the Ragin' Cajuns. He is the first Aggie with two pickoffs in a single game since Justin Evans had a pair in the season-opener vs. UCLA in 2016.
• Watts' pickoffs were the seventh and eighth of his career and he ranks as the active career leader on the team.
• Watts filled the stat line with eight tackles, including two behind the Cajun line of scrimmage, along with his two pickoffs.
• Sophomore LB Tyrel Dodson tallied an interception for a second straight week. He tallied a 40-yard pick-six interception early in the fourth quarter. He also tallied seven tackles, including one for a loss of eight yards.
• Freshman RB Jacob Kibodi registered a career-long 67-yard run in the fourth quarter to go over the 100-yard mark for his first time as an Aggie with 101 yards on four carries. He entered the game with three rushing yards on one carry.
• Freshman QB Kellen Mond became the first true freshman to surpass the 300-yard plateau in passing yards at Texas A&M by completing 24-of-31 passes for 301 yards and 3 TDs. It marked just the fifth 300-yard passing game by an Aggie freshman (redshirt or true). All four previous 300-yard passing efforts were by Johnny Manziel in 2012.
• The Aggies, who came into the game with a +2.5 turnover margin (tied for 3rd in FBS), generated five takeaways against the Ragin' Cajuns, which was the team's most since posting seven takeaways in last year's win over No. 9 Tennessee at Kyle Field.
• Texas A&M has generated 10 takeaways in the first three games of 2017. After three games last year, the Aggies had gained five turnovers.
O-LINE SHUFFLE
• The Aggies shuffled their starting offensive front for a third straight game, moving longtime starting center Erik McCoy to RG, inserted redshirt junior Koda Martin at LT, started true freshman Jared Hocker at LG and moved sophomore Colton Prater to center. Junior Keaton Sutherland, who started at LT last week, moved back to RT, where he started vs. UCLA.
• It was Hocker's first career start at RG, it was Prater's first career start at C (15th overall at various positions) and it was McCoy's first career start at OG (16th overall, previous 15 were all at C).
• Early in the fourth quarter, the Aggies' front five were sophomore Erik McCoy at center, flanked by four freshmen -- redshirt freshman Ryan McCollum and true freshmen Hocker, Dan Moore Jr. and Carson Green.
FRESHMEN SCORING
• For the first time in school history, four TRUE freshmen scored touchdowns in a single game.
• The Aggies received touchdown plays from four members of the 2017 signing class -- QB Kellen Mond, WR Jhamon Ausbon, RB Jacob Kibodi and WR Camron Buckley.
• Mond also tossed three touchdowns, which was just one off the freshman school record of four by several true and redshirt freshman QBs.
GAME CAPTAINS, 12TH MAN
• Game captains for the Aggies were Cullen Gillaspia, Christian Kirk, Trayveon Williams and Armani Watts. Louisiana won the toss and deferred their choice to the second half. Texas A&M received the opening kickoff.
• The Aggies' 12th Man representative was junior LB Cullen Gillaspia (Katy, Texas) in his 16th straight start.
.@tdots25 on his Pick-6 & Saturday's win over Louisiana. Dodson finished with 7 tackles on the day for the Aggies. #12thMan #ULLvsTAMU pic.twitter.com/kdSFOYfffc
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) September 16, 2017
Hear from @kbj_5, as he talks about the A&M rushing attack in Saturday's win over Louisiana. #12thMan #ULLvsTAMU pic.twitter.com/FPMJO7ocyZ
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) September 16, 2017
Team Stats
LA 0, TAMU 7
TAMU - Christian Kirk 1 yd pass from Kellen Mond (Daniel LaCamera kick) 4 plays, 51 yards, TOP 1:37
LA 7, TAMU 7
LA - Trey Ragas 3 yd run (C. Linden kick), 4 plays, 12 yards, TOP 1:51
LA 7, TAMU 14
TAMU - Jhamon Ausbon 24 yd pass from Kellen Mond (Daniel LaCamera kick) 1 plays, 24 yards, TOP 0:18
LA 14, TAMU 14
LA - Ryheem Malone 8 yd pass from Jordan Davis (Stevie Artigue kick) 6 plays, 37 yards, TOP 3:00
LA 21, TAMU 14
LA - Jordan Wright 1 yd pass from Jordan Davis (Stevie Artigue kick) 13 plays, 81 yards, TOP 2:55
LA 21, TAMU 21
TAMU - Kellen Mond 5 yd run (Daniel LaCamera kick), 9 plays, 81 yards, TOP 2:19
LA 21, TAMU 28
TAMU - Camron Buckley 12 yd pass from Kellen Mond (Daniel LaCamera kick) 10 plays, 74 yards, TOP 3:04
LA 21, TAMU 31
TAMU - Daniel LaCamera 28 yd field goal 11 plays, 67 yards, TOP 3:41
LA 21, TAMU 38
TAMU - Tyrel Dodson 40 yd interception (Daniel LaCamera kick)
LA 21, TAMU 45
TAMU - Jacob Kibodi 67 yd run (Daniel LaCamera kick), 2 plays, 61 yards, TOP 0:56
