September 02, 2000
Texas A&M Postgame Notes
Largest Season-Opening Crowd for Aggies --- Today's crowd of 80,232 was the largest ever for a Texas A&M season-opening game, nudging out the crowd of 79,713 that watched the Aggies' season-opener against Louisiana State in Tiger Stadium in 1986 (35-17 LSU victory). The crowd was the 10th-largest to witness an Aggie game in school history.
Former Farmhand Farris Impresses --- Making his starting debut at quarterback against Notre Dame was 25-year old sophomore Mark Farris, who joined the Aggies in 1999 after spending five years in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system. In his first extended action, Farris completed 16-of -28 passes for 165 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
Scates Steps Into Lechler's Shoes --- Facing the daunting task of replacing NCAA career punt average champion Shane Lechler in the Aggie lineup, true freshman Cody Scates passed his first test with flying colors. Scates, who only played one year of high school football, averaged 42.1 yards on eight punts. In fact, Scates out-debuted Lechler, who averaged 37.2 yards on five punts in his 1996 debut against Brigham Young in the Pigskin Classic.
R.C. Slocum in Season-Openers --- R.C. Slocum's record in 12 season-openers falls to 9-3 overall and 2-2 at road venues.
First-time Starters --- Making their first career starts in the maroon-and-white were: offensive guard Taylor Whitley, quarterback Mark Farris, defensive end Evan Perroni, safety Terrence Kiel and punter Cody Scates.
Newcomers Make Their Presence Felt --- Several members of the Aggies' 2000 signing class made their debuts today against the Irish: wide receiver Robert Ferguson, defensive back Mike Pinesette, defensive back Dawon Gentry, punter Cody Scates, defensive back Jonte Buhl. Another newcomer, Wes Bautovich, a transfer from Texas A&M-Kingsville, also saw action at holder and at safety.
Game Captains --- Texas A&M's captains for the Notre Dame game were: junior center Seth McKinney, senior wide receiver Chris Taylor, senior noseguard Ron Edwards and senior outside linebacker Roylin Bradley.
12th Man Representative --- Representing the Texas A&M student body on the 12th Man Kickoff team was Eric Stanford, a sophomore from Waco's Robinson High School.
Texas A&M Postgame Quotes
HEAD COACH R.C. SLOCUM:
General comments: I thought in the second half we could get into a position that we could keep pounding with Joe Weber, but instead we got into a situation where we had to pass the ball more than we wanted to. Notre Dame made a couple of big plays and in a matter of minutes the momentum had turned in their favor.
On the field goal in the 3rd quarter: Anytime you have a chance to get seven points instead of three, it's important. We had a chance to get it to 14 and that would have been big for us.
On the job Coach Davie has done: No question that I think Bob Davie and his staff have done a good job at Notre Dame. I think their defensive schemes with Kirk Doll and Greg Mattison are well-conceived. I think the team will keep playing hard for them and they'll have a good season.
On the play of Mark Farris: I don't think that he had many bad plays. I recall one time when he overthrew a wide receiver. We had a problem with the quarterback sneak on a third-down play, but I thought he did a good job of moving the team and a good job of on-field communication.
On whether or not Notre Dame made second-half adjustments: I don't think they changed anything. Their quarterback started making some plays and we had some missed tackles that hurt us. They had some inside runs that hurt us. I had been feeling good until then.