Texas A&M 38, McNeese State 24: Postgame Notes and Quotes
Sep 01, 2001 | Football
September 01, 2001
Aggie Postgame Notes
ABOUT THE COMEBACK --- The Aggies overcame a 16-point deficit against the Cowboys, the most in a Kyle Field victory since quarterback Kevin Murray led the 1986 Aggies to a 31-30 victory over the Baylor Bears after trailing 17-0 in the first quarter. The 17-point rally also represents the largest comeback by the Aggies during the R.C. Slocum era, home or away. The previous biggest comeback during the Slocum era was 15 points against Oklahoma State in 1997 and Kansas State in the 1998 Big 12 Championship game.
ABOUT THE WIN --- Tonight's win was the 110th victory of R.C. Slocum's career … Slocum improves to 10-3 in season-openers … Slocum is 13-0 in Kyle Field openers … Slocum remained perfect against non-conference foes at Kyle Field, improving his career record to 27-0
FRESHMAN DEBUTS --- Several members of the Aggies' 2001 signing class made their debuts against McNeese State: OL/TE Jami Hightower, LB Brandon Johnson, DB Byron Jones, WR Terrence Murphy, WR Terence Thomas and LB Randall Webb.
TURNOVER TOUCHDOWNS --- The McNeese State Cowboys scored a pair of touchdowns on turnovers by the Aggies in the first half of play. On A&M's opening series, quarterback Mark Farris fumbled after being sacked by the Cowboys. The fumble was scooped up by Cowboys linebacker Brad Archie who returned it 55 yards for a score. It was the first time an opponent has scored via fumble return against the Aggies since Charles Johnson of Louisiana-Lafayette returned a fumble 17 yards to paydirt in 1996. In the second quarter, Cowboy safety Joe Judge picked off a deflected Farris pass and returned it 22 yards for the score. It was the first INT return for a score since Greg Brown returned a Farris aerial 10 yards for a TD in 2000.
McNEESE STATE HONORS SLOCUM --- Texas A&M head coach R.C. Slocum received a Distingushed Alumnus award from his alma mater McNeese State prior to today's game between the Aggies and the Cowboys. Slocum received his undergraduate and master's degree from McNeese and was a standout receiver for the Cowboys. Slocum received his bachelor's degree in physical education in 1967 and his master's in administration and supervision in 1968. On the gridiron, Slocum grabbed 74 career catches for 945 yards and seven touchdowns, including 33 catches for 471 yards as a senior.
12th MAN/CAPTAINS --- Representing the 12th Man against the Cowboys was Robert Jordan, a senior from Brenham, Texas … Captains against McNeese State were: Seth McKinney, Rocky Bernard, Jay Brooks and Mark Farris.
RODRIGUEZ RETURNS PICKOFF --- Christian Rodriguez made his first career interception count, returning it 11 yards for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. It was the first pickoff returned for a TD by A&M since Michael Jameson returned one 70 yards for a score against Missouri in Columbia in 1999.
SCORING THE POINTS --- The Aggies scored 38 points, third most in a season opener in the R.C. Slocum era (59-7 vs. Sam Houston State in 1997 and 45-7 vs. LSU in 1991). Prior to Slocum's promotion to head coach, the last time A&M scored 38 points in an opener was against Wichita State in 1973 (48-0).
ABOUT FARRIS --- Mark Farris completed 24-of-40 passes for 254 yards with one interception and one touchdown. Farris's completions and attempts tied for the 10th most in school history.
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Aggie Postgame Quotes
CHRISTIAN RODRIGUEZ:
"Not to take anything away from them, but we are Texas A&M and we need to play better than we did. I think they were well prepared and they came wired to play. I think the turning point in the game was the catch by Dwain Goynes with one second on the clock in the first half. It gave us some momentum going into the second half. (on int. return for TD) I noticed their quarterback tends to go with his first read. I was blessed to be in a position where I was at and I made the play. They have great athletes and played as hard as they could."
SAMMY DAVIS:
(on interceptions) "I really can't claim (the second one). It was a blessing from God. Coach Hank made the right play call and I was in the right spot. (on freshman WR Terrence Murphy) Terrence is great. He's a big-time go-to receiver. He's in a better position than I was in as a freshman. They came in with a good game plan. They can compete at the Division I level. Being 16 points down, I think in the past we would have folded. But we kept fighting and came through in the end."
CODY SCATES:
(on punting and kicking FG) In high school, I did both so it wasn't that big of an adjustment. I only had this week to prepare and had a hurt groin, which made things a little difficult."
HEAD COACH R.C. SLOCUM:
(halftime speech) "I told them this wasn't any time to panic. We needed to stay poised and start making the plays we needed to make. We also had to stop giving away points. It was a desperate situation but it wasn't a time to panic. We were able to come out and take control of the game in the second half, but we didn't do it as quickly as I hoped we would. I didn't think we looked we sharp. I thought it was big to take back some of the momentum before halftime because we didn't want to go into halftime 16 points down. I think we really helped ourselves at the end of the half and it gave us something to build upon. I told the team after the game that sometimes you have games like this. We had a close one like this against Arkansas State (22-21 A&M win in 1984). Earlier that year we played UTEP, and they weren't very good, and they had a field goal it the cross bar that would have tied the game. Against Stanford a few years ago, we played terrible but ended up winning the game. The positive of a game like this is that you come out the next day and you are ready to go to work. If it was a blow out it wouldn't have given us an accurate appraisal of our team. So it's a positive that we won and had to fight back to do it."
(On Cody Scates) "My assessment of the kicking game is pretty obvious. Cody did an excellent job kicking off, doing placekicks and punting. He had a good solid night."
"I'm disappointed with the offense. We didn't move the ball effectively with the run or the pass. Our first down success was not good. It's hard to win when you have a bunch of second-and-long situations and we did it a lot tonight. We're not going to be effective on offense if we can't be effective on first downs."
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McNeese State Postgame Quotes
TOMMY TATE, HEAD COACH
"We fought hard and were extremely physical. We were given a chance to win this game, but came up short. A&M has a great team and I have to give them a lot of credit for coming out with a win in the end. Coming into this game no one gave us a chance. We haven't played outdoors in a week because of the weather and that may have had something to do with things late in the game. A lot of guys started cramping, but I'm very proud of the way we played. We did make some mistakes and that's going to happen when you get fatigued. I thought we were well prepared and that showed on the field. Our players and coaches were the only ones who thought we could win this game. We saw a lot of positives and can use that later in the season. Texas A&M was just able to get the game under their control in the fourth quarter. They made some great defensive plays and A&M has made a living off of defense. This was definitely an intimidating atmosphere with the crowd and traditions, but I thought we handled it well. It's great exposure for McNeese."
SLADE NAGLE, QUARTERBACK
"We played good and with a lot of emotion. This environment was hostile and they have a great crowd. They caused us to not get a few offensive checks off. They (defense) wore us down in the fourth quarter. We played as hard as we could, but are still disappointed. We came in here with a great mood, but just didn't have the depth. We're getting used to playing in front of large crowds and I think that's helping to pump us up."
