September 06, 2003
Postgame notes and quotes from Saturday's 28-26 win over Utah at Kyle Field...
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME NOTES
MURPHY TAKES IT TO THE HOUSE --- Junior wide receiver Terrence Murphy scored on an 80-yard end around in the first quarter. It was the 13th longest run in school history and the longest ever by a wide receiver. It was the longest by an Aggie since 1997 when Sirr Parker scored on an 80-yarder against Iowa State. On the next series, Murphy set up another touchdown when he hauled in a 50-yard reception from Reggie McNeal. The 50-yard catch was a season-long for the Aggies and the longest by an Aggie since Murphy had a 58-yarder against Missouri in 2002. The sure-handed Murphy also safety covered Utah's onside kickoff attempt at the end of the game.
For the game, Murphy touched the ball eight times and piled up a whopping 251 yards (RUN: 1-80; REC.: 4-76; PR: 1-10; KOR: 2-85), an average of 31.4 yards per play. For the season, he has 11 touches for 385 yards (RUN: 1-80; REC.: 5-79; PR: 1-10; KOR: 4-220), an average of 35.0 yards per play. Six of his 11 touches have gone for at least 20 yards and five have been for 50 yards or more. He has averaged 55.0 yards on four kickoff returns, with three going for at least 58 yards.
2-0 AND GO --- Coach Dennis Franchione has been 2-0 nine times in his career, most recently at TCU in 2000. A&M has started 2-0 six times in the last 10 years, including the last three seasons. Franchione improves his career record to 157-73-2, with a 4-3 mark against Utah. Going into tonight's game, he had lost three straight to the Utes.
LEWIS HITS CENTURY MARK - Freshman running back Courtney Lewis carried 16 times for 100 yards, his first 100-yard rushing game and the first by an Aggie since Derek Farmer rushed for 122 yards 17 carries) last season against Texas. The last A&M freshman to run for 100 yards in a game was Farmer against Iowa State in 2001 (17-133). Through two games, Lewis leads the Aggies in rushing with 174 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries.
FOR THE RECORD ---
- Quarterback Reggie McNeal had 10 straight completions dating back to the Arkansas State game before he threw his first incompletion midway through the second quarter. It was the third-longest streak of completions in school history (record is 14 by Mark Farris vs. Colorado in 2000). McNeal started tonight's game with nine straight completions.
- McNeal finished with 145 passing yards (12-of-18), the second most of his career behind his 191-yard performance last year against Oklahoma.
- Dustin Long played but did not attempt a pass for the first time since the 2001 Galleryfurniture.com Bowl.
- The Aggies took a 21-0 lead into halftime against the Utes, marking the first time A&M held their opponent scoreless in the first half since the Kansas game in 2002 (24-0 in Lawrence).
- Tight end Quinlin Germany grabbed his first career reception and touchdown on a 4-yard pass from McNeal. The touchdown also marked McNeal's first touchdown pass since the last year's win against No. 1-ranked Oklahoma.
- Keith Joseph's 1-yard touchdown plunge was his first touchdown since the Texas game in 2001, a span of 14 games.
- A 6-yard reception by true freshman Earvin Taylor in the first quarter was the first of his career.
- Representing the A&M student body on the 12th Man Kickoff team against Utah was Anthony Squillante, a junior defensive back from Southlake Carroll High School.
- A&M Captains were: junior Derek Farmer, senior Cody Scates, junior Byron Jones and sophomore Ronald "Ray Ray" Jones.
- Utah had 97 offensive plays. The most ever by an A&M opponent was 99 (78 run, 21 pass, 391 yards) by Texas in 1968.
- A&M had just 56 offensive plays for 368 yards, an impressive 6.6 yards per play.
- Jaxson Appel posted 13 tackles for the second straight game.
- Despite a combined 58 pass attempts, neither team recorded a sack. The teams also combined for 14 fumbles (Utah: 9 fumbles, 3 lost; A&M: 5 fumbles, 3 lost).
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME QUOTES
QUARTERBACK REGGIE MCNEAL: "That was a gut-check for our team. We needed to stay level-headed. We let them back into the game but nobody panicked. We still have a lot of work to do. Each week we have to go through practice and be ready to play."
RECEIVER JAMAAR TAYLOR: "That was gut-wrenching to watch. That was like watching a soap opera and not knowing what was going to happen at the end. Jonte (Buhl) and (Scott) Stickane made a great play at the end. We all learned something tonight. We've got to keep fighting. Tonight's game was good for us from a learning perspective."
RECEIVER TERRENCE MURPHY: "I tried to do what I can to help the team win. I just try to make a play when I have the chance. We practice special teams as much as anything in practice. With me and Jamaar back there its just a matter of time before we take one to the house."
CORNERBACK JONTE BUHL: (on making stop on Utah's late two-point attempt) "My job was to read the line and if I saw run, I was supposed to come up and help make the play."
SAFETY JAXSON APPEL: "They really didn't do anything different after halftime. Their game plan was to run the ball. In the first half, we stopped them and in the second half we didn't make those plays. Brandon Warfield ran extremely well. He ran like he wanted to win the ballgame. We did play a lot of snaps, but sometimes that's the way the game goes. No one is going to feel sorry for you if you're out on the field for 97 snaps."
HEAD COACH DENNIS FRANCHIONE: "I told the team that college football games usually come down to a handful of plays. We played hard every snap and in the end we made one more play. I think we had a good first half and a bad third quarter. We need to get smarter and better with the football. The defense played a lot of snaps and found a way to win when the game was on the line. I've got to tip my hat to the kids and also to Utah. It was good to get the win because we have some big games down the road. Reggie was good in practice this week. He played so well in the first half that we didn't want to change. We did good things offensively at times. What we need is experience. The experience we have has not come through hard knocks - we have two wins. We just need time."
UTAH POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH URBAN MEYER: "I'm going to talk about the positive things. The offensive and defensive lines did a great job playing in the atmosphere against a good team. They couldn't stop us running the ball. I'm disappointed because we lost the game on one two-point play. But there were a lot of positives, like the work of the o-line. We need to be balanced and we're not balanced now. We'll struggle until we are balanced."
LINEBACKER COREY DODDS: "We played hard and we didn't want to lose this game. In the first half, we were all excited and wanted to make big plays. I for one blew assignments. In the second half, we came out settled, more relaxed and didn't make as many mistakes."
RUNNING BACK BRANDON WARFIELD: "I'm disappointed we didn't get the win, but I was glad my family could come see me play. (Warfield is from Crockett, roughly 60 miles from College Station)."