September 27, 2003
Postgame notes and quotes from Saturday's 37-26 loss to No. 17 Pittsburgh at Kyle Field...
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH DENNIS FRANCHIONE: "We had a 500-yard day on offense. We missed too many opportunities with turnovers. We can't turnover the ball three times on our side of the 50 and win. Fitzgerald may be as good a receiver as I've ever seen. If he's not on ESPN highlights tonight...We missed too many opportunities. The special teams were a 14-point swing. We had some good plays but too many turnovers. The exhibition season is over and the real season starts tomorrow. Texas Tech's offense is different from Pitt's. This gives us the ability to go back, look at some tape and evaluate the secondary. I'd say Reggie would probably start (against Tech) right now, but I'll have to go back and look at the tape first. (At halftime) We were upbeat to have made that many mistakes and to have the lead. I praised them at halftime. We had more than 300 yards and that's been a game for us. No reason to go in at halftime and not be upbeat with our players."
QUARTERBACK DUSTIN LONG: "As a backup, you've got to stay prepared because anything can happen. You've got to know the offense and the adjustments that are made during the game. (On Courtney Lewis) Courtney is a great back. We hand off a lot of him and he really helps out the whole team."
SAFETY JAXSON APPEL: "Their receivers were some big guys, but that really doesn't make a difference if you are in position. We weren't in position. (On Fitzgerald) He's probably the best I've ever played against and he'll make a lot of money playing this game one day. We have to be ready to adjust. The team who makes the better adjustments wins, and we didn't make our adjustments tonight."
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR CARL TORBUSH: (on size advantage of Fitzgerald) "I don't know if we were at any more disadvantage than anyone else has been. I've said it before. The only position that hasn't grown is cornerback. We are at a disadvantage with them having a really good player. We didn't get the things done we had planned to. We made halftime adjustments, but the past two weeks we have not got it done. Our job is to put the fire out and we haven't been able to do that."
PITTSBURGH POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH WALT HARRIS: "We're thrilled about winning this game. This is a very, very challenging atmosphere. We had a very difficult loss to deal with last week. A lot of people jumped off the bandwagon, but those people don't matter. What matters is those guys in the locker room, and those coaches and the fans the came and believed in us. This is a huge win for us. We've been wondering what kind of football team we had. Each team is different and it appears we know more about what kind of team we have. We missed a bunch of (deep) balls that were open. We threw an interception on a play we normally do well on. Through all the adversity and all the noise and all the great football players at Texas A&M, we found a way to come back in the second half and win. I'm proud to be standing here representing the University of Pittsburgh football team. It was a big win because it was our next game. (on halftime adjustments) We do like we always do--we didn't panic. We hold the course and we continue to do what we thought was open. We ran the ball and threw the ball and it was well-executed. We think that front is one of the most physical ones we've faced. We ended up running the ball for 195 yards with a backup tailback. It was tremendous. I couldn't be more proud of our linemen. Rod came on in the second half. Unfortunately, McNeal got hurt and that helped us. He is such a great athlete. I thought our special teams did good as well. We missed the first extra point but were perfect after that. Kicking the ball into the endzone on the kickoffs was huge. We are really excited about winning. The game ball goes to Dino Babers. Every time you move, you uproot your family. Dino has made a huge contribution to our football program. Our defense holding them to a field goal was a huge factor because it could have gotten out of hand. We hold our course, keep our poise and try hard to get better."
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME NOTES
- TAYLOR HAS STRONG GAME --- Senior wide receiver Jamaar Taylor, who missed the Virginia Tech game due to an injury, returned to action with a flourish against Pittsburgh. Taylor led the Aggies with 110 yards on five catches, which was his school-record fifth 100-yard receiving game of his career. Taylor was tied with teammate Terrence Murphy, Bethel Johnson (1999-2002) and Tony Harrison (1990-93) at four. With his 110 receiving yards against Pitt, Taylor leap-frogged four Aggies to No. 4 with 1,471 yards on A&M's all-time receiving yards chart. With his six catches, Taylor moved his career catches to 100 and No. 4 on A&M's receptions list. On those same lists, teammate Terrence Murphy improved his career numbers to 86 receptions (t11th) and 1,230 yards (14th).
- LEWIS POSTS ANOTHER 100-YARD GAME --- Redshirt freshman Courtney Lewis produced his second 100-yard rushing game of his career with 105 yards on 16 carries against Pittsburgh. Lewis' other 100-yard game came against Utah (100 yards on 16 carries). Lewis paced a strong Aggie rushing attack that produced 227 ground yards, A&M's most since the Aggies had 236 vs. UTEP in 2000, a span of 34 games.
Lewis also became a factor in the receiving attack with four catches for 75 yards. The catches were the first of his A&M career. Lewis produced 180 all-purpose yards, which were a career high.
- OFFENSE PRODUCES SEASON-BEST OUTPUT --- The Aggie offense produced a season-high 544 yards on a season-high 78 plays (7.0 per play). The previous bests were 368 vs. Utah and 65 plays vs. Virginia Tech. It was the most total offense by the Aggies since they produced 566 against Kansas in 2002. The Aggies gained 307 total yards in the first half, which was a season-high. The previous best was 216 against Virginia Tech.
With 130 all-purpose yards in the first half (57 rush, 73 receiving), Courtney Lewis went over 100 yards in all-purpose yardage for the first time in his career. His previous career best for all-purpose yardage was 100 vs. Utah (all rushing).
- SCATES AVERAGES 48.5 ON PUNTS --- Preseason All-American punter Cody Scates, who missed the Aggies' first two games due to hernia surgery, had a strong day against Pittsburgh, averaging 48.5 yards on four boots. It raised his season average to 39.9 on seven punts.
- LONG SEES ACTION, MOVES UP CHARTS --- Junior quarter Dustin Long came off the bench in relief of starter Reggie McNeal, who left with an injury in the second half. Long responded with 102 yards on 9-of-17 passing. Long now has 2,611 passing yards, the 10th most in school history and his 20 career TD passes are tied for No. 7 (with Lance Pavlas, 1987-90).
- McNEAL POSTS CAREER BESTS --- Sophomore quarterback Reggie McNeal posted the best statistical game of his career. He had career highs in passing yards (215), pass attempts (22) and completions (tied with 12). He also produced 267 yards of total offense, which was the second-best output of his career (best was 280 vs. Oklahoma, 2002).
- FIRSTS --- Freshman running back Courtney Lewis' first-quarter reception for 25 yards was the first catch of his career ... senior wide receiver Jamaar Taylor's second-quarter 18-yard touchdown catch was his first of the season. It was also his first receiving touchdown since the 2002 Kansas game. ... Cody Scates' 55-yard punt after the Aggies' first drive of the game was his first punt at Kyle Field since the 2002 Texas game. He missed the Aggies' first two home games due to hernia surgery. ... Redshirt freshman tight end Andy Matakis grabbed his first career catch for his first career touchdown on a 2-yard catch from Dustin Long in the fourth quarter. ... Sophomore Todd Pegram missed his first field goal and point after attempts of the season against Pittsburgh. Coming into the game, Pegram had made 10 straight field goals dating back to 2002 and eight straight this season. He hadn't missed a PAT since the 2002 Oklahoma game. ... Seeing the first action of their careers were true freshmen TaTa Thompson and Melvin Bullitt. ... Sophomore defensive tackle Johnny Jolly led the team in tackles for the first time in his career with 11 stops against Pitt.
- FOR THE RECORD --- Junior Blake Kendrick, a walkon linebacker from Willis, Texas, represented the Texas A&M student body on the 12th Man Kickoff team ... game captains were linebacker Jared Morris (suffered career-ending knee injury against Utah), quarterback Reggie McNeal, wide receiver Terrence Murphy and cornerback Byron Jones. ... A squadron of F/A-18D "Hornets" did a fly-by of Kyle Field during pregame ceremonies. ... Pitt wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald's three TD reception tied an A&M opponent record, matching the three TD catches by Baylor's Lawrence Elkins in 1963. ... The Aggies had five fumbles, losing three, while Pittburgh did not have a fumble. ... Sophomore safety Jaxson Appel produced eight tackles, according to preliminary press box totals. Appel came into the game averaging over 15 tackles per game, which ranked No. 2 nationally.
PITTSBURGH POSTGAME NOTES
- With 283 yards passing today, Rod Rutherford now ranks 7th on Pittsburgh's all-time passing yardage list with 4,216 yards.
- Pittsburgh had two 100-yard receivers as Princell Brockenbrough (100 yards) and Larry Fitzgerald (135 yards) for the first time since Nov. 10, 2001, when the Panthers defeated Rutgers 42-0.
- Rutherford finished with 320 yards of total offense (283 passing, 37 rushing), moving him into fifth place on the school's all-time list with 5,047 yards. He surpassed Rick Trocano (1977-80), who finished his career with 4,892 yards of total offense.
- Larry Fitzgerald finished with 7 catches for 135 yards, marking the fourth straight 100-yard receiving game. He also moved into 10th place on Pittsburgh's career receptions list with 101.
- Fitzgerald also moved into 9th place on the school's all-time list for receiving yards with 1,588, passing Julius Dawkins (1979-82) and Jake Hoffart (1995-97).
- Fitzgerald extended his school-record streak to consecutive games with a TD reception to 10 as he finished with three touchdowns, including a 49-yarder from Rutherford in the fourth quarter. He now has 18 TDs in the past 10 games, including 9 in four games this year.
- This marks the first time Pittsburgh has played in Texas since Pittsburgh defeated Houston, 35-24, on Sept. 13, 1997.
- Pittsburgh is now 24-20-4 against the Big 12 Conference after its 37-26 win over Texas A&M.
- Pittsburgh played its first ever game in Kyle Field and is now 2-1 against Texas A&M all time
- Pittsburgh is now 9-3 in their last 12 road games.
- Pittsburgh has now won 18 of their last 23 games, its winningest stretch since it won 25-of-26 games between Oct. 18, 1980 and Oct. 30, 1982.
- Pittsburgh extended its streak to consecutive games without being shutout to 80 games. The last time Pittsburgh was shut out was in a 45-0 loss to Miami on Sept. 28, 1996.
- Pittsburgh has an off-week next weekend before returning home to face Notre Dame on Oct. 11 at Heinz Field.
- Pittsburgh started the game with a three wide receiver formation, two of which, Terrell Allen and Chris Curd, were making their first career start.
- Jawan Walker made his first career start at tailback.
- John Simonitis made his second consecutive start at right guard in his first active season with the Panthers
- Lewis Moore recorded his first and second fumble recoveries of the season, and fourth and fifth of his career. Moore also forced a fumble, his second forced fumble of the year
- Terrell Allen's 34-yard run was his longest run of his career
- Princell Brockenbrough's 67-yard reception was his career long and the longest passing play of the season for Pittsburgh. His 100 yards receiving were also a personal career high.
- Claude Harriott recorded his first sack of the season.
- Adam Graessle kicked 6 of 7 kickoffs for touchbacks.
- Rod Rutherford reached a new career high with 5 touchdown passes. He now has recorded at least three touchdown passes in each of Pittsburgh's first four games
- This was Larry Fitzgerald's sixth multi-touchdown game of his career. His three touchdowns against Texas A&M tied Lawrence Elkins's 1963 record of most touchdown catches for an Aggie opponent .
- Joe Dipre recorded his first career fumble recovery.
- Malcolm Postell recorded his second interception of the season and fourth of career.
- This is Pittsburgh's first win at a Big XII opponent since it won at Kansas, 18-3, on Sept. 20, 1980. (Kansas was a member of the Big Eight at the time.)