Aggies Fall at No. 19 Utah in Season Opener

Thursday, September 2

Salt Lake City, Utah

TBA

Texas A&M

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(#19) Utah

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Texas A&M

UTAH

Sep 02, 2004 | Football

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

September 02, 2004

Utah quarterback Alex Smith threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more as the 19th-ranked Utes opened their season with a 41-21 victory over Texas A&M Thursday in the season opener for both schools.

Coming off a 10-2 season, the Utes made the preseason rankings for the first time in school history. One of those losses was to the Aggies, in which quarterback Brett Elliott broke his wrist.

That opened up things for Smith, who went 9-1 the rest of the way, leading Utah to the Mountain West Conference title. He picked up where he left off. He completed 21-of-29 passes for 359 yards and had touchdown runs of seven and 37 yards.

Three of Smith's scores came in the first half, when Utah bolted to a 27-0 lead.

Midway through the third quarter, Smith's 37-yard TD run on third down made it 34-7.

Utah's defense was just as sharp as the offense as it extended its shutout streak to nearly 12 quarters before quarterback Reggie McNeal raced 59 yards for a score to finally get the Aggies on the board.

McNeal went 14-of-35 for 210 yards on the evening. The Aggies punted on nine of their first 10 possessions.

Smith wasted no time picking on A&M, finding Steve Savoy on a crossing route that the receiver turned into a 78-yard TD pass just 73 seconds into the game. Savoy caught five passes for 108 yards.

On the first play of the second quarter, Savoy took a shotgun reverse and scampered nine yards for a score, making it 14-0.

Smith set up his seven-yard TD keeper with a 45-yard pass to Travis LaTendresse midway through the period. Less than four minutes later, he used a play fake and found John Madsen alone up the right sideline for a 38-yard TD toss.

Utah had 318 yards in the first half and 582 overall.

McNeal rushed for 84 yards and two scores on 13 carries for A&M, which had 437 yards, most of them after the contest was decided.

Texas A&M Postgame Notes

MURPHY BREAKS CAREER CATCHES RECORD --- Senior Terrence Murphy needed just a pair of catches to break Bethel Johnson's old school record of 117 career receptions and he was able to accomplish that in the first half against Utah. Murphy went on to grab eight catches for 116 yards to increase the career catches record to 124. Murphy already owned the career receiving yards record and improved it to 1,995. The 116-yard effort marked the seventh 100-yard game of his career, which is also a school record.

MCNEAL SCRAMBLES, PASSES TO BIG DAY --- Junior quarterback Reggie McNeal scrambled and passed his way to 294 yards of total offense, which was the second-highest total of his career (330 vs. Kansas, 2003). McNeal scrambled for 84 yards, which was his second-best rushing total of his career, and passed for 210 yards.

BRANYON NEARLY PERFECT IN TWO-MINUTE DRILL --- Former walkon quarterback Ty Branyon came off the bench for the Aggies' final drive and was nearly perfect in the two-minute drill as he completed 6-of-8 passes including a five-yarder to Jason Carter for the touchdown.

NEWCOMERS SEE EARLY ACTION --- Twenty A&M players saw their first action in maroon and white against the Utes, including one true freshman, 13 redshirt freshman and six transfers. Five of the newcomers also received starts.

True freshman:

Redshirt freshmen:

Transfers:

MISCELLANEOUS --- The A&M offense started the game in a two-tight end set with newcomers Joey Thomas and Boone Stutz earning the start. *** Reggie McNeal's 59-yard touchdown run in the second quarter ended a 11-quarter scoreless streak for the Utah defense and the run was the longest of his career (previous best was 33 yards vs. Oklahoma, 2002). *** McNeal tallied the second two-touchdown rushing game of his career. The other was against Baylor in 2003.

LONGEST OPP. CATCH SINCE --- The 78-yard touchdown pass and catch from Alex Smith to Steve Savoy was the longest against the Aggies since 1996 when Texas Tech's Zebbie Letheridge connected with Sammy Morris on an 81-yard score.

GAME CAPTAINS, 12TH MAN --- The game captains for the Aggies were: Ty Branyon, Mike Montgomery, Ronald Jones and Keith Joseph ... the 12th Man Kickoff Team representative was John Ray, a sophomore from Giddings, Texas.

PRESS CONFERENCE CALLED --- The Texas A&M Director of Athletics Bill Byrne will participate in a joint press conference with Texas AD Deloss Dodds at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 7 in the Centennial Room of Bellmont Hall in the Royal-Memorial Stadium in Austin.