Texas A&M
TEXAS STATE
Texas A&M 44, Texas State 31
Sep 22, 2005 | Football
September 22, 2005
Reggie McNeal threw for 317 yards and two touchdowns, and Texas A&M beat Texas State 44-31 in a stadium rendered unusually bare and an area choked with evacuating traffic as Hurricane Rita crept closer on Thursday night.
Jason Carter caught eight passes for 219 yards and a touchdown for Texas A&M (2-1), which had asked fans outside the rural college town to stay home so more room was available for the thousands fleeing nearby Houston and the Gulf Coast.
The specter of Rita spurred both schools to hastily reschedule the game from Saturday, when the Category 4 storm packing 145-mph wind was expected to make landfall.
Barrick Nealy threw for 378 yards and three touchdowns for Texas State (2-1), which lost its hopes of an upset when the Bobcats couldn't score after starting a drive at the Aggies 7 yard line midway through the fourth quarter.
Texas A&M President Robert Gates encouraged fans not living in the College Station area to skip the game because hotels were booked with evacuees. The announced paid attendance was 72,741, but about half as many turned out.
Students packed most of the three-tiered stands on the east side of Kyle Field, but large clumps of empty bleachers pockmarked the rest of the stadium. The Aggie War Hymn, which usually causes the stadium to physically wobble as fans sway back-and-forth, couldn't move the west stands Thursday because there were too few fans.
The university canceled classes Friday but welcomed Gulf Coast residents fleeing the storm. Just blocks from the stadium, a campus animal clinic operated as a makeshift hospital for evacuated burn victims from Galveston, and the school's basketball arena housed more than 330 evacuees by late Thursday.
Evacuees at Reed Arena were given free tickets to the game. Those who attended watched McNeal become the first Texas A&M quarterback to throw for 300 yards in consecutive games.
In a 66-8 rout of SMU on Saturday, McNeal threw for 349 yards and finished with a school-record 449 total yards.
McNeal rushed for 86 yards against the Bobcats and finished with 403 total yards. Courtney Lewis ran for 136 yards and scored two touchdowns.
It marked the first time Texas A&M had a 300-yard passer, 200-yard receiver and 100-yard rusher in the same game.
Texas A&M built a 20-0 lead before Nealy's touchdown passes to Markee White and Blake Burton in the second quarter helped close the gap to 27-17 at halftime. White had six catches for 146 yards to lead Texas State.
Lewis widened the lead with two touchdowns runs to start the third quarter, but the Bobcats bounced back again.
Nealy's 38-yard touchdown run closed Texas State within 13 points in the fourth quarter, but Texas State couldn't reach the end zone after recovering a fumble deep in Texas A&M territory and starting a drive on the 7-yard line. The Bobcats turned the ball over on downs.
Carter's catches included a 71-yard touchdown haul in which he cut back across the field, slithered between two would-be tacklers and dove across the goal line.
Texas A&M's Chad Schroeder caught a 44-yard touchdown pass and ran for another, taking the snap on a fake field goal and darting toward the pylon for a 13-yard score.
Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione, who coached at Texas State from 1990-91, was adamant about playing the game so that his team would not have two idle weeks in a three-week span. The Aggies had a bye following their season opener at Clemson on Sept. 3.
Texas A&M Postgame Notes
200 FOR CARTER --- Senior wide receiver Jason Carter notched the second-greatest receiving day in school history with a 219-yard outburst (on 8 catches) against Texas State. He is the third Aggie to go over 200 yards in single game receiving yards, joining Ken "Dude" McLean (250 vs. Texas in 1965) and Albert Connell (208 vs. Colorado in 1996). Prior to 2005, Carter's career-best single game effort was 99 yards against Iowa State in 2004.
Carter went over the 100-yard barrier in receiving yards for the second straight game. He is the first Aggie receiver to produce back-to-back 100-yard efforts since Terrence Murphy put together 156- and 150-yard games against Missouri and Texas in 2003.
CONSECUTIVE THREE BILLS --- Senior quarterback Reggie McNeal, who didn't have any 300-yard passing games prior to 2005, reeled off his second straight 300-yard effort against Texas State. No other Aggie quarterback has posted consecutive 300-yard passing games. McNeal finished the night with 317 yards and two touchdowns (no INTs) on 13-of-24 passing.
McNeal came up just 14 rushing yards short of his second straight 300 passing yards/100 rushing yards game, which has never been accomplished in NCAA Div. IA history. McNeal finished with 317 passing and 86 rushing.
300/200/100 --- The Aggies produced a 300-yard passer, 200-yard receiver and 100-yard rusher in the same game for the first time in school history. The A&M trio of Reggie McNeal (317 passing), Jason Carter (219 receiving) and Courtney Lewis (126 rushing) accomplished the feat.
TWO TOUCHES, TWO MORE TDS --- Junior wide receiver Chad Schroeder added to his growing touchdown-producing legend with two more touchdowns against Texas State. In 2005, Schroeder has produced touchdowns on all five of his touches (four receptions, one rush). Schroeder's scoring strikes against Texas State came on a 13-yard rush on a fake field goal and on a 44-yard catch.
For the season, Schroeder has TD catches of 31, 15, 32 and 44 yards and a TD dash of 13 yards.
MOVING UP --- Tonight's game was originally scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 24, but was moved up to Thursday because of the impending landfall of Hurricane Rita.
FOR THE RECORD ---
- Courtney Lewis tallied his ninth career 100-yard rushing game with 136 yards against TSU.
- Lewis also scored a pair of touchdowns, which brings his career rushing TDs total to 25 (tied for No. 11 in school history).
- Punter Justin Brantly averaged 50.5 yards per punt, which is his second straight 50-yard plus game.
- Tonight's paid attendance was 72,741, but the actual attendance was lower. However, an impressive 25,671 A&M students scanned sports passes at the gate and were in attendance.
- When Texas State scored on a six-yard pass from Barrett Nealy to Markee White, it was the first red zone touchdown allowed by the Aggies in 2005.
- The meeting between A&M head coach Dennis Franchione and Texas State coach David Bailiff marked the first time Franchione has coached against one of his former assistant coaches. Bailiff served on Franchione's staff at Texas State (then Southwest Texas), New Mexico and TCU.
- Game captains for the Aggies were Courtney Lewis, Ty Branyon and Red Bryant.
- The 12th Man for the second straight game was John Ray, a junior walk-on from Giddings, Texas.
Texas State Postgame Notes
- This was only the second meeting between Texas State and Texas A&M. In the teams' last meeting, the Aggies shutout the Bobcats, 28-0.
- When A&M scored on a 28-yard Todd Pegram field goal at the 11:14 mark of the first quarter, it became the first time the Bobcats have trailed this season.
- Matt Jenkins made his first start of the season at right tackle. He started two games as a true freshman last season.
- Texas State has used 12 starters on defense in its first three games. Jamarqus O'Neal started the last two last games at left cornerback for Derwin Straughter, who was injured against Delta State.
- At the 8:18 mark of the first quarter, Texas State's cornerback Jamarqus O'Neal hauled in an interception off the turf at Kyle Field. Ruled an incomplete pass by the side judge, the play was reviewed. The play stood as called. This was the first review in the history of Bobcat football.
- At the 13:35 mark of the second, Nealy completed a 72-yard pass to Markee White. This is the longest reception since Chase Wasson hooked up with K.R. Carpenter for 73 yards at Baylor (9/11/04).
- The preceding play was reviewed. The play stood as called, confirming that White went out of bounds at the one-yard line.
- Texas State played before 72,741 fans at Kyle Field. This is the largest crowd to watch the Bobcats in program history.
- White caught six passes for 146 yards. He is the Bobcats' first 100-yard receiver since Beau Roberts came down with 103 yards at Stephen F. Austin (10/25/03). This is his first 100-yard performance (previous career high was 3 catches for 90 yards at Cal-Poly on 10/16/04).
- Nealy passed for 378 yards (26-34-1) to give him six of the top ten game passing performances in school history. Nealy's performance ranked third all-time.
- O'Neal's 19-yard fumble recovery in the fourth quarter was the junior's second of the year. He had a 14-yard fumble recovery against Delta State in the season opener.
