Texas A&M 45, Louisiana Tech 14

Saturday, September 23

College Station

6:00 PM

Texas A&M

4-0

Louisiana Tech

1-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Louisiana Tech

Texas A&M

Sep 23, 2006 | Football

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

September 23, 2006

Stephen McGee threw three touchdown passes and Jorvorskie Lane ran for two scores to lead Texas A&M to a 45-14 win over Louisiana Tech on Saturday night in a game that started 2 hours late because of lightning.

McGee completed 19 of 28 passes for a career-high 318 yards for the Aggies (4-0), who open Big 12 play against Texas Tech next Saturday.

Chris Alexander caught two of McGee's TD passes and Kerry Franks caught the other one as A&M outgained the Bulldogs 489-302 to overcome 12 penalties.

Patrick Jackson ran for 81 yards and a touchdown for the Bulldogs (1-2), who dropped to 4-20 against the Big 12 and 0-9 against the Aggies.

Louisiana Tech drove into A&M territory on three of its first four possessions, but came away with nothing, mostly because quarterback Zac Champion started 4-for-15.

The Aggies were shackled with bad field position in the opening quarter and didn't get their initial first down until the final minute. But then McGee fumbled at the Aggies' 24 and Jackson scored on the next play.

In the second quarter, Tech punt returner Chris Riser recovered his own fumble inside the Aggies' 10. A&M's defense forced a punt and Lane finished a short drive with a 25-yard touchdown run.

McGee capped A&M's next possession with a five-yard TD pass to Alexander, a fullback, and the Aggies led 14-7 at halftime.

On the second play after the break, McGee threw a wobbly 64-yard TD pass to Franks, who was wide open behind Tech's secondary.

The Aggies were aided by two pass interference calls later in the third quarter and Lane scored on a 1-yard run, his Big 12-leading 10th TD of the season.

Champion threw a 53-yard strike to Dennis Morris to give the Bulldogs a first-and-goal at the Aggies' 5. But on third down, Champion fumbled the snap and A&M cornerback Devin Gregg recovered at the 1.

Chad Schroeder, A&M's leading receiver, then took a short pass from McGee and sprinted 63 yards down the sideline. McGee found Alexander in the end zone again to complete the 99-yard drive.

Layne Neumann kicked a 25-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. Champion threw a 20-yard TD pass to Josh Wheeler a minute later.

Champion finished 13-for-31 for 229 yards.

Third-string quarterback Jamie McCoy had a 35-yard TD run on the second-to-last play.

The Aggies have outscored three opponents 131-24 at Kyle Field. They needed a last-second goal-line stand to beat Army 28-24 last week in San Antonio.

Texas A&M Postgame Notes

PASS DEFENSE IMPROVED --- With the non-conference slate out of the way, the Aggie defense appears much improved over last year's edition. The non-conference opponents combined to complete only 44.8 percent of their passes (51-of-114) for 510 yards and 1 touchdown.

McGEE SHINES --- Sophomore quarterback Stephen McGee had a career day, completing 19-of-28 passes for 318 yards and three touchdowns. McGee's attempts, yards and touchdowns were all career highs. McGee also turned in another interception-free effort and has thrown 71 passes this season without a pickoff. Dating back to last year's Texas game, McGee has attempted 92 passes without an interception.

FRANKS DOES IT ALL --- Kerry Franks' third quarter touchdown catch was his first since the Texas Tech game in 2004. Franks has three career TD catches and an average scoring strike distance of 65.3 yards (84 yards vs. Wyoming, 2004; 48 vs. Texas Tech, 2004; 64 vs. Louisiana Tech, 2006). For the night, Franks had two catches for 76 yards and two kickoff returns for 49 yards (125 all-purpose yards on four touches, 31.3 average). He also recovered a loose kickoff in the fourth quarter

AGGIES REACH 4-0 --- With the win, the Aggies moved to 4-0 for the first time since 2001, when A&M opened the season with five straight wins.

MISCELLANEOUS --- The Aggies' 21-point outburst in the third quarter was their highest scoring quarter of the season ... A&M had 11 players make receptions, matching the school record set early this season against Louisiana-Lafayette. ... The Aggies' 99-yard drive was their longest since a 99-yard, 9-play drive against Clemson in 2004...Chad Schroeder had two catches for 82 yards...for the season, Schroeder has a team-high 14 receptions for 265 yards, an average of 18.9 yards per catch...Layne Neumann's 25-yard field was his first of the season.

FIRSTS --- Sophomore Arkeith Brown (El Campo, Texas) made his first career start at cornerback against the Bulldogs. ... Junior fullback Chris Alexander had his first carry of the season for a three-yard gain and later added a pair of touchdown receptions.

FOR THE RECORD --- The 12th Man was Nick LaMantia, a sophomore from Mission, Texas. It was the third 12th Man assignment of his career. ... Game captains were: Cody Wallace, Earvin Taylor, Justin Warren and Devin Gregg. ... The game was delayed more than two hours and four minutes due to a storm system that brought heavy rain and lightning to the area. The game was scheduled to start at 6 p.m., but the official kickoff was at 8:04 p.m.

Texas A&M Postgame Quotes

TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH DENNIS FRANCHIONE: "We came out and scored three times in the third quarter, came out and got stops. We did a good job of keeping us on task (during the delay). Both teams did the best they could. They were under the same conditions. We kept battling. We're getting more mature. When I went to the bench at one point during the game, the offensive kids were saying all the right things. I was really pleased to hear that. For the most part, our pass defense wasn't too bad. We gave up a couple of long balls late, but 13-of-32 isn't too bad. I felt pretty good about that. We got our hands on lots of balls. We need to do a better job of catching those balls. We didn't start off very good but we got ourselves going with the passing game. The beauty of our offense is its multiplicity."

TEXAS A&M QUARTERBACK STEPHEN McGEE: "We started off slow and we weren't hitting on all cylinders. Our defense did a good job of making sure we stayed in the game. It was important for us to have two scoring drives before halftime. We came out in the third quarter and took over. That's the mark of a good football team to respond and fight through adversity. (on 300-yard passing game) That's a credit to the guys up front giving me time and the receivers getting open."

TEXAS A&M DEFENSIVE BACK DEVIN GREGG: "I thought the goal line stand was the key for us. It was a dagger for them because we had the 99-yard drive after that. For the second week in a row, we came up with a big goal line stand. We came up big when we needed it most. We kept our focus despite the rain delay and played four good quarters."

LOUISIANA TECH HEAD COACH JACK BICKNELL: "I don't know how we let these teams get away from us. In the first half, I'm thinking its going to be a heck of a football game. We really played extremely well defensively in the first half. They come out in the second half and hit that play-action pass. Somehow we let it get away from us. I was encouraged at times. We just have to put a full game together. That certainly should have been a closer game than it was. We had a couple of penalties that killed us in the second half. I can't explain it. It was a weird game."

LOUISIANA TECH DEFENSIVE TACKLE JOSHUA MUSE: "We came out in the first half and kind of shut them down. We had a little bit of momentum going and that was our game plan. They did a good job of going in at halftime and making adjustments. We had a little confidence and we thought we could come out in the second half and take the game away from them. We thought they were very beatable going into the game."

LOUSIANA TECH QUARTERBACK ZAC CHAMPION: "It was one of those games that was just tough. We thought we were a better team coming out. It's one of those things where you just have to give him props. I missed a few throws and we dropped some balls. We missed some blocks on some things. We just had missed opportunities that we could have capitalized on."