Football Moves to 2-1 with 48-10 Win Over ULM

Saturday, September 15

College Station

6:30 p.m.

Texas A&M

2-1

ULM

2-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

ULM

TAMU

Photo by: Thomas Campbell/Texas A&M Athletics

Sep 15, 2018 | Football

Box Score Final Stats (PDF)Highlights Jimbo Fisher Press Conference Tyrel Dodson Press Conference Trayveon Williams Press Conference Daylon Mack Press Conference Jhamon Ausbon Press Conference Postgame Notes (PDF)Photos

By: <IMG SRC="http://files.12thman.com/graphics/bylines/charean.png">  &nbsp: Charean Williams '86, Special Contributor to 12thMan.com

COLLEGE STATION--Texas A&M has no interest in framing Saturday night's game. It was anything but a masterpiece.

In fact, the Aggies hardly celebrated their 48-10 victory over Louisiana-Monroe.

A&M took care of business and immediately began thinking about how much it must clean up before next week's SEC opener at Alabama.

"You're never as sharp as you want to be," A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said. "You can score a hundred and score every possession, and you're never as sharp as you want to be. We want to be sharper. We obviously weren't. We had a kick out of bounds. We gave up some plays on defense, a couple big plays, gave up a run right before half, and offensively we had four penalties that called back four touchdowns. We've got a lot of things to work on."

The Aggies (2-1) scored on eight of 10 possessions, not counting a kneel down at the end of the first half. But three holding penalties negated three touchdowns and replay overturned another, turning a 17-yard Kwame Etwi touchdown catch into an incompletion.

The Aggies ended up scoring touchdowns on two of the drives anyway and kicked a field goal on the other.

A&M had only five penalties for 55 yards, but as Fisher noted, it seemed like more because of when they occurred.

"We had a lot of self-inflicted wounds," running back Trayveon Williams said. "Tonight wasn't a perfect night. From the outside looking in, it might have looked good and glamorous, but tonight we kind of shot ourselves in the foot a lot. We had a lot of penalties, a lot of holding penalties. Just little things. Today we got four touchdowns called back. It's something we need to work on."

Williams rushed for 128 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries, while freshman Jashaun Corbin spelled him late and had career highs with 10 carries for 64 yards and his first touchdown.

Kellen Mond had an efficient, if not spectacular night, completing 16 of 24 passes for 210 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 67 yards and two touchdowns, and, for good measure, threw a couple of blocks for Williams.

"He can do everything," Williams said. "He can throw the ball. He can run the ball, and he can block. That's something that, at the quarterback position, you don't always get. He's the guy that can pitch the ball and run and block as well. I'm glad I've got that guy on my side."

Mond had almost the same number of passing yards in the fourth quarter against Clemson last week – 206 – that he had in the entire game against ULM before Nick Starkel replaced him on the final series. But Fisher said his sophomore quarterback took yet another step in his development.

"He's checking in and out of plays," Fisher said. "The calls, the checks, the things he did. People have no idea. He's getting us in and out of all those plays. He understands the game. He's learning the whys of the game, and he's having fun with it. Then, he made plays with his feet. He scrambled, made plays and kept things alive. Then, he sat in the pocket and made decisions. A couple of times we had pressure. We had some deep balls we were trying to get him to throw.

"He's doing a really nice job right now, playing really good football. He's playing smart football. That's what's got me excited. He's making plays all up and down the field, but he's playing good, smart football."

The Aggies finished with 530 yards, the third time in three games over the 500-yard mark, but it was a much better second half than first.

A&M was outgained by the Warhawks in the first half. The Aggies had 34 plays for 218 yards in the first 30 minutes and 38 plays for 312 yards in the second 30 minutes.

ULM ran 38 plays for 261 yards in the first half, including passing plays of 34, 36, 44, 19 and 29 yards and two running plays of 13 yards. But in the second half, the Warhawks had 19 plays for 67 yards with their four possessions ending in three punts and an interception – A&M's first takeaway of the season.

"Give them [A&M] credit; I think they are really good, and I thought so coming in the game," ULM coach Matt Viator said. "I think they are really good on the offensive line and defensive line compared to the teams we have played. I think they do a really good job of run blocking, and I think they do a good job with the big guys up front. I said this earlier in the week that they have transformed their team. They changed quickly from a spread to a team that can definitely line up."

The game's biggest play came on special teams when defensive tackle Daylon Mack blocked a 28-yard field goal attempt that bounced into the waiting arms of linebacker Tyrel Dodson, who returned it 78 yards for a touchdown with 1:21 remaining in the first half. It gave A&M a 24-3 lead, although ULM scored a touchdown with four seconds remaining until intermission to cut it to 24-10.

"We practice that every day, and it's never came like that to me in practice," Dodson said, "so I was kind of surprised that it came right to me. I was ready for it, me being in the scoop-and-score player. I was right there and scored a touchdown."

The Aggies played without sophomore receiver Kendrick Rogers, senior kicker Daniel LaCamera and defensive back Keldrick Carper against ULM. Fisher said afterward that Rogers should be "good to go" for next week, and they "hopefully" get Carper back. LaCamera will be out awhile after injuring his foot.

Starting center Erik McCoy was injured in the second half Saturday, but Fisher said it looked like a sprain and not anything more serious.

Freshman kicker Seth Small, who replaced LaCamera, drew praise from Fisher after making field goals of 40 and 36 yards and six PATs.

POSTGAME NOTES
ABOUT THE WIN

Texas A&M stretched its streak of scoring 14 or more points in a game to 30 consecutive contests. It marks the SEC's longest active run.
With 530 yards of total offense, the Aggies went over the 500-yard mark for the third time in three games under Jimbo Fisher. The Aggies are one of four SEC teams to crack the half-century mark in yardage in every game this season, joined by Missouri, Mississippi State and Alabama.
Texas A&M owned an edge in total offense yardage for the third time in three games under Jimbo Fisher.
The Aggies improved to 4-0 all-time against the Warhawks, outscoring ULM 154-57.

HUNDRED BY HALFTIME

Junior RB Trayveon Williams had 103 rushing yards on 16 carries by halftime and ended the game with 128 yards on 22 totes.
Williams' 2-yard TD run in the first quarter was the 20^th of his career.
The 100-yard rushing game was the second of the year by Williams and the seventh of his career.
Williams increased his career rushing yardage to 2,254, passing Aggie legends Johnny Manziel (2,169) and Jovorskie Lane (2,193) on the all-time rushing list. He now ranks 15^th on Texas A&M's career rushing chart.

SCOOP AND SCORE

Junior LB Tyrel Dodson turned in the Aggies' longest scoring play of the season with a 78-yard TD return of blocked field goal by senior DT Daylon Mack.
It was the longest scoring play by an Aggie since Christian Kirk's 100-yard TD kickoff return vs. Arkansas in 2017.
It was the first FG block by an Aggie since Jayden Peevy vs. Wake Forest in the 2017 Belk Bowl and the first FG block returned for a touchdown since the 2014 Auburn game when Myles Garrett blocked a FG attempt and DeShazor Everett scooped and scored with a 65-yard return.

NOTABLES

True freshman PK Seth Small took over the placekicking duties for the injured Daniel LaCamera and connected on a pair of field goals of 36 and 40 yards, which were the first of his career. He was perfect on six extra point attempts.

Sophomore QB Kellen Mond was efficient through the air with 210 yards and a touchdown on 16-of-24 pass attempts, and he also chipped in 67 rushing yards on nine carries with a pair of scores. It was the first time he's rushed for two touchdowns in a game.
Mond reached the 2,000 yard mark in passing yardage, ending the game with 2,199. He also went over 2,500 yards in total offense, ending the game with 2,642.
Freshman RB Jashaun Corbin logged his first career TD rush late in the fourth quarter on a 2-yard run. Corbin finished with career-highs in carries (10) and rushing yards (64).
Junior DB Larry Pryor hauled in his second career INT midway through the fourth quarter. It marked the Aggies' first takeaway of the 2018 season.
The Aggies racked up a season-high four sacks, including one apiece by Landis Durham, Kingsley Keke, T.D. Moton and Donovan Wilson. Moton's was the first of his career.

GAME CAPTAINS, 12thMAN

Texas A&M's game captains for the ULM game were senior LB Otaro Alaka, senior SAF Donovan Wilson, junior RB Trayveon Williams and junior C Erik McCoy.
Senior RB Cullen Gillaspia was the Aggies' 12th Man for the 29th straight game.

Sawin' em off with the #12thMan!#GigEm pic.twitter.com/2N1CMe7z86
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) September 16, 2018

"I feel like every week, I'm getting a little more comfortable in this offense."

?? @TheKellenMond after Saturday's victory#GigEm pic.twitter.com/7rTGnVk38x
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) September 16, 2018

"The defense is just fun. We make plays for each other."

?? @DaylonMack after the 48-10 win over ULM#GigEm pic.twitter.com/5cqCw0NCbn
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) September 16, 2018

"We took a next step forward, and got a little better in some areas…we're not where we need to be, but we're growing in that direction."

?? Coach Fisher's #ULMvsTAMU postgame press conference#GigEm pic.twitter.com/bR8oQky17X
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) September 16, 2018

"Coach Elko came in fiery (at halftime), and it gave us a boost of emotion and passion…we came out and did what we're supposed to do."

?? @tdots25's #ULMvsTAMU postgame press conference#GigEm pic.twitter.com/bFXBxSKj0C
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) September 16, 2018

"Coach Fisher said (establishing the run game) was a key point for the night. We struggled with that a little bit last week."

?? @TrayveonW's #ULMvsTAMU postgame press conference#GigEm pic.twitter.com/9k3u3RMGmE
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) September 16, 2018

"We had the ball 9 times and scored 7, so overall it was a good game but we still have things to clean up."

?? @TheJhamonAusbon's #ULMvsTAMU postgame press conference#GigEm pic.twitter.com/r5tNR2cL7D
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) September 16, 2018

"I love making plays for my teammates, and seeing my teammates make plays. I really like taking the field with my guys."

?? @DaylonMack's #ULMvsTAMU postgame press conference#GigEm pic.twitter.com/ZWYrnsszRw
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) September 16, 2018