Football Tops Kent State in Season Opener

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION--Devon Achane rushed for 124 yards and two touchdowns and Ainias Smith caught two scores, sparking the No. 6 Texas A&M Aggies (1-0) to a 41-10 victory over the Kent State Golden Flashes (0-1) at Kyle Field on Saturday night. The win marked A&M’s ninth consecutive victory, tied for second longest active win streak in the FBS and most consecutive wins for the Aggies since the 1998 season (10).

After a tightly contested first half, the Aggies outscored the Golden Flashes 31-7 after the intermission, including 17-0 in the third quarter.

Texas A&M rolled up 595 total yards of offense, the most since Lamar in 2019. A&M’s triple threat of Achane, Isaiah Spiller and Smith gave the Aggies two 100-yard rushers and one 100-yard receivers in a game for the first time since September 23, 2017 when Kellen Mond (109 rush), Keith Ford (102 rush) and Christian Kirk (110 receiving) did the deed against Arkansas.

With the Maroon & White nursing a 13-3 lead midway through the third quarter, Leon O’Neal woke up the crowd with an electrifying 85-yard pick-six to extend the Aggies lead to 20-3.

Texas A&M kept the momentum, scoring touchdowns on three of its next four drives, including two TD runs by Achane – a 63-yard sprint with 3:49 remaining in the third quarter and a 1-yard plunge with 6:26 remaining in the game. Smith caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Haynes King early in the fourth quarter.

The Aggies rushed for 303 yards in the game. In addition to Achane’s ground effort, Isaiah Spiller logged his 11th career 100-yard game with 113 yards on 17 carries. 

King went 21-for-33 passing for 292 yards and two touchdowns in his first career start.

Smith had 100 yards receiving on a career-high eight receptions. Caleb Chapman caught four passes for 91 yards, including a career-long 53 yard reception.

Texas A&M opened the game with a 10-play, 75-yard scoring drive capped off by a 4-yard touchdown pass from King to Smith. On the drive, King was a perfect 6-for-6 for 49 yards, distributing passes to five different players. 

Each team added a field goal on their following respective drives to cap off the scoring for the half. Seth Small’s 49-yard field goal with 4:11 left in the first quarter marks his 50th career make.

The Aggie defense held Kent State to 110 passing yards and racked up five sacks. Aaron Hansford led the team with eight tackles. O’Neal had two pickoffs for the first multi-interception game of his career.

Team Notes

• Texas A&M’s 595 yards of total offense were the most by the Aggies since the Lamar game in 2019.
• Dating back to last season, the Aggies earned their ninth consecutive victory, which ties them for the second longest active win streak in the FBS. This is also the most consecutive wins since the 1998 season (10).
• The win marked the fourth straight season-opening victory for A&M.
• Eight true freshmen saw action in the season opener, with Bryce Foster making the start at center.
• Today’s captains against Kent State were WR Ainias Smith, RB Isaiah Spiller, DL DeMarvin Leal, OL Kenyon Green.

Individual Notes

• Junior RB Isaiah Spiller became the 21st Aggie to tally over 2,000 career rushing yards, moving up A&M’s all-time list to 18th place with 2,095 yards to date.
• Spiller ended the game with 113 rushing yards, the 11th 100-yard game of his career.
• Junior WR Ainias Smith recorded his third career 100-yard receiving game with 100 yards on the night. 
• Smith got A&M on the board first with a 4-yard reception in the first quarter and added a 14-yard scoring grab in the fourth quarter for the third multi-touchdown game of his career, marking the second time he has caught multiple touchdown passes in a game.
• Smith logged a career high with eight receptions in the game. He previously caught six passes in a game on four occasions.
• Sophomore RB Devon Achane logged two rushing touchdowns for his second career multi-TD game. He also rushed for two TDs against North Carolina in last season’s Orange Bowl.
• Achane rushed for 124 yards, marking his second career 100-yard game.
• The Aggies had two 100-yard rushers in a game for the first time since their November 16, 2019 win vs. South Carolina.
• A&M’s triple threat of Achane, Spiller and Smith gave the Aggies two 100-yard rushers and one 100-yard receivers in a game for the first time since September 23, 2017 when Kellen Mond (109 rush), Keith Ford (102 rush) and Christian Kirk (110 receiving) did the deed against Arkansas.
• Senior DB Leon O’Neal recorded multiple interceptions in a game for the first time in his career after a pick in the first quarter and a second midway through the third quarter that he returned 85 yards for his first touchdown.
• O’Neal’s 85-yard interception return marks the eighth-longest in program history and the longest since the 1992 season.
• O’Neal’s pair of picks were the most in a single game by an Aggie since graduate DB Myles Jones intercepted two passes in the 2019 season opener against Texas State.
• True freshmen DL Shemar Turner and DL Jahzion Harris along with redshirt freshman DL Fadil Diggs each recorded the first sacks of their young careers. True freshman DB Jardin Gilbert also racked up 0.5 sacks for his first mark in the column.
• Senior PLK Seth Small sailed his 50th career field goal through the uprights when he connected on a 49-yarder in the first quarter. Small sits in fifth all-time at A&M, making 51 of 66 field goals in his career.
• Small was 5-for-5 on PAT attempts, moving into third place on the Aggies’ career list with 133. He is now eight shy of the school record set by Todd Pegram (2002-05).

Jimbo Fisher Postgame Quotes

COACH FISHER: We did what we ended up having to do to win the game. Played a very sloppy game, in my opinion. They had some really good things. Started off extremely well. Liked the way we got out of the gate. I mean, offensively, we never punted on the night. Never had a punt. I mean, I don't know how many times I've ever done that. 600 yards of offense, but we had four critical turnovers. Some of them just tips and things, tipped the lineman. Not bad decisions, really not bad decisions. But we've got to get those cleaned up. And one at the end, on the punt return, just got to let that ball go. Made a poor decision to give it up right there, if he touched it. I guess he did.  Defense, I thought we made two big plays. Big interception before half was critical. The interception for touchdown was good. But we still gave up 226 yards rushing. Can't have that.  They were 7-18 on third down. That's too many. We were really good on third down. 9-13. That's the other thing, don't punt and go 9-13 and only score 34 points. Two turnovers down in the red. They were 4 out of 6, had two turnovers there. But times we ran the ball, got a play, had two critical holding calls.  Had a critical holding call the first drive, second half.  Screen, scrambled, made a big first down. Hit a pass. We were down by the 4-yard line ready to score and get a hold and have to back up. Then we ended up kicking a field goal. Got it up two scores and then go it on defense.

Proud the way the guys came out the second half.  We didn't play well the first half. Came out and a stop, scored a field goal. Got the turnover on defense. Got another stop. Scored a touchdown. Got another stop, scored a touchdown and stretched the game away and did the things we had to do and made the adjustments we had to make. But we've got to play a lot cleaner game. Got to coach a better game.  We got to coach a better game, have them better prepared. That's on me. We'll get fixed. We're going to do a better job of that.

But there's some really good individual things that happened at times. We've got to collectively put the drives together. Had two backs of 100 yards. [Devon] Achane had 127 yards. [Isaiah] Spiller had 113. They caught the ball nice. Made some really nice plays, but I think, if I'm not mistaken, we had a dropped touchdown in there early. On the second drive, we got a field goal. That's why I say, all those things and we've still got clean it up. The good thing is we can.  And the good thing is some guys, you can't get better. We can get a lot better, so we need to do it. That's coaching.

[Caleb] Chapman, good to see him back on the field. Made a couple of big plays.  Jalen [Preston] had his. Chase [Lane] made a couple of nice catches. We'll get better.  I thought we kicked the ball -- our kick-off, he was awesome. Coming in there and taking Caden's [Davis] spot. Cade was out. And hit those kicks. I thought we covered kicks really well. I thought we covered kicks really well. I think all of them but the one he hit in the middle a little bit, they got a bigger return. The rest were inside the 25. So I thought we did a really good job. Thought we in the first half -- even though the defense didn't give up points, we gave up field position. Gave up too many first downs. We started with long fields. That's why we were moving the ball on offense. Then we get four or five first downs. That's when you get to the point place. We played on long fields a little bit. That's a part of it. But we learn from the first game. Hopefully we will get a lot better, get a lot of practice time and get a couple of guys back, if we save some of these injuries and banged up and play better. We got to do a better job playing and coaching, and I'm going to get them ready.

Q. First of all, Haynes [King] throwing 33 passes. Did you come in wanting in the game plan to give him a lot? 

COACH FISHER: We're coming slinging. We aren't coming here to run it.  We're going to make big plays. We got guys that can get it down the field. And we've got to be able to throw the football, and we've got to be able to run the football. I was very proud. Like I said, what I was happy about with him in the game, we had some mistakes right there and the ball turned over, his mentality didn't change. He stayed right in the game, making decisions, making calls, going right at it. For a young guy, sometimes that gets very tough, especially in your first start. Really made some nice plays. Look, we're going to sling the ball.

Q. Why do you think that y'all weren't as strong against the run as -- 

COACH FISHER: I don't know, we have to look and see. I don't know if it was fit, discipline. A lot of that was quarterback scrambles. I know one thing, we've got to do a better job rushing. Our ends are getting too far up the field. We're not packing inside with our tackles. And the spy guys on there got hung up with a couple of guys. A lot of that rushing, some of it came out of quarterback scrambles. What did their quarterback have? Let me see right here. That's a big thing that has to get out. That's where it gets you in trouble because you come off guys. He had 60 yards and we sacked him three or four times. How many sacks did we have in the game? This one ain't on here.

Q. Five total sacks, three against [Dustin] Crum.

COACH FISHER: Five total sacks and three against him and he still had 60 yards. So there's a lot of positive yards rushing for him that we've got to get cleaned up. Like I say, you want to sack the quarterback but you got to affect the quarterback. And what you got to do, you got to compress the pocket on him and not let him have room to step up and make those plays.

Q. You talk about changing the mentality quickly with Haynes [King]. Did you see the same kind of thing with Leon [O'Neal] going from potentially being ejected to then making that pick six?

COACH FISHER: Here's the other part. The hit was inbounds. Why was there a 15-yard penalty? [Devon] Achane scored on that big run he had, too. It was the first down on the first third and 1. There was a first interference on 81 (Caleb Chapman) on the ball in the end zone. I guess they were pretty shabby, too, their first game. They weren't on top of it at all, at all.

Q. With Leon [O'Neal], too, his ability to kind of flip that and how much do you think that momentum was for the offense?

COACH FISHER: It's big. That's why you get mature players. Guys that stay till their senior year, it's amazing how good they play and how much maturity they have. He deserves everything he's getting. He understands how to be a team player. He's understanding how to lead. He made two critical big plays and he made some other plays in the game. Very happy for him. He deserves everything that's happened to him.

Q. Jimbo, almost two years since Kyle Field last had full capacity.  Your thoughts on the crowd and everything else that was going on.

COACH FISHER: That was awesome to see the red, white, and blue. I never seen anything like that in the stadium. That was absolutely amazing. The noise was great. Fans were great. Glad we won for them. Wish we had played a little better.

Q. To go back to Leon [O'Neal], whenever you have someone with that kind of energy and excitement and to make plays like that, how much of a boost does that give to your whole team?

 COACH FISHER: He's an Energizer bunny. That's what I say. You've got to have that. You've got to have that guy that's always keeping guys going. And it's a big part of it, man. Energy and -- listen, there's ups and downs in the game. You got to play that next play.  You get down and find that guy that has got that energy that you feed off of, and that's very critical. That's as critical as the plays he makes. 

Q. Following [Haynes] King's 14-yard scramble in the second quarter, some Aggies took to Twitter and described him as Haynes football. How does that make you feel? And what was going through your mind on that play?

COACH FISHER: I tell you what, he was elected with his legs for the most part. And he did a good job, making plays, keeping his eyes up, scrambling. It's fun. You can say coaching all you want, but those guys separate the game and make things really fun. When you can do things like that, that's what you've got to do to get to the next level and play in those big games and win big games because things break down sometimes. Those guys can ad lib. Every time he did it, something really good came out of it.

Q. Hey, Coach, first of all, congrats on the win. You talked about Haynes King running, but another guy who really did some great stuff on the ground, Isaiah Spiller. I'm sure you knew going into it, he only needed 18 yards to hit the 2,000 mark.  And he blew that out of the water.  Where do you see him fitting into the offense going forward?

COACH FISHER: No, I didn't know that. Him and [Devon] Achane are going to touch the ball plenty, I promise you, because they can catch it. They can run it. I'm going to tell you what. They're both selfless. Ainias [Smith] is, too. When he's back there running, all three of those guys block, run, catch really good. But Isaiah Spiller was outstanding on the night.  And I'm going to tell you what, his leadership, there's another guy. You talk about -- he's really emerged into a leader and how he practices and affects guys in a great way, not just his performance.  It's amazing. You know why he did it so well? He did it all camp. He's been amazing in camp, as good as anybody we've got on our team this whole camp. Spiller's been awesome.

Q. Coach, just want to get your thoughts on Caleb Chapman. For him to be able to come back the way he was, especially going through the injury he had against Florida, really picking up the same pace, what does that do for your offense?

COACH FISHER: It's big. You get another weapon.  You get the size, the speed, the athleticism, underneath routes, catches. Caleb is a really good player. Like I say, he had to get in that game and get hit a little bit and get tackled and realize it's all okay. That's the part of being injury.  It's the mental part. He's had two of them. He's had it happen to him twice. One was a freak thing in practice when he was a freshman. I said when he was a freshman -- we were getting ready to play him a bunch. And he and the scout team guy just got tangled up on a route. It happened to him. And it happened to him after he makes a big touchdown catch. He had some bad luck. But getting him back is a big plus for us for sure.

Q. So after a rough second quarter, what did you tell your players in the locker room in order for them to turn things around in the third?

COACH FISHER: Go back to your fundamentals. Go back to your fundamentals, to your teaching. These are the things we're going to do. We've got to play one play at a time. Start doing ordinary things better. Sometimes you start trying to do too much. Go back to fundamentals. Put your hat where it's supposed to be, your eyes where it's supposed to be, run and catch and do the things from a fundamental standpoint and do what we do. Play it one play at a time. Quit worrying about the scoreboard. Quit pressing. Don't try to make too many big. Make the plays that are in front of you. Trust your eyes. React to what you see. Don't think, play football and go back to what we did. And we were able to do that. Good question, very good question.

Q. Coach, you talked about [Isaiah] Spiller's leadership. He was one of the four captains before the game with with [DeMarvin] Leal, [Kenyon] Green and [Ainias] Smith. Four juniors.  How rare is it to have four captains and none of them be seniors?

COACH FISHER: What else do you have with those guys. They all started as soon as they've been here, ain't they? They all stepped right in and did it. Those guys have done a tremendous job. I've said this Isaiah before. There's nothing crazy about why he's playing good. He's been practicing good, thinking good. His whole demeanor since spring ball has been unbelievable, as good as anybody on our team. I don't mean in any disrespect to anybody else. He's been outstanding, as a lot of those guys have.  But he's been tremendous. Happy for him. It's awesome to have four juniors like that, that's for sure. 

Q. Jimbo, I know you've touched on this, but I just want to ask you directly, off the top of your head, your evaluation of Haynes [King] in his first --

COACH FISHER: Thought he played really well. Thought he overcame adversity. Thought he made plays when he had to. Outstanding on third down. The tip ball he had in the third quarter, the guy is wide open. He makes it. The d-lineman throws his hand up and he tips. Has still got to find a way to get it over. He's making the right throws, the right guy, right on the money. The tip ball, we were throwing it to the cross. The tight end thinks it's him. He reaches up, hits it with his hand, and the other one -- probably should have worked the other side probably. It's 9-13 on third down, 21-33. He scored his touchdowns and overcame things. That's the way you measure players, I do. When things ain't all perfect and your first time out there, you can gain a lot of doubt on yourself. He didn't. And the things he created with his legs, the plays he created, he had to create a big drive the first half. You remember on the third and 4, he got the first down to take us down to the 4 and we get the holding call. There's a lot of things to clean up, without a doubt. We'll clean those up. But there's still a lot of big plays there, a lot of creativity, a lot of big plays, and a lot of potential to be right there. I thought he handled the adversity extremely well. Demeanor didn't change. Kept calling the plays. And he's still throwing that ball right between them hashes. A lot of times, young guys, when they throw picks, they don't want to go back to the middle of the field. They don't want to go back in that maze.  It doesn't bother him.  He's a competitor, man. He's a competitor.

Isaiah Spiller Postgame Quotes

Q. First, what was your impression of Haynes King and what he was able to do in his first game?  

Like I said, he's a gamer. You know, mental mistakes his first game. We all have them. But I feel like he's really going to be good for us. He's a great player. That's all I've got to say about him. And he's going to mature and develop during the season, so he's just going to keep getting better and better. So I can't wait to see it.

Q. And then when Leon [O'Neal] was able to get the pick six, how much did that momentum pull over on the offense and kind of spark you all a little bit?

Pulled a lot. Leon is such a big part of this team, big emotional guy. He's very emotional on the football field. So we fed off that and he just made a great play, and I'm happy for him.

Q. Isaiah, you and Devon [Achane] both went over 100 yards again tonight. Talk a little bit about that one-two punch that you guys have developed, basically picking up where you left off from last year.

Yeah, basically just continuing what we started. You know, it's just our job, doing our job every day, me and Von (Devon Achane), you know, scored twice tonight. So yeah, I'm happy to see him get his over 100. So can't wait for next week.

Q. After maybe not having the best first half as a team, how do you feel like y'all were able to get it together in the second half and be able to finish the way you wanted to?

It was really just Coach Fisher simple end of the game for us. I feel like we had first-game jitters. We're still a young team, new O-line.  Just getting adjusted to everything. I feel like first half, we was just out there, the fans, not really used to all that because of last year, COVID. I feel like all that played a part in it. But second half, we just calmed down and played our game. So I feel like we're going to be fine moving forward.

Q. Last time we spoke to you, you said you wanted to have an opportunity to race Haynes King. Have you had a chance to do that yet? And what did can you think of his speed, especially on the play in the second quarter?

No, I haven't, actually. But that play was incredible. I was just sitting there watching him move around. I was just like okay. But yeah, great player. Great play, too.

Q. Hey, Isaiah. We saw a bunch of old Aggies return to the stadium tonight as well. We had Johnny Manziel here, Cullen Gillaspia, some of those.  What do you think that shows about the program and the commitment that you guys have even after you graduate?

Yeah, it just shows the 12th man, the Aggie network, just a family. Everybody looking out for everybody. And I feel like guys feel like they can come back, because it's just a friendly environment. And yeah, that's pretty much it.

Q. Isaiah what did you think of the offensive line, four new guys? You guys obviously rushed for 250 yards. How do you think they played tonight?

They played great. You know, we still got a lot of things to work on. We've still got to get better. But I feel like they did a great job tonight. Kenyon [Green], Aki [Ogunbiyi], Jahmir [Johnson], Bryce [Foster], and Layden [Robinson], all those guys. I'm grateful for those guys. They really did a great job. I can't wait to move forward with them.

Q. Isaiah, you spoke a little bit about the crowd earlier. Not only, one, having full capacity back, but also being the red, white and blue game. And I know your dad was a part of the original one 20 years ago. How cool is that? Have you guys talked about that at all?

I haven't really talked to him about it, but it is kind of cool, you know, see it all come back full circle. I'm glad we got the win today. So yeah.

Q. What did it feel like with the whole crowd being there?

It felt great. You know, just everybody out there supporting us. The 12th man gave us the extra player on the field.

Q. Isaiah, how much frustration was there going into halftime? Because I wonder if y'all felt like y'all should have had a much more comfortable lead at that time. If you feel like you let some things get away.

Yeah, we were definitely frustrated. We had to calm down, though. I felt like during the game -- during halftime, Coach (Jimbo Fisher) really got on us about our detail. We weren't very detailed on every play, every single play. Just honing in on everything, the details, the little small things.

Q. Did you realize it was that close at halftime?

No comment.

Q. Isaiah, football is a very small game of numbers. When you look at it as a whole, you were a few plays away from really dominating all four quarters. What do you think, with the minor tweaks in another week of practice, what your offense can be going into next week for the rest of the season?

Very explosive. We're going to be a very explosive offense. We can do it all. We've got tight ends. We've got multiple running backs, multiple receivers that can run down the field, run past you, catch the ball. I feel like we're really going to step and -- just come out, have a good week of practice, not focus on the game and come into work on Monday.

Leon O'Neal Postgame Quotes

Q. Can you take us through your touchdown? And how much do you take pride in being able to be a spark plug and the way your play changed the momentum in the game tonight?

First thing's first. I want to say before I answer that question -- that's the first thing I wanted to do. I want to thank Demani Richardson, Keldrick Carper, and [Mike] Elko and Jimbo Fisher for believing in me from the jump. The way Demani Richardson ran on that play, that's love. The way Mara blocked for me, that's love. And that's what I wake up every single day and go hard for them and this team and the 12th Man. That's the power, that's the team, that's the streak I put on them because they wanted to block for me.  They didn't know how much I wanted to get into that end zone. They blocked for me and I got in there. I owe it all to them, so thank you for that. Just being a spark plug, wake them up. I guess is starting to come to fruition now. For the most part, I know I had a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of energy. And I know how affectionate of a person I can be to a person, and it's not even about the results to me no more. I just want everyone to grow and be a better man every day.  Because at the end of the day, football is football. It's going to end someday. You have to have a child one day. You have to be a father one day. And I think that's huge, being the better man. That's what I want be every day. Be a great friend, a great teammate. You can ask me anything, tell me anything. I'm going to support you, push you, and I'm going to make sure you're a better man before you leave here. A lot of guys came here because I was the host when they came, and I told them straight up I'm going to give you everything I got every single day. I just don't want to stop doing that. That's my promise. I'm not going to break that covenant.

Q. Leon, can you kind of take us through the emotional process for you when it looked like you were going to get tossed for targeting and then two plays later, you're in the end zone. Two-part question. I have something after that.

That's fine. I completely understand. This is my thing. This is my logic of life, right?  A day at a time. A day at a time. A play at a time. That's it. So after that play, whatever the results was, I wasn't going to question it because I refuse to question God. If I were going to get targeted, get took out of the game, I was going to support my team from the sideline. [Jimbo] Fisher said whether I hit him or not, whatever. After that play, Hey, it's the next play. I know what our job is.  I can't get distracted.  I think a lot of times in my career, I got distracted at times with situations. I think the Florida game from last year was the perfect example. I had an interception. Then I messed around and got a personal foul. Then we messed up a check. And then it was a touchdown with me trying to go to because of Kadarius Toney. I can't forget that. All of it came from me not thinking about the play at hand. You see what I'm saying? That's huge development for me. A play at a time. A play at a time. I know the RPO team, they're going to try to get some quick stuff going on. I just trusted it, and I made a play.

Q. The second part is when you got the ball and you started heading up the field and you see 8 in front of you, what was your thought?

I call 8 Madea, by the way. I don't know if you know who Madea is of Tyler Perry. 8 got big trunk, so I follow 8. I follow that big trunk the whole way. I'm following you. I see him and I know I see DeMani [Richardson], and I'm like I must be getting to the end zone. I was excited. We talk about it all the time. We always joke about pick sixes and touchdowns and stuff like that. So coming to fruition is a big milestone for us as a DB group and as a defense.

Q. What is it like being a player when you have that targeting review? Are you watching the scoreboard? Are you listening to your coaches? Is it hard to listen to your coach because of all that's going on? What was that time frame like when you're waiting for the verdict to come?

For the most part, like I say, I try to stick to the same logic when that's happening Because targeting is so -- I think Tom Brady said something earlier this week about targeting on a little Buccaneer show or something like that. It's kind of deteriorating the game a little bit. You know what I mean? You don't know how it works. He kind of led with his head more than I did on that play. I was trying to keep my head up. And they called targeting. So for the most part, I was like, hey, if they say I'm out of the game, I'm going to support my team. If I'm in the game, I'm going to focus on the next play. It's just that simple.

Q. Leon, what adjustments did you guys make at halftime? And what was it like going up against [Dustin] Crum? I know with Kent State and everything, you might not get a lot of praise. But a pretty good quarterback with a lot of aspirations.

First of all, he's a phenomenal athlete. I think it is challenging when you have got a quarterback who can get out of the pocket and make plays like that. He had a lot of big plays on his feet. It kind of reminded me of Feleipe Franks last year, just making plays on his feet and stuff like that.  So for the most part, kudos to him. I thought he did a phenomenal job trying to keep his team in the game. For the most part, we planned against it. We were repping it.  We just got to, I guess, polish it more at halftime. Coach said, Hey just keep doing what we're doing. We're going to make a little bit of adjustments, but it wasn't too crazy. We just had to keep playing hard. A lot of times we had a chance to get them down, we didn't. We didn't contain them like we wanted to today, so that's pretty much it.

Q. You guys only gave up 10 points. But on the ground, they were able to pick up 170 yards. What made that running attack so kind of difficult to slow down?

Well, for the most part, we just didn't handle our business like the way we're supposed to handle our business. This is the best defense in the country, and it's absolutely unacceptable how we handled that. For the most part, we've got to grow from it come next week. That's what we focus on. We know what kind of defense this is. That's unacceptable. And that's on me. That's on all 11 that's on that field. We've got to do better.

Q. You kind of complained about the energy earlier, so I'll try to give you a fun question. Talk about your decision to wear the gloves that you wore tonight and kind of what that meant.

First off, I think everybody try to take the fun out of football a little bit. This is America. I love America. Why not put on red and blue gloves? I'm an enthusiastic guy so it kind of matches me almost. I was just excited to put those on. We also had some white ones, too. So I couldn't decide which gloves I wanted to wear. But I wore red and blue. Last year for Halloween, I wore orange gloves. So I decided to go red and blue. It was kind of thing I've been doing. I was testing it out. I kind of like it.

Q. Leon, can you talk about after the pick returning it and following the big trunk (Number 8)? You probably didn't have to dive into the end zone, but if you just wanted to make sure you weren't going to be denied. Is that pretty much how it goes?

I'm sure Coach (Jimbo Fisher) is going to tell me something about the dive later on. But I don't think I did anything wrong. It went to get my hand over it. Always have. I was quarterback for a little bit in middle school and high school for freshman and sophomore year. So I was just like I did it before, I'm going to do it again. You know what I mean?

Q. If I could follow up and say, how do you build on that for the Colorado game next week? There were a lot of good things that happened, but as you guys have all said, you've got a lot of things to clean up, and you're getting ready to hit the road.

Well, I think that's human nature.  You've got to go a day at a time with certain things. Tomorrow is pretty much recovery, take care of your body, do certain things that you've got to do. And we get ready for Colorado. It's just that simple. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, we've got to be the best that we can be within those days. Don't even worry about Colorado. Colorado is not even our focus. Just focus on how we can be better Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Before you know it, you're playing Saturday in Colorado.

Ainias Smith Postgame Quotes

Q. I just want to get your thoughts on Haynes King, his performance, and how'd you feel about you and him building that rapport together?

Haynes, I feel like he played a very solid game. Obviously, he didn't have the best game. We didn't have to punt the ball at all. We were driving pretty well. We just had to be able to capitalize. It shows our chemistry is just going to get better as the season goes on.

Q. What was the kind of emotional roller coaster like going from maybe thinking Leon might be pitched for targeting and then coming back for the pick six touchdown? What is that like as teammates watching him and just kind of the vibe when that's all going on?

No, I mean, shoot, I was running down the sideline when Leon had actually caught the pick. And I mean, throughout the entire game, I had a feeling that they were going to call a targeting call. Thankfully, it didn't -- it swayed our way. But then when he got the pick, it lit up the entire sideline. It lit up the entire stadium. So that just gave us momentum. That energy just naturally comes when you make a big play. And we needed a big play. And he was able to do that for us. I was running down the sideline thanking him.  I was like, thank you, Leon, we needed that. You feel me?

Q. Overall, how do you feel about your performance? How would you grade your performance?

I feel like I played average. I didn't play very well, in my opinion. It may have looked good, but personally, I'm my biggest critic. So I feel like I played like -- today, not going to lie, made bad decisions. Just got to play smarter.

Q. What happened on that one punt? I know it took a weird bounce, but did you not see it cleanly off the foot? Or what kind of led to that?

Are you talking about the one that got booted all the way in the back?

Q. Yeah.

Really, I got in expecting -- well, at first I was expecting that they were going to go for it. And then they said they needed a returner, so I went back there with the intentions to fair catch it. And then I saw that it was sailing over my head, so I was like maybe I have a chance to return it. And then as soon as I looked and passed the 10 yard line, so I tried to get my hands back. And then that just goes back to what I said in the previous question. I've just got to play smarter. I'm not able to make silly mistakes like that, especially as a veteran. I have to just come out and be a smarter football player and really just hone in on to the situation. That wasn't a situation for me to even go out and try to return it. So just got to play smarter.

Kent State Head Coach Sean Lewis: Postgame Quotes

“Obviously that was not the outcome that we were looking for here in College Station. I’m really pleased with our kids’ fight and effort down here against a really good ball club. We learned a lot about our team. We have tremendous fight, tremendous resolve. There’s going to be a lot of things that we’re going to see on tape that we are very proud of. Obviously, there are going to be some things that we have to clean up and get better on as well. I’m proud of the way our defense played. We turned a very good football team over four times, and we were able to generate a fifth turnover on downs that I’m very proud of. On special teams, we need to finish better in that area and we need to be better on third down in our offensive sets. That starts with me, and we’re going to clean that up as we continue to grow. We’re looking to see tremendous growth from week one to week two, as we open up at Dix Stadium at home against a very good VMI team.”

On the performance from graduate QB Dustin Crum…

“There was some good flow early on. We had a little bit of miscommunication there at the end of the first half and on into the start of the second half. We pride ourselves on winning the middle eight (minutes); we did not do that. We left a couple of points up on the board there at the end of the first half and didn’t come out and respond the way I would have hoped to start the second half. I need to put our kids in better positions to be successful there in the second half. It starts with my leadership, and as we continue to grow and get better we know that Dustin is going to make great decisions in the future. We are going to depend on his leadership as well, and continue to follow him.”

On Texas A&M CB Leon O’Neal’s pick-six in the third quarter…

“Their (Texas A&M’s) safety, number nine (Leon O’Neal) made a great play on the ball. He took some steps down and fell underneath the route, performed a one-handed tip drill to himself and made a tremendous play.”

Kent State CB Elvis Hines: Postgame Quotes

On his two interceptions…

“The first one was a great play by C.J. Holmes. He tipped the ball up and I was just in the right place at the right time. The second pick, you know, I just relied on my preparation. I knew what route was coming from the alignment of the linemen and how the receiver took his first three steps. I decided to take a chance on it and it worked out in my way. I just tried to be opportunistic.”

On the play of the defense overall…

“I felt like we flew to the ball. We had five total turnovers if you include the fourth down stop, so I felt like we did well. There are definitely some things that we could improve on, but we will get working on that starting tomorrow.”