Texas A&M
5-1 , 3-0
Missouri
4-1 , 1-1
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Team Stats
UM 0, A&M 7
A&M - Daniels,Amari 1 yd run (Bond,Randy kick), 8 plays, 60 yards, TOP 03:38
UM 0, A&M 10
A&M - Bond,Randy 44 yd field goal 7 plays, 46 yards, TOP 02:49
UM 0, A&M 17
A&M - Daniels,Amari 1 yd run (Bond,Randy kick), 8 plays, 65 yards, TOP 04:21
UM 0, A&M 24
A&M - Moss,Le'Veon 1 yd run (Bond,Randy kick), 11 plays, 88 yards, TOP 05:31
UM 0, A&M 31
A&M - Moss,Le'Veon 75 yd run (Bond,Randy kick), 1 plays, 75 yards, TOP 00:13
UM 0, A&M 34
A&M - Bond,Randy 38 yd field goal 8 plays, 40 yards, TOP 06:44
UM 7, A&M 34
UM - Wease,Theo 59 yd pass from Cook,Brady (Craig,Blake kick) 5 plays, 77 yards, TOP 01:19
UM 7, A&M 41
A&M - Moss,Le'Veon 18 yd run (Bond,Randy kick), 3 plays, 57 yards, TOP 01:33
UM 10, A&M 41
UM - Craig,Blake 23 yd field goal 17 plays, 74 yards, TOP 05:59
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
No. 25 Aggies Dominate No. 9 Missouri at Kyle Field
Oct 05, 2024 | Football
The Aggies (5-1, 3-0 SEC) remained unbeaten in SEC play after outgaining the Tigers (4-1, 1-1 SEC) 512-254 on the day. Defensively, the Maroon & White wreaked havoc as they totaled a season-best 6.0 sacks and 8.0 tackles for loss. Nic Scourton led the charge with three tackles, 2.5 for loss and 1.5 sacks. Dalton Brooks totaled a team-best six tackles, five of which were solo takedowns.
Quarterback Conner Weigman returned as the starter for the first time since Week 2 and finished the day 18-of-22 passing for 276 yards. The sophomore also added five carries for 33 yards. Running back Le'Veon Moss rushed for a career-high 138 yards on 12 carries to go along with a career-best three touchdowns. The junior added two catches for a career-high 35 yards. The 100-yard performance marked the second straight for Moss and the fourth of his career.
Amari Daniels chipped in with 34 yards on nine carries and added a pair of scores, marking his second multi-touchdown performance of the season. Freshman Terry Bussey led the Aggie receiving corps with three receptions for 76 yards, while Noah Thomas followed with a trio of catches for 65 yards.
Texas A&M blitzed Missouri in the opening half, racing out to a 24-0 lead and outgaining the Tigers 305-79. Following a fourth down stop on the Tigers' opening possession of the game, the Aggies found paydirt as Daniels capped off an eight play 60-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run as 9:17 remained in the first quarter. The Maroon & White later tacked on a 44-yard field goal courtesy of Randy Bond as they took a 10-0 lead into the second.
After the stoppage, Daniels found the end zone once again as the junior punched it in from 1-yard out to finish off an eight play 65-yard drive. Bond's extra-point pushed the advantage to 17-0 as 14:27 remained in the half. Moss put the finishing touches on a dominant first half with a 1-yard rushing score to cap off an 11 play, 88-yard drive.
Ol' Sarge's charges continued to pour it on in the third as Moss broke through the gap for a 75-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage to extend the lead to 31-0. With 6:30 left in the quarter, Bond pushed the advantage to 34-0 behind a 38-yard field goal.
The Tigers finally broke through on the scoreboard at the 5:06 mark in the third behind a broken play that led to a 59-yard touchdown pass.
In the fourth, the Aggies tacked on another score as Moss found the end zone for the third time on the day with an 18-yard rush. Missouri later added a 23-yard field goal in the closing seconds to make the final 41-10.
Postgame Notes
Team Notes
- The 31-point spread was the Aggies' largest margin of victory over a top-10 opponent, besting a 52-28 victory over No. 9 South Carolina to open the 2014 season.
- The Aggies registered five rushing touchdowns in an SEC game for the first time since an Oct. 12, 2013, win at Ole Miss.
- Texas A&M has recorded five rushing touchdowns in multiple games this season, marking the first time it has accomplished the feat since 2019.
- Missouri's 10 points were the fewest given up by an Aggie defense against a top-10 opponent since beating No. 9 Nebraska 9-6 on Nov. 20, 2010.
- The Aggies racked up over 512 yards of total offense, their second time going over 500 yards and fourth time going over 400 yards in 2024.
- Texas A&M doubled up Missouri in total offense, 512-254 including a 236-68 (3.47-to-1) edge in rushing yards.
- The Maroon & White held the Tigers to just 68 yards on the ground in the game, marking the third time this season they have limited their opponent to double digits in the category and the fourth straight game of allowing 100-or-fewer rushing yards.
- The A&M defense dominated on the way to a 24-0 halftime lead, limiting Missouri to just 79 yards of offense in the first half, including just 16 rushing yards.
- Texas A&M held Missouri to 0-for-5 on 3rd down 0-for-5 in first half and 0-for-6 to start the game as A&M built a 34-0 lead.
- The Aggies were 5-of-5 in the red zone, including four touchdowns and field goal.
- The A&M defense continued playing like mad dogs in a meat market, registering 8.0 tackles for loss, including 6.0 sacks.
- The Aggies' victory marked the first time they have strung together five consecutive victories after dropping the season opener since 2012.
Individual Notes
- Sophomore Conner Weigman returned as QB1 against Missouri, completing 18-of-22 passes for 276 yards and rushing five times for 33 yards.
- Weigman's passing and completion totals helped him continue his climb through the A&M record books, moving to 22nd place with 2,376 career passing yards and a tie for 19th place with 196 career completions.
- Junior RB Le'Veon Moss made it back-to-back 100-yard games, racking up a career-best 138 yard on 12 carries and scored multiple touchdowns in a game for the second time this season, finishing the game with three trips to the end zone.
- Moss logged the longest run of his career with his 75-yard touchdown scamper on the first play of the second half.
- Moss became the first Aggie to rush for three TDs in a game since Isaiah Spiller against UTSA in November 2019.
- Moss also racked up a career-best 173 all-purpose yards in the game, adding 35 receiving yards.
- Junior RB Amari Daniels registered the second multi-touchdown game of his career and of the season after reaching the end zone on a pair of 1-yard scores in the first half.
- Freshman Terry Bussey, who entered the game with two receptions for 10 yards, logged three catches for 76 yards, including a long of 33.
- Junior DL Nic Scourton has recorded at least 1.0 tackle for loss in five of his six games in the Maroon & White, finishing the game with 2.5, including 1.5 sacks. Scourton has now logged a sack in 10 of his last 13 games and a tackle for loss in 13 of his last 15.
- Junior DB Will Lee III broke up a pair of passes against the Tigers to make it back-to-back games with multiple breakups after tallying a career-best four PBU against Arkansas.
- Four Aggies registered their first sack of the season, including sophomore DL DJ Hicks, graduate DL Rodas Johnson, sophomore LB Daymion Sanford and sophomore LB Taurean York. Junior DL Albert Regis also got in the column for the first time in 2024 with a half-sack. It was the first career sack for Sanford.
- Graduate K Randy Bond converted on 2-of-2 field goals and 5-of-5 PATs for 11 points, notching the 10th game of his career scoring double-digit points and the 16th time sending multiple field goals through the uprights.
- Bond moved into 10th place on Texas A&M's career scoring list with 244 points, including seventh in kicker-only scoring. Bond also moved into 11th place with 94 made PATs (94-of-94) and became the sixth Aggie to make 50 career field goals (50-of-65).
Postgame Quotes: Mike Elko
(quotes courtesy Caption Pros)COACH ELKO: Yeah, proud of our guys. We challenged them to come out and play a complete game. I thought we did that. It was a very good Missouri team, and we knew we were going to have to play start to finish. Started fast. We stayed on them. Made a lot of stops on defense in the first half. Really kept the game in rhythm.
Conner [Weigman] obviously came out, had a heck of a day, 18 for 22. Le'Veon [Moss], again, running the ball for 11.5-yard average. We dominated the rushing game. We won on third down. We won on touchdowns in the red zone. We did the things we needed to do playing the game of football.
Proud of our guys. This was a six-game stretch for sure. That was a challenge with them coming off the bye week and us having played four Power Five teams at this point. I thought our kids responded to that challenge.
Last thing I'm going say, and I'm going to say this because it needs to be said, you can challenge Conner for how he plays and you can be upset about Conner for how he throws the football. Some of the stuff that has been said about this kid and written about this kid -- not by you guys, you guys have been great -- is embarrassing. It's absolutely embarrassing the stuff that gets out there on this kid.
This kid is a winner. He's a competitor. He does everything that he needs to do for Texas A&M football. There's a lot of people right now that need to stand up and recognize what they've said over the last three weeks and take some ownership in it.
Q. Speaking of Conner [Weigman], when did you know he would be the guy? How did his week of practice go? Also, is Marcel Reed okay? I heard something maybe about his ribs as well.
COACH ELKO: Yeah, Marcel is okay. He went in at the end of the game. He just got sore from running the football and getting tackled. Marcel is okay.
Probably coming off the field Thursday, we had an idea it was going to be Conner. He was able to take a full week of practice. We were really happy with how he practiced. We kind of wanted to just get him to today to make sure pregame he had the zip that we hoped he would have and he did. And once we saw him throwing the ball around the way he's capable of, we felt good that's the direction we wanted to go.
Q. Yeah, Mike, could you have foreseen considering the explosiveness of Missouri's offense and your defense to hold them to just one touchdown? And I also wanted to add to that, did the crowd noise, do you think -- how much did it assist y'all defensively?
COACH ELKO: Yeah, I think the 12th Man certainly heard some of the statements made about how easy it was to play in Kyle Field. And that was good. And they were certainly riled up, and we always appreciate them. We knew they would be there strong this week.
And we're capable of being a really good defense. When we communicate, when we do things the right way, when we play the game we're capable of being, we're capable of being a really good defense.
For the most part, we did that today. Still some things to fix and clean up. But if we keep progressing, we have a chance to be a pretty good defense.
Q. Yeah, Mike, can you play any better than this? You played against a top-ten team and just dominated from start to finish. And are you guys a serious SEC contender at this point?
COACH ELKO: We're 5-1, 3-1 heading into a bye week. That's all we are. Can we play better? Yeah, I think we can play a lot better. I still think there's a lot of things out there that we can play and fix and do better.
So we're in a growth mindset. That's how we talked about this thing. We were going into the season and put our head down and try to grow every single day, get better, and ultimately, just try to reach the capability that this team has, whatever that is, whatever that ultimately amounts to.
We didn't flinch when we didn't get the job done against Notre Dame. We just kept grinding. These aren't statements. I'm not trying to make statements about anything, but we just got to keep going. We're where we want to be right now. We couldn't be in a better spot responding after Notre Dame.
But at the end of the day, we still have half the season to play. And this thing could still go a lot of different ways. So we got to keep working.
Q. What did you make of how you guys were able to control the line of scrimmage on each side, specifically getting after Brady Cook? It never seemed like he got into a rhythm.
COACH ELKO: These are the games where you're going to get sacks, when you get a big lead and the quarterback has to sit back there and throw the ball, and that puts him in a lot of risk. And that's really challenging. So we were able to pressure him quite a bit today. I think we got him six times. He's a talented kid. He's a really good player. We knew we had to try to make him uncomfortable with all the skill that we had. And I thought we were able to do that today.
Q. Just going back to the environment, almost same, I guess, dynamic as complementary football in the sense of y'all playing well, the crowd gets involved, and y'all feed off that. What are some things y'all talk about as a team, especially easy things within your control to be able to maximize that home-field advantage?
COACH ELKO: Football is about the focus that you have to do what you're supposed to do every single play, right? That's the challenge of the game of football, and it's hard. It's hard for 19-year-olds to stay dialed in for 3 1/2 hours amidst all of the challenges and the elements out there.
But when we do that and we play to our capability, we have a chance to be really good. And I think the kids are starting to at least believe that a little bit, that if they'll just stay focused on the things that are important and do the things that are important, we have a chance to have some success.
Q. Hey, Mike, I just wanted to ask you about what you mentioned on top. What bothered you most about what was said about Conner [Weigman] outside of here?
COACH ELKO: How false and fictitious it all was.
Q. I mean the criticism specifically.
COACH ELKO: Not criticism of him as a quarterback. You can criticize him as a quarterback. He stood up here. He owned his performance. We are all in this arena to be criticized. That's sport.
When you start taking personal shots on a kid and start talking about personal things that are grossly fictitious and grossly false and those things become stories and start running, that's embarrassing.
Q. And what we saw from him today, how much of that was a function of him being healthy? Also, how much of it was he's more comfortable in this scheme and this offense now?
COACH ELKO: Listen, we owned what happened against Notre Dame. We played bad. We played bad on offense. Everybody stood on this podium and said it. We called a bad game. I coached a bad game. Receivers played a bad game. Quarterback played a bad game. We played bad. And everybody in our program owned it. So I don't know that it's anything other than we had a bad night, and we went back to work to get better. And we're seeing progress moving forward since then.
And today, we played better. And so now we've got to keep doing that. This doesn't become a statement, we got to keep doing it, because we're going to have other big opportunities here where we are going to have to go out and we're going to have to perform and we're going to have to play football the way we know how.
Q. After that Notre Dame game, you knew this game was coming up and this was kind of an early-season acid test for you. What was the general feel in the locker room over these last three weeks, knowing that this was going to be a really big test?
COACH ELKO: Yeah, at that point, I don't know that you pointed to this game. I think we were just trying to move forward and get better.
The first hurdle, obviously, was going down to Florida and winning an SEC road game. We were able to do that. Then we struggled to close out the Bowling Green game the way we wanted to. The Arkansas game is always a hard-fought game. We knew that was going to be that.
We just talked all week this week about the last three games that we played that we won, we had moments where we played really well and then moments where we didn't. And we had to eliminate the poor parts of our game and we had to kind of focus to play at our level the way we could. Today was maybe the first time we did that a little bit more consistently. And I think that's maybe what we're capable of.
Q. Coach, you preach effort. We hear it at practice. We hear you talk about it. It felt like your team gave a full, complete game effort today. What do you this was the difference-maker?
COACH ELKO: Yeah, just that. I think it starts with committing yourself to strain every play. And if you pour everything you have into something, you have a chance to be really good at it. If you half-step your way through things, you can't be what you're capable of being.
That's why I was so riled up for the defense at the end. Even though they got that field goal, for them to continue to play the way they did down the stretch, at that point, 41-7, but keep playing, keep trying to get that stop, I felt like that deserved the round of applause it got.
It's what we want to pride our program on. I told you guys when I got hired at the opening press conference, we want to be a blue-collar group that maximizes our potential. And effort is certainly a starting to point to that.
Q. And Tyler White, one of the best punts most of us in this room had ever seen. How much of an edge do you feel like that gives your special teams?
COACH ELKO: Yeah, Tyler has been punting the ball really well. I don't know how he got it to screwball like that. That was pretty impressive. To slide out on the half-yard line, that was really big for us.
But he's becoming a weapon. Those things matter and field position matters. And he's doing a great job helping us control it.
Q. Going off the playing well at the end -- And I know we didn't see a lot of red-zone defense. But there at the end, what did you make of the red-zone defense? Like you said earlier, how this defense as a whole is progressing.
COACH ELKO: Yeah, at that point, it was just more about -- I was proud of their will to continue to play. At that point, the game wasn't in doubt, but we kept playing. And I think that's a step we needed to take coming out of some of the other games that we have played this year where maybe we didn't finish the way we wanted to. So I was proud that they just kept going and kept playing.
Q. Is there a moment early in the game, a play or something, that you saw Conner [Weigman] that made you excited for where the day might go for him?
COACH ELKO: When did he hit the chump ball to Noah [Thomas]? Was that in the first quarter, second quarter, the one where Noah went up and rose up over the DB? Yeah, that was kind of the one where like, okay, he's feeling -- because he put that thing right where it needed to be for Noah to turn and back shoulder and the ball placement on that one was really good. When he made that throw, he was like, okay, he's in a good rhythm right now and feeling good about himself.
Q. Have you gathered any intel on the blanket and the card for [Theo] Wease early? How did you feel like he responded?
COACH ELKO: You guys should go ask Eli (Eliah Drinkwitz) where that came from, because I have a strong feeling that it came from the other side and have nothing to do with Texas A&M, Will Lee, or anybody over here. So you should point that one to the other side.
Q. Speaking of that, there seems like there was a lot of gamesmanship this week, the press conference where you talked about your quarterback situation. When you're in this room and you hear those assumptions being made, how do you guys react to that?
COACH ELKO: We don't. I have all respect for the job that you guys have to do, I do. You guys have to write what you see, and that's what we all signed up for. So none of that has any impact on what we do, how we do things. I respect the job that you guys have to do; I really do. So we can handle all that stuff. None of that stuff affects us.
Q. Looked like the offense was moving a much greater tempo today than it had been the last few weeks. Is that just something you thought would work well against Missouri or just the way it worked out? What brought that about?
COACH ELKO: Probably rhythm. It's funny how offense works. When you make plays and you're having success, you kind of get into a rhythmic flow. You call the game faster. You can run some tempo plays. You're making first downs. It all looks like it's going well. And then everyone says, Why don't you do that all the time?
What happens is you get stalled. You don't get the first downs. You don't throw. And it doesn't get in rhythm, and then it doesn't look the same. So I think that's what we want it to look like.
We've tried to push tempo a little bit throughout the year at different times. I think we realized it was giving us an advantage, so we maybe pushed it a little bit more. I don't know if it was the heat or what or the early kick-off, we just felt like it was giving us an advantage. Maybe they weren't quite ready for it.
But I think that all comes from success, right? You hit a first down, and you can go. You make a good play, and you can go. If you're not having some of the early-down successes, it's really hard to play like that.
Postgame Quotes: Le'Veon Moss
Q. Le'Veon, obviously, you had a great day again. How much of the passing game, in your opinion, opened up some opportunities for --
LE'VEON MOSS: The passing game opened up the running game a tremendous amount, especially when Jahdae [Walker] got down field and made that catch. That's what got me in the end zone the first time.
Q. Could you take us through that 75-yard run? And how much of a dagger do you think that was in the game to score on the first play there?
LE'VEON MOSS: Take you through it. I was just playing ball, honestly. Sorry to say that again, but I'm just ballin'. We just wanted to come out and continue to put our foot on their neck. That's it.
Q. Le'Veon, what did you see from Conner [Weigman] today in his first game back here in four games?
LE'VEON MOSS: I mean, I seen what I always expected him to do. That's his job, so he do it. I was glad to have him back, though, coming out to party.
Q. Le'Veon, do you feel like Conner [Weigman] was playing with a little bit more emotion, a little bit of fire to come back and show what he's missed out on the last three weeks?
LE'VEON MOSS: Most definitely. I know it hurt him to sit out, but things happen. It's football. He was excited to be back, and he played with that intensity that he was excited to be back.
Q. And for how good the passing game was, how important to y'all that all touchdowns came on runs?
LE'VEON MOSS: That was just ability. We weren't expecting all touchdowns to be off runs.
Q. Was there any point, I guess maybe early in the game, where something happened and you were just like, "This is probably going to be our day"?
LE'VEON MOSS: I seen a couple D tackles come free in the beginning, and I was like, We just need to tighten up. I didn't think it was going to be a rough day. I just thought we needed to tighten up and get our heads on the right way.
Q. How enjoyable is it to work in this scheme? Because it seems like Coach [Collin] Klein is really creative in the ways you guys get into different run sets. What is that like being a part of that?
LE'VEON MOSS: It's amazing. We got so many different formations; but we could be running the same play, you wouldn't know.
Q. The touchdown run, it looked like up front, like, everybody kind of got a hat on a hat. Just from your vantage point, how good of a job did you guys do up front on that play?
LE'VEON MOSS: We did a great job. Specifically with that play, all five O-line men had on a hat for sure.
Q. How much different do you feel like this team is from the one we saw against Notre Dame?
LE'VEON MOSS: How different? Tremendous amount. I mean, we just needed to dominate the first game. We took the L and the team came back and showed what we can do.
Q. Your coach (Mike Elko) just talked about how he felt like it was -- a little unfair things were said about Conner [Weigman]. Just curious, how much did you guys pay attention to that as his teammate? And did you feel like that was the case, too?
LE'VEON MOSS: Me personally, I didn't listen to the media. I'm not a social media guy. But Coach always saying, Don't listen, because they're going to have your back when you win and hate you when you lose.
Q. You guys are 3-0 now. Do you consider yourselves the SEC frontrunners?
LE'VEON MOSS: You can say that, but there's plenty more to come.
Q. Do you feel like y'all shocked Missouri today?
LE'VEON MOSS: Most definitely (laughter). Come and get a piece of cake.
Q. You talk about shocking Missouri. Obviously, hear some of that outside noise and calling out Kyle Field. Was any part of this afternoon's win personal to you? Do you guys pay attention to that at all, or is it just go out and play our game?
LE'VEON MOSS: What I took personally is them saying that their practice would be logged in our stadium. I took that personal, because our 12th Man support us to the end, no matter what happens. I took it personal.
Q. I know you guys have a lot more football to play, but do you feel like this could be a signature win that could propel you to where you want to be this season?
LE'VEON MOSS: Yeah, I feel like this win will put a lot of people on our team in the right head space to know that we can be a team.
Postgame Quotes: Nic Scourton
Q. Nic, what was really cooking for you guys, able to get so much pressure on Brady Cook today?
NIC SCOURTON: Man, I think really just defensive coordinators scheming things up. Obviously, they were seven-man protecting most of the game. So on the edges, it was kind of quiet today.
But our linebackers got into it. Our interior linemen, it was a great game. And it was greatly called by our coaches.
Q. You guys racked up six sacks, I think. What did you guys see against these guys, because they hadn't given up much at all until this game, that made you feel confident coming in?
NIC SCOURTON: You know, I think they're a really good O-line. I think just knowing that we got guys in the backend who can cover one-on-one. And then giving it all, just sending it on. And trying to get Brady Cook flustered. And it worked, and he made some poor decisions in the game, and it turned out in our favor.
Q. Coach [Mike] Elko was saying how proud he was with how the team played there at the end of the game when it was already out of question. Still got that stop in the red zone. What does it say about this defense the way, buzzer to buzzer, basically, you guys were playing full speed?
NIC SCOURTON: I mean, we got competitors on the defense. And we didn't want to give them anything, especially anything cheap in the red zone at the end of the game, and try to make the game look closer than it was.
They kind of lit a fire on us. Coming into our place, like pre-interviews, talking down on Kyle Field. Coming in here and stepping on our field and stuff like that. And I think guys were really motivated to go out there and be dominant.
Q. Talking about that motivation, I know Coach (Mike Elko) mentioned -- or kind of called out people who were spreading rumors about Conner [Weigman]. Do you feel like he played with more emotion to prove some people wrong?
NIC SCOURTON: Conner Weigman is a dog. We battled some injuries. This is my first year playing with him. Just to see what he's been going through, the media talking bad about him and things like that. For him to just fight, he's a warrior and he's a ballplayer.
So I think he comes in every game with that mentality, that he wants to dominate anybody and he has a chip on his shoulder. Obviously coming back from injury, he's offseason. He's a great player, great competitor, and he's not backing down from anything.
Q. Did the blanket thing from last night spread around the locker room? How did you feel like Will Lee responded?
NIC SCOURTON: Great player, competitor. He's not talking, he's going to back it up. And that's just what he does. I'm blessed he's on our side.
Q. Did y'all talk about it in the locker room?
NIC SCOURTON: We did. We're not done yet. Still messing around.
Q. Nic, y'all were really successful on third and fourth down, 5-15, 1-4 respectively. Do you feel like y'all turned it up a notch on situations like that? Is there anything that makes you more successful in those situations?
NIC SCOURTON: Preparation. Not a lot of teams in the country do what we do in practice. Not a lot of people practice as hard as us. Not a lot of people do as much situational work in practice.
And our coaches prepare us to be in situations and win big games. I have to give all the props to them. And then guys buying into what they're coaching us to do and going out there and -- what's the word -- just working through the game plan. Working through the game plan.
Q. What changed from that tough A&M loss to now in your locker room?
NIC SCOURTON: Just the mentality. I thought, you know -- I'm going to speak for myself. I just felt like we weren't playing hard enough. I felt like Notre Dame game, we weren't playing hard enough, and that's really all that's changed. Guys running to the ball, fighting for that extra yard. We're just playing harder, and we got a chip on our shoulder.
Q. Nic, last couple games now, 6.5 TFLs for you and at least a few sacks. What's been working for you lately these last couple games?
NIC SCOURTON: Just following the game plan. Putting me in a situation to make plays, I got to go make them. And you know, it could have been more. I left some on the table today. But just following the game plan and going out there and doing my job.
Q. About Conner [Weigman], how do you see him just handle this time off when people are wondering if he's the best quarterback and people are talking about him. How do you see him handle that during that time off?
NIC SCOURTON: He never flinched. Anytime I went to the training room, I saw Conner. He's in there all the time working to get his shoulder back right and things like that. He's motivating the younger quarterbacks, motivating us. Even in the games, he's on the sidelines getting everybody up when he was out. Never flinched. He never backed down from anything, and he never let any of the negativity get to him. He's a warrior.
Q. Nic, a couple things. One, when you guys get to third down and they play "Mo Bamba," I see everyone get very hyped. And I see you look like you're having a lot of fun. Can you tell me what that moment is like?
NIC SCOURTON: Kind of like playing the NCAA game. Going out there, having fun. Kyle Field's rocking. We got them backed up. It's something you dream of as a kid. Like, it's crazy. It's just this place is so special to play. And when everybody is out there and it's packed out, it's beautiful.
Q. Coach [Mike] Elko mentioned before the season that this program is run on discipline and everybody is expected to do things a certain way. But within that structure, there's a chance to have fun. How has that played out in your experience that you've been here?
NIC SCOURTON: Never once has Coach Elko tried to change anybody's personality. He blends the program into our personality. We're very disciplined, and we have set rules. But he never tells anyone to change. He never tells anyone they're too much. He kind of like molds us into the program.
Q. Nic, last week, after a strong performance, I asked if y'all felt like a weight was lifted. And you said, No, we want more. How do you feel after this performance, especially headed into a bye week?
NIC SCOURTON: Same thing. Never in my life have I started out 5-1. We're just hungry, man. We got some games that we can win. We got some games that we need to win. I think we go, we rest, and we get our bodies back right, and we get back to work for Mississippi State.
Q. Nic, I'm curious. When y'all found out that Conner [Weigman] was going to be able to start, did that give you guys a spark going into the game? And seeing how he performed at the beginning, what does that do for a team as a whole?
NIC SCOURTON: I feel like that's more of a offensive side of the question. Either of those guys are capable of playing. I'm not too busy worried about how the offense is going to handle their game. I'm focused on the defensive game plan and the guys on the defensive side.
