Texas A&M
4-1 , 2-0
Arkansas
3-2 , 1-1
Team Stats
ARK 7, A&M 0
ARK - TeSlaa,Isaac 75 yd pass from Green,Taylen (Ramsey,Kyle kick) 3 plays, 75 yards, TOP 01:11
ARK 7, A&M 7
A&M - Thomas,Noah 58 yd pass from Reed,Marcel (Bond,Randy kick) 3 plays, 70 yards, TOP 01:06
ARK 14, A&M 7
ARK - Jackson,Ja'Quinden 8 yd run (Ramsey,Kyle kick), 10 plays, 75 yards, TOP 05:38
ARK 14, A&M 14
A&M - Reed,Marcel 5 yd run (Bond,Randy kick), 2 plays, 10 yards, TOP 00:44
ARK 17, A&M 14
ARK - Ramsey,Kyle 45 yd field goal 10 plays, 58 yards, TOP 04:12
ARK 17, A&M 21
A&M - Watson,Tre 5 yd pass from Reed,Marcel (Bond,Randy kick) 8 plays, 75 yards, TOP 04:24
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
Aggies Down Arkansas in Southwest Classic for Fourth Straight Win
Sep 28, 2024 | Football
The Aggies (4-1, 2-0 SEC) claimed their first and only lead of the day with 9:00 remaining in the game as Marcel Reed connected with Tre Watson for a 5-yard touchdown. Following Randy Bond's extra-point, the Maroon & White led 21-17, an advantage they would not relinquish. The eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive was sparked by Le'Veon Moss, who compiled 46 yards on the ground.
The Aggie defense put the final touches on the win as Nic Scourton logged a strip sack and Jaydon Hill recovered the fumble to seal the victory. The play capped off a strong performance from Scourton, who recorded four tackles, all of which were solos and tackles for loss, including 2.0 sacks.
Reed finished the day 11-of-22 passing for 163 yards and two touchdowns, while adding 13 yards on the ground and one score. Moss logged a career-high 117 yards on 13 carries in the win, marking the third 100-yard game of his career and second straight against the Razorbacks (3-2, 1-1 SEC). Among the receivers, Noah Thomas put forth his best performance of the season, hauling in six passes for a career-high 109 yards and a touchdown.
On the defensive end, the Maroon & White wreaked havoc up front as they totaled 10.0 tackles for loss, eight quarterback hurries and 3.0 sacks. Dalton Brooks led the way with seven tackles, two of which were for loss, while Marcus Ratcliffe and Dezz Ricks followed with five takedowns each.
On the third play of the game, Arkansas opened the scoring behind a 75-yard touchdown pass. The Aggies answered on their second drive of the day as Reed connected with Thomas for a 58-yard touchdown pass with 10:28 remaining in the opening quarter. The touchdown catch marked the longest of Thomas' career. The Razorbacks used a fake punt to keep its ensuing drive going and later found paydirt with an 8-yard touchdown run to take a 14-7 advantage into the second.
Following a forced fumble by Shemar Stewart that was recovered by Scooby Williams at the Razorback 10-yard line, the Maroon & White evened the score behind a 5-yard rushing touchdown from Reed as 8:58 remained in the half. The forced fumble and fumble recovery were career-firsts for the Aggie duo. The score remained deadlocked at 14-14 as the two sides headed to the locker room for halftime.
The two sides headed to the fourth quarter tied for the first time in Southwest Classic history after a scoreless third. The Razorbacks broke the tie with 13:24 remaining in the contest with a 45-yard field goal to jump back in front 17-14.
Postgame Notes
Team Notes
- The Aggies have now won 12 of their last 13 games against Arkansas.
- Texas A&M registered its seventh interception of the season and fourth consecutive game with a pick. It marked the first four-game streak with an interception since 2021 when the Aggies recorded a pick against Alabama, at Missouri, South Carolina and Auburn.
- The team's seven picks are the most by the Maroon & White in a four-game span since tallying seven in four games during the 2013 season.
- The Aggies have had at least 5.0 tackles for loss in four of the five games this season, tallying a season-high 10.0 against Arkansas for a loss of 46 yards.
- A solid effort by the Texas A&M punt team made the Razorbacks' average starting position their own 18-yard line. Following Aggie punts, Arkansas started five drives at its own 10-yard line or deeper.
- The Aggies had their first fourth quarter comeback win since their 2021 home win over Alabama.
- Texas A&M won the turnover battle, 3-0. The first fumble recovery resulted in a 10-yard touchdown drive. An interception late in the second quarter and a second fumble recovery late in the fourth quarter snuffed out Arkansas scoring drives.
Individual Notes
- Freshman QB Marcel Reed passed and rushed for a touchdown in the same game for the second time in his career, with the other effort coming two games ago against Florida. In both contests, he had two touchdown passes and one touchdown run.
- Junior RB Le'Veon Moss went over the 1,000-yard mark in career, ending the contest with 1,069 rushing yards to crack the A&M top 50 at No. 49.
- Moss rushed for a career-high 117 yards on 13 carries for an average of 9.0 yards per tote. It marked his second 100-yard rushing game of the season and the third of his career. He ran for 107 yards on 17 carries (6.3 ypr) in last year's Southwest Classic.
- Junior WR Noah Thomas registered the first 100-yard game of his career, equaling a career high with six receptions for 109 yards and one touchdown.
- Thomas caught a career-long 58-yard pass to score the ninth touchdown of his career to move into a tie for 26th in program history with Speedy Noil (2014-16) and Jimmy Teal (1982-84).
- Senior TE Tre Waston scored the first touchdown of his A&M career and the fifth of his collegiate career with a 5-yard grab to give the Aggies the lead in the fourth quarter.
- Freshman DB Dezz Ricks impressed in the first start of his career, tallying five tackles and his first interception in the second quarter.
- Junior DL Nic Scourton brought the pressure as all four of his tackles were for loss, including 2.0 solo sacks. His second sack resulted in a game-sealing forced fumble. He has now recorded at least 1.0 tackle for loss in 12 of his last 14 games, and 1.0 sack in nine of his last 12 games.
- Junior DB Will Lee III tallied a career-high four pass breakups against Arkansas.
- Sophomore DB Dalton Brooks matched a career high with seven tackles, including five solo takedowns. He logged a career-high 2.0 tackles for loss.
- A strip sack by graduate DB Jaydon Hill in the second quarter resulted in his first forced fumble of his career and the first sack and fumble recovery of the season.
- Junior DL Shemar Stewart registered his first career forced fumble.
- Going 3-for-3 on extra points, graduate K Randy Bond moved into a tie with Daniel LaCamera (2016-18) for 12th on the Aggies' career scoring list with 233 points. The duo is also tied for eighth on the A&M career kicker scoring chart.
- Bond also passed Layne Talbot (1987-90) for 12th on the Aggies' career list for extra points with a perfect 89-89.
- Freshman P Tyler White landed five punts inside the 10 and seven inside the 15. The Razorbacks' starting field position following his nine punts was their own 14-yard line.
Postgame Quotes: Mike Elko
(quotes courtesy Caption Pros)COACH MIKE ELKO: Yeah, Arkansas, Texas A&M, and AT&T Stadium, how else would you expect it to go? All the way to the stretch. Needed to make plays in the fourth quarter to win it.
I thought can we did a great job of overcoming adversity all day today. Didn't start the way you wanted it to. Then they hit the punt thing and get going again. I thought our defense plays lights out all day. I thought we made a ton of plays. I thought we pressured him all day.
D-line was phenomenal, I thought, controlling the game, controlling the run game. And then offensively, we just kept kind of plugging away. I think, ultimately, finally got unhinged a little bit towards the end of the third quarter into the fourth and we were able to get that thing going.
I thought the last three drives the offensive plays were obviously huge to put the drive together to score and take the lead and then getting backed up on the half yard line and coming out and trusting Marcel [Reed] to make that throw, which he makes, to get us off there. And then getting that thing going down the field, which was great, and then to get the first down to win it so we didn't have to go back out there on defense.
It's a great win. It's another great step in the right direction for us. Obviously, we have got more to do, more to work on, more to improve. So we're going to enjoy this one. From there, I'll open up to questions.
Q. Mike [Elko], had about five or six possessions where you really couldn't get your offense going. Then late, close to fourth quarter, maybe y'all did. Why do you think or how did y'all flip the switch and get the offense going?
COACH ELKO: Yeah, we just kept getting off schedule, whether there were things we could have done a little bit better to create better leverages, better angles in the pass game and the run game. The plays were not getting run exactly the way we had designed them to be run or we weren't getting the right people the ball at the right times. So we had to take some ownership on what happened.
Nobody blinked on our sideline. I think that's a testament to where we are as a program from a culture standpoint. We know we're still building. We know we're still a work in progress. We know there's going to be moments where it doesn't look exactly the way we want it to, but we just kept going.
The story should be more about what they did at the end to win us the football game and less about the middle when we struggled.
Q. Coach, what did you see from Le'Veon [Moss] in the fourth quarter that after kind of a grind of a game, he was able to really put the game on ice?
COACH ELKO: Yeah, a really talented back. He got dinged up a little bit early and so we didn't have him a good part of the middle of the game. He was kind of working through some different things, and we finally got him healthy and ready to roll when it was time. And he was able to go out there and rip off some really big runs. He's a talented back. He runs hard. He runs behind his pads. Certainly put the game on ice for us --
Q. For everything that went into this series, is it a little extra icing to be able to have that trophy to take home for -- however long until it returns?
COACH ELKO: -- anytime you play a trophy game, any time you play a rivalry game, you want to walk away with that. That thing sits in your building for a year and so that certainly means a lot to the team. If this is the last time we play this series up here, then we know we'll have left with the trophy.
Q. Mike [Elko], talk a little bit about the growth of this team closing out games. Last week a little bit of a struggle to close out. Obviously, Notre Dame got away from you. But this game, it seemed like they were at their best there in the fourth quarter.
COACH ELKO: I think we're still growing through this whole thing. You know, we haven't played great second halves. We know that. It's certainly not lost on the people in this building.
We hadn't gotten off to great starts. Today we didn't get off to a great start. But we went out and played a great second half. Sometimes it goes like that. You just got battle through the ebbs and flows of the game.
That's just where we are right now as a team. We don't have the ability to just walk out there and just blitz people. It's still new. They're still getting in situations for the first time. They're still doing things together for the first time. But we're 4-1 football team and 2-0 in the SEC right now.
Q. Knowing the history of this series and then also knowing that you are still building your program, how important was this win for that program?
COACH ELKO: Yeah, I think it's just big for us to continue to keep taking steps. I told this to the guys on Friday. Everybody wants to become a championship team. It's not lost on anybody, right?
But you don't get there by hiring a new coach, pushing a button, and, bam, all of a sudden you're there. It takes process. It takes work. You got to grind. You've got to grind through some things. You have got to persevere through some things. And we did that and we continue to do that.
To go out there, down 17-14 and find a way to really run away with that thing in the fourth quarter the way we did, I'm really proud of our guys for doing that.
Q. You talked about the pressure you got on Taylen Green, their quarterback. And it caught up at the end with the game-sealing fumble. What did you do well to get that type of pressure on him?
COACH ELKO: Obviously, he's an extremely talented kid. Even when you pressure him, you don't really pressure him because he just escapes and creates more time for himself. Those kids are obviously a challenge. We've got one too, and he creates some of the similar problems.
I think we were able to at least force them the way we wanted to force them. Force them to people in coverage. Force them to people that were spying them, and at least be able to kind of corral him. I don't think he got going with his feet at all, which was a huge focus in the game for us.
We did some things rushing. We did some things blitzing, but we obviously had to have a really strong plan to keep him under control.
Q. Mike [Elko], you said you guys are growing. But when you look at this game overall, is this the most complete and best defensively that you think you guys have played so far this year?
COACH ELKO: Sure. I'm a defensive guy by nature, so you always look and try to find ways. I wish we didn't start by giving up a 75-yard touchdown on third and 11.
I thought the way we played that game, through the middle part of the game on defense -- when the offense wasn't able to put drives together, the offense wasn't able to sustain drives, the defense just kept going. Again, there was no panic. There was, oh, man, we gotta get back. There was none of that on the sideline. There was none of that at halftime. There was none of that when we lost the lead in the third quarter. There was nothing. There was just a group of kids that went out that there and fought together and just kept making plays.
From that perspective, really, really proud of our defensive effort today. It's really hard when you're not putting drives together to keep going out there and making stops, and they were able to do it today.
Q. Special teams certainly played a role in the game. First, when Arkansas ran the fake field goal, did you guys talk about that possibility after they had run the fake punt? What did you think of Tyler White being able to change field position throughout the game?
COACH ELKO: Yeah, it wasn't even a fake punt that they ran. It was a rugby punt. It's on us as coaches that we didn't do a good job of getting communicated of how we wanted to handle that. It wasn't a fake. He just rolled out and took off.
It was coming out of a timeout on the fake field goal, and the distance of that was probably right at the end of his range. We had some conversations in the huddle about being prepared for that.
Q. Coach, can you talk about the performance of Tyler White and the impact he made on special teams today.
COACH ELKO: Yeah. Tyler has been lights out all year. 43 yards of punt today. The net that he's getting is really important.
Tyler has got a big leg, and Tyler can punt the ball a mile if he wanted to every single punt. But I thought he did a really good job today, hitting with great hang. They weren't able to get the return game going at all. When he had to pin down inside the 20, we kept them in play and kept the field position flipped that way we wanted to. Not only was he effective as a punter, but he punted the right way for us to control field position.
Q. How huge was Noah [Thomas] for this offense today and then overall how would you assess how Marcel [Reed] did.
COACH ELKO: Again, Marcel is still growing. There's still some up-and-down moments with him. He made some good plays and then some plays that we wish we had back. Again, he's a young kid, and he's going to continue to get better every time he goes out there. I do think he was able to showcase his arm a little bit. And Noah, for us to be an explosive offense, we need Noah to be a dynamic playmaker. He certainly was that today. It was great to get him over 100 years. It was great to get him in the end zone. Those are things we need to do moving forward for sure.
Q. Just hoping you would talk a little bit about the performance of the offensive line. It seems like it was up and down and very up again at the end of the game.
COACH ELKO: Yeah. I thought -- I think it was on a lot of people. I got to go back and watch the tape to talk through some of the specifics. Some of the looks we were running, we didn't get the communications the way we wanted to. That's on us as coaches.
Some of it was not winning the one-on-one matchups. A lot of that was in the run game, especially through the middle part of the game. I do think at times we had really strong pockets. I thought there were times that Marcel got to sit back there and control it.
When the game was on the line and we needed to go make plays, I think our offensive line found a new level and went out there to win us a football game. It was really great to see.
Q. How difficult is it week to week knowing you have multiple quarterback options? And what is the relationship you've noticed between Conner [Weigman] and Marcel [Reed], just knowing those guys can be ready to go any week?
COACH ELKO: We have a great relationship in that room in general. I think you can throw Jaylen Henderson in that. He's always ready to go, if we need him as well.
I keep saying it. I've said from spring ball all the way through the summer, all the way through fall camp, we have three quarterbacks that we trust that can go out there and play.
Today was Marcel's game, and he had to go out and win it for us.
Q. Coach, what does it mean to be able to walk away and win the last game here at AT&T Stadium knowing it's going back to a home-and-home next year?
COACH ELKO: I told the guys at the beginning of the week half jokingly, if you're from Texas, which most of our kids are, you either grow up loving the Cowboys or hating the Cowboys. If you come here and play in this game, if you love the Cowboys, it's your last chance to play in AT&T Stadium and get a win. If you don't like the Cowboys, you get to beat Jerry's [Jones] team one more time.
Either way, I think there was something to everybody in our locker room to play for today. I mean that with all respect. Jerry Jones is phenomenal. So please don't write I'm taking shots at people when I say things.
It was great. So we got to walk out of here and go get ready for another good Missouri team and see if we can get ourselves a 3-0 headed into the bye week.
Postgame Quotes: Nic Scourton
Q. Nic, can you take us through that last sack as it unfolded, the way you saw it?
DL NIC SCOURTON: Coming off the bench, I'm like, I got to make a play. It's a tight game. Somebody needs to make a play. I was thinking just get a good get-off. I know he loves to roll out to that throwing hand.
When I seen him get stuck in his read, I knew he was going to run. That's when the instinct just kicked in, you know, get the ball out.
Q. You came here as the Big Ten sacks leader, and you had, I think, one or maybe two coming into this game. Was there ever any frustration, any feeling to break out? And did you have that today, if that was the case?
DL NIC SCOURTON: You know, honestly, you always want to be better. You always want to make more plays. I think just the system that I'm in creates plays for me, so I'm not going to really trip and get frustrated about not making as many sacks as I had last year or things like that. I'm just letting the game come to me.
Luckily today, God blessed me to be rich in two of them today.
Q. You said you let the game come to you. The very first play, I believe, was a tackle for a loss of three. How much did just right off the get-go kind of that set the tone for you and the game you had today?
DL NIC SCOURTON: It really did. It felt good to go out there and make that first play. All week on film, I'm seeing guys take that dive. It's the short side of the field. You can sit that out. When I see them pull it, it's just like when I was back at Purdue. I am going to go make that play.
Q. Overall, as a defense, would you say this is kind of the most complete game so far you guys have put together?
DL NIC SCOURTON: We played pretty good snaps, but we just have too many explosives, dawg. Once we limit the explosives, I think this defense can be really special. But we just got to come out and fix things, watch tape, and limit some explosives.
Q. Fitting you mention the explosives, that first drive, getting so close to a sack on third down, on the bench, what is the message? Are you guys extra motivated to go get them the next drive? Seems y'all brought the pressure all night.
DL NIC SCOURTON: Man, we're fired up. Obviously, three guys around them, you know, we got to make that play. The defense, like I said, we put the game on us. Like, that room is so talented. There's so many good players in that room. Something like that can't happen.
Our guys are holding up in the backend long enough. We got to make that play. That's the end of it. But there were a lot of frustrations.
On the sideline -- obviously, we're winning rushes. That's not the problem. We just got to get them down. That's all it was, lifting our guys up, telling the linebackers and the DBs that it's on us. And we're going to go out and get after the quarterback.
Q. Nic, obviously, you see the way you and your teammates specifically on the defensive line, how you guys interact, thre's obviously a swagger. There's a confidence there. Can you tell me what a game like this does for you and your guys specifically in that room?
DL NIC SCOURTON: Oh, man, to have so many guys go out there and rush well and play good run defense, it's exciting. Every time I came here, man, it felt like a brotherhood.
We're going to go, we're going to watch the tape, have some fun, joke around. We got to get back to work, man. But it does so much, you know. The more and more we play with each other, the more comfortable we are, the more we just build that camaraderie, and it's special.
Q. Second half, finishing games, it's been kind of an issue, but three points allowed by you guys in the last three quarters. What was the difference with that and also the difference with giving up 14 in the first quarter and almost 200 yards and then finishing strong?
DL NIC SCOURTON: Our coaches put us up to a challenge this week. There was like a little thing about how we didn't allow a touchdown in the first quarter, first or second quarter, something like that.
Like [Mike] Elko says, some guys get complacent. I think they challenge us to be better in the first quarter and that starts with practice. In the last part of practice, we worked our ass off. We just improved on the back of the practice.
I think once we gel those together, we start hot, we finish hot, I think there is going to be a really good defense as well.
Q. Nic, I know this is your first time in this game. Have any of your teammates or coaches, did they talk to you beforehand about how close and kind of dramatic these rivalries tend to be? Did you come up with an expectation of it?
DL NIC SCOURTON: Oh, for sure. Any game with a trophy is a game I want to win. It's a rich history behind this game. You know, Arkansas is a good team. Arkansas is always going to play us really well. I didn't take that lightly. I wanted to be a part of it. The first time playing in this game I needed to make a play.
Q. For you guys, defense watching the offense on the drive where you take the lead, especially converting on the tough third down the way Le'Veon [Moss] did, and then they go down and score, how much did that help you -- what is it like watching that as a defense? How much does it help that getting that last stop instead of getting a stop to give your offense a chance to tie the game, win the game? You're ahead, maybe that can help dictate what they do, maybe limit some of their options.
DL NIC SCOURTON: It was beautiful. I'm a big fan of Lev (Le'Veon). I love the way Lev plays. He runs the ball super hard. Watching him go out there and make plays and watching the offense go out there and make plays, it was special. I couldn't sit down. I am excited. I am telling the guys, Let's get them up.
It took an ease off our back. We were like, all right, now we get to go rush. This is our specialty.
So we appreciate those guys on that side. We try to do as much as we can to help them, and I know they're doing the same. So it was special to watch them.
Q. On that first sack, did you pull him down with one hand?
DL NIC SCOURTON: I did. I got him. I grabbed his ankle.
Q. Have you ever gotten a one-handed sack like that before?
DL NIC SCOURTON: I grabbed a shoulder pad. I never got an ankle before.
Q. What is Le'Veon [Moss] like in the locker room?
DL NIC SCOURTON: He's a good dude, very mature about his business. He practices really hard. I'm not surprised he's going out here and making so many plays and running the ball so hard.
I remember one time I tried to fit him up in practice, I think he gave me a stinger. I give kudos to him. He's a really good player.
Q. Nic, with the game being a stalemate in the second and third quarters, is it challenging and kind of pressuring for you guys to try and withstand on defense drive after drive with the offense not being able to get much?
DL NIC SCOURTON: You know, it's a game. coming into this, we knew it was going to be a dog fight. It's pressure. You want the game to be on us. Like, if anybody -- you want it to be on us. You know, that's kind of how we knew it was going to come out. Our coaching made adjustments. Guys stepped up and we made plays.
Q. And are you a Cowboys fan or no?
DL NIC SCOURTON: My dad is watching this interview. I'm going to say yes.
Q. What was it like to get the trophy from Jerry [Jones] one last time?
DL NIC SCOURTON: It was special. It was a special moment. This is my first time playing here, so it was a special moment. But for this to be the last game and for us to come out on top, it was special.
Q. Just over the last three weeks, being able to watch Marcel [Reed] on the sidelines, what have you seen from him and him being able to mature at such a young age this fast?
DL NIC SCOURTON: A lot. Like I said, man, the way guys practice is always going to show up. Marcel, obviously, he wasn't a starter in fall camp. But every time he got in, he made plays. He made plays with his arms. He made plays with his legs. The moment is never too big for him. I've never seen him nervous or jittery before the game or anything like that. And I just think he was made to do this.
It's wonderful to see his process of how he's growing and improving as a quarterback. And I think if he's the sole QB starter, I think he's going to keep excelling and winning us football games.
Q. As for your defense, you guys have talked about how you weren't getting as many turnovers maybe as you wanted in those first few games and that they would eventually come. Does it feel like a weight has been lifted now that you got a few today?
DL NIC SCOURTON: Not at all. I think we got to get some more. Yes, ma'am.
Q. Nic, what did you guys say in the huddle before you went out for their last possession after you had taken the lead?
DL NIC SCOURTON: It was mostly like Coach -- basically Coach Tony [Jerod-Eddie] slapping the hell out of us and telling us to go get a sack. I mean, that's all it was. We were about to go rush. This is what you dream of as a D-lineman.
Guys were banged up. Guys went out there, and they ran after the ball get to the quarterback. Kudos to not only the guys upfront but, man, those linebackers and safeties, just helping us cage. I think we had two DBs get sacks today and that's special.
Q. Five weeks in, you're 4-1. Where have you seen this team grow the most since those first few days of fall camp since week one? Where would you say you guys have matured and grown the most?
DL NIC SCOURTON: I would say, honestly, Notre Dame. Notre Dame was like a punch in the mouth to us. That game hurts. You know, we can't get that one back. I think Notre Dame was a great time to be humble.
I think guys took it as a challenge, especially the defensive line. They were saying we couldn't stop the run. So I think just Notre Dame.
Q. Nic, when A&M scored to take the lead, there was still nine minutes to go. I asked Le'Veon [Moss] this. How much concern, nervousness, whatever you want to put it, did y'all feel, do you think, as a defense at that moment? What do you think was the frame of mind of the defense at that moment was?
DL NIC SCOURTON: I think it was excitement, to go up and have the opportunity to go out and stop them on defense, what our offense just scored for us, it was very exciting. And you want to be in that position. It was a good challenge. Luckily, we prevail.
Postgame Quotes: Le'Veon Moss
Q. Le'Veon, let's talk a little bit about you at the end of games. I feel like when you guys are pinned up, that's when you and this offense seems to be at your best. Talk about the fourth quarter and getting the run game established.
RB LE'VEON MOSS: I mean, we pride ourselves about finishing the fourth quarter a lot. That's just the main focus on finishing the fourth quarter really.
Q. Le'Veon, on that touchdown drive you guys had in the fourth quarter, things had not been going well for y'all. Before you broke out on the field, what was the message? It seemed like throughout that drive, your guys were just tired of it as you marched down the field.
RB LE'VEON MOSS: There wasn't really no message. We just need to improved -- I mean, do what we need to do, not improve. We just need to do what we need to do and finish.
Q. Le'Veon, that third-down conversion when y'all were down three and eventually led to the touchdown, seems like maybe the unsung moment of the game. What do you remember about that play? I think it was third and four. They stopped you initially and busted out. What do you remember about that?
RB LE'VEON MOSS: I don't remember much. I just be balling really. I'm ain't gonna lie.
Q. What's the decision with the green cleats and the matching mouth guard? You kind of stand out from everybody else out there.
RB LE'VEON MOSS: I feel like I play better when I feel different from everyone else. I had the white cleats on at the beginning of the game, as y'all seen. I changed them out mid-quarter. I needed to do something. That's how I express myself, through my cleats and changing colors and stuff really.
Q. When was it that you changed it up?
RB LE'VEON MOSS: I think it was third quarter I think I changed them up. Beginning of the third quarter, I changed them up and just went uphill from that.
Q. Are you a superstitious guy? Do you think that created some momentum for you?
RB LE'VEON MOSS: Yeah.
Q. Le'Veon, I'm trying to think of a polite way to put this, but it seemed like you ran angry the last couple of possessions. Was there just some kind of drive in you, thinking you needed to take over? Is that just the way it worked out?
RB LE'VEON MOSS: I just want to be a leader. I want to show that I can do what I need to do and support my team.
Q. Coach (Mike Elko) talked about trying to build a culture, trying to kind of change the way you guys think about things. Five games in, how would you say it's different from the last couple of years to this year under Coach Elko?
RB LE'VEON MOSS: We're playing more together. And I think about ourselves, we're playing -- like he built a brotherhood. Play for the man next to you.
Q. Could you sense that down three late in the game, that you guys maybe had a different vibe or a different mindset than you did in years past?
RB LE'VEON MOSS: Everybody was uplifting everybody to keep their head up. It's just a brotherhood that we stand strong with each other.
Q. Le'Veon, when y'all scored the touchdown to take the lead, I think there was still nine minutes left in the game. As an offense or maybe just individually, how nervous were you whether or not that would be enough points to win the game? Or did you feel like y'all were going to have to score again? What was the frame of mind at that time?
RB LE'VEON MOSS: Wasn't nervous. I knew my defense was going to get the stop and we was going to run the clock out.
Q. Le'Veon, you mentioned playing for the teammate next to you. What does it mean for the offense when the defense goes out there and gets the turnover and gives you guys the ball back, especially late in the game?
RB LE'VEON MOSS: It just means a lot. We play to score the ball. They play to stop the ball. So it all works together.
Q. Coach [Mike] Elko talked about during the week he mentioned this was the last game here for now, for this rivalry. How much was that a talking point for you guys as players, wanting to win this because it was maybe closing that door?
RB LE'VEON MOSS: I mean, the focus was just bringing that trophy back on the plane with us. We knew we were going to finish this game the right way.
