Texas A&M wins over Utah State 38-30

Texas A&M held off a late surge by a surprising Utah State Aggie team to win 38-30 in an intersectional football contest at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas.

A&M’s record is 2-0 for the year. Utah State falls to 0-2.

Down 38-13 deep in the four quarter, Utah State cranked up two drives to pull within 30-38. The last drive started on Utah State’s 24. After pulling to within eight points, the visiting team recovered an on-side kick. Utah State quarterback Doindre Borel fumbled to A&M freshman linebacker Sean Porter to seal the victory with 25 seconds to play.

The game standout clearly was freshman wide receiver Uzoma Nwachukwu . He got four touchdowns in four touches. Three of the TD’s came on spectacular leaping catches. The magic started in the first quarter with a 35-yard TD pass from quarterback Jerrod Johnson. He evened the score at 14-14 just before the end of the first quarter with a 39-yard TD run from scrimmage.

Nwachukwu , who his teammates call “EZ”, caught a 16-yarder in the third quarter to put Texas A&M ahead 24-14. His last touch came in the third quarter when he got open on blown pass coverage and raced 50 yards for a touchdown.

“It was like it wasn’t really happening,” Nwachukwu said at the post-game press conference. When asked about the leaping catches he made in the second quarter, he said, “Jerrod just puts them up and I catch them. I like to go vertical.”

Nwachukwu added 101 yards receiving and 39 yards rushing for the night.

Quarterback Johnson completed 21 of 41 attempts for 322 yards and four touchdowns.

Running back Christine Michael rushed for 100 yards on 17 attempts. He returned four kicks for 120 yards.

It was a good night overall for the A&M defense, although it relaxed in the fourth quarter to let Utah State catch up.

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“At the five minute (in the fourth quarter) mark, we went relaxed a little bit,” defensive coordinator Joe Kines said. What was good was those last three plays, he said. “We really came to life. You don’t’ get style points, you either win or lose,” Kines quipped.

The A&M defense was good at times especially during the second and third quarters, but Utah State had several long drives for touchdowns. They ran 96 plays – opposed to 83 plays for A&M -- for 533 yards.

The Aggie rushing game sputtered at times, but that had more to do with the 15 penalties for 150 yards, Sherman said.

Next Saturday A&M will face the University of Alabama at Birmingham (1-2) at Kyle Field. Kickoff will be at 6 p.m. central time.

By Jay Goode
Big 12 Fans Texas A&M Correspondent

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