Aggies Top Mississippi State, 30-17

Saturday, October 3

College Station

6:30 PM

Texas A&M

5-0 , 2-0

Mississippi State

3-2 , 1-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Mississippi State

Texas A&M

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Oct 03, 2015 | Football

Box Score

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Kyle Allen threw for 322 yards and two touchdowns to help No. 14 Texas A&M remain undefeated with a 30-17 win over No. 21 Mississippi State on Saturday night.

The Aggies (5-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) led by 14 at halftime. They didn't score a touchdown in the second half, but added two field goals and forced two turnovers to secure the victory.

Dak Prescott capped a 68-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run that got Mississippi State (3-2, 1-2) within 27-17 with about 12 1/2 minutes remaining.

A 30-yard field goal by Taylor Bertolet pushed the lead to 30-17 midway through the fourth quarter.

Allen threw touchdown passes of 1 and 29 yards in the first quarter and Tra Carson ran for a score in the second to help A&M to the win.

Prescott threw for 210 yards and ran for 96 more.

Myles Garrett had seven tackles, two tackles for losses, including a sack, forced a fumble and batted down a pass to lead A&M's defense. He has 7 1/2 sacks this season.

Allen had to work for more than half of the game without starting receiver Ricky Seals-Jones, who was ejected for targeting midway through the second quarter.

The 6-foot-5, 240-pound Seals-Jones leveled 5-11 safety Brandon Bryant with a hit to the head on a passing play by A&M. As he left the field, Seals-Jones jumped around in front of the crowd waving his arms and received a loud ovation.

Seals-Jones took to Twitter late in the game, retweeting a tweet that questioned the call on his hit and included a video of it.

Prescott extended his streak of passes without an interception to 225. The nation's longest such streak almost came to an end early in the fourth quarter when Garrett tipped one of his passes at the line and Brandon Williams came just short of grabbing it.

Fred Ross had 11 receptions for 103 yards for his third career 100-yard receiving game for Mississippi State.

De'Runnya Wilson caught a 17-yard pass on third down on the first drive of the second half. But Donovan Wilson stripped the ball and recovered it for the Aggies.

Texas A&M's offense stalled on the ensuing drive and the Aggies settled for a 24-yard field goal that made it 27-10.

The Bulldogs were driving again on their next possession when Garrett tackled Aeris Williams, causing a fumble which A&M recovered on its own 3.

Daeshon Hall added a sack for the Aggies to give him five this season when he shed a blocker and took down Prescott for a five yard loss in the second quarter.

Texas A&M capped their first drive with a 1-yard touchdown reception by Seals-Jones on fourth down to make it 7-0.

A 38-yard field goal by Westin Graves cut the lead to 7-3.

The Aggies extended the lead to 14-3 when Allen connected with Damion Ratley on a 29-yard touchdown pass with about three minutes left in the first quarter.

A 55-yard field goal by Taylor Bertolet made it 17-3 early in the second. It was the longest field goal by an Aggie since Terence Kitchens hit one from 62 yards in 1999. Bertolet missed a 49-yard attempt about two minutes before halftime.

Malik Dear scored on a 52-yard run to cut the lead to 17-10 about 12 minutes before halftime. Dear went untouched at the line and simply pushed away Armani Watts when he tried to tackle him near the 5 yard line on the run.

The 1-yard touchdown run by Carson extended Texas A&M's lead to 24-10 just before halftime.

TEAM/GAME NOTES
•   Texas A&M moved to 5-0 for the second consecutive season, the first time the program has accomplished the feat since 1940-41.
•   The Aggies win pushed them to 2-0 in league play for the second straight season, which has not happened since 1997-98.
•   Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin improved to 9-9 vs. AP Top 25 teams in four seasons leading the maroon and white. Sumlin is now 12-10 overall against the AP Top 25.
•   Tonight's crowd of 104,455 was a season high and the second above-capacity crowd of the season. It ranked as the fifth-largest in stadium history.
•   Senior DB Sam Moeller broke the school record for 12th Man starts with his 31st consecutive starting assignment. He broke the old record of 30 set by Nick Lamantia from 2006-08.
•   The Aggies finished the night with zero turnovers, their second-straight game without a turnover. The two games in a row without a turnover was the first time for the maroon and white since the 2013 bowl game/2014 season opener without a giveaway.

OFFENSIVE NOTES
•   Junior WR Josh Reynolds didn't find the endzone, which is his trademark, but he did roll to his career high with 141 receiving yards on seven catches. It was his second straight game with 100-plus yards and the third of his career. Last year, Reynolds set the season receiving TD record with 13.
•   Continuing to make plays from all over the field, true freshman WR Christian Kirk lined up in the "Wildcat" formation and finished with multiple carries via direct snaps. For the game, Kirk gained 153 all-purpose yards -- 77 receiving yards, 41 punt return yards, 18 via kickoff returns and 17 via rush.
•   With his 153 yards, Kirk is 42 yards shy of 1,000-yard plateau in all-purpose yardage in his fifth game of the year, the previous fastest to 1,000 was six games by "'Lectric" Leeland McElroy in 1995.
•   Sophomore QB Kyle Allen had another effective game, connecting on 25-of-41 passes for 322 yards and two touchdowns against no interceptions. With the 322 passing yards, Allen easily surpassed the 1,000-yard passing barrier in the fifth game of 2015, which was the fifth-fastest in school history. ... Allen also chipped in 65 effective rushing yards on 12 carries.
•   Sophomore WR Damion Ratley, a transfer from Blinn JC, grabbed the first receiving TD of his Texas A&M career with a 29-yard catch and run in the first quarter. Last year, Ratley caught 20 touchdowns on 45 catches with most of them via fellow transfer Jake Hubenak.
•   Sophomore WR Ricky Seals-Jones got the Aggies on the scoreboard on the opening drive of the game when he reeled in a 1-yard pass on fourth-down from QB Kyle Allen. It was his first receiving TD of the year and the sixth of his career ... Seals-Jones was later ejected for a targeting penalty and sat out the remainder of the second quarter and the entire second half.
•   Senior RB Tra Carson had another strong rushing game with 110 yards and a touchdowns on 26 carries. The 100-yard effort was the second this season for the Texarkana native. It was his fourth double-digit carry game of 2015 and his fourth game with 59 or more yards. He's also scored a TD in four of five games this season.

DEFENSIVE NOTES
•   Sophomore DE Myles Garrett had another big game with a sack, two tackles for losses and seven total tackles. The sack, which came when he drove the offensive lineman into MSU QB Dak Prescott, raised his season total to 7.5.
•   Garrett's bookend teammate, junior DE Daeshon Hall, logged his first QB sack since having four in the season-opener when he took down MSU QB Dak Prescott for a loss of five yards in the second quarter.
•   The Aggies forced two turnovers, both fumble recoveries, moving their season total to eight turnovers forced through five games. A season ago the A&M defense forced 10 turnovers in 13 games (5 INT, 5 FR)

SPECIAL TEAM NOTES
•   Senior PK Taylor Bertolet boomed a career long 55-yard field goal, which was his fourth career 50-yard plus bomb. It was the longest FG by an Aggie since Terence Kitchens connected on a 62-yarder to end the first half against Southern Mississippi at Kyle Field in 1999 ... for the game, Bertolet was 3-of-4 with makes from 55 yards, 24 yards and 30 yards and his miss from 49 yards.

MISCELLANEOUS
•   Game captains were OC Mike Matthews, RT Germain Ifedi, DE Myles Garrett CB Brandon Williams. Mississippi State won the toss and deferred the choice to the second half. A&M received the opening kickoff.