A&M Opens Kyle Field with 56-23 Win over Ball State

Saturday, September 12

College Station

6:00 PM

Texas A&M

2-0

Ball State

1-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Ball State

Texas A&M

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Sep 12, 2015 | Football

Box Score

By: Associated Press/Texas A&M Media Relations

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP)-- Kyle Allen summed up No. 16 Texas A&M's victory over Ball State succinctly.

"We rolled the way we should against a pretty good team in Ball State," Allen said. "We handled our business."

Allen threw for 126 yards and three touchdowns in the first half and Texas A&M beat Ball State 56-23 on Saturday night.

It was the perfect party to celebrate the first game after a $485 million redevelopment of Kyle Field that increased its capacity to 102,733, making it the largest stadium in the Southeastern Conference and No. 4 in the nation.

"What a great atmosphere," coach Kevin Sumlin said. "It's hard to make Kyle Field better, but we did the impossible ... the noise is awesome."

A field goal by the Cardinals on their first drive cut the lead four. The Aggies (2-0) then reeled off 42 straight points, helped by a defensive score, to make it 49-3 at halftime.

"I thought our first unit played very, very well in the first half," Sumlin said. "They did what they were supposed to do."

Kyler Murray took over for Allen with about 2 minutes left in the first half and threw his first career touchdown pass for 10 yards to Christian Kirk to cap the first-half scoring.

Darian Green had a career-high 97 yards and a touchdown for Ball State (1-1).

Texas A&M extended its nonconference winning streak to 18 games, which is the longest in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Ball State dropped to 0-10 against the SEC.

Murray had 65 yards passing and a touchdown before third-string quarterback Jake Hubenak came in with about 7 minutes remaining. Murray, who scrambled for more than 4,000 yards in high school, ran just three times on Saturday.

"We forced him into some situations," Sumlin said. "He tried to settle into the pocket a little bit more than he did a week ago."

Tra Carson had 59 yards rushing and a score in the first half for A&M before he was replaced by Kwame Etwi, who finished with 12 carries for 116 yards.

Green ran for 47 and 27 yards on consecutive plays on Ball State's first drive to get the Cardinals to the 1. But the offense stalled after that and the Cardinals settled for a 21-yard field goal that made it 7-3.

Allen connected with Josh Reynolds on a 3-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-3 with about 7 minutes left in the first quarter. Two plays before the touchdown, Allen played receiver when he grabbed a short halfback pass from Carson and scurried for a 28-yard gain.

Brice Dolezal had a 33-yard touchdown run before De'Vante Harris returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown to wrap up the scoring in the first quarter and make it 28-3.

Allen threw touchdown passes of 3 and 20 yards in the second quarter before he was replaced by Murray with A&M up 42-3.

Kirk, who returned a punt for a touchdown last week, had a 56-yard return that set up A&M's first score in the second quarter.

"I think you guys can see now that we have a pretty special playmaker in Christian Kirk," Allen said. "He's just a spark plug."

Green scored Ball State's first touchdown on a 6-yard run early in the third quarter, and the Cardinals added two field goals after that to cut it to 49-16.

Texas A&M's only score in the second half came when Etwi fumbled on the 1 and 6-foot-6, 300-pound offensive lineman Koda Martin pounced on the ball in the end zone to make it 56-16 with about 10 minutes left.

James Gilbert had a 1-yard touchdown run for Ball State later in the fourth.

"It was a disappointing loss," Ball State coach Pete Lembo said. "(But) our guys kept competing and that doesn't surprise me. We've never had a problem with that."

In the third quarter, Sebrina Brunson became the first woman to officiate a game involving a SEC team, according to SEC director of communications Chuck Dunlap. Brunson, who is an alternate official in the Sun Belt Conference, was an alternate for the game and took over after halftime. The SEC oversees officiating in the Sun Belt and used crews from that conference Saturday because of the large number of SEC teams with home games. Female officials are rare, but aren't unheard of in major college football. Cat Conti, who officiated the Michigan-Utah game last week, worked a Big 12 game last year.

POSTGAME NOTES

TEAM/GAME NOTES
•             Texas A&M improved to 2-0 with a 56-23 win over Ball State from the Mid-American Conference. It's the third straight year the Aggies have started the season with consecutive wins.
•             The Aggies' winning streak against non-conference opponents improved to 18 straight, which is the longest in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. The last non-conference loss for the Aggies came vs. then-non-conference foe Arkansas in 2011.
•             The victory marked the 30th of fourth-year head coach Kevin Sumlin's career at Texas A&M (Also, the 65th of his eight-year career).
•             It was the Aggies' third straight victory in their home opener.
•             The Aggies' 49-point scoring outburst (49-3)matched the most since at least the 1960s (SID record book only goes back to 60s). The Aggies also scored 49 first-half points in a 70-14 rout of South Carolina State in 2012.
•             The Aggies' 28-point first quarter was their highest scoring quarter since a 28-point fourth quarter vs. Lamar in 2014.
•             The 28-point first quarter was the most points by the Aggies in the opening stanza since scoring 28 against Middle Tennessee State in 1995. .

OFFENSIVE NOTES
•             The Aggies rushed for 270 yards, which was the most since the 2012 team rolled to 326 yards against Oklahoma in the 2013 Cotton Bowl.
•             The Aggies piled up 503 total yards (270 rush, 233 pass) for the 25th 500-yard plus effort of the Kevin Sumlin era at Texas A&M.
•             In limited action, sophomore QB Kyle Allen threw three touchdown strikes and 126 yards on 10-of-13 passing in a little of a quarter of action. It was his fourth career game (in seven starts) with three or more passing TDs.
•             A season-long 30-yard run by senior RB Tra Carson (Texarkana, Texas) set up a 1-yard TD plunge for Carson, which was the 14th of his career. He finished with 59 yards on 10 carries.
•             Junior WR Josh Reynolds reeled in his first receiving TD of 2015 and the 14th of his career on a 3-yard grab in the first quarter. Last year, Reynolds set a school record with 13 TD catches.
•             Seeing second-team running back snaps, senior Brice Dolezal finished with a 83 yards on 17 carries, including a 33-yard TD scamper.
•             Freshman walkon RB Kwame Etwi (Conroe, Texas), seeing the first action of his career, rushed for a game-high 116 yards on 12 carries. Etwi was the District 16-6A and Montgomery County Offensive MVP in 2014.
•             The Aggies spread the ball around to 11 receivers against Ball State after using just six receivers against Arizona State.

DEFENSIVE NOTES
•             Senior cornerback De'Vante Harris (Mesquite, Texas) recorded the first pick-six interception of his career when he took a pickoff 40 yards to paydirt in the first quarter. It was Harris' fourth career interception and his second in his last four games.
•             Seeing his first action since earning Defensive MVP honors in the 2014 AutoZone Liberty Bowl was sophomore LB Otaro Alaka (Houston, Texas). Alaka contributed 4 tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss.
•             Freshman DB Justin Dunning (Whitehouse, Texas) led the Aggies with nine tackles.

SPECIAL TEAM NOTES
•             Sophomore P Shane Tripucka (Allen, Texas) saw his first action in place of usual starter Drew Kaser. Tripucka, the nephew of former NBA great Kelly Tripucka and grandson of former NFL great Frank Tripucka, averaged 44.0 yards on two punts, including one "coffin corner" effort.

GAME CAPTAINS / 12TH MAN
Game captains were OC Mike Matthews, RT Germain Ifedi, DE Myles Garrett CB Brandon Williams. The Aggies won the toss and elected to receive.
Making his 28th consecutive 12th Man start was senior Sam Moeller (San Antonio, Texas).

Ball State Head Coach Pete Lembo
Opening statement…
"It was a disappointing loss and a lopsided loss. The numbers don't lie. We didn't get off to a great start obviously. I do think we settled down a little bit at halftime. I was pleased with the way the guys were able to come out and play in the second half. I liked the way we were able to fix some of the issues we had in the first half, not being able to convert on third down and then we had them in a handful of third and longs in the first half where we're not able to get off the field. At least in the second half we stayed on the field offensively, kept the chains moving. We were pretty effective in the red zone. We got a few stops defensively and did some solid things in the kicking game. A lot of younger guys did well and contributed in a meaningful way. We will turn on the film tomorrow and there will be some things that stand out in a good way and the biggest thing is that we learned a lot about our football team right here. We've played two games, two very different opponents. But we are continuing to learn about our football team and hopefully we can put it all together as we open conference play next week."

On the decision to play Riley Neal at quarterback…
"We went into the last two games preparing Riley to play last week and this week. We we're not sure if the situation would arise where he could play, this week or last week. Last game it was very close to him getting in game, but the game got a little tighter and we didn't want to get out of rhythm, but obviously tonight with the offense sputtering, we were all on the same page that the opportunity was right to give him a chance to get in there and create a spark for us. He certainly did that with his feet initially and I liked the way he threw the ball in the second half."

Biggest takeaways…
"Our guys kept competing, that doesn't surprise me. We've never had a problem with that in the past and I would have been really disappointed if that was the case tonight. It was big for some of our guys early. There are certain situations that might occur where there might be a physical mismatch but there are other situations where you need to play within yourself and be the guy you know you can be. I'm very anxious to watch the film, we will be able to learn a lot about our team tomorrow and the next twenty-four hours, we can see the guys who were able to perform the way we tried to prepare them to perform and some definitely did. The offensive line stood out. They gave us a chance to run it some and held up pretty well in pass protection. So we need to keep learning about our team, I think this is another step in that direction. Eastern Michigan is a very good football team. They were leading Wyoming last I'd seen, so I'm sure they are going to have some momentum going forward into our meeting this week. We have to have a great week of practice and figure out who gives us the best chance to be successful."

Freshman quarterback Riley Neal
Thoughts on the game…
"I felt good overall. Our offensive line is one of the best in the league and was going up against a great line from Texas A&M. They did a pretty good job but there were some plays here and there that I could have made.

Senior Center Jacob Richard
On the offensive line's performance
"As an offensive line, we are a pretty veteran unit. We just try to go out there and play our game, play physical. As part of the whole team, we could have done better as well. The fact that we didn't have a lot of sacks or hits comes down to us. We need to be making the proper decision and playing the game we are supposed to, but there is definitely a lot of room for us to improve going forward"

Kevin Sumlin, Head Coach Texas A&M
On tonight's game…
"It's a tale of two halves. Our ones played very well in the first half across the board, offense, defense, and special teams. They did what they were supposed to do. The biggest stat in the first half is we were only stopped once on third down and we stopped them on all of their third down tries. The second half was completely different, so the message we gave those guys is that they've got to be better and eliminate mistakes."

On playing in the newly redeveloped Kyle Field…
"It was awesome. What a great atmosphere. It's hard to make Kyle Field better, but we did the impossible. The noise is awesome. It's good to be at home now that everything is done. I know that we appreciated it as a football team to play in the finest football facility in the world and we don't take that for granted."

Kyle Allen, Texas A&M Sophomore Quarterback
On the offensive performance…
"Going into the game Coach Spavital told me he wanted to run the ones pretty deep until we got a pretty big lead so we could get some unity and some chemistry together. We scored on every drive except for one. I think we rolled the way we should against a pretty good team in Ball State. We handled our business and we did well. I'm happy with the performance of the offense today."

On his job while Kyler is playing…
"When Kyler went in, he did a really good job of extending plays and making things happen, and also playing within the system. He had a couple of really good drives. When the one O-line was in he was moving the ball really well, which I was impressed with. For me on the sidelines, it's to give him as much guidance as I can. He's a really smart kid. He gets it pretty quick, so I just try to stay out of his business and let him do him. At halftime I was giving him some pointers of what I was seeing in the game and what they were doing. I just try to help as much as possible, but the kid's pretty smart."

On Christian Kirk…
"I think you guys can see that we have a pretty special playmaker in Christian Kirk. This is the second week in a row of taking a punt return 50-60 plus yards. Whenever he has the ball in his hands something big can happen. There was a 3rd down and 10 in the game where we had a screen pass called to the running back, and they were playing all their DB's at the first down marker. I saw room for Christian to run out there and I just gave him a quick bubble route to let him run. That's the kind of confidence we have in him. We know that he's going to be one of the biggest playmakers on our team."

Otaro Alaka, Texas A&M Sophomore Linebacker
On how the defense played tonight…
"We are capable of playing better, we made some mistakes, but I think we did our jobs. Last week our defense played really well so this week we just wanted to continue that. I think we definitely built on what we were able to do last week."

On playing in the newly renovated Kyle Field…
"We were really excited. People were worried that we might come out a little flat, but that was never a going to be a problem because we were so excited to play in the new stadium. It was a crazy atmosphere."

Joseph Cheek, Texas A&M Senior Offensive Lineman
On comparing o-line play to last week's…
"Much better. It was definitely something we worked hard on this past week, something we wanted to do a little bit more as we continued better running the ball, being a more physical team. I do feel like we did that today, we got better today."

On Koda Martin, an offensive lineman, recovering a fumble for touchdown…
"It's definitely something we dream of all the time. I'm happy for Koda, couldn't have happened to a better dude, guy's been working his tail off, running the football. Sometimes you're rewarded for that, sometimes you're not but he's doing what he's supposed to do and good for him he got a touchdown."

Hardreck Walker, Texas A&M Junior Defensive Lineman
On team's improvement this season…
"I definitely feel like we got better in the first half. It started kind of slow, not exactly where we wanted to come out and start but we got on pace so that towards half time, we had a good first half and had the time to slow down a little bit. I feel like we've got to get in on Monday, watch the film, learn from it but we had a good first half, second half could have been better."

On 12th Man atmosphere…
"First of all the stadium is absolutely amazing. I do believe this is the best facility in the country. I mean seeing all those fans yelling, waving towels even in a game like this where it wasn't completely competitive but they're still going to make a lot of noise. Third down, I saw them having trouble so I can't wait to see what they do when the big games come around."

Brice Dolezal, Texas A&M Senior Running Back
On "turf monster"…
"I knew that one was going to come up. I went through all the offensive line blocking great and I just saw the end zone and next thing I know I was staring at dirt, just all over the ground. I thought I was going to take another one but it didn't work out that way."

On emotions in end zone…
"Well it was a little different this time because there were 102,000 people in the stands so I was just hoping I didn't trip on that one as well. The excitement was awesome and I didn't get touched because our offensive line is just incredible. It was an amazing feeling, every time I can get a chance to go in there I try to give it my all. With Tra C., all the runs that he had last week, we tried to give him a little break. Coach Sumlin and Coach McKinney gave me a chance and thankfully I was productive."

On impressions of stadium…
"It's always more, whenever we go out on the field it's always different than you expect it to be. Even every single week you think it can't be as loud as it is but it's always louder and with them closing it up like they did, they got through a lot tonight for most of the game and the fans are incredible they're the best fans in the country obviously. They stayed most of the game and we were just happy we could give them a show tonight."