No. 19 Football Rolls to 42-24 Win over UTSA

Saturday, August 30

Bryan-College Station

6:00 PM

Texas A&M

1-0 , 0-0

UTSA

0-1 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

UTSA

Texas A&M

Photo by: Evan Pilat/Texas A&M Athletics

Aug 30, 2025 | Football

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes Postgame Quotes Highlights Postgame: Elko Postgame: York Postgame: Reed Postgame: Craver Photo Gallery

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION – No. 19 Texas A&M secured its first win of the 2025 season Saturday night, defeating UTSA, 42-24, in front of the sixth-largest crowd at Kyle Field.

The Aggie offense was led by redshirt sophomore quarterback Marcel Reed's career-high four passing touchdowns and two scores each by wide receivers KC Concepcion and Mario Craver. Reed completed 22-of-34 passes for 289 yards to go along with 41 rushing yards on eight carries. Concepcion and Craver combined for 11 receptions for 194 yards and three touchdowns in their Aggie debuts. Concepcion also added an 80-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Junior Taurean York led the defense with 10 tackles and 1.0 tackle for loss. Junior Marcus Ratcliffe added seven total tackles, including 1.0 tackle for loss. The Chula Vista, Calif., native also led the squad with a career-high two pass breakups. Redshirt sophomore Rylan Kennedy recorded the lone sack of the game for the Maroon & White.

How It Happened

Texas A&M registered its first touchdown of the 2025 season when Concepcion scored on an 80-yard punt return midway through the first quarter.
UTSA answered with a 36-yard field goal on the following drive to make it 7-3 with 1:53 remaining in the first quarter.
Craver recorded his first score of the night with a 24-yard touchdown reception in the beginning of the second quarter to give the Aggies a 14-3 advantage.
The Roadrunners responded on the ensuing drive with a 15-yard touchdown rush to cut the lead to 14-10.
Concepcion tallied his second score with a 31-yard reception, extending the Aggies lead to 21-10 at the half.
On the first play of the second half, UTSA senior Robert Henry Jr. found paydirt after registering a 75-yard rush.
On 4th-and-goal, Theo Melin-Öhrström reeled in a one-yard pass from Reed to extend the Aggie edge to 28-17.
Reed then connected with Craver in the end zone for the second time with a 22-yard touchdown pass.
EJ Smith scampered in for a 3-yard rushing score in the fourth quarter, making it a 42-17 ballgame.
UTSA's AJ Wilson capped the scoring with a 34-yard receiving touchdown in the closing seconds of the game.

Notes

Saturday's game at Kyle Field marked the largest season-opening crowd and sixth-largest home crowd in program history with 107,521 in attendance.
Texas A&M shifts to 19-7 in season openers since 2000, including an 8-2 mark over the last 10 outings.
Craver recorded his first career multi-score game and first career 100-yard receiving game, finishing with a career-high eight catches for 122 yards and two scores.
Concepcion totaled 166 all-purpose yards on two punt returns for 94 yards and three catches for 72 yards.
Concepcion and Craver became the first Aggie receiver duo to each have 70-plus receiving yards in a game since 2023.
The Aggie defense combined for 9.0 tackles for loss, the most since a 10.0 tackles for loss performance against New Mexico State in 2024.
Sophomore punter Tyler White booted two punts 50-plus yards and landed three of his seven punts inside the 20 yard line. White finished the night with an average of 46.0 yards per punt.

Up Next

Texas A&M welcomes Utah State to Kyle Field on Saturday, September 6 for an 11:45 a.m. CT kick. Utah State is coming off a 28-16 victory over UTEP during its season opener.

Mike Elko Postgame Press Conference

(Opening Statement) Obviously, a great night. Appreciate the fans. Really, really electric atmosphere for an opener. 40,000-plus student pull, 100,000-plus attendance again. Thank you again to the 12th Man for all that you do to drive us. I thought it was an interesting game. Obviously, excited to get the win. Starting 1-0, obviously, always a good thing. I think a lot of the big question marks, I think, showed to be good. I think we wanted to get more explosive on offense; we did. We wanted to get more explosive in the return game; we did. We wanted to see Marcel [Reed] throw the ball a little bit better; he did. Now we have to be able to run the ball. We got to be able to hold up a little bit better up front. We got a lot of things in those types of areas that we've got to clean up, but I thought we showed a lot of the things that we wanted to show. Defensively, I thought we did a much better job defending the pass. I thought we did a really good job in some of the things we were doing coverage-wise. Obviously, we had some of the misfits show up again and create some explosive runs, which obviously are things that are going to need to get fixed and need to get cleaned up. Was really excited with what we did in the return game. Both Terry [Bussey] and KC [Concepcion] back there, I thought they made some explosive plays in the punt return game, which is another big emphasis. This was an interesting game, it was. They're a good team. They're going to have a really good year. We've got a lot of things that we're going to have to do to get better at between week one and week two to go where we want to go, but it's a good start, and it's a good way to start the season.
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Taurean York Postgame Press Conference

(What was the difference that y'all were able to change it after the long touchdown run? Because they really just stopped their momentum after that.) Tempers flare when you give up a 75-yard touchdown in the first play off the second half. It's kind of like Bowling Green-esque in a sense. We didn't want that to happen. Obviously we know the Bowling Green game went down to the wire. We all just came -- we were just like, we got dialed in, we were giving these guys too much free stuff. I'm looking at it, the dude (Robert Henry, Jr.) ran for 16 carries, 177 yards. That's ridiculous. That's not what we stand for.
(Taurean, last year the big problem at the end of the season was the passing game or defending it. How nice was it to see a good quarterback have trouble throwing against you guys first time out?) I mean, it's great. We take a lot of pride in our communication and our hand signaling, just being on the same page. Because that's what a lot of it was last year. It's not like we didn't have the talent to defend the pass. Emotions happen, nobody's talking, nobody's hand signaling, we're not on the same page. so that's what happens; you lack in the pass game. So this year, especially in the OTAs this offseason, we made that a big priority of ours.
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Marcel Reed Postgame Press Conference

(What can you say about your two new receivers, KC [Concepcion] and Mario [Craver] and what they were able to do for you tonight?) Same thing I said over the summer. We have an explosive receiver room this season, and they showed that. I got him the ball probably five yards off the line of scrimmage, and they turn 30, 40-yard plays. And that's what they do. When they get the ball, they're slippery, and people got to make open-field tackles. They couldn't do that tonight, and they showed. We kind of dominated on that part.
(How would you assess the way you played, and particularly, the way you threw the ball?) I think I did all right. You know, there are some plays I missed. Obviously, KC was wide open on one of those balls. I think the wind kind of caught it. Also, I was a little bit juiced. Kind of let it fly. I'm kind of mad about that one. But I think I did pretty well overall. Kind of took us some adjusting to do. They didn't come out with what we expected them to come out to. So first two drives were kind of adjusting to the coverages and what they were playing, because that's not what they showed on film. We kind of had to change our game plan a little bit, but once we got rolling, we got rolling.
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Mario Craver Postgame Press Conference

(What does it mean to you to come into a new team and be able to make such an immediate impact?) It means everything to me, because I came here to win, you feel me? I came here to Texas A&M to win. I felt like last year, the team that I was at, we didn't, you feel me? I wasn't utilized enough. I feel like they came here -- when I came here, they had a plan for me, and you feel me? That's just my job.
(First game at Kyle Field, tell us what you thought of the environment and how you'd say it would compare back at home in Starkville?) This field is definitely crazy. The fans, the drums, the -- everything. The crowd, everything. Not going to lie, topnotch, definitely. I played at Georgia last year. I played at Texas last year. But this, one and done.
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