COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Saturday night, No. 15 Texas A&M beat New Mexico State 38-3 on senior night. A&M jumped out to an early lead scoring on their first 4 possessions of the game to go up 24 – 0 but the Aggies seemingly took their foot off the gas in the second quarter. A&M head coach mike Elko challenged the team at half time to put the game away in the third quarter, and the team did just that.
Because the Aggies took such a commanding lead early in the game — a lot of players saw the field. Freshman quarterback, Miles O’Neill connected with freshman receiver, Ashton Bethel-Roman for their first career touchdown. Malick Sylla registered two sacks and senior Drake Bhatia kicked his first extra point.
“I'm really happy for them, and it's a cool moment for them. It's one they'll remember forever,” Elko said. “But I'm happier when I see the excitement on our sideline. When you see Noah Thomas excited, when you see our guys on the sideline excited for them, when you see kind of everybody get excited, when Drake [Bhatia] makes that -- that's, to me, where you have a good flow and a good culture, and you have a bunch of guys that care about each other. And so, yeah, I'm certainly excited for those guys, but I think all of it together is kind of what makes it a good moment.”
Quarterback Marcel Reed finished with a season high 268 total passing yards. He’s continuing to grow and find ways to improve as he settles into the starting role.
“You can't lose sight of how young he really is,” Elko said. “His ability to get through progressions, his ability to see coverages, his ability to recognize where the ball needs to get, I think all of that stuff, he gets better every time he goes out here. I think all of that leads to a more effective passing game moving forward. I think he's continuing to grow. He's continuing to get more comfortable.”
“Just being able to read a defense and get through my progressions a lot quicker, take things away based on what I see on pre-snap alignments and stuff like that,” Reed said. “And then just being a vocal leader, being commanding and commanding the offense. I was a freshman last year, and I wasn't as commanding as I am this year. But I know the role that I have now. I kind of have to be.”
It was also a big night for the tight ends as Theo Melin Öhrström and Tre Watson led the way with a combined 178 receiving yards.
“We really didn't expect them to be in a cover three look as much as they were, but when they went into it, we tried to put some seam balls in there and tight ends got open,” Reed said. “They're big targets, so we fed them today.”
Now, the Maroon and White turn their attention to the final two games of the regular season where they’re currently one of two teams in the SEC with just one conference loss.
“This is everything that you want, right? We haven't been in this position as a program ever,” Elko said. “There's been no time ever where Texas A&M has been in the SEC, in the last two games controlled their own destiny to go to Atlanta and so that's what you work for. It's the opportunity that you've trained for. They're extremely excited to get that opportunity and go to Auburn and do what we got to do.
The Aggies will travel to Auburn next Saturday for their final road game of the regular season, where as Elko said, the Aggies have a chance to control their own destiny and finish the season the way they want it go. Kickoff at Jordan-Hare Stadium is set for 6:30pm Saturday night on ESPN.
