No. 9 Texas A&M won its first game inside the newly expanded Kyle Field via a 73-3 rout of Lamar Saturday. The total attendance for the game was 104,728, setting a state record for a college football game.
“I was shocked when we walked back out there just at the atmosphere,” said head coach Kevin Sumlin. “The entrance was great — smoke, fireworks, the whole bit — and then ‘let’s go back in and sit down.’ I thought the fans were great. That was a really positive situation for us. Setting a record’s a big deal.”
The game was delayed for over two hours due to lightning in the area, forcing the team to return to their locker rooms after running out onto the field.
“I wouldn’t say it helped or hurt, we just had to refocus,” said wide receiver Sabian Holmes. “It’s part of the game. Nothing’s ever perfect. We just had to make sure we came out with the same intensity we came out with the first time.”
The Aggie offense totaled 630 yards, and sophomore quarterback Kenny Hill threw for 283 yards and four touchdowns. Six different receivers caught touchdown passes and three running backs rushed for scores as A&M averaged 8.1 yards per play.
“We came out, we wanted to get out to a fast start,” Hill said. “Just come out and really impose our will on them, and carry that on through the game. We ended up doing pretty well.”
The Aggie defense held the Cardinals to 243 total yards and prevented them from ever finding the end zone.
“We held them to three points, but I’m sure there’s things we’ll see on film that we need to correct,” said defensive back Deshazor Everrett. “In the South Carolina game a couple balls went over our heads and it was easy points. That’s something that we wanted to eliminate tonight.”
Freshman Myles Garrett registered two sacks and two tackles for loss while sophomore Daeshon Hall recorded one and two, respectively. Everrett also hauled in an interception.
“We finally have some guys that can create their own pass rush,” Sumlin said. “Instead of us having to blitz all the time and get guys out of coverage, guys that can create their own pass rush is something that we need.”
The Aggies (2-0, 1-0 SEC) will host Rice next Saturday inside Kyle Field. Kickoff is at 8 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPN2.