In a game that seemed like a mismatch from before the two teams even stepped on the field, No. 6 Texas A&M (4-0, 1-0 SEC) took care of business against a reeling SMU team by a score of 58-6 at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas Saturday.
After three straight penalties on the first three plays of the game, sophomore quarterback Kenny Hill found senior receiver Malcome Kennedy for a 38-yard pass to get A&M out of the shadow of its own goalpost.
The Aggies never looked back – scoring 31 points before SMU managed to kick a field goal.
At the end of the first quarter, A&M had accrued 214 total yards to the Mustangs negative seven.
SMU (0-3, 0-0 AAC) came into Saturday afternoon’s matchup having scored just one touchdown this season – that being a last-second Hail Mary in its 43-6 loss to North Texas. After that loss, seventh-year head coach June Jones resigned.
Mustang interim head coach Tom Mason took over a team that was dead last in almost every offensive category in the country, including points scored (3.0 per game), rushing yards (-8 yards per game) and sacks allowed (13 total).
The Aggies recorded eight sacks on the day, the most by an A&M team since the 2012 season-opener against Florida. In 2013, A&M recorded 21 sacks over the entire season.
“Every game is a chance for us to go out and prove ourselves and improve our performance,” said sophomore defensive tackle Jay Arnold, who had two sacks on the day. “There’s a lot of things that we’ve got to get better at still, but overall it went well.
Junior defensive lineman Alanzo Williams led the team with seven tackles and also had two sacks.
“We’re getting better and better every day,” Williams said. “We’re working on the small things to make sure everything is great and keep playing good defense. The coaches dialed up the right plays to put us in a position to make plays.”
Hill, who came into the game fifth in the country with 1,094 passing yards, added 265 more Saturday. He threw for two touchdowns and rushed for 57 yards on the day, including a career-long 58-yard run.
“I thought it was big,” Hill said of the run. “It was just a broken play. We were blocking great and I broke a couple of tackles. [It was a] big run that got everybody energized. We were rolling after that.”
Hill was a dual-threat quarterback in high school, but says he does not want to be known for that in college. He was asked if that run showed that he could run if needed.
“I think so, a little bit. I don’t like doing that, but, I mean, I can, I guess,” Hill said.
Sophomore wide receiver Jeremy Tabuyo, a native of Honolulu, Hawaii, caught two passes for 80 yards – both touchdowns. He played in six games as a freshman last season, but said it has been a while since he got to score.
“It was so exciting,” Tabuyo said. “I haven’t scored a touchdown in over a year. Getting in the endzone and getting that feeling of scoring a touchdown was just big for me.”
The Aggies had 663 total yards while holding SMU to just 241. A&M had eight different receivers catch a pass and had seven different players run the ball.
True freshman quarterback Kyle Allen played the entire second half, completing 8-of-15 passes for 130 yards and a touchdown.
With the win, A&M opens its season 4-0 for the first time since 2006. The Aggies have scored 221 points in the first four games, which is a school record and the most since Hall of Fame coach D.X. Bible led the 1917 Aggies to 211 points in their first four contests.
A&M returns to the Dallas area next Saturday for a matchup with SEC West opponent Arkansas in AT&T Stadium.