Building Champions
 Texas A&M 28, New Mexico 22

Backup quarterback helps Aggies stop Lobos

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Sept. 6, 2008

Final Stats

ALBUQUERQUE -- Jerrod Johnson replaced the injured Stephen McGee and threw three touchdown passes as Texas A&M gave coach Mike Sherman his first win with the Aggies, 28-22 over New Mexico on Saturday.

Texas A&M (1-1), making its first trip to Albuquerque, survived New Mexico's swarming defensive scheme and bounced back from an embarrassing season-opening loss, 18-14 to Arkansas State.

Johnson completed 10-of-19 for 124 yards in place of McGee, who sprained his right shoulder on the opening series and didn't return. Aggies running back Mike Goodson also left with a sprained right knee, through he briefly returned in the second half.

Rodney Ferguson had 135 yards rushing and two TDs for New Mexico (0-2). He broke free on a 45-yard burst in the first quarter and added a late 1-yard TD run as the Lobos rallied for two scores in the final six minutes.

It wasn't enough to offset Johnson, who performed well under a full day of defensive pressure, and the Lobos couldn't overcome too many offensive mistakes.

Texas A&M made it 21-7 just before halftime, when Johnson threw a 6-yard TD pass to Fuller to cap a 93-yard drive. Fuller muscled the ball away from New Mexico cornerback DeAndre Wright.

The Lobos trailed 14-0 after Donovan Porterie's two early interceptions. He also had a fourth-quarter fumble that led to another Texas A&M touchdown.

Texas A&M's Jordan Peterson returned Porterie's first pick for a 48-yard TD. On the next series, Arkeith Brown took another interception 11 yards to New Mexico's 20 to set up Johnson's 21-yard TD strike to Jeff Fuller.


 

 

Still, the Lobos trailed 21-10 in the third quarter and seemed to be gaining traction when trouble struck again.

New Mexico's Ian Clark had a 32-yard punt return into Texas A&M territory but the Lobos couldn't capitalize when Paul Baker fumbled a few plays later. After forcing another Texas A&M punt, Clark broke a 34-yard return.

That's when Porterie mishandled a snap, and Texas A&M's Michael Bennett picked it up and rumbled 37 yards. The burley lineman missed out on a touchdown because he stepped out at New Mexico's 22.

From there, Johnson connected with Jamie McCoy on a 9-yard TD pass to put the Aggies ahead 28-10 with 13:20 remaining.

Porterie was 22-of-35 for 154 yards with two interceptions.

The Lobos, who have lost 11 straight games when the opponent scores first, dropped last weekend's opener to TCU. New Mexico's most recent 0-2 start under coach Rocky Long came during the 2000 season.

Texas A&M Postgame Notes

  • BENNETT MAKES HIS P.O.W. CASE --- Texas A&M's Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week nominee Michael Bennett turned in an all-around strong game for the Aggies. Bennett, the older brother of Dallas Cowboys tight end Martellus Bennett, contributed a 37-yard fumble return that set up a touchdown, 2.5 tackles for a loss of nine yards, and led both teams with nine tackles in the Aggies' 28-22 victory over New Mexico.
  • TURNOVERS TURN TIDE --- The Aggies won their ninth consecutive game when winning the turnover battle with four takeaways and only one turnover against the Lobos. The Aggies turned three of the takeaways into touchdowns to score 21 of their 28 points after gaining a turnover. 
  • NON-CONFERENCE ROAD VICTORY --- The Aggies won their first non-conference road game since a 14-12 victory over Pittsburgh at Heinz Field in 2002 in R.C. Slocum's last season. (A&M also beat Army 28-24 in 2006 in a game that was Army's "home" game, but it was played at the Alamodome in San Antonio).
  • "PICK-SIX" DROUGHT ENDS --- Jordan Peterson's 48-yard interception return for a touchdown was the Aggies' first "pick-six" interception return since Justin Warren's 23-yarder against Mountain West opponent Wyoming at Kyle Field in 2004, a span of 48 games. It was A&M's first defensive touchdown of any kind since Jonte Buhl's 98-yard fumble return against Texas in Austin in 2004 (39 games). It was the Aggies' first non-offensive touchdown of any kind since Jaxson Appel's 1-yard TD return of Amos Gbunblee's punt block against SMU in 2005 (36 games).
  • LONG DRIVE --- The Aggies put a dagger in the Lobos with a 14-play, 93-yard touchdown drive late in the second quarter to take a 21-7 lead. It drained 5 minutes, 29 seconds off the clock. It was the Aggies' longest of the drive of the season, and the longest since an 18-play, 93-yard drive against Penn State in the Alamo Bowl that resulted in a field goal.
  • JOHNSON'S IN THE GAME --- Sophomore Jerrod Johnson shined in the first meaningful action at quarterback of his career after starter Stephen McGee left the game with a sprained right (throwing) shoulder. Johnson finished the game with 124 yards and three touchdowns on 10-of-19 passing. It was the first three-TD passing game for an Aggie quarterback since McGee threw three touchdown strikes against Louisiana Tech in 2006.
  • ANOTHER BIG DAY FOR BRANTLY --- Ray Guy Award candidate Justin Brantly averaged 44.3 yards on seven punts, including a 61-yarder. He put three of his punts inside the 20. It was Brantly's sixth straight game with a 44.0 or better punt average.
  • FIRSTS --- True freshman Jeff Fuller's 21-yard touchdown catch from Jerrod Johnson was the first of Fuller's career and the Aggies' first passing touchdown of the season. +++ Sophomore Terrence McCoy made the first start of his career at wide receiver. Terrence's older brother, Jamie McCoy, had his first career touchdown on a 9-yard grab in the fourth quarter.
  • MISCELLANEOUS --- Quarterback Stephen McGee, who started the last 29 games for A&M, left the game with a sprained right shoulder and did not return. Starting running back Mike Goodson left the game with a sprained right knee but did return. +++ Since 2000, the Aggies are 6-1 against Mountain West opponents with victories over New Mexico, TCU, Utah and Wyoming (two) +++ Game captains were senior Alton Dixon (defense), junior Kevin Matthews (offense) and sophomore Kenny Brown (special teams) ... the 12th Man was junior Derek Dumas, a junior from Crawford, Texas. It was his second straight start and the second of his career. Dumas also saw snaps on defense.

Texas A&M Postgame Quotes

TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH Mike Sherman: "We had a slew of different things we had to deal with during the course of the game with injuries and juggling personnel in and out of the game. We didn't do well. We used up too many time outs. A couple of times we had too many guys on the field. As good as last week was in game management, this week was the opposite, but the result was different. Last week we had one penalty, this week we had 10. Last week we were flawless in regard to the clock, part of that was the signaling to the new quarterback and all that stuff that goes with that, but still there is no excuse for that.

"I thought the key for the offense was the 14-play drive we had at the end of the first half. With 50 seconds left on the clock, we scored the touchdown. To give us that breathing room going into the half that allowed us to be as bad as we were on offense in the second half, and in that third quarter, in which we weren't very good. And then we came back in the fourth quarter and moved the ball a little bit. But in the third quarter, I think we had one first down, so not good there. I thought the key play in the game was after the muffed punt, the ball was on the 14-yard line and our defense held them to a field goal. That showed a lot of character right there. That would have been an easy one just to cave in and give it to them. They kept four points off the board, which was the difference in the ball game as it turned out, and obviously they would have had to play the game differently as would we if that was a touchdown and not a field goal, so I thought that was a key play in the game.

"We dropped too many passes. We had some plays we should have made in the game. We took a shot deep a couple of times and didn't make the catch. We dropped some balls we should have caught and it was a raggedy deal. We need to get a lot better. I am happy that we won the game. They had to deal with a lot of adversity in the game and I thought they responded well to that. I give credit to New Mexico. I thought they played hard and tenacious. The blitz package was constant and consistent. They did a fine job."

New Mexico Postgame Notes

  • New Mexico is 0-2 for the first time since the 2000 team began 0-3
  • New Mexico turned the ball over 4 times today with 2 interceptions and 2 fumbles...that's 7 turnovers in the first 2 games...UNM's 7th turnover last year came in the 4th game of the season
  • Texas A&M scored 21 points following the Lobos' 4 turnovers...one TD came on an interception return and the Aggies only had to travel 41 yards for the other 14 points
  • The Lobo defense has allowed an average of 263.5 yards in the first 2 games
  • Texas A&M's Jordan Peterson had a 48-yard interception return for a TD in the 1st quarter...the last interception for a TD against UNM was last year by BYU's Bryan Kehl (36 yards)
  • The Lobos have lost 11 straight games when the opponent scores first
  • UNM has sold a school-record 17,463 season tickets...the old mark is 17,404 set in 2005

    Senior RB Rodney Ferguson
  • rushed 19 times for 135 yards, his 16th career 100-yard game
  • scored UNM's 1st TD of the season on a 45-yard run in the 1st quarter, and finished with 2 rushing TDs
  • passed Willie Turral for No. 5 all-time at UNM with 2,658 rushing yards
  • also passed Air Force's Chad Hall for a No. 5 ranking on the Mountain West Conference rushing list
  • ranks tied for 5th all-time at UNM with 23 career rushing TDs
  • passed Manley Woods and Bobby Santiago into 9th place all-time at UNM with 3,241 all-purpose yards

    Junior lobo Ian Clark
  • had a career-long 42-yard punt return, the longest by a Lobo since Dwight Counter went 74 yards against Baylor in 2002
  • had 2 punt returns for 66 yards
  • led UNM with 7 tackles

    Senior CB Glover Quin
  • had 6 tackles, 1 TFL and 1 PBU
  • tied with Billy Austin and Brandon Payne for 6th all-time at UNM with 22 career passes defended

    Senior LB Herbert Felder
  • had 6 tackles and a career-high 2.5 tackles for loss
    Senior TB Paul Baker
  • scored his first career TD on a 5-yard run in the 4th quarter
  • finished with 39 yards on 10 carries

New Mexico Postgame Quotes

NEW MEXICO HEAD COACH ROCKY LONG: "I thought we made some improvement. We're not a good football team by any means. Don't misunderstand what I am saying. I thought except for one drive, the defense played well. I thought our whole kicking game was much better. Our specials teams were good overall, it's just that for two-thirds of the game we were terrible on offense. Horrible.

"It's always frustrating when you don't play well. We have a lot of young guys on offense that I thought were a little bit better today. I thought the offensive line was a little bit better. I thought the running game was a little bit better. I thought our passing game was only good in one series and that was right at the end of the game. And to A&M's credit they were playing soft defense to keep the clock running.

"I think both games (against TCU and Texas A&M) we've beat ourselves. You've got to give [Texas A&M] credit though. They took the ball right before half time and took it 93 yards and stuck it in the end zone."
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