Cook’s jab at 12th Man ‘lit fire’ under A&M in win
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Dave Wilson, ESPN Staff Writer
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — No. 25 Texas A&M recorded its biggest win over a top-10 team in program history Saturday with a 41-10 blowout of No. 9 Missouri and appreciated the assist by Tigers quarterback Brady Cook.
Before heading to Texas, Cook was asked about how Missouri prepared to play in front of the crowd at Kyle Field. “The noise at practice is actually louder,” he said, attributing it to the speakers used to simulate the playing environment.
Aggies coach Mike Elko didn’t seem to mind the comments making their way to the 97,049 Texas A&M fans in attendance.
“The 12th Man certainly heard some of the statements made about how easy it was to play in Kyle Field, and that was good,” Elko said with a smile after the Aggies improved to 5-1 and 3-0 in the SEC.
Cook finished 13-of-31 for 186 yards with a touchdown and was pressured on 13 of 37 dropbacks despite the Aggies only blitzing him seven times, according to ESPN Research.
Texas A&M defensive end Nic Scourton, who had 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss, said the comments provided motivation to the team.
“They kind of lit a fire under us,” he said. “Coming into our place, like pre-interviews, talking down on Kyle Field, coming in here and stepping on our field and stuff like that. I think guys were really motivated to go out there and be dominant.”
And the Aggies were dominant. They led 24-0 at halftime before Le’Veon Moss ran 75 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the second half. He said he, too, took the stadium comments personally.
“Most definitely. They thought they were coming to get a piece of cake,” Moss said.
Moss ran for a career-high 138 yards with three touchdowns. Missouri had just 79 yards in the first half and finished with 254 total yards while allowing 512 to the Aggies.
After Moss’ third score gave the Aggies a 41-7 lead, fans began chanting “overrated.”
On Friday, Missouri wide receiver Theo Wease Jr. posted an Instagram story saying he’d received a “warm welcome to College Station,” with a picture of a Texas A&M blanket with a note that appeared to be from Aggies corner Will Lee IV that said, “Get used to this blanket… It will be real tomorrow.”
A Texas A&M spokesperson called it “false news” and Elko suggested it was a little gamesmanship by Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz. Lee also responded on social media Friday, denying that it was him who sent the blanket.
“My suggestion would be you guys should go ask Eli where that came from,” Elko said. “Because I have a strong feeling that that came from the other side and had nothing to do with Texas A&M, Will Lee, or anybody over here.”
Wasn’t me👍🏾 https://t.co/NVULRbvD7d
— William “The Blanket” Lee (@TheBlanket8) October 4, 2024
The game also marked the return of Aggies quarterback Conner Weigman, who injured the AC joint in his throwing shoulder in the season-opening loss to Notre Dame, then aggravated it in Week 2 against McNeese. Marcel Reed started the past three games for the Aggies.
Weigman, who was a game-time decision, was in command all day, going 18-of-22 for 276 yards, and Elko had an impassioned defense of his starting quarterback after message board and social media speculation about the quarterback’s character. Weigman had a miserable start to the season, going 12-of-30 for 100 yards and two interceptions in the loss to Notre Dame.
“I’m going to say this because it needs to be said,” Elko said. “You can challenge Conner for how he plays and you can be upset about Conner for how he throws the football. Some of the stuff that has been said about this kid and written about this kid — not by you guys, you guys have been great — is embarrassing. This kid is a winner. He’s a competitor. He does everything that he needs to do for Texas A&M football.”
Scourton praised the quarterback, saying he’s “a dog.”
“To see what he’s been going through, the media talking bad about him and things like that and him to just fight, [Weigman’s] a warrior,” Scourton said. “Great player, great competitor, and he’s not backing down from anything.”
Elko said the Aggies have put the loss to the Irish in the rearview mirror after a 3-0 start in the SEC.
“Everybody in our program owned it,” Elko said. “So I don’t know that it’s anything other than we had a bad night, and we went back to work to get better. And we’re seeing progress moving forward since then. Today, we played better. And so now we’ve got to keep doing that. This doesn’t become a statement, we’ve got to keep doing it.”
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Julian Sayin had a 40-yard touchdown pass to Carnell Tate early in the fourth quarter, Ohio State got a couple of key stops in the red zone and the third-ranked Buckeyes opened the defense of their national championship with a 14-7 victory over top-ranked Texas on Saturday.
It was the fourth time the No. 1 team in the AP preseason poll has met the previous season’s national champion in the opener. The defending champ has won the last three.
“Just a gritty win to start the season,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “We just felt like in Week 1, we didn’t want to beat ourselves. We took that into consideration with everything that we did.”
Arch Manning completed 17 of 30 passes for 170 yards, a touchdown and an interception for the Longhorns.
Texas was 1 of 5 on fourth down, including being stopped twice in the red zone. Manning was stuffed at the 1-yard line on fourth-and-goal by Caden Curry and Lorenzo Styles Jr. on a QB sneak in the third quarter.
The Longhorns were driving for a tying touchdown late in the game but Jack Endries was stopped by Caleb Downs 1 yard short of a first down to end hopes of a comeback.
“Ultimately, not good enough. Obviously you don’t want to start off the season 0-1,” Manning said. “They’re a good team. I thought we beat ourselves a lot, and that starts with me. I’ve got to play better for us to win.”
Sayin was 13 of 20 passing for 126 yards. His best pass of the day came with 13:08 remaining in the game, when Tate beat Texas cornerback Jaylon Guilbeau for the long score. Tate juggled the ball before pulling it down in the end zone to put the Buckeyes up by two touchdowns.
CJ Donaldson opened the scoring midway through the second quarter on a 1-yard run up the middle to cap a 13-play, 87-yard drive that took eight minutes off the clock. The Buckeyes benefitted from a pair of penalties, including a face mask call on Colin Simmons that wiped out an incomplete pass on third-and-4.
Texas finally got points with 3:28 remaining in the fourth quarter when Manning connected with Parker Livingstone on a 32-yard touchdown.
The Longhorns defense forced a three-and-out, giving Texas a chance to tie.
After an entertaining Week 0 appetizer and a smattering of games Thursday and Friday, it’s time for Week 1 of the college football season to finally kick off. And the game to start off the first full Saturday of the season couldn’t be much better.
It’s the Texas Longhorns vs. the Ohio State Buckeyes. It’s the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the preseason AP poll facing off. It’s a College Football Playoff rematch and Arch Manning’s first major test as starter against the defending national champions.
Needless to say, it’s going to be good.
We’ll be keeping track of Texas-Ohio State — and any other notable happenings that might pop up — as the college football season returns. Here’s everything that’s going on across Week 1 in college football:
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