Texas A&M Downs ISU in Offensive Slugfest

AMES, Iowa? Texas A&M and Iowa State combined for 1,083 yards of total offense Saturday night, but the Aggies made the key plays in the end, defeating the Cyclones 49-35 in Big 12 football action at Jack Trice Stadium. The Cyclones tallied their most productive offensive effort since 2002 with 574 yards of total offense. However, the Aggies posted 509 yards of total offense of their own, including 381 yards from the arm of quarterback Jerrod Johnson. The loss drops the Cyclones to 2-6 overall and 0-4 in the Big 12, while the Aggies improve to 3-5 and 1-3 in league play.

"I was really proud of our offense," ISU head coach Gene Chizik said. "They were always trying to come back and answer the call. Defensively, we weren't playing well at all. As for the offense, I'm proud of the guys because they kept fighting back. We've had our struggles and the guys never gave up right down to the last play. They were productive and ran the football but at the end of the day, if you don't play defense well, you don't win."

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The first half was an offensive showcase, as the Cyclones rolled up 300 yards of total offense despite being down 28-17 at the break. ISU got on board first, tallying seven points with a nine-play, 79-yard drive after the opening kickoff. A 32-yard run by Alexander Robinson set up a 1-yard dive for Robinson to push the Cyclones out in front 7-0.

The TAMU offense was sharp from the beginning, answering ISU's opening score with two-straight touchdowns to go up 14-7 with 14:01 left before intermission. Johnson connected on a pair of long touchdown passes to push the Aggies ahead. The first strike was to Terrence McCoy for 35 yards, and the second touchdown was a 37-yard catch by Jamie McCoy.

The Cyclones evened the score at 14-14 with a Jason Scales 1-yard run, but the Aggies again posted 14-straight points to go ahead 28-14. Johnson hit Jamie McCoy again, this time for 12-yards, and Cyrus Gray darted 27 yards up the middle for the other TAMU score with 1:22 left before half. It looked to be a 28-14 TAMU lead at the half, but A&M was flagged for roughing the passer on the final play of the first half, giving ISU one more shot. Grant Mahoney then nailed a 32-yard field goal to go into the break at 28-17.

After forcing the Aggies to punt for the first time on their opening series of the second half, the Cyclones inched closer (28-20) with a 16-play, 89-yard drive that ended with a Mahoney 26-yard boot. However, the Aggies quickly answered with an 8-play, 73-yard drive. Jovorskie Lane capped off the drive with a 1-yard run to increase the lead to 35-20 with 1:06 left in the third quarter. The Aggies scored two more touchdowns to put the game out of reach.

Austen Arnaud finished the game with a career-high 371 yards passing on 26-of-41 attempts. His 371 passing yards ties for the fifth-best single-game passing performance in school history. R.J. Sumrall was on the receiving end of most of Arnaud's tosses, catching nine passes for a career-high 143 yards, his third 100-yard receiving game of the season. Sumrall now has 1,644 career receiving yards to rank sixth all-time in school history.

ISU travels to Oklahoma State next weekend (Nov. 1). Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Austen Arnaud

Austen Arnaud

Grant Mahoney

Alexander Robinson

Alexander Robinson

Jason Scales

Jason Scales

R.J. Sumrall

R.J. Sumrall

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