Click HERE to view Texas A&M’s postgame press conference.
Game #1: No. 19 Texas A&M 42, UTSA 24
Records: Texas A&M (1-0, 0-0), UTSA (0-1, 0-0)
Box Score
A Kyle Field crowd of 107,521 on Saturday night celebrated the Immaculate Concepcion.
This refers to the near-perfect Texas A&M debut of transfer receiver KC Concepcion. In a brilliant first half, he evoked memories of the Aggies’ beloved Christian Kirk.
Like Kirk vs. Arizona State in his debut a decade ago, Concepcion scored a touchdown on a long punt return and another on a reception to boost the Aggies to a season-opening 42-24 football victory over UTSA.
Twice, Concepcion almost reached a blessed trinity of touchdowns. Alas, quarterback Marcel Reed overthrew him on what could’ve been an easy 48-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
“I was a bit juiced,” Reed said. “Kind of let it fly, but kind of mad about that one.”
Later, Concepcion’s misstep out of the back of the end zone nullified a 7-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter.
It mattered not. Other Aggies more than compensated. Mario Craver, another transfer, turned two short passes into 22- and 24-yard scores. Theo Melin Öhrström caught a 1-yard touchdown toss.
And for good measure, EJ Smith took a pitch around the left end for a 3-yard touchdown run. The Aggies were never seriously threatened as they rolled up 399 yards of offense, never trailed and led by as much as 25 points in the fourth quarter.
Of course, the offensive yardage total does not include Concepcion’s 80-yard punt return for a first-quarter touchdown that shook the Aggies out of some early offensive doldrums.
A&M's first two series ended with punts. But after Concepcion's punt return touchdown, the Aggies' next two drives culminated with explosive strikes to the end zone.
Craver turned a quick screen into a 24-yard touchdown. Then, Concepcion weaved 31 yards through the UTSA secondary for another touchdown pass.
That staked the Aggies to a 21-10 halftime lead. They never surrendered the advantage.
“That’s all we needed to get us going,” Craver said. “That’s how it’s supposed to be for this offense. You get one explosive play, and then here comes another one. Here comes another. Here comes another. Here comes another.
“That’s what this offense is meant to do.”
Reed echoed those thoughts.
“That kind of gave that spark we needed for the game,” he said. “And you know it was just… Dude… It’s crazy. I haven’t seen a punt return like that since Ainias Smith was here. It’s great watching (Concepcion) do that.
“And then ‘Rio (Craver)… You throw him a pass behind the line of scrimmage, and he turns it into a 60-yard gain.”
After last season’s 8-5 finish, A&M coach Mike Elko was on a mission to add more of a big-play element to the Aggies’ offense and special teams.
Mission accomplished. The additions of Concepcion and Craver obviously are already paying dividends.
“I think we wanted to get more explosive on offense, and we did,” Elko said. “We wanted to get more explosive in the return game, and we did. We wanted to see Marcel throw the ball a little bit better. He did.”
Reed passed for 289 yards — the third-highest total of his career. His four touchdown passes were a career high.
Alas, the threat of explosive plays — like Highway 6 — goes both ways.
Last season, the A&M defense was frustratingly susceptible to giving up chunk plays. It was a problem again.
UTSA accumulated 373 yards of offense. Of those, 221 yards came on just 10 plays in the first 30 minutes and 13 seconds of the game.
One of those plays was a 75-yard touchdown run by UTSA’s Robert Henry Jr. on the first play of the second half.
“We had some of the misfits show up again and create some explosive runs, which obviously are things that are going to need to get fixed and cleaned up,” Elko said.
They did. After that run, the Aggies completely shut down UTSA, which ranked 11th in the nation in passing offense the previous season.
The Roadrunners managed just 89 yards the remainder of the second half. Of those, 72 were gained on a drive for a meaningless touchdown in the final seconds.
Overall, it was an excellent showing against a respectable opponent. UTSA is considered a contender for the American Athletic Conference championship.
Yet, much better opponents await. Notre Dame looms in just two weeks. The Aggies were good against UTSA, but Elko knows they must be better.
“We’ve got a lot of things that we’re going to have to do to get better between Week 1 and Week 2 to go where we want to go,” he said. “But it’s a good start. It’s a good way to start the season.”
SA68AG said:
Not sure how you can write an article on Concepcion and not address the big question on everyone's mind.
Was he injured or was it just a cramp ? Hopefully just a cramp.
