 took a break from Southeastern Conference play to face the Sun Belt team for the first time a week after suffering its first loss at top-ranked Alabama. Kirk returned punts for 70 and 73 yards to become the first player in school history with two punt return scores in a game. He has four in his career, which is a Texas A&M record. A 12-yard run by Trayveon Williams on A&M's first drive made it 7-0 before Kirk's first return TD pushed the lead to 14-0 later in the first. On that return, Kirk grabbed the ball and evaded the first wave of defenders before sidestepping another one, getting a couple of blocks, sprinting away from the rest of the defense and waltzing into the end zone. Trevor Knight found Kirk on a 3-yard reception in the corner of the end zone in the second quarter to leave Texas A&M up 24-0. Texas A&M was up by 28 points early in the third quarter when Kirk added his second return score to make it 38-3. Knight was replaced by backup Jake Hubenak not long after that, and most of A&M's starters were soon on the bench. Tyler Rogers threw for 138 yards and a touchdown and ran for 40 yards for New Mexico State (2-6). THE TAKEAWAYNEW MEXICO STATE: New Mexico State struggled to deal with the size and speed of Texas A&M and wasn't able to do much on either side of the ball. The team will savor its open date next week to recover and regroup from this lopsided defeat. TEXAS A&M: Texas A&M did what it was supposed to do against a lesser opponent and got a much-needed week off from the rigors of the SEC as injuries have started to mount. Coach Kevin Sumlin held out star defensive end Myles Garrett, who has been dealing with a leg injury, and a few other players who are battling minor injuries with consecutive conference games ahead in the next two weeks. UP NEXTNEW MEXICO STATE: The team is off Saturday before returning to Sun Belt play at Arkansas State on Nov. 12. TEXAS A&M: Texas A&M visits Mississippi State on Saturday in its last road game before wrapping up the regular season with three straight games in College Station.--More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org)
Damage control the seemed to be the theme this week following the 33-14 loss to No. 1 Alabama as ninth-ranked Texas A&M steps out of conference play to host New Mexico State. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday (ESPNU) at Kyle Field in College Station, TexasThe loss to the Crimson Tide doesn't completely eliminate the Aggies (6-1, 4-1 SEC) from the West Division race, but it does leave the in position of needing help in the form of at least one loss for Alabama to get to the SEC title game. A&M quarterback Trevor Knight commented that he has seen one-loss teams still getting to where they want to go in a season, but coach Kevin Sumlin is taking a more focused approach." We're not talking about that," he said. "Got to worry about this week. Don't have any control over what happens after that. Our guys understand that." Right after that game everyone still wants to talk about where we are in national picture and what can happen here and there. Guess what? Six weeks ago that wasn't a conversation. Now all of sudden it is? We don't forget that." We have to beat New Mexico State this week. That's what this week is about. Then we'll figure out next week," Sumlin said. Beating New Mexico State (2-5, 1-3 Sun Belt) is almost an afterthought. These Aggies -- they share the nickname with Texas A&M -- have lost their last two games, 22-19 to Georgia Southern and 55-23 to Idaho, with the latter marking the third time this season they have surrendered more than 50 points. Earlier, they lost 52-6 to Troy and 62-42 to Kentucky. But New Mexico State does have a senior quarterback, Tyler Rogers, who has thrown for nearly 287 yards a game and a solid all-around back in senior Larry Rose III. Rose missed the first three games of the season while recovering from a sports hernia but has rushed for 281 yards in four games since his return. He also has 12 receptions for another 86 yards. New Mexico State may have put together its best effort of the season in the three-point loss to Georgia Southern, one of the Sun Belt's top teams." I'm proud of our offense and defense for how hard they played," New Mexico State coach Doug Martin said. "Our football team has to play smarter. I'm proud of the fight the team showed and I guarantee they'll continue to fight." Sumlin expects an aerial show." They're gonna throw it around a bunch," Sumlin said. "Doug Martin has been around, been a head coach for a while." Going to sling it around all over place. Got a guy that can do that. Gonna spread us out. Zone read and really more of the same. RPO stuff. Take shots down field. Will test us deep. They've got nothing to lose." Rogers also has rushed for 220 yards, third on the team, mostly on run-pass option plays." They were putting points up and moving it down the field," Sumlin said, referring to New Mexico State's loss to Kentucky. "Heck of a game. This is another SEC opponent. No stranger to that." Definitely a team that is going to try and expose you and get big plays off deep throws and all kind of things down field." Getting in an up-and-down the field kind of game could work in A&M's favor, helping to snap out of whatever funk may be lingering from the loss at Tuscaloosa. The Aggies rushed for only 114 yards against the Crimson Tide after putting up 353 the previous week against Tennessee." Up until that game our line was leading the league in rushing," Sumlin said. "That front against us, no doubt they were better." Running back Trayveon Williams rushed for 217 yards against Tennessee but scratched his way for only 23 yards on nine carries against the Tide. Quarterback Trevor Knight rushed for 24 after getting 351 in the previous three games." Do we want to be better? Yes," Sumlin said, referring to an offensive line that has a redshirt freshman, true freshman and a sophomore starting with two seniors. "Can we be better? We will be better, because these guys will be playing for us for next three or four years."
Looking for More Picks?
You can browse all the individual handicapper picks below.
New Mexico State
Texas AM
Pick Center
NCAAF
FINAL (10/29/2016)
TomBartonSports
