Texas A&M 46 SMU 14 Post Game Celebration Thread

by Beergut on Sep 5, 2011 7:28 AM CDT in Iamthe12thman.com

DAVE EINSEL - APMore photos »

Texas A&M running back Cyrus Gray (32) runs around SMU's Kenneth Acker (21) during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011, in College Station, Texas. Gray rushed 21 times for 132 yards and 2 TDs on the night. (AP Photo/Dave Einsel)

I apologize for the tardiness of this post game celebration thread. I left Las Vegas yesterday morning at 6 AM PST, arrived at DFW 10:40 CST, drove straight from the airport to a friend's house, where we left and drove straight to College Station. I arrived in B/CS a little after 3 PM, and we left after the game at 11:20 PM. The long and short of it was that I was unable to access a computer after the game, and we didn't arrive back in Dallas until a little after 2 AM. Mea culpa.
As a whole, I am thrilled with the outcome of this game. We have two weeks to go over and over-analyze every little thing that happened in this game, but going up against a veteran bowl team with 18 starters returning, one who runs a wide open offense and a 3-4 defense like we do, I was going to be thrilled with a 31-17 win. I figured it would be a fairly close game through halftime, and our depth and talent would wear any resistance they offered down, and we'd pull away in the second half. I am beyond thrilled that we dominated like we did on offense, and were almost unstoppable, winning the game 46-14.
We gave up two big plays in particular on defense, and from my vantage point in the third deck in the Zone, they were both due to mistakes by the defense, both of which are correctable. We shut them out for the second half, and the defense opened the game with back-to-back interceptions on their first two series, a terrific start by any measure. Cyrus Gray was simply dominant, displaying the blend of speed and power he showed in the second half of last season, as he had another 100 yard rushing game, gaining 132 yards on 21 carries, including 2 TDs. The game was Geay's 8th consecutive 100 yard rushing effort. Ryan Tannehill was 21-26 for 246 yards and 2 TDs. Tannehill was masterful out there at the controls of A&M's offense, with possibly his best play being a 32 yard pass down the middle to Hutson Prioleau for a TD. SMU had been daring us to exploit the middle with Cover 0 several times on that drive, and Tannehill finally made them pay for it.
Christine Michael had 85 yards on 18 carries, and two TDs, including the opening score of the game, making it the second year in a row he scored A&M's first touchdown of the season. Tony Jerod-Eddie had 3 sacks for the game, making his career total now five. He was simply dominant off the edge. The defense as a whole had 8 sacks in the game, with 5.5 of them coming from the interior DL, an excellent effort by our defensive front. We struggled a bit with SMU's running game in the first half because they came out in the Pistol, a look we hadn't seen from them before (and because Zach Line is a stud), but we held them to 79 yards rushing and 347 yards total offense for the game, a very nice defensive effort for the first game of the year.
For a season opener, we had a very nice performance. Post your comments and thoughts on the game here, this is your post game celebration thread.