Cyrus Gray, Aggies Rout Idaho 37-7 as Fuller & Swope Enter Record Books

86,623 fans witnessed the No. 9 Aggies throttle the visiting Idaho Vandals, 37-7, recording the second straight sellout and the seventh largest crowd in Kyle Field history. Senior quarterback Ryan Tannehill threw over 300 yards and senior running back Cyrus Gray visited the end zone three times while posting his ninth 100-yard game in a row. 

“I thought the fans were just unbelievable today,” head coach Mike Sherman said. “We had a great crowd.  When we came out there to take the field to start the game and to look up in those stands and not see an empty seat, it was just unbelievable.  I can’t say enough about our fans, our student body, the support they give us.”

The Aggies gave their faithful plenty to cheer about as three star contributors entered the record books.  Junior wide receiver Ryan Swope went over 100 career receptions; senior wide receiver Jeff Fuller took the all-time career receptions mantle from former wideout Terrence Murphy; and senior running back Cyrus Gray continued his streak of consecutive 100-yard games, bringing his tally within one of the school record.

“It’s hard to defend a team with so many weapons,” said senior quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who threw for 337 yards and two touchdowns before being pulled near the end of the third quarter. “Swope, Jeff, EZ [Nwachakwu], Cyrus, Christine [Michael], the tight ends are playing well right now, so it’s really tough to defend it all.”

Although an interception blighted an otherwise near perfect night for A&M’s gunslinger, Tannehill spread the ball magnificently, distributing at least five receptions and 50 yards to four different receivers. Junior wide receiver Uzoma Nwachukwu led the Aggies with six grabs for 80 yards.

“I wasn’t happy with my performance tonight,” Tannehill said. “There were a couple plays I’d like to have back—a couple incompletions, the tip on the interception was tough—but I didn’t feel like I played to my top level tonight so I definitely have a few things myself to correct. But as a whole offense, I think the offensive line has really come together. They’re able to move people up front.”

The line played terrific football in both run and pass protection, not allowing a quarterback sack and paving the way for Gray to break the triple digit barrier in yards for the second time this season. Although he’d pulled most of his starters by the third quarter, Sherman gave Gray one more shot to get over the hump and the Doak Walker Award candidate took advantage of the opportunity.

“I told him he had one play and if he didn’t make it on that play, that was it,” Sherman said. “Fortunately he got it on that play. Probably not the smartest thing I’ve ever done but he’s such a good kid and I knew it was important to him so I just held my breath and said my prayers and hoped that nothing happened.”

Gray finished the game with 103 rushing yards and two scores on the ground, but shrugged off the importance of the accomplishment in deference to his team’s success.

“It sounds good but at the end of the day it’s preseason for me,” Gray said. “Conference starts Saturday so, you know, I have to get on the same page for when conference starts.”           

The Wrecking Crew was out in full force, allowing the Vandals a minuscule 78 total yards in the first three quarters of play. Idaho finally made a dent in the scoreboard with 2:18 left in the 4^th, but the score came against 2^nd and 3^rd teamers.

Dating back to the second half of the season opener against SMU, the Aggie defense did not allow a single point for five full quarters until Idaho’s garbage time touchdown. And although Oklahoma State’s offense that pulls into town next Saturday presents a vastly different set of problems than Idaho’s or SMU’s offensive attacks, junior linebacker Sean Porter says it doesn’t affect his defense’s mentality

“It doesn’t matter who’s on the field in front of us,” said Porter, who led the Aggies with 2.5 tackles for loss and registered his first sack of the season. “Idaho, Oklahoma State, SMU; whoever’s out there we’re gonna play the same way, we’re gonna prepare the same way. I feel like it’s just all on us and we don’t have to worry about who we’re playing.”

Sherman is pleased with his team’s progress over the first two games but knows that a lot more hard work is in store if the Aggies hope to take care of the No. 8 Oklahoma State Cowboys next week.

“Overall we had a great defensive effort,” Sherman said. “We’re gonna need a great one against this group coming to town next week. They can put some points on the board so it was good that we had this to build off of.”