Marcel Reed delivered his second stellar performance so far this season, throwing three touchdown passes and rushing for another to lead No. 19 Texas A&M to a 44-22 victory over Utah State on Saturday afternoon at College Station, Tex.
Reed completed 19 of 28 passes for 220 yards and did not throw an interception. He also ran for 66 yards on 10 carries.
Reed gave Texas A&M (2-0) and its faithful cause for concern on his final carry with 3:44 left in the third quarter when he appeared to suffer an injury after being tackled on a run.
Reed remained down on the field while being attended to by the Aggies’ medical staff. Reed popped up after a couple of minutes and was later seen walking briskly into the locker room.
Freshman backup quarterback Miles O’Neill threw an interception moments later, but Utah State (1-1) was unable to take advantage. On Texas A&M’s ensuing drive, O’Neill connected deep over the middle with Mario Craver for a 72-yard touchdown to put the game out of reach with a 44-14 lead.
Craver, a transfer from Mississippi State, caught five passes for 114 yards. KC Concepcion finished with six catches for 73 yards and caught two touchdown passes.
Texas A&M struck first on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Reed to Terry Bussey.
Utah State answered with a touchdown drive capped by a successful trick play in which Anthony Garcia took a handoff, rolled to the right, then evaded pressure and lobbed a pass to Miles Davis in the end zone. Utah State missed on a two-point conversion.
Davis ran for 50 yards and caught only three passes for nine yards, but two of those receptions were touchdowns. Brady Boyd caught six passes for 87 yards.
Texas A&M answered with 23 unanswered points to close out the first half. Reed, Le’Veon Moss and Concepcion each scored a TD in the scoring outburst.
Utah State battled in the second half and outscored the Aggies 16-14, scoring on two touchdown passes from quarterback Bryson Barnes, who completed 15 of 30 passes for 169 yards.
Cashius Howell led the Texas A&M defense with three of its six sacks overall. John Miller led Utah State’s defense with two sacks, while Noah Avinger had an interception.
