Weigman throws for 337 yards as Texas A&M routs Louisiana-Monroe 47-3

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Conner Weigman threw for 337 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score in less than three quarters to lead Texas A&M to a 47-3 rout of Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday.

Texas A&M (2-1) easily handled Louisiana-Monroe (2-1), which plays in the Sun Belt Conference, to bounce back after dropping out of the top 25 following a 48-33 loss at Miami last week.

Both of Weigman’s touchdowns came in the first half as A&M built a 27-3 lead after the kickoff was delayed by an hour due to lightning in the area.

The Aggies added a 34-yard field goal on their first drive of the third quarter to make it 30-3.

A 21-yard scoring run by Rueben Owens extended the lead to 37-3 with about six minutes left in the third quarter. The Aggies got a stop on defense and backup Max Johnson took over for Weigman with about five minutes left in the quarter.

Jahdae Walker had a career-high 110 yards receiving with a touchdown and Ainias Smith added 127 yards receiving for his fifth career 100-yard game.

Jiya Wright threw for 95 yards and ran for 34 for the Warhawks, who entered the game having won their first two games for the first time since 2018.

The Aggies piled up 557 yards of offense, while holding Louisiana-Monroe to just 222. The Warhawks didn’t convert a third down until late until the fourth quarter and finished 1 of 12.

Texas A&M got a 30-yard field goal on its first drive. The Aggies made it 10-0 when Weigman connected with Walker on a 12-yard touchdown pass with about 2 ½ minutes left in the first quarter.

The Warhawks put together a good drive after that, getting to the 6-yard line. But an incomplete pass by Wright on third down forced them to settle for a short field goal that cut the lead to 10-3.

Weigman extended the lead to 17-3 when he scampered 19 yards for a TD with about 9 ½ minutes left in the first half.

Texas A&M added another field goal after that before a 4-yard touchdown run by Amari Daniels made it 27-3 with less than a minute until halftime.

Johnson threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Raymond Cottrell to leave the Aggies up 44-3 with about 11 minutes remaining.

Randy Bond’s fourth field goal was from 52 yards to make it 47-3 with seven minutes left.

THE TAKEAWAY

The Aggies looked good against a lesser opponent but will have much more of a challenge next week when they begin SEC play with a visit from Auburn.

HEY, OLD FRIEND

Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher played quarterback for Louisiana-Monroe coach Terry Bowden at Samford and was an assistant on his staff for more than a decade at Samford and Auburn.

JOHNNY FOOTBALL

Former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, who won the Heisman Trophy in 2012, attended Saturday’s game. Manziel received a loud ovation when he was introduced and shown on the big screens just before the start of the third quarter.

UP NEXT

Louisiana-Monroe: Is off next Saturday before hosting Appalachian State on Sept. 30.

Texas A&M: Hosts Auburn next Saturday.

Texas A&M Football Post Game Notes

Texas A&M vs. ULM

Kyle Stadium (Bryan-College Station, Texas)

Team Notes

• The Aggies finished with 557 yards of total offense, marking the most yards of total offense for the team since putting up 595 yards in the 2021 season opener against Kent State.
• Texas A&M saw two receivers rack up over 100 yards in the win as Ainias Smith tallied 127 receiving yards and Jahdae Walker finished with 110, giving the Aggies a 100-yard receiver in three consecutive games for the first time since 2012 when Ryan Swope had 111 at Alabama (11/10), Uzoma Nwachukwu had 160 vs Sam Houston (11/17) and Malcolme Kennedy had 110 in the regular-season finale vs Missouri (11/24).
• Three different Aggies recorded a rushing touchdown in the same game for the first time since Nov. 20, 2021, versus Prairie View A&M.
• A&M’s 132 total points though three games are the most through the first three games of a season since the 2018 campaign.
• The Aggies are 27-7 at Kyle Field under head coach Jimbo Fisher, boasting a 14-2 record against non-SEC opponents in Kyle Field since Fisher’s arrival.
• Since 2010, A&M is 38-2 at Kyle Field against conference opponents.
• The Aggies move to 32-5 when scoring first and are 30-2 when leading after the first quarter.
• Today’s captains against ULM were OL Layden Robinson, DL McKinnley Jackson, DL Fadil Diggs and WR Ainias Smith.

Individual Notes

• Sophomore QB Conner Weigman registered his second 300-yard passing game of the season and the third of his career, finishing the ULM game with 337 yards through the air. He accounted for two touchdowns, throwing for one and rushing for another.
• The game was Weigman’s most efficient passing game of his career, connecting on 25-of-29 passes, an 86.2 percent clip, the highest by an Aggie since 1996.
• Junior transfer WR Jahdae Walker scored the first touchdown of his A&M career on a 12-yard end zone strike from Weigman to extend the Aggie lead late in the first quarter. He finished with a career-best 110 yards receiving on five catches and a TD.
• Graduate WR Ainias Smith recorded the fifth 100-yard game of his career, racking up 127 yards on seven catches. Smith’s 23-yard reception in the first quarter gave him 30-consecutive games with at least one reception, which ranks as the 10th longest streak in the nation.
• Smith became the 20th Aggie to reach 3,000 career all-purpose yards, doing so on a 32-yard grab in the second quarter. He now has 3,059 all-purpose yards in his career.
• Smith made it 30 straight games with a reception, a streak that dates back to the 2019 season. It is the longest streak of games with at least one catch for an Aggie since Christian Kirk (2015-17) had a string of 39 games from 2015-17.
• Freshman RB Rueben Owens scored the first rushing touchdown of his career as the led the backs with nine attempts for 51 yards.
• Junior PLK Randy Bond’s 52-yard field goal in the fourth quarter was a new career long for the Aggie kicker and the second of his career of over 50 yards. His previous career long was a 51-yarder at South Carolina in 2022.
• Bond finished with four made field goals, tied for the sixth most in a single game in A&M history. He is now 20-for-26 on field goals in his career and his 76.8 percentage is currently the fourth best field-goal percentage in program history.

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