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COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Marcel Reed threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score before leaving late in the third quarter with an injury to lead No. 19 Texas A&M to a 44-22 victory over Utah State on Saturday.

Reed threw for 220 yards with TD passes of 34, 12 and eight yards before leaving with about four minutes left in the third quarter after taking an awkward fall and getting hit by a defender. He walked off the field after being checked out and spent time in the medical tent before jogging to the locker room.

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Coach Mike Elko declined to say what Reed injured but indicated he’d play next week when the Aggies visit No. 9 Notre Dame. “I fully anticipate Marcel being fine,” he said.

Texas A&M (2-0) led by 1 late in the first quarter before scoring 23 straight points to take a 30-6 lead into halftime.

Reed had a 1-yard scoring run and a 12-yard TD pass in that span to help Texas A&M pull away.

Texas A&M’s defense dominated in that stretch, led by defensive end Cashius Howell, who sacked Bryson Barnes on three consecutive plays to single-handedly force a punt in the second quarter. It’s the first time a player has had sacks on three straight plays since Jack Cichy did it for Wisconsin against Southern California in the 2015 Holiday Bowl, according to research by the Texas A&M communications staff.

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“I thought we handled that game the way we needed to handle it through three quarters,” Elko said. “I thought through three quarters we played the way we wanted to play. It was good to see us play a little bit more consistently on defense for the most part in that game.”

Barnes had 169 yards passing with two touchdowns for Utah State (1-1) but was sacked six times and hit six more.

“I claim responsibility first,” coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “They beat us in all three phases. Great environment, but we didn’t play as clean or as sharp in any of the phases today.”

Backup Miles O’Neill threw for 99 yards, highlighted by a 72-yard touchdown pass after Reed went out.

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Elko was happy with the throws his quarterbacks made downfield.

“Our ability to push the vertical passing game was something we had to do to become more dynamic,” he said. “It was good to see Marcel hit the one to Terry (Bussey) and KC (Concepcion), and also Miles O’Neill launch one.”

Immediate impact

KC Concepcion had another big game for Texas A&M on Saturday after scoring a touchdown on a punt return and grabbing a TD catch in his debut last week after transferring from North Carolina State. He had six receptions for 73 yards and two touchdowns.

His second TD came on an 8-yard catch and extended the lead to 37-14 with about six minutes left in the third quarter.

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“My connection with Marcel is growing stronger every day. … I can’t wait to see where it goes,” Concepcion said.

Mario Craver, another transfer in his first year at A&M, had 114 yards receiving and a touchdown after grabbing two touchdown receptions last week.

The takeaway

Utah State: Barnes was under near-constant pressure Saturday and his line will have to protect him much better for the team to get back on track next week.

Texas A&M: The run defense was much better than in the opener, when A&M allowed UTSA to rush for 203 yards. On Saturday, the team allowed just 78 yards rushing.

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“After last week, we gave up more rushing yards than we should have,” Howell said. “The emphasis this week was to stop the run and reestablish the line of scrimmage. I feel like we took the next step.”

Up next

Utah State hosts Air Force next Saturday night.

Texas A&M visits the Fighting Irish next Saturday night.

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Texas A&M vs. Utah State: Score, live updates of non-conference game from Kyle Field originally appeared on The Sporting News

Texas A&M had a successful season opener last week.

The Aggies now want to keep generating momentum in preparation for next week’s huge game at Notre Dame. A&M is back in action at Kyle Field Saturday morning to take on another set of Aggies – the Aggies of Utah State.

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A&M (1-0) is coming off a 42-24 win against UTSA, as quarterback Marcel Reed threw for 289 yards and four touchdowns. But it was also a breakout game in the debut of new Aggie wide receivers KC Concepcion and Mario Craver, both offseason transfers.

Concepcion caught a TD pass and had A&M’s opening score by returning a punt 80 yards for a TD. Craver was the Aggies’ top receiver with six catches for 122 yards and two TDs.

A&M’s defense, after giving up a 75-yard TD run on the opening play of the second half which cut the Aggies’ lead to 21-17, then put the clamps on the Roadrunners, forcing six straight punts. The final score by UTSA came in the closing seconds.

Utah State (1-0) also won its season-opener last week, 28-16, against UTEP in the first game under new coach Bronco Mendenhall. Quarterback Bryson Barnes threw for 233 yards and a TD, and running back Miles Davis had nearly 150 yards of total offense with a rushing TD.

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Follow The Sporting News correspondent Buck Ringgold (@Bucks_Ballpark) for all of the live updates and scoring from College Station.

Scroll down for live score and game updates from kickoff to the postgame. Refresh this page for the latest.

UTAH STATE 0, TEXAS A&M 0 1ST QTR.

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PREGAME

– Live from Kyle Field in College Station, Texas A&M’s Aggies attempt to move to 2-0 when they take on Utah State’s Aggies, who are also 1-0.

Texas A&M 2025 Schedule

Aug. 30 UTSA W 42-24

Sept. 6 Utah State

Sept. 13 at Notre Dame

Sept. 27 Auburn

Oct. 4 Mississippi State

Oct. 11 Florida

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Oct. 18 at Arkansas

Oct. 25 at LSU

Nov. 8 at Missouri

Nov. 15 South Carolina

Nov. 22 Samford

Nov. 28 at Texas

MORE SPORTS NEWS

Data Skrive

Star player Mario Craver and the Texas A&M Aggies (1-0) meet the Utah State Aggies (1-0) on Saturday at 12:45 p.m. ET, at Kyle Field. Go to SEC Network to see the Texas A&M Aggies take on the Utah State Aggies.

Keep up with college football all season on FOX Sports. Learn more about the Texas A&M Aggies and the Utah State Aggies.

How to Watch Texas A&M vs. Utah State

• When: Saturday, September 6, 2025 at 12:45 p.m. ET
• Location: Kyle Field in College Station, Texas
• TV Channel: SEC Network
• Live Box Score: FOX Sports

Texas A&M’s 2025 Schedule

Texas A&M 2025 Stats & Insights

• Texas A&M is totaling 399.0 yards per game on offense, which ranks 63rd in the FBS. On the defensive side of the ball, the Texas A&M Aggies rank 99th, giving up 373.0 yards per contest.
• Texas A&M ranks 62nd in pass defense this year (170.0 passing yards allowed per game), but has been playing really well on the offensive side of the ball, ranking 23rd-best in the FBS with 291.0 passing yards per game.
• The Texas A&M Aggies are averaging 42.0 points per game on offense (29th in the FBS), and they rank 93rd on defense with 24.0 points allowed per game.
• Despite having a bottom-25 run defense that ranks 18th-worst in the FBS (203.0 rushing yards allowed per game), the Texas A&M Aggies have played better on offense, ranking 96th in the FBS by averaging 108.0 rushing yards per game.
• On offense, Texas A&M ranks 109th in the FBS with a 27.3% third-down conversion rate. Meanwhile, the team’s defense ranks 62nd in third-down percentage allowed (203.0).
• With zero forced turnovers (94th in the FBS) against zero turnovers committed (first in the FBS), the Texas A&M Aggies (0) have the 56th-ranked turnover margin in college football.

Texas A&M 2025 Key Players

Utah State’s 2025 Schedule

Utah State 2025 Stats & Insights

• In terms of total offense, Utah State ranks 76th in the FBS (360.0 total yards per game) and 55th on defense (284.0 total yards allowed per game).
• Utah State is accumulating 233.0 passing yards per contest on offense this season (59th-ranked). Meanwhile, it is allowing 181.0 passing yards per contest (69th-ranked) on defense.
• With 28.0 points per game on offense, the Utah State Aggies rank 63rd in the FBS. On defense, they rank 67th, surrendering 16.0 points per contest.
• The Utah State Aggies rank 86th in the FBS with 127.0 rushing yards per contest on offense, and they rank 55th with 103.0 rushing yards given up per contest on defense.
• Utah State’s offense has not been getting things done on third down, ranking 11th-worst in the FBS with a 16.7% third-down conversion percentage. It has been better on the defensive side of the ball, surrendering a 26.7% third-down rate (39th-ranked).
• With one forced turnover (51st in the FBS) and zero turnovers committed (first in the FBS) this season, the Utah State Aggies rank 31st in the FBS with a turnover margin of +1.

Utah State 2025 Key Players

FOX Sports created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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Utah State (1-0, 0-0 Mountain West) at No. 19 Texas A&M (1-0, 0-0 SEC)

• Kickoff: Saturday, 10:45 a.m. MDT

• Venue: Kyle Field (Capacity: 102,733)

• TV: SEC Network

• Radio: Aggie Sports Network (KZNS 1280 The Zone)/Sirius XM Ch. 382.

• Series: Utah State trails, 0-1.

The trends

For Utah State: The Aggies are coming off a season-opening 28-16 win against UTEP at home, the first win of the Bronco Mendenhall era.

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Utah State was a little hit-and-miss in the game, strong in the first half in all phases, with a real slowdown on offense in the second half. Even with that, though, the Aggies handily defeated the Miners.

Utah State showed considerable growth defensively and teased a talented special teams unit as well. And when on, the offense moved well, with quarterback Bryson Barnes seeming to have a good handle of the new system.

For Texas A&M: The Aggies, the nationally known ones, are ranked No. 19 in the country and picked up a season-opening 42-24 win at home against UTSA last weekend. Texas A&M QB Marcel Reed was excellent in the victory, throwing for nearly 300 yards and four touchdowns.

Texas A&M is in its second season under Mike Elko, and won eight games last season. The expectation in College Station is always higher than that, although ESPN’s FPI projects the Aggies to win seven or eight games.

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What to watch for

There should be two lines of thought for Saturday’s game.

1. What does Utah State need to do to pull off the unprecedented upset?

2. What does Utah State need to do to show improvement from Week 1 to Week 2?

On the first front, there are keys to every major upset. Utah State will need to win the turnover battle. Getting a few extra possessions would go a long way.

USU also needs to shorten the game. More time on the clock means more possessions for Texas A&M and Reed, which will likely mean more points on the board. Utah State needs to have an effective run game, be it with running back Miles Davis and Javen Jacobs or quarterback Barnes.

Some elite special teams play won’t hurt either. A special teams touchdown or excellent punting (winning the field position battle), would set up the Aggies to pull off the groundbreaking upset.

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As for what Utah State needs to do to improve from Week 1, limiting penalties (even small ones) would be notable. Better protection of Barnes would also be a step in the right direction, after UTEP sacked the Aggie quarterback six times last weekend.

A more effective — consistent — rushing attack would engender optimism about a group of running backs who’ve been described as the strength of the team. And more pressure on the quarterback wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Key player

Marcel Reed, sophomore, quarterback, Texas A&M:

The outcome of Saturday’s game will likely fall on the shoulders of Reed. The sophomore from Tennessee had an up-and-down freshman season for Texas A&M, but he showed flashes of greatness.

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Against UTSA, Reed was excellent. He completed nearly 65% of his pass attempts for 289 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed for a team-high 39 yards, proving the engine for Texas A&M’s offense.

If Reed plays like he did against the Roadrunners this Saturday, Utah State will be in for a long day. If he reverts back to how he played — at times — as a freshman last season, the Aggies have a shot to pull off the shocker.

Reed has immense talent. He was a four-star prospect coming out of high school and a top 20 QB prospect nationally.

That type of player has the chance to be special. Utah State has to hope that he isn’t special Saturday.

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Quotable

“You always look for relative points of reference or realistic points of reference. Fun to watch UTSA, I think they do a nice job. And it’s a really a helpful game for us. Liked their plan, they did a really nice job. Obviously, the game went Texas A&M’s way, but it was very competitive for a long time. Any time you play an opponent, you look for what worked and see if you could replicate, see if those matchups might be similar.” — Utah State coach Bronco Mendenhall

“Known Bronco for a long time. Just following his career, not as much personally. Obviously a tremendously successful head coach, did a great job at BYU. Coached against him when he was at UVA when I was the defensive coordinator at Wake Forest. Have always followed his program(s) from afar. This will be the first time going against him (as a head coach). … I think he (Mendenhall) is a tough hard-minded head coach and his teams show that. There is a blue-collar toughness to how they play. They play extremely hard, physical and they are very disciplined.” — Texas A&M coach Mike Elko

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Next up

• Utah State: vs. Air Force, Saturday, Sept. 13, at 7:45 p.m.

• Texas A&M: at No. 9 Notre Dame, Saturday, Sept. 13, at 5:30 p.m.

Utah State schedule

• Sept. 6 — at Texas A&M

• Sept. 13 — Air Force

• Sept. 20 — McNeese State

• Sept. 27 — at Vanderbilt

• Oct. 11 — at Hawaiʻi

• Oct. 17 — San José State

• Oct. 25 — at New Mexico

• Nov. 8 — Nevada

• Nov. 15 — at UNLV

• Nov. 22 — at Fresno State

• Nov. 29 — Boise State