The Jimbo Fisher era at Texas A&M is officially underway, and the the Aggies have impressed so far in their first outing against Northwestern State. Texas A&M jumped out to a quick 35-0 halftime lead, and the offense has looked unstoppable. Running back Trayveon Williams has been a human highlight reel, racking up 180 yards on 17 carries and two touchdowns, including this explosive 73-yard score in the first quarter: Trayveon is GONE. 7⃣3⃣ yards to the house. pic.twitter.com/36cYaiDJir — SEC Network (@SECNetwork) August 31, 2018 Sophomore quarterback Kellen Mond went 15-of-22 for 153 yards and also threw two touchdowns, both to TE Jace Sternberger. The Aggies offense recorded 17 first downs and 383 total yards in the first half, while the Demons have managed only five first downs and 86 total yards. It wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies for the Aggies in the first half of the 2018 season however, as they, like every other team in the country, had trouble avoiding the “targeting” penalties. Senior linebacker Otaro Alaka was ejected in the first quarter after he lowered his head and led with his helmet to deliver a hit. Later on, senior safety Donovan Wilson was also ejected after landing a devastating hit during a kick return.<doc-sep>The Jimbo Fisher era got started with a bang Thursday night against Northwestern State. The Aggies trounced the Deamons 59-7. Sure, it was a predicted blowout, but this game just seemed a little different. The Aggies led 35-0 at halftime, but in year’s past, the score would have been more like 35-17. This year, Mike Elko’s defense is different. They’re physical and well coached. And it’s a welcomed sight in College Station. QB Kellen Mond also looked like a different player in the passing game. Mond finished with 184 passing yards and two TDs — both to TE Jace Sternberger, while RB Trayveon Williams torched Northwestern State’s defense with a career-high 240 yards and three TDs. TAMU racked up 758 yards in Fisher’s debut. There will be growing pains this year, but things certainly got off to a great start Thursday night. RELATED: Our takeaways after TAMU torched Northwestern State SEC Network’s Cole Cubelic caught Fisher coming off the field for his immediate reaction. “I thought they managed situations well,” Fisher said about the QBs. “They managed the game really well. “We got a long way to go,” Fisher added, “but we’re getting there.” Following the Aggies blowout win, Jimbo Fisher also met with the media:<doc-sep>Texas A&M is the first SEC team to take the field in 2018 as the Aggies host Northwestern State. While the game isn’t expected to be close, there will be plenty of interest in how the team looks under new head coach Jimbo Fisher. Below, find game time and TV channel information. Texas A&M-Northwestern State football: TV channel, game time, odds All times are ET. TV channel: The Texas A&M-Northwestern State game will air on the SEC Network. Time: The Texas A&M-Northwestern State game will air at 8:30 p.m. ET. Location: The game will be played at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. Odds: Not listed on major sportsbooks. Storylines SDS News: Fisher explains why he went with Kellen Mond as starting QB Throughout the offseason, Mond and Nick Starkel competed for the starting quarterback job. Fisher ultimately went with Mond, a true sophomore, and explained why on the SEC coaches teleconference Wednesday. Fisher pointed out that been very consistent in his play, played well from the pocket and had the overall better camp. The first-year coach said he’s proud of the work Mond did in the offseason. SDS News: Trayveon Williams shares excitement over Texas A&M’s season opener: ‘This team is ready’<doc-sep>Natchitoches Wish List HEY! ARE YOU READY TO HAVE SOME FUN? Well, I sure am. Let’s crack the cellophane on our shiny new $75 million coach and go beat the hell outta a double-directional state university on a Thursday night. The Aggies are lining up against multi-directional Northwestern State from Natchitoches (Nac-A-Tish) Louisiana. Come at me with your correct pronunciation on Twitter, I’m always trying to improve my articulation. Here’s the dish... on Natchitoches. According to Wikipedia, the Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery (GREAT bluegrass band name, btw), handles “over six species of fish and other wildlife.” You can just say “eight,” y’all. It’s literally eight. The local delicacy, Natchitoches Meat Pie, sounds like a fun, savory Cajun empanada treat. It is also, as of this writing, undefined by Urban Dictionary. Do with that information what your heart tells you. The Legend of Isabella is about as metal of a campus legend as one will find. You could click the link and read it, but since I know you won’t, here’s the Cliff’s Notes: Isabella was a beautiful young woman living in the original Bullard Mansion (the Bullard family owned a great portion of the land on which NWSU sits). She was engaged to some douche who was killed in a duel over another woman. Dumb bastard. Wrought with grief, Isabella mourned in the mansion until she stabbed herself in the heart, leaving nothing behind but a bloody handprint on the wall. Holy shit. After the mansion was torn down, Isabella’s ghost roamed the campus searching for a new home, which she found in Caldwell Hall on January 15, 1949. Why is there a move-in date? Oh, that’s because Isabella left a note along with a few drops of blood in Caldwell that day. When Caldwell Hall burned down in 1982, a group of students held a ceremony to usher Isabella into her new home in the Old Women’s Gym on College Avenue. All of a sudden a scoreboard for all the Revs seems a touch inadequate, no? Step up your ghost care, Ags. Isabella, hindsight is 20/20 and everything, but this guy didn’t deserve you. I only hope that your spirit in the dorms shines a light to those who give too much to people who don’t appreciate them. May NWSU suffer many losing seasons by adopting Vic the Demon (short for victory!) as their mascot, and not the Fighting Isabellas. A bloody handprint on the side of the helmet is WAY more intimidating than a fake Sugar Ray album cover. Aggies - 70 Demons - 3 CAST OF CHARACTERS Oooh, gurl. Gonna get some mileage outta this one, folks. Consider it my Cruel Prelude. Anyway, one of only two freshman to crack the super official two-deep chart, leaving the coaches wondering "is he Good Enough?" Also means he's perfected Every Little Step of his footwork. Will he make an impact? That's his prerogative. ALL YOUR JACE ARE BELONG TO US. We haven't seen this much buzz around a tight end since Dan Campbell's famous Bonfire speech, folks. Here's hoping that Mr. Sternberger sticks to the dang SPROTS. [consults notes] Full...back? Fullback? A tight end AND a fullback on the field at the same time? What is this, 1972? Good lord, the collective electrical field generated by the man-crushing from the luxury suites could power one of the mezzanine CooLZoneE (TM)s for a full fifteen minutes! Hot damn. Not gonna lie to you, but this game just got a whooole lot trickier once we discovered that the Demons boast one of our favorite football personality's nephews. Lock up the caffeinated power drinks and ladies of Northgate, please. Gotta respect a punter with enough confidence to show off in his bio. To be fair, his QB rating last year was approaching one thousand off a 1-for-1 season with a 58-yard touchdown pass. Watch for the fake, boys. Led the team in sacks last year with 8. Also led the team in TFLs with 11 and QB hurries with 10. Time to see if the new Jimbo-era offensive line needs any tweaking before going up against the massive steel thresher that is Clemson's front four next week. MILLERTIME I don't want to go off on a rant here, but starting the Jimbo Fisher era on a Thursday night against Northwestern State is a little like test-driving a Bugatti Veyron on a go-kart track with rubber bumpers, am I right? Cheeze, I've seen episodes of HGTV's "Love It Or List It" with more plot intrigue and suspense, folks. Listen: if the powers that be want to bring in a sacrificial lamb as the first notch in Jimbo's belt, that's fine. At least make it a team with a bit of history and half a pulse. Say like a Rice or a Baylor. (Well...maybe not a Baylor.) Look, we all know how hard the marketing interns work to fill all those sparkly new Wi-Fi-enabled seats at Nouveau Kyle Field, and I truly do appreciate making them actually earn those MBAs and various other LinkedIn acronyms and accouterments, but this is football, for Bear Bryant's sake. If we're gonna bake ourselves in a late August sun, sweating more than Tom Herman wearing a sumo fat suit inside a crowded Buffalo Wild Wings with a broken AC in Columbus, Ohio, let's make it a memorable win, OK? WHAT TO WATCH FOR JIMBOTRON As in all eyes on Jimbo. This was inarguably one of the biggest college football coaching hires of the decade. Of all of the coaches to win a national championship in the modern college football era (1995+), Jimbo Fisher is the only one to leave the school where he won to go to another school. (Admittedly, a surprising number have scurried away under the specter of impropriety, but hey, that's almost certainly not our problem I hope.) Now nine months of anticipation will finally pay off in Kyle Field when the rubber meets the [glances at schedule] Northwestern State.<doc-sep>
The Texas A&M football season is finally here as the Aggies host Northwestern State, a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) team on Thursday night at Kyle Field. This is the first game of any program in the SEC this year and, being a Thursday night contest, there will be a lot of eyes on College Station. The game also marks the beginning of the Jimbo Fisher era in Aggieland as the head coach left Florida State for Texas A&M this offseason. One of only four active head coaches with a national championship under his belt, Fisher signed the largest-ever contract in college football, worth a guaranteed $75 million over 10 years. Here's a look at how to watch Thursday's nights Texas A&M game vs. Northwestern State. When: Thu., 7:30 p.m. Central TV: SEC Network Online: Available via WatchESPN online or the app Radio: Texas A&M Radio Network (Sirius 93) Line: A&M by 44.5 (unofficial as it is unlisted on most books due to an FCS opponent) Weather: 92 degrees, 0% chance of rain at kickoff In addition to SiriusXM, Texas A&M has radio affiliates in cities all across Texas. The list can be found HERE. Texas A&M will head into the season with Kellen Mond having won the quarterback job over Nick Starkel. For the second year in a row, the two did battle throughout spring and fall camps with the final decision coming the week of the first game. A year ago, Starkel won the job but was hurt in the first game. Mond then took over before eventually ceding it back to Starkel late in the season. Fisher praised Mond's consistency as well as his pocket presence, but also said the team will likely also use Starkel in the game. As for how the rotation will look, he says there is no set schedule for how many or which series each will play. A&M enters the year with a few injuries on the defensive side of the ball. Backup linebacker Ikenna Okeke has been lost for the season with an ACL injury. Fellow linebacker Anthony Hines, who was listed as a starter on the depth chart, is out for the first game with a minor injury but will return to practice this coming week. That leaves fellow sophomore Buddy Johnson as the likely starter. He had the starting role late in the year last season as a true freshman. Backup cornerback Clifford Chattman is out for four to six weeks after recently undergoing surgery. The sophomore missed last season due to academics and had earned praise in camp. The Aggies have a number of young, but experienced, defensive backs that can fill his void. Northwestern State has not named a starting quarterback back yet but the Demons have said both of the candidates will see action. Senior Clay Holgorsen started the second half of the season a year ago but was pushed in camp by junior Shelton Eppler, a junior college transfer. Both players hail from the state of Texas. New offensive coordinator Brad Smiley will mostly run a spread offense with four wide receivers. The Demons are entering their first season under a new coach as well with former defensive coordinator Brad Laird taking over this year. Northwestern State finished 4-7 a year ago, including going 4-5 in Southland Conference play. The Demons lost to FBS foe Louisiana Tech, 52-24, to open the season in 2017.