Texas A&M quarterback Jerrod Johnson is on the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award watch list, but in the Aggies' season-opening 48-7 victory over Stephen F. Austin he didn't give them too much to watch.
For most of the game, A&M's deep-threat wide receivers were not very threatening. The Johnson-led passing attack had little flair in a workmanlike performance.
"He was off on a couple of things," Aggies coach Mike Sherman said. "There were a couple of times we threw the ball down the field, and that was probably my fault throwing toward the north end zone where a pretty good wind was blowing. It was swirling more than you'd think. I've seen him make those throws in the past and I'm sure he'll get that back.
"We need to be able to hit those throws. If you're open, we have to catch, throw and make them."
Texas A&M's offense was still good enough to score 41 of the Aggies' 48 points. Johnson's best two passes downfield went to Jeff Fuller and came late in the game. Fuller caught a sideline throw from a running Johnson, who also lofted a 6-yard scoring pass into the left corner of the north end zone that Fuller cradled to complete the scoring.
Ryan Swope, slipping toward the sideline on bubble screens, was a favorite target for Johnson. Five of the plays, originally ruled laterals, netted Swope 44 yards. In the post-game paper chase, Johnson picked up five more completions, giving him a 28-for-40 night with 322 passing yards and two touchdowns.
Johnson completed 14 passes in the opening half and none of them were to Uzoma Nwachukwu or Jeff Fuller, who have been A&M's game-breakers. So the Aggies instead had to slowly crack the SFA defense.
Johnson said that was all part of the plan.
"Our mind-set was to take what we can get and not do anything too risky," Johnson said. "I had a lot of low-risk throws, but at halftime we had almost 300 yards [of offense] but only one touchdown."
The Aggies opened the second half with a 15-play scoring drive, and Fuller was the only wide receiver to make a catch. He opened the march by falling back to make a tough grab.
When a fumbled kickoff set the Aggies up to score again and extend their lead to 34-7, Nwachukwu and Fuller finished off a short touchdown drive with short receptions on less-than-precise throws by Johnson. Nwachukwu jumped up to catch a ball over the middle, and Fuller reached back for a fine touchdown catch.
Once the offense began to roll in the second half, the downfield game didn't matter. Johnson did throw a 46-yard pass to running back Christine Michael, a ball that traveled only a couple of feet in the air before Michael nearly turned it into a touchdown.
But Johnson had his share of misfires that could not be caught. He one-hopped a pass to Fuller and was short on a deep pass when Nwachukwu had a step behind a defender late in the third period.
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