By ROBERT CESSNA
Texas A&M first-year defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter watched the Corps of Cadets and a record-setting crowd march into Saturday's game, then made sure his defenders gave them reasons to cheer.
A&M's swarming defense helped the Aggies to a 48-7 victory over the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks before 81,287 at Kyle Field.
The largest crowd for a home opener didn't need long to see DeRuyter's 3-4 attacking defensive alignment do damage. A&M sophomore outside linebacker Sean Porter leveled SFA wide receiver Anthony Foster on the game's third play from scrimmage, preventing a first down catch.
The hits just kept on coming as SFA managed only 266 yards -- 61 of which came on the final drive against reserves.
"I thought they tackled well," A&M head coach Mike Sherman said. "We ran to the football. I was pleased with their effort. We talk about fanatical effort and at times we had really great effort."
A&M's defense matched SFA's offense in points when sophomore cornerback Dustin Harris cut in front of intended receiver Anthony Foster and returned an interception 38 yards for a touchdown to make it 17-0 midway through the second quarter, much to the delight of the crowd, which included a lot of DeRuyter's family in from California to soak up the atmosphere.
"My family was very pleased and I was very pleased," said the former Air Force player and coordinator. "This [was] really something that kinda fulfilled a dream. I really had high, lofty expectations, and it exceeded them."
Harris' play was the longest in the passing game for the FCS Lumberjacks, who threw for 4,468 yards last season en route to the Southland Conference championship.
Jeremy Moses, who threw for 4,124 of those yards and 40 touchdowns but lost his two leading receivers, had a tough night. He was 19 of 37 for 171 yards with only two completions longer of 20 yards.
"They have a heck of a defense. I think they are a great football team," SFA head coach J.C. Harper said. "I look at their speed and talent, and they hit hard. I don't see where their weakness is defensively. We're not going to see a better defense this year."
DeRuyter's group did its damage with All-American outside linebacker Von Miller playing barely more than one quarter before suffering an ankle injury. He's expected to play next week against Louisiana Tech.
DeRuyter said earlier in the week that he'd have trouble sleeping the night before the game, but it was the Aggie offense that was sleep-walking early.
A&M's Randy Bullock missed a 24-yard field goal after a 10-play, 74-yard drive the first time the Aggies had the ball. The Aggies managed only 24 yards on their next two drives.
"We kinda shot ourselves in the foot offensively," Sherman said.
A&M's offense got untracked by shooting 215-pound sophomore running back Christine Michael up the middle. Michael was the workhorse on a 10-play, 80-yard drive that got the Aggies rolling. He had five carries for 47 yards, including a dandy 15-yard scamper up the gut to make it 7-0 with time running out in the first quarter.
A&M wasn't out of the woods yet, managing only a 32-yard Bullock field goal on its next two possessions. SFA's defense sacked quarterback Jerrod Johnson to force a punt, then stopped running back Cyrus Gray on third-and-3 at the SFA 15-yard line.
The Lumberjacks had their own touchdown after Harris' interception, making A&M's defense look like last year's unit that finished 105th in the country in total defense in the process. SFA converted fourth-and-8 to A&M's 28 on a 9-yard pass to Gralyn Crawford, who spun forward while being tackled by Garrick Williams. The touchdown came on third-and-14 on a 21-yard pass to Cordell Robertson.
A&M's offense settled for another Bullock field goal, this time from 27 yards, after a 10-play, 52-yard drive for a 20-7 halftime lead.
It was all A&M in the second half.
The Aggies scored to open the third quarter on a 15-play, 69-yard drive capped by Johnson's 1-yard run, which was their fourth straight third-down conversion.
A&M's Blane Cheatham caused and recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and the Aggies needed seven plays to go 39 yards. Junior wide receiver Jeff Fuller capped that drive with a nifty 7-yard touchdown catch of a pass that was thrown slightly behind him after Uzoma Nwachukwu had made a tough, jumping 11-yard catch over the middle on third down to keep the drive alive.
Johnson shook off a slow start and finished 20 of 40 for 322 yards through the air. He hit Ryan Swope 13 times for 106 yards, mostly on bubble screens. The Aggies also made good use of the shovel pass to complement a strong ground game behind an offensive line that was replacing three starters.
A&M, which was fifth in the country in total offense last year at 465.8 yards per game, ended up with 539 yards on 99 plays and no turnovers. Michael ran for 105 yards on 22 carries and Gray had 66 yards on 16 carries.
A&M inside linebacker Williams led the team with seven tackles. Freshman Demontre Moore, who played a lot in Miller's place, had five. Moore had the team's only sack, but A&M had six tackles for losses.
"I thought we played physical for most of the game," said DeRuyter, who was hired to replace the retired Joe Kines in an attempt to bring back the Wrecking Crew, the school's fabled defense of the 1980s and '90s.
They played well enough in his first game that DeRuyter was smiling at the crowd at game's end.
"Singing The Aggie War Hymn ... just the [camaraderie] of the crowd, and singing varsity's horns off. It was awesome, it really was."
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