HOUSTON – When senior linebacker Bryce McNaul brought down Ryan Tannehill in the first quarter of the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas, it was just the ninth time all season the Texas A&M quarterback had been sacked. Northwestern’s quarterback Dan Persa was sacked seven times on Saturday alone.
The Aggies’ defense compiled 12 tackles-for-loss and eight sacks in their 33-22 victory over the Wildcats. The totals marked the most the Cats had given up in a game all season.
“I don’t think they gave us looks that we didn’t see,” sophomore quarterback/wide receiver Kain Colter said. “We just killed ourselves today. We didn’t make blocks. We didn’t give Dan much time.”
Texas A&M hassled NU’s quarterbacks from the start, getting an eight-yard sack on the opening drive. It was one of three first-half sacks for the Aggies’ defense, which put pressure on Persa even when he did get the ball off in time. Persa said after the game that he needed to get the ball out quicker, which he said contributed to a majority of the sacks.
Coach Pat Fitzgerald said Texas A&M did not surprise NU. Persa agreed, saying it was minute breakdowns that led to NU’s offensive woes at the beginning of the game.
According to senior offensive tackle Al Netter, Texas A&M did not show anything different on tape, but the athleticism of the Aggies’ defense was hard to judge on film.
“We knew going into the game that they were an extremely fast team,” Netter said. “It’s hard to tell on film just how fast they are. They have some very athletic, explosive guys and we saw that out there.”
The crowd played a factor in NU’s self-destruction. With a dense fog descending on Houston, the roof of Reliant Stadium was closed, amplifying the roars of the large Aggies fan base that filled the stadium. Fitzgerald said the game went from a typical home game for Texas A&M to “a super home game.” Netter said the crowd noise forced NU to go to a silent count, placing more pressure on the offensive tackles to correctly follow the snap counts.
“It was extremely hard to communicate out there,” Netter said. “Communication was a bit of an issue for us, getting our calls across because it was so loud. When you go off silent, the center will call the offensive line to go, and they were stemming around a little bit. That got us for a few false start penalties, but as it went along we got better with it.”
Fitzgerald said the noise did not play as much of a part in the eight sacks allowed as the one-man breakdowns.
Persa said the Cats’ two fourth-quarter touchdowns were due to better pass protection and fewer individual breakdowns. The extra time allowed him to make better reads and the receivers to get open.
Texas A&M interim coach Tim DeRuyter said the sacks started to take a toll on Persa. He said the Aggies knew they needed to get to Persa early and often to try to throw him off his rhythm. Texas A&M was effective in getting to Persa through the first three quarters, but failed to sack the senior in the fourth quarter as he led the Cats on two trips into the end zone.
“The fact that our guys beat some blocks and got there with speed tends to resonate in a quarterback,” DeRuyter said. “You can set guys back on the sticks and take them out of their normal rhythm. I thought our guys did a good job of that for the first three quarters.”
The Aggies’ pressure led to a season-low 278 yards of offense for the Cats. Fitzgerald said the low number was due in large part to the 65 yards NU lost on its eight sacks surrendered.
“You have to give credit to A&M,” Fitzgerald said. “They had a great plan (and) their young men went out and executed.”
