Don't blink: The tempo was so fast Saturday that if you watched a replay on the Jumbotron, you probably missed the next play. "We haven't been in the huddle all spring," A&M defensive coordinator Joe Kines said. "Everything has been at the line [of scrimmage]. It's really been high-tempo, and that's the way the game's played now."
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Several players missing: Aggie head coach Mike Sherman said about 20 injured players didn't dress, including sophomore quarterback/wide receiver Ryan Tannehill, senior offensive lineman Lee Grimes, senior linebacker Matt Featherston, senior defensive back Jordan Peterson, senior center Kevin Matthews and junior offensive tackle Lucas Patterson. A&M's lack of numbers didn't allow the teams to be equally split as typically is the case in spring games.
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Contingency plan: A&M was prepared to play the game inside with former players, former students, incoming freshmen, recruits and players' parents all squeezed into the McFerrin Center.
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A real head-scratcher: Even Sherman, who devised the point system for the game, wondered how the offense trailed by only eight points at halftime.
"The defense should have been winning by a lot at halftime," he said. "Something happened to that point system. I think we added wrong up there. We might have had some mechanical engineers up there instead of some accounting students."
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Playing well: Senior Jeremy Brown had five catches for 80 yards with a score working with the second and third units. Redshirt freshman Tommy Dorman was 6-of-13 passing for 86 yards with an interception. Senior quarterback Jeff Wood was 5-for-6 passing for 46 yards with a score, and sophomore Kevin Westerman was 4-of-8 passing for 43 yards with two interceptions.
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Depleted defensive backfield: A&M had only two healthy cornerbacks, which helped contribute to sophomore wide receiver Jeff Fuller's big game.
"We were looking in the stands [for help]," Kines said. "There was one little boy up there with a jersey on, we almost got him. He looked like he might play."
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Et cetera: The fans voted senior walk-on linebacker Derek Dumas the winner of the halftime obstacle course, making him the Aggies' 12th Man for the season-opener against New Mexico. ... Junior quarterback Jerrod Johnson's grandmother was Edna Johnson, and the funeral was in Houston.
-- ROBERT CESSNA