After a three and out that included a sack on their first possession, the Aggies allowed the Roadrunners to drive 67 yards in six plays to take a 7-0 lead with 8:22 to go in the first quarter.

Then the Aggies woke up.

“We were on the sideline and said, ‘We’ve got to wake up. We’re better than this,’” defensive tackle Justin Madubuike said.

Spurred by freshman single game record-tying 217 yards rushing and three touchdowns from freshman running back Isaiah Spiller, the Aggies scored the next 45 points en route to an easy, if not always impressive win. A&M (6-3, 3-2 SEC) now enters their second bye week of the season with a three-game winning streak.

Perhaps sensing the embarrassment of falling behind to a team that was 3-4 in Conference USA, the Aggies responded immediately after UTSA’s score. A facemark penalty against the Roadrunners on Ainias Smith’s kickoff return set the Aggies up at their own 40, and Spiller took it the rest of the way on the first play of the possession. With right guard Kenyon Green and right tackle Carson Green wiping out the left side of UTSA’s front, Spiller went untouched to get the Aggies on the board.

“When you can hit those — when you hit those one play drives, it demoralizes the other side. On offense, it gives you a shot of adrenaline,” coach Jimbo Fisher said. “Isaiah was excellent in this game.”

A&M’s next drive wasn’t nearly as explosive, but had the same result. The Aggies ran the ball the final seven plays of a nine-play drive, capping it off with a 19-yard touchdown from Cordarrian Richardson (7 carries, 35 yards, 1 TD).

The Roadrunners had 132 yards of offense in the first, but the Aggies clamped down and held them to 24. But the offense sputtered until there was just 1:38 remaining in the half. After an 18-yard return by Smith set the Aggies up at UTSA’s 42, quarterback Kellen Mond (16-21, 211 yards, 1 TD; 6 carries, 14 yards, 1 TD) found Jhamon Ausbon for 10 yards and a sparkling 25-yard catch and run by Smith. One play later, Mond found tight end Jalen Wydermyer for a 7-yard score to make it 21-7.

“He’s a big red zone target…I feel like he’s a big mismatch,” Mond said. “I feel real comfortable with Jalen.”

Even though the Aggies appeared to sleepwalk through much of the first half, Fisher said his message at halftime was simple and far from angry.

“I wasn’t upset,” he said. “We’d got the momentum. Let’s keep momentum. Let’s get points on the first drive, and get a stop.”

A&M did exactly that, again thanks to a big run from Spiller. The freshman ended an 8-play, 80-yard drive in a hurry, with a 50 yard run off left tackle and a dive into end zone after being tripped up at the 5. The big run put the Aggies up 35-7 and essentially ended the competitive portion of the game.

“We got 14 points without them touching the ball,” Fisher said. “We straightened things out after halftime. We got domination.”

The domination extended to the defensive side of the ball, with the Aggies holding UTSA to less than 90 yards of total offense after halftime and knocking quarterback Lowell Narcisse (7-14, 90 yards; 15 carries, 54 yards, 1 TD) out of the game courtesy of a vicious hit from linebacker Anthony Hines.”Is

“We didn’t come out the way we wanted to, guns a-blazing,” safety Keldrick Carper said. “But once we started focusing in…we were able to make some plays.”

A&M would get another pair of touchdowns on an 8-yard run from Spiller and a 1-yard run from Mond before turning things over to the backups early in the fourth quarter. Zach Calzada and company managed a 45-yard field goal from Seth Small, but a 58-yard interception return by UTSA’s Dadrian Taylor finished the scoring.

With a bye week coming up before a final stretch of games against South Carolina, Georgia and LSU, the Aggies were content to take the positives from Saturday’s win and move on.

“We can see we’re getting better in a lot of areas. Hopefully, they can see why they’re playing well..and can repeat it,” Fisher said.