Johnson, offense look to buck bad 2nd half trend

"We've got to score touchdowns in the second half and we've been harping on that," he said Monday. "This week and these past few weeks (the thought) is, 'We got to finish finished practice, finish drives, finish games. We've got to really be better at that."

Johnson noted that the Aggies scored on six of seven possessions between the second and fourth quarters, with a missed field preventing the scoring run from going to seven in eight possessions. But, thanks to a blown call by the officials, the second half touchdown remained elusive. With A&M going on the road to face high-scoring nemesis Ole Miss, Johnson knows field goals likely won't be enough for the Aggies this Saturday.

"This past few games is literally just finishing. (We) put up points in the first half (and then) go gotta go out and do the second half," he said.

Johnson is coming off of his best game of the season, and maybe his best in an Aggie uniform. He was 20-30 for 249 yards and a touchdown pass while not turning the ball over. His two primary targets were wide receivers AInias Smith and Evan Stewart, two of the more explosive pass catchers in the SEC.

"It's really fun," Johnson said of throwing to Smith an Stewart. "Getting the ball in their hands quick, whether that's you bubble screens this and that just letting them make plays. It doesn't always have to be downfield throws and I think they're really good (at) getting open and it's really special knowing you can throw a five yard route to them, they can take it to the house."

Johnson knows that the Aggie offense will have to take a step up against an Ole Miss defense that ranks in the middle of the pack nationally as A&M's elite defense faces off with Ole Miss' 12th-ranked offense.

"Our defense plays well every week and we've got to score as many points as possible and that's what we try to do every single game," he said. "There's no, 'Oh, we have to score this many points for this game, do this or that.' But it's just going out and executing and doing what we do. And I think we've harped on that as well."

The Ole Miss defense gave up 49 points in a shootout with LSU, but otherwise has given up 23, 20, 20 and 7 points to FBS opponents at home. They're coming off a 33-7 win over Vanderbilt, in which the Commodores played their third-string quarterback -- but Johnson saw enough to know what the Rebels defense can do.

"I think they do a lot of really good things," he said. "They're really physical. They're big up front, they have good DBs -- and I think our guys are ready for the challenge."