By REGGIE BENSON, Times Sports StaffA&M offense roars again for landslide homecoming win
There would be no upset this time around. Alabama A&M's offense made sure of that.
The Bulldogs scored on four of their first five possessions, rolled up more than 500 yards in total offense and simply overpowered Texas Southern on homecoming Saturday afternoon.
When it was over, A&M ran off to celebrate a 48-24 victory before an announced crowd of 13,745 at Louis Crews Stadium and exorcised some demons from two years ago when the Tigers came to town and spoiled homecoming with a shocking 17-7 win.
"We couldn't let it happen," said offensive lineman James Sanders, referring to another homecoming loss. "I wasn't going to let it happen."
Sanders and the rest of his offensive linemates certainly did their part.
A week after managing only 147 yards in a 31-6 loss to Grambling, A&M dominated Texas Southern's porous defense.
How good were the Bulldogs?
A&M finished with 514 yards in total offense and 33 first downs.
Tailback Ulysses Banks finished with 112 yards on 17 carries and scored a touchdown.
It is the third time in five games Banks has topped the 100-yard mark this season.
A&M finished with 308 yards rushing on 46 carries as five different players had 30 or more yards. A&M averaged a whopping 6.7 yards per carry.
Quarterback Kelcy Luke completed 19-of-34 passes for 206 yards and an interception, not overly impressive numbers, but he threw four touchdown passes.
Seven players caught passes, including four with three or more.
"We needed this," Luke said. "This puts us back on track. We wanted to show people we are the same team that put up big numbers the first three weeks."
The win lifted A&M to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Texas Southern fell to 0-5 and 0-4.
The Bulldogs started fast.
After forcing Texas Southern to punt on its first possession, Luke engineered an eight-play, 77-yard drive to put A&M on the board.
Banks, who had 45 yards on four carries on the drive, capped it with a 9-yard run less than three minutes into the game.
The Tigers trimmed the margin to 7-3 after Djavan Conway kicked a 30-yard field goal, but Luke found tight end John Smith with a 4-yard touchdown pass to put the Bulldogs up 14-3. A&M extended its lead to 21-3 when Luke hit Thomas Harris with a 20-yard touchdown pass with just less than three minutes left in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs had 206 yards in total offense in the first quarter, including 137 yards on the ground. Banks had 82 of them on nine carries.
"We wanted to establish our running game and then put them back on their heels and take advantage of whatever opportunities we had through the air," A&Mcoach Anthony Jones said.
The plan worked perfectly.
Luke found Gerald Stockdale with a 12-yard touchdown pass to put A&M ahead 28-10 midway through the first half. Texas Southern responded with a 15-play, 69-yard drive to pull to within 28-17 at intermission, but couldn't get any closer.
The Bulldogs scored 20 unanswered points in the second half and won going away.
"We got to within 11 before halftime and felt good about that, but they came out and made some more plays," Texas Southern coach Steve Wilson said. "We knew they would be fired up.
"Offensively, they've got a good scheme. Their tight ends did a good job and they converted a lot of first downs.
"That was the difference in the game."
A&M place-kicker Jeremy Licea booted a 32-yard field goal to make it 31-17 early in the third quarter.
Luke found Thomas near the end of the quarter with a 27-yard touchdown pass to put the Bulldogs ahead 38-17.
Licea added another field - a career-long 42-yarder - early in the fourth quarter and fullback Kevin McCants' 30-yard jaunt rounded out the scoring for A&M.
"This gets our hopes up," said Harris, who had six catches for 82 yards and two touchdowns. "This was a confidence builder for us after last week's game."
Banks agreed.
"We needed this win," he said. "That wasn't our team last week."
The win offset a strong effort from Texas Southern's Tino Edgecombe, who completed 29-of-59 passes for 352 yards. He threw three touchdowns, but also threw three interceptions.
Wide receiver B.J. Haith had nine catches for 133 yards and a touchdown, and Roland Robins had seven catches for 73 yards.
"(Edgecombe) was as good as he could be," Jones said. "We battered him.
"He made some plays, but we forced him into some bad throws and turnovers."
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