About an hour or so before the game kicked off it was confirmed Texas A&M would have starting quarterback Johnny Manziel ready to go, and boy was he ever ready to go. Manziel has thrown three touchdowns and has been very accurate with his throws as Texas A&M leads Vanderbilt 28-17 at the half in College Station.
Manziel had to be treated by the Texas A&M medical staff briefly last week but eventually return to give the Aggies a shot at getting the last strike against Auburn in a back-and-forth game. The one drive that ended up really costing Texas A&M last week may have been the one drive Manziel missed, but this weekend is a much different outlook. Texas A&M has been in from control against Vanderbilt, fresh off a home win over Georgia last week.
Manziel tossed three touchdowns to three different receivers in the first quarter, with Mike Evans and a 43-yard scoring play serving as the top highlight of the quarter. Texas A&M extended the lead to 28-0 on a Trey Williams touchdown run early in the second quarter and then Vanderbilt started to find some offense.
A short field goal by Carey Spear got Vandy on the board and minutes later Patton Robinette tossed a 30-yard strike to Jonathan Krause for a touchdown. Vanderbilt then added a late touchdown before halftime when Jerron Seymour worked his way in to the end zone from four yards out.
Texas A&M’s defense has been a problem all season, and Vanderbilt appears to have found something to work with on offense. Vanderbilt has all of the momentum right now but did they dig a hole too deep to climb out of? It is unlikely Manziel is silent in the second half, so Vanderbilt could still have their work cut out for them.