Mizzou QB Brady Cook's jab at No. 12 'lit fire' under Texas A&M

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 25 Texas A&M earned its biggest win over a top-10 team in program history with a 41-10 win over No. 9 Missouri on Saturday and appreciated the support of Tigers quarterback Brady Cook.

Before traveling to Texas, Cook was asked how Missouri prepared to play in front of a crowd at Kyle Field. “The noise at practice is actually louder,” he said, attributing this to the speakers used to simulate the game environment.

Aggies head coach Mike Elko didn't seem bothered by the comments, which reached 97.049 Texas A&M fans present.

“The 12th Man has certainly heard some of the statements about how easy it was to play at Kyle Field, and that was good,” Elko said with a smile after the Aggies improved to 5-1 and 3-0 in the SEC had improved.

According to ESPN Research, Cook finished 13 of 31 for 186 yards with a touchdown and was pressured on 13 of 37 dropbacks, although the Aggies blitzed him just seven times.

Texas A&M defensive lineman Nic Scourton, who had 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss, said the comments motivated the team.

“They kind of lit a fire under us,” he said. “Coming to us, like before interviews, talking down to Kyle Field, coming here and walking on our field and stuff like that. I think the guys were really motivated to go out there and be dominant.”

And the Aggies were dominant. They led 24-0 at halftime before Le'Veon Moss ran 75 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the second half. He said he, too, took the stadium comments personally and thought the Aggies shocked the top-10 Tigers.

“In any case. They thought they were coming to get a piece of cake,” Moss said.

Moss ran for a career-high 138 yards with three touchdowns. Missouri had just 79 yards in the first half and finished the game with 254 total yards, while the Aggies allowed 512 yards.

After Moss' third goal, which gave the Aggies a 41-7 lead, fans began chanting “overrated.”

On Thursday, Missouri wide receiver Theo Wease Jr. posted an Instagram story saying he was “welcomed to College Station” with a picture of a Texas A&M blanket with a note that appeared to be from Aggies cornerback Will Lee IV that read, “Get used to this blanket…It'll be real tomorrow.”

A Texas A&M spokesman called it “fake news” and Elko said it was a little gimmick by Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz.

“My suggestion would be that you ask Eli where that came from,” Elko said. “Because I have a strong feeling that this came from the other side and had nothing to do with Texas A.”&M, Will Lee or anyone here.”

The game also marked the return of Aggies quarterback Conner Weigman, who suffered an AC joint injury in his throwing shoulder in the season-opening loss to Notre Dame, which then aggravated in Week 2 against McNeese. Marcel Reed started the last three games for the Aggies.

Weigman, who made a game-time decision, was in command all day, going 18 of 22 for 276 yards, and Elko passionately defended its starting quarterback after speculation about the quarterback's character abounded on the message board and social media. Weigman had a miserable start to the season, going 12 of 30 for 100 yards and two interceptions in the loss to Notre Dame.

“I say this because it needs to be said,” Elko said. “You can challenge Conner for playing and you can get upset with Conner for throwing the football. Some of what has been said about this child and written about this child – not by you, but by you Great – this boy is a winner. He does everything he needs to do for Texas A&M-Football.”

Scourton praised the quarterback and said he was “a dog.”

“To see what he's been through, the media talking badly about him and things like that and him just fighting, (Weigman) is a warrior,” Scourton said. “Great player, great competitor, and he doesn’t shy away from anything.”

Elko said the Aggies have forgotten the loss to the Irish after a 3-0 start in the SEC.

“Everyone in our program owned it,” Elko said. “So I don’t know that it’s anything other than we had a bad night and we went back to work to get better. And we've seen progress since then. We played better today. And now we’re like, “We have to keep doing this.”