COLLEGE STATION, Tx. — Standing along the back end zone as the Missouri Tigers attempted offense at Kyle Field, Texas A&M Aggies yell leader Kyler Fife kept it simple.

“Oh hell yeah,” he said when asked if the crowd at Texas A&M took Missouri’s challenge personally. “Oh hell yeah. I thought we weren’t loud enough!”

His arms outstretched for the latter statement, it was clear that Fife was among the crowd who did take it personally. And the aforementioned challenge?

Kyle Field was not as loud as the Tigers’ practice sessions.

“At some point it can only get so loud,” Missouri quarterback Brady Cook said during the week. “In my opinion, the noise at practice is actually louder. They put these big speakers pretty much two feet right behind me. You can’t hear anything.”

Evidently, The 12th Man made sure such was the case for Cook and company throughout the contest. By the end of the game, the Tigers were forced into a delay of game penalty, two false starts — back to back, no less — and a snap that came too early on a fourth-and-long they certainly needed.

Interestingly enough, the fans didn’t need much help getting pumped up, but they got some anyway. On a critical possession that would have given Missouri some momentum to chip away at the early 17-point lead the Aggies crafted, all it took for the student section to make a difference was a Sheck Wes song.

“Mo Bamba” rang through the speakers three times in a row on three straight plays. And the result was exactly what Texas A&M hoped for. Another failed offensive possession.

“It was kind of like playing the NCAA game,” Aggies edge rusher Nic Scourton said. “Going out there, having fun. Kyle Field’s rocking. We got them backed up. It’s something you dream of as a kid. Like, it’s crazy. It’s just this place is so special to play.”

With how special it’s seen, it made sense that the Maroon & White didn’t take kindly to any outsiders talking down on it, as Scourton explained. Especially not the noise factor.

“It has been interesting that we’ve had people call out Kyle Field a little bit,” Aggies coach Mike Elko said on The Aggie Football Hour. “I heard their quarterback say today that it’s louder in practice than it is at Kyle Field. To me, that’s a challenge to the 12th Man.”

“They kind of lit a fire on us,” Aggies edge rusher Nic Scourton added. “Coming into our place … talking down on Kyle Field. I think guys were really motivated to go out there and be dominant.”

That’s what happened. Texas A&M out-gained Missouri through the air, on the ground, in time of possession and everything else in-between. In the books, the win goes down as a complete domination. To the fans, it was a lesson taught to the Tigers.

And to the players? It was a personal statement.

One they felt good about making.

“What I took personally (was) them saying that their practice would be louder than our stadium,” Aggies leading rusher Le’Veon Moss said. “I took that personal because our 12th Man supports us to the end, no matter what happens.”

The Virginia men’s basketball team held its annual Blue-White Scrimmage on Saturday evening at John Paul Jones Arena, giving UVA fans their first look at this year’s roster, which features five transfers and two true freshmen, who made their first appearances at JPJ in a Virginia uniform.

If you weren’t able to make it to JPJ on Saturday evening to watch the scrimmage in person, worry not. Virginia Cavaliers On SI has you covered with five minutes of video highlights from the scrimmage. Watch the highlights from the 2024 UVA men’s basketball Blue-White Scrimmage in the video below:

Virginia divided up its roster into two teams and played three periods of 10 minutes each, making some slight variations in the personnel on each team for each of the three periods. We won’t go through and list all of the players who were playing for the Blue and White teams in each period, but we will list the starting fives each team began each period with on the floor:

Period 1
Blue: Taine Murray, Ishan Sharma, Dai Dai Ames, Jacob Cofie, Anthony Robinson
White: Jalen Warley, Isaac McKneely, TJ Power, Elijah Saunders, Blake Buchanan

Period 2
Blue: Christian Bliss, Jalen Warley, Andrew Rohde, TJ Power, Elijah Saunders
White: Dai Dai Ames, Isaac McKneely, Ishan Sharma, Jacob Cofie, Blake Buchanan

Period 3
Blue: Jalen Warley, Isaac McKneely, Taine Murray, Elijah Saunders, Blake Buchanan
White: Christian Bliss, Ishan Sharma, TJ Power, Jacob Cofie, Anthony Robinson

Period 1 ended with the White team defeating the Blue team 15-8. Period 2 was very closely contested with the Blue team prevailing over the White team 13-12. In the final period, the White team defeated the Blue team 16-9.

San Diego State transfer Elijah Saunders led all scorers with 12 points and he opened the scrimmage with a pair of early three-pointers. He also finished a breakaway opportunity with an athletic one-handed flush. Duke transfer TJ Power joined Saunders in double figures with 10 points, also hitting two three-pointers.

True freshman Ishan Sharma finished with nine points in his first appearance at John Paul Jones Arena, while one of the most experienced veterans of the roster, Taine Murray, also had eight points and hit two three-pointers. Isaac McKneely and Kansas State transfer Dai Dai Ames had seven points apiece.

Before the men’s basketball portion of the Blue-White Scrimmages began, there was a joint three-point shooting contest between the Virginia men’s and women’s basketball teams. Isaac McKneely and Olivia McGhee teamed up to take on Christian Bliss and Kymora Johnson. Bliss knocked down 18/25 threes to give his team an early lead, as Olivia McGhee hit 14/25 on her turn. Kymora Johnson converted 15/25 threes to try to protect her team’s lead, but Isaac McKneely was not to be denied, hitting 22/25 three-point attempts to win the contest. McKneely and McGhee hit 36 threes, while Johnson and Bliss made 33 threes.

Stay tuned to Virginia Cavaliers On SI for more content on the Blue-White Scrimmages, including observations and takeaways from both the UVA men’s and women’s basketball scrimmages.

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Virginia Basketball: How Does UVA Replace Reece Beekman & Ryan Dunn on Defense?

The Mountaineers (3-2, 2-0 Big 12) scored on all five first-half possessions and survived an injury scare to quarterback Garrett Greene to build rhythm offensively.

Michael Hayes’ 39-yard field goal provided the game’s first points as WVU received the opening kickoff for the fifth time in as many contests. Saturday marked the first instance that opening possession amounted to points against FBS competition.

Following the first of Oklahoma State’s four punts, the Mountaineers drove 65 yards in nine plays for the first touchdown, which came on Nicco Marchiol’s 10-yard pass to Traylon Ray.

“He threw a strike,” Brown said. “Traylon Ray ran a great route, not a good route — and he put it right on him. Proud of both those guys.”

It was Marchiol’s third play behind center after he took over for Garrett Greene, who exited momentarily due to an injury suffered  on his 39-yard run.

Greene was out for the Mountaineers’ next series, which featured six rushes for 63 yards, including tailback Jahiem White’s 10-yard scamper into the end zone that allowed the visitors to hold a 17-0 lead with 11:16 left in the first half.

“We knew they were going to play a lot of man this week and that gave us an advantage with the safeties,” White said. “We had to take advantage in 1-on-1 situations.”

Cale Cabbiness returned the ensuing kickoff 51 yards to the West Virginia 39, but the Cowboys’ scoring threat ended four plays later when safety Jaheem Joseph intercepted Alan Bowman on second-and-8 from the Mountaineers’ 23-yard line.

Greene then returned to action and showed no ill effects, leading an 87-yard drive that he finished off with a 15-yard touchdown run up the middle. Greene threw an incomplete pass on the first play of that series, before the Mountaineers rushed seven consecutive times, including CJ Donaldson’s 20-yard dash and White’s 26-yard burst that came one play before the score.

“He tackled me at a weird angle and landed on top of me,” Greene said. “The training staff did a good job getting out there, getting me checked out and getting me back on the field.

“It’s still a little sore, but I’m going to enjoy the plane ride home and deal with it tomorrow.” 

At the time the Mountaineers led 24-0 with 5:55 left in the half, WVU had 270 total yards to the Cowboys’ 32.

Bowman’s 25-yard pass to Brennan Pressley on fourth-and-7 of the ensuing possession led to the Cowboys (3-3, 0-3) scoring their first touchdown courtesy of Bowman’s 8-yard pass to Rashod Owens.

Any momentum garnered from cutting its deficit to 17, however, was short-lived for Oklahoma State.

The Mountaineers got the ball back with 1:54 to play in the half, and after crossing midfield, Greene connected with tight end Kole Taylor for 21 yards. Two plays later, Donaldson reached the end zone for the first time on a 15-yard run 28 seconds before halftime, and the Mountaineers took a 31-7 lead into the intermission. 

WVU had 345 total yards on 8 yards per play through the first two quarters.

After OSU punted on the opening second-half series, the Cowboys generated their first defensive stop when Donaldson was stopped near the line of scrimmage on a fourth-and-2 run.

The Mountaineer defense continued to thrive and redshirt freshman linebacker Josiah Trotter intercepted Bowman on fourth-and-17 to get WVU the ball back. 

“They’ve been able to put up points against some really good teams and for us to be able to come out like that and play the way we did for a full 60 minutes, that’s a lot of confidence,” Trotter said. “Not only for the defense, but also the offense to trust us that we can get stops.”

WVU had a chance to add to its lead on its next series and Greene had plenty of room to convert a fourth-and-5 run from the OSU 32, but after the play was reviewed, it was determined WVU’s quarterback began his slide just short of the first down stick, allowing the Cowboys to take over at their 28.

That meant a scoreless third quarter, though WVU forced another punt early in the fourth after Garret Rangel had replaced Bowman at quarterback.

Donaldson’s 1-yard touchdown run 5:59 into the fourth capped off an 88-yard drive that featured a 40-yard one-handed reception from wideout Hudson Clement.

Only 31 seconds later, the Cowboys countered with a 43-yard TD pass from Rangel to De’Zhaun Stribling.

Oklahoma State never got the ball back despite forcing what would’ve been the Mountaineers first punt, only for a roughing the punter call allowing WVU to maintain possession and run out the remainder of the clock.

West Virginia finished with 389 rushing yards on 65 attempts. 

“To come here and run for 389 is special,” Brown said. “This will be something we remember.”

White’s 158 yards on 19 carries were a game high. Greene aded 86 yards, Donaldson 77 and Marchiol 46 while running behind an offensive line that was dominant.

“We were really good. Best we played. It starts with Brandon Yates,” Brown said. “He’s the one that directs traffic up there and he did a really nice job. It’s a lot easier to evaluate those guys when I watch the tape. My assumption would be if you run for 389 yards, your o-line played pretty well.”

Greene completed 9-of-15 passes for 159 yards. Marchiol’s only throw was the touchdown pass.

West Virginia finished with a 558-227 advantage in total yardage. 

Bowman completed 10-of-19 passes for 116 yards and Ollie Gordon was limited to 13 carries for 50 yards, before leaving the game for good early into the third quarter as a result of an injury.

“We were coming here to stop the run. They were throwing for 300-plus yards and if they did that today against us, I wasn’t going to be overly concerned, but I wanted to make them one dimensional and stop the run,” Brown said. “From a coverage structure, we were better in our drop zones and we’re getting better at that. We have to continue to work on it.”

Oklahoma State has lost three straight regular season games for the first time since 2014 when the Cowboys suffered through a five-game skid.