No one said it was going to be easy for SMU taking on No. 10 Texas A&M; on the road, but the Mustangs got run over by the Aggies 42-13, who were coming off a tough loss against No. 1 Alabama.

Led by quarterback Johnny Manziel, the Aggies raced out to a 14-0 lead before SMU kicker Chase Hover cut into the lead to make it 14-3.

Texas A&M; then scored three unanswered touchdowns before another Hover field goal made it 32-6 at halftime.

Manziel, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, accounted for 346 total yards and three touchdowns and was taken out of the game early in the third quarter.

“We tried a little of everything. He’s an amazing player. You blitz him and he’s accurate with the ball. You rush three and he scrambles around or makes it last forever,” SMU Head Coach June Jones said. “He’s a great college football player and he’s in the perfect system.”

SMU Quarterback Garrett Gilbert, on the other hand, struggled to consistently move the offense and when SMU did get on a roll, penalties usually held SMU back as the Mustangs racked up 16 of them for 111 yards.

“We had penalties that we didn’t handle the crowd noise well and they were calling out our signals. What are you gonna do?” Jones said. “You have to overcome it, but you got to deal with the crowd noise and we did not handle it very good.”

The crowd noise was tough for SMU to handle with numerous false starts, but the lack of big plays also hurt the Mustangs. The team was able to find some success with its short passing game, but nothing major until Keenan Holman’s 31-yard touchdown catch late in the game did SMU get anything big on the Aggies defense.

Holman had a strong game for SMU, who really broke out with 133 yards, 10 receptions as well as his touchdown. SMU has had trouble finding their outside receivers to step up and especially with Der’rikk Thompson out of the game, SMU needed Holman even more.

Gilbert completed 37-of-62 passes for 310 yards, a touchdown and an interception, but the most telling statistic was his quarterback rating of 25 on the night.

With the SMU offense not being able to stay on the field very long, the Aggies were able to pick apart an SMU defense that looked tired against the Aggies high-tempo attack. Texas A&M; racked up 581 total yards including 265 on the ground.

SMU was able to stop receiver Mike Evans, who went for just two receptions for 57 yards, but it was Malcome Kennedy who hurt SMU with six receptions for 83 yards and a touchdown.

In a big-game atmosphere like this, it was important for SMU to play mistake free football, but SMU first-year receiver Jeremiah Gaines fumbled a reception and it was returned by Texas A&M; 12 yards for a touchdown.

Jones talked about how the younger players performed, “From the opening kickoff, we had a young kid make a mental error that set you back right away,” Jones said. “It’s unfortunate that we didn’t play our best and our best was demanded today if we were going to beat them.”

SMU now falls to 1-2 on the year and with their matchup against TCU looming this week, SMU will have to correct plenty of mental errors as they go on the road again.