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SHREVEPORT, Louisiana (Ticker) -- No. 8 Texas A&M started slowly after a tornado watch, then scored a whirlwind 24 points in the second quarter en route to a 37-17 victory over Louisiana Tech. Texas A&M is off to a good start after losing two of its last three games last season, falling to Texas in the regular season finale and Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl. "It's always fun to start the season with a victory," Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum said. "I thought our guys did a good job tonight. On offense, we threw the ball a lot and got a lot of points out of it. (Tim) Rattay is a very good player. We got a lot of good things out of this game tonight, but we also have a lot of things to work on." It was a home game for the Bulldogs (0-2), who moved the site from their campus in Ruston to draw a bigger crowd -- 40,328, nearly 10,000 more than capacity at Joe Aillet Stadium. They had not played at Independence Stadium since October 3, 1997. Texas A&M (1-0) waited out a 20-minute delay prior to kickoff and entered the second quarter with a 6-0 edge on field goals of 50 and 51 yards by Terence Kitchens. Louisiana Tech cut it to 6-3 but Dante Hall scored on an 18-yard run and Randy McCown added a 23-yard touchdown pass to Chris Taylor as the Aggies opened a 20-3 lead. Texas A&M gained 219 yards on 40 carries with Hall rushing 12 times for 71 yards. McCown was 17-of-28 for a career-high 252 yards, finding Bethel Johnson four times for 106 yards. "The offense came out great in the first half," McCown said. "We got a little complacent in the second half. We didn't come out with the kind of fire we had in the first half. Luckily, the defense held them to just that one touchdown. We have some work to do, especially in relation to ball security." Ja'Mar Toombs answered a TD pass by Rattay with a one-yard scoring run before Kitchens' third field goal, a 26-yarder with three seconds left in the first half that increased the cushion to 30-10. The Aggies defeated Louisiana Tech on the field for the seventh time in as many meetings. Their 28-7 win last year was forfeited because running back D'Andre "Tiki" Hardeman played while ineligible. Hardeman had nine carries for 48 yards in this game. Rattay, who lost All-American receiver Troy Edwards to the NFL, completed 45-of-62 passes for 331 yards, two touchdowns and a pair of interceptions. The attempts and completions were record for a Texas A&M opponent. "The coaches prepared us for their passing attack, but it still was a challenge for us to contain it," said Texas A&M cornerback Jason Webster. "They just keep coming at you." The Bulldogs, who gained only 10 yards on 20 carries, suffered their second straight loss to a top-10 team. Last week, they fell 41-7 to No. 1 Florida State. The independent school also has 18th-ranked Alabama in two weeks on its difficult early schedule. Louisiana Tech attempted a comeback in the second half, closing to 30-17 on Rattay's eight-yard TD pass to Delwyn Daigre, but McCown threw a 12-yard strike to Johnson with 47 seconds left to cap the scoring. "It was a great team win," Johnson said. "I was happy to have a good game, but I think I can do better. I missed some balls I should have had."
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