COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Texas A&M quarterback Johnny
Manziel didn't wilt under the intense spotlight he was under in
Saturday's 49-42 loss to Alabama.
Instead he excelled.
Manziel,
who had a CBS camera watching his every move, set a career and school
record with 464 yards in the game to go along with five touchdowns.
If
that wasn't enough, Manziel even spoke to the media following the game
for just the second time since new of the autograph scandal surrounding
him broke in early August.
While Manziel was disappointed with
the loss, he was proud of the way the Aggies hung in despite trailing by
as many as 21 points in the second half.
"For us this isn't the
end of our season," Manziel said. "This wasn't the Super Bowl. This
wasn't the last game of the season. Alabama lost a game last year and
still went on to win a national championship. Our season is over.
Anything can happen. This is college football. Some crazy things happen
every week."
With Manziel throwing to Mike Evans, anything is
possible. Evans caught seven passes for a school record 279 yards. One
of his catches, a 95 yarder with just over eight minutes remaining in
the fourth quarter, was the second longest pass play in school history.
"I
knew he was going to come out and play really good," Manziel said. "In
my eyes, Mike Evans is the best receiver in college football. I see him
every day. It's just amazing."
As good as the numbers Manziel and
Evans put up were, Manziel was intercepted twice. The first one came
when the Aggies were at the Alabama 4 in a 14-14 game in the second
quarter. Manziel threw a bad fade in the corner of the end zone and was
intercepted by Cyrus Jones.
After that pick, it took Alabama just
four plays to score and take a lead it would never lose. Manziel said
that interception was his fault.
That was one of the few mistakes Manziel made. In addition to his passing yards, Manziel also ran for 98 yards.
Head coach Kevin Sumlin lauded his much-scrutinized quarterback.
"I
thought his play was Johnny like," Sumlin said. "That's about the way
to put it. He scrambled around. He made some plays. He was in the
pocket. He was efficient."
Manziel said he had no issue with the spotlight on him Saturday.
"I
probably came out less nervous today than I was in other games," he
said. "What did we have to lose? The pressure wasn't on us. The pressure
was on Alabama to try and repeat and do all the stuff. We were just
going to go out, play our hearts out and leave out all on the field.
That's all we could do."
