ARLINGTON, Texas — Johnny Manziel tiptoed the sideline for a 23-yard touchdown on Texas A&M’s first drive of the game.
The Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback known as Johnny Football and the 10th-ranked Aggies were just getting warmed up in the Cotton Bowl. There were plenty more highlights after that nifty run.
In his first game since becoming the first freshman to win the Heisman, Manziel set a Cotton Bowl-record with 516 total yards and accounted for four TDs as the Aggies capped their first SEC season with a 41-13 win over 12th-ranked Oklahoma on Friday night.
“There is too much talk about how you perform after the Heisman and about the layoff and all of that," Manziel said. “There wasn’t anything holding us back. No rust, there was no nothing. We played as a unit. ... To go out and win 11 games and do what we’ve done, is impressive."
With first-year coach Kevin Sumlin and their young star quarterback, the Aggies (11-2) fit right in with the SEC after leaving the Big 12. They broke the SEC record with their 7,261 total yards this season (the first over 7,000 after 633 in Cowboys Stadium). They also averaged more than 40 points a game.
— The Associated Press