COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The bottom line Saturday night was Texas A&M simply was too much for the Idaho Vandals, who absorbed the 37-7 loss at College Station before the seventh largest crowd in Aggie history – a boisterous, enthusiastic, maroon-clad mass of 86, 623.

“They're a good football team from top to bottom,” coach Robb Akey said. “Their defense is very, very good.”

That was evidenced in the offense's stats. There wasn't a third-down conversion until the six-minute mark of the second quarter and through three quarters the Vandals had just 78 yards total offense. At that point, Bobby Cowan already had punted a personal record 10 times but still was shy of the school mark of 12 against Washington State in 2001.

Even in a loss, though, Akey could point to an inspired effort by the defense, which went against a strong, fleet-footed offense a whopping 81 times on an evening that started at a sweltering 88 degrees.

“I am proud of our defensive players,” Akey said. “They spent a lot of time on the field.

“Our players did compete. I like the way they responded to adversity. They responded better than they have all season.”

When Idaho finally did light the scoreboard, it was with 2:18 to play in the game and it was Texan Troy Vital who scored on the one-yard run to cap an 11-play, 73-yard drive. That drive alone was just shy of Idaho's total offense through the first three quarters.

“They're a very athletic group,” quarterback Brian Reader said. “They're one of the fastest teams – biggest, strongest, that I've played. We just didn't do what we needed to do.”

Idaho finished with 187 yards total offense with Mike Scott catching eight passes for the third week in a row and covering 97 yards with them. Defensively, another Texan – Quin Ashley, led the way with 11 tackles, while Homer Mauga and Korey Toomer each had 10. Andre Ferguson added an interception and Aaron Grymes recovered a fumble forced by Tre`Shawn Robinson.