Texas A&M did its part in honoring the Army and the Air Force on military appreciation day against Iowa State on Saturday at Kyle Field.
Minus any sort of water warfare to honor the Navy, the Aggie football team won 35-10 with a balanced attack on the ground and in the air.
Senior receiver Howard Morrow showed his appreciation after a seven-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter when he offered a salute after the catch and received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that was enforced on the kickoff.
"My father, step-father and granddad were part of the military," Morrow said. "I have a lot of respect for them. That was just my one time to be able to honor my father and my step-father."
A&M Head Coach Mike Sherman, who grew up in a military family, said he wished Morrow had shown the appreciation in some other manner and not in the course of the game.
Morrow, who suffered a minor injury during the first quarter but returned to play later, was one of nine different receivers junior quarterback Jerrod Johnson connected with in the Aggies' fifth win of the season.
The biggest attention getter was sophomore Jeff Fuller, who played in his second consecutive game since returning from a leg injury.
Fuller, who Sherman said was at about 90 percent physically, had five receptions for a game-high 67 yards and a 32-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter.
"I am feeling good," Fuller said. "It's one of those injuries that is kind of a confidence thing right now. Once I get rolling I'm rolling. Every day it gets better and better. It's not getting worse from contact, so I'm really excited about that."
Johnson was 23-for-28, passing for 234 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 33 yards and another touchdown. Johnson has a history of success against the Cyclones, passing for 381 yards and four touchdowns in the 2008 meeting.
A&M's running game helped the Aggies maintain control of the ball for nearly five minutes more than Iowa State.
Sophomore running back Cyrus Gray recorded his second consecutive 100-yard game with 119. In the 52-30 win at Texas Tech a week ago, Gray had 131 yards.
"In the first half, we didn't have many yards but the ones we did have were first downs and key runs," Gray said. "After a strong game, it shows us the importance of the work we put in and inspires us to work harder."
Gray was backed up by freshman Christine Michael who rushed for 63 yards including a seven-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to put the game out of the Cyclones' reach.
Iowa State running back Alex Robinson, who did not play in the Cyclones' 9-7 upset of Nebraska a week ago, rushed for 76 yards but never found the end zone against the A&M defense.
The Aggies gave up 324 total yards to Iowa State, 169 on the ground and 155 through the air, but they made key plays when it mattered most.
The Cyclones were 5-of-12 on third-down conversions and 2-of-3 on fourth-down conversions.
"They ran some offensive packages that Tech was able to run on us successfully," said sophomore safety Trent Hunter, who had two tackles in the game, "But I think we progressed from last week and recognized what they were running and were able to stop it."
Senior safety Jordan Pugh paced the A&M defense with 12 tackles and pulled in his second career interception during the Cyclones' second drive of the game.
The Aggies' other interception was pulled down by senior defensive back Justin McQueen, who picked off Iowa State quarterback Jerome Tiller near the end zone after A&M fumbled the ball on the second half-opening kickoff.
"That's the adversity you go through in a game and the season," Pugh said. "It's kind of like the losses that we've had and we bounced back with these two wins. Things don't always go your way and you just have to fight back. That's what we did."
The Aggies will play at Colorado next week and are one win short of being bowl eligible.
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