THE BATTALION
Monday, November26,J
ijmiav, No\
Texas outlasts stumbling Ags, 21-
uru
By Brian Ruff
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M football fans heard a dif
ferent type of yell at Kyle Field Friday.
Unfortunately for the Aggies, the chant of
“BCS, BCS” was referring to the No. 5
University of Texas Longhorns, winners
of a very defensive 21-7 battle that kept
Texas’ Bowl Championship Series
hopes alive.
With Oklahoma State
upsetting the then-Big 12
South-leading Oklahoma
Sooners Saturday night,
Texas’ national champi
onship hopes got a
major shot of adrena
line with its win over
the Aggies and the
Sooner loss.
The Longhorns came
into the game against the
Aggies averaging 425
yards of offense and
were held to just 235
yards by a stingy
A&M defense.
“This was a
great game,” said
A&M football
head coach R.C.
Slocum. “We
knew we had to
keep it a low-scor
ing game to win
against Texas.”
The Longhorn
defense was equally
effective, holding the
Aggies to only 165 total
yards, including a crucial
defensive stop late in the
fourth quarter.
With 2:21 left in the game
and the Aggies trailing 14-7, jun
ior quarterback Mark Farris was
pressured but found junior wide
receiver Greg Porter near the right
sideline. Farris’ pass was high, and
Porter could only get a hand on the
ball. Senior linebacker Everick
Rawls came down with the tip, and
carried the interception to the
A&M 12-yard line, setting up the
gaAie-clinching 1 1-yard touch
down run by freshman running
back Cedric Benson.
“They won, and you have to give
them a lot of credit,” Farris said. “We
did not play well enough to win,
which is always frustrating. Against
UT, it is a little more frustrating.”
The interception was the last
chance the Aggies would have to
claim the upset.
Early in the First quarter, sopho
more punter Cody Scales dropped
back to punt on fourth down, but was
hit during the kick, and Texas was
given a 15-yard penalty for roughing
the kicker.
A&M was unable to capitalize on
the team’s new-found life,
going three plays
and again
being forced to punt.
The Longhorns took over, but the
Texas drive stalled on third-and-eleven,
when a well-executed safety blitz gave
Simms no time to throw and the Texas
quarterback was sacked immediately
by junior strong safety Terrence Kiel.
Junior punter Brian Bradford punted
the ball off the side of his foot on 4th
down, and the Aggies were given good
field position at their own
40-yard line.
A&M failed
to threaten despite the field position,
and was forced to punt on fourth-and-
ten.
Scales took the snap and was pres
sured by junior cornerback Roderick
Babers, who blocked Scales* kick at the
A&M 23-yard line.
Redshirt freshman wide receiver
Tony Jeffrey scooped up the ball and
raced to the end zone to give Texas an
early 7-0 lead.
“Our coaches always believe in
going for the big plays on
special teams,” Jeffrey
“Hearing the ‘thump'whenth{i|
is blocked is a big mon
changer. It meant a lot to
come away with such a bigpla;
On the Longhorns’ next po:
they were given good field posil
a short A&M punt and moved the
to the A&M 32-yard line,
place kicker Dusty Mangum
a field goal, but the ball sailed
right and kept the score at 7-0.
Early in the second quarter,
Aggies were again given excellent!#
position, taking over at theloni
39-yard line.
The Aggies advanced to the
24-yard line, but were forced to
for a field goal try. Scales’
kick sailed wide left, and the
remained scoreless going intohalfta)
After A&M stopped Texas on
first possession of the second half,
wide receiver Mickey Jones ti
Bradford punt at the A&M 36-yatd
started to the right and then revetw!
head back toward the left sideline. Sts
free safety Jay Brooks, running
opposite direction of Jones, proviii
decleating block on Longhorn tight!
Mike Jones that cleared thepatiidt
the sidelines for the Jones'big retui:
“1 didn’t even know 1 was going tot
punt returns today,” Jones said. “ADtf
%
Benior outsid
Kelly Johnson
sudden. I made a big play and wegots
momentum back.”
Jones returned the ball to the If
27-yard line setting up the Agp
first score
On 3rd-and-five from the 22-ji
ine, Farris scrambled right and foa
Porter over the middle, kept the dm
Ags
alive and gave the Aggies Ist-andp
on the Texas 8-yard line.
Two plays later, redshirt
Keith Joseph took a toss to the
the dm I,
-and-goi
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GUY ROGERS • THE BATTALION
Defensive domination
“[JordanJ re
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Defense highlights low scoring
battle between Aggies, Horns
nr
By True Brown
THE BATTALION
GUY ROGERS • THE BATTALION
Junior linebacker Jarrod Penright brings down Texas running back
Cedric Benson with the help of senior tackle Rocky Bernard Friday.
What had the potential to be an offensive
explosion turned into a defensive showdown
at Kyle Field Saturday. Neither the
University of Texas Longhorns or the Texas
A&M Aggies managed to gain more than
250 yards, and neither team drove the ball
more than 43 yards in a single possession.
UT’s offense, which averaged 425.4
yards per game before Saturday’s match-up,
was held to 253 yards by the Aggies.
“Both teams played hard,” said A&M
head coach R.C. Slocum. “Our defense
played especially hard. We’ve been good
defensively all year and we didn’t change
anything [for this game].”
The A&M offense managed just 165
yards and scored one touchdown, the
Aggies’ first offensive touchdown since the
fourth quarter of A&M’s 24-21 win over
Iowa State Oct. 27.
The 165 yards UT allowed was its ninth-
best defensive performance since the start of
the 1990 season and the fourth time this sea
son that Texas has held its opponent to less
than 200 yards.
“[A&M’s] defense played as good as
they have all year,” said UT head coach
Mack Brown. “Our defense played the same
as theirs. Coming in, we knew our defense
was going to play well.”
UT running
back Cedric Benson’s bid for a 1,000-yard
season ended after gaining only 79 yards
against the Aggies. Saturday’s 79-yard rush
ing performance was 17 yards short of
breaking the UT freshman record for ground
yards set by Ricky Williams in 1995.
A&M has not allowed a 100-yard rusher
this season.
“Benson is a great running back,” said
...Jordan
•M remain
dan scorec
ints.
“We tried
couldn't
M heac
Horn. “She
[A&M’s] defense played
as good as they have all year.
Our defense played the same
J v • **
as theirs.
— Mack Brown
Texas football head coach
A&M senior linebacker Christian
Rodriguez. “That was one of those things
where we looked ourselves in the mirror and
said, ‘That’s not going to happen against
us.’ We had our emphasis on stopping the
run, and I think we did a good job of that.”
As was the case in the last two games, the
A&M defense stayed strong, keeping the
Aggies in contention until the fourth quarter,
and the 14 points UT’s offense scored is the
second fewest the Homs have scored
season. Texas scored three points in a
loss to Oklahoma.
“We played well today,” said
A&M linebacker Brian Gai
“Defensively, the effort was there.”
A&M rattled UT quarterback Or;
Simms throughout the game. Aftertorefe
the Aggies for 383 yards last season
completion percentage of 66.7, Simms lit
ished the day 16-of-33 passes for 138yaii
In his last five games before
Simms had guided the Longhorns’ofe
to 26 touchdowns.
“We’ve got to give a lot of credit to®!
D-line,” said senior A&M defensivet&i
Jay Brooks. “They put a lot of pressure®
Simms and you could tell he was
get frustrated back there.
“You’ve got to give credit to himthood
He made a lot of underneath passes wheal*
needed to.”
Brooks saw regular playing time fori*
first time since A&M’s 31-21 losstoCotoi 1
on Oct. 13 and finished with four tackles.
The Wrecking Crew has alIowedmr ;
than 30 points in two games this sea$
and has allowed only one rushofmc'
than 20 yards.
“We think we played well,” said)®'
A&M cornerback Sammy Davis. “We’iei*
satisfied, because you can always do belter
HAIR DESIGN
Color Correction Specialist
118 Walton Dr.
Across from Main Entrance to Texas A&M
University Libraries
Poor Yorick*s Trivia Contest
Question of the week: He gave up his medical practice in 1891 to
devote himself to writing, but resumed it during the Boer War and was
knighted for his hospital work in South Africa.
Who was this Scottish doctor and creator of the
all-time master of deductive detective work?
Instructions: Entry forms are available at the Circulation Desks in Evans,Annex.WCLand
PSEL. One winner will be drawn from all correct entries submitted by 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
Winner will receive a Poor Yorick’s coffee mug.
Golden Key International
Honor Society
New Member Induction Tonight;
Monday November 26, 2001
7:00 PM, Rudder Theatre
t
an