1999 Nokia Sugar Bowl (#3) Ohio State 24, (#8) Texas A&M 14 January 1, 1999 | Louisiana Superdome | New Orleans, La.

NEW ORLEANS-- Ohio State players, coaches and fans came to the Bayou State with one purpose in mind: To ring in 1999 with a Sugar Bowl victory befitting the Big Easy's nickname.

And in the end, the boisterous, cocksure Buckeyes did indeed get their win. But it wasn't by a big margin, and it certainly wasn't easy. The underdog and under-appreciated Texas Aggies gave their Big Ten-champion counterparts far more than they bargained for in front of 76,503 fans at the Louisiana Superdome.

In fact, for 53 minutes and 25 seconds of play, the Aggies did more than enough to make the Buckeye fans sweat out their New Year's Eve hangovers. Unfortunately for A&M, it was that other 6:35 of play that gave OSU fans a reason to revel throughout all corners of the French Quarter.

"We played a great team, and we played pretty well at times," Texas A&M freshman fullback Ja'Mar Toombs said following the Aggies' 24-14 loss. "They were ranked No. 1 for a long time, and there's a reason for that. They're very talented. But I think we proved we are, too. We just got too far behind."

Ohio State (11-1) used two impressive drives and a key blocked punt to score 21 points in a span of 6:35 in the first quarter. That proved to he enough for the Buckeyes to register a hard-fought win. But it wasn't what OSU had envisioned in the days in weeks leading up to the Sugar Bowl.

The Buckeyes, who spent nine weeks ranked No. 1 in the nation, wanted to destroy the Aggies (11-3) and stake their claim to the national title. That simply wasn't the case, as Texas A&M stood toe-to-toe with Ohio State and frequently had OSU on its heels.

A&M became only the second team this season to hold the Buckeyes to as few as 24 points (Michigan State also held OSU to that total in the Buckeyes' lone loss). And the Aggies became the first team to hold the high-powered Ohio State offense scoreless in the second half.

In otherwords, it was a struggle for the Buckeyes, not a stroll.

If it wouldn't have been for that little scoring outburst they had, it could have been a whole different ballgame," A&M junior running back Dante Hall said. "But we never panicked, and there in the second half, I kind of thought we might be on the verge of another Kansas State-type comeback."

Even with a convincing 24-7 lead at the intermission, Ohio State coach John Cooper spent plenty of time in the locker room reminding his players about A&M's heroic, late-season comebacks.

"At halftime, we were talking about the Kansas State game," Cooper said of the Big 12 title game in which the Aggies overcame a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit to win in double overtime. "(The Aggies) were getting the second-half kickoff, and we knew what they did in the second half against Kansas State."

Despite the warning, the Buckeyes appeared to be on the verge of buckling several times in the second half. First, A&M quarterback Branndon Stewart hit Leroy Hodge on a 7-yard scoring pass to cut the lead to 24-14 with 5:24 left in the third quarter.

Then, after stuffing OSU on its next series, A&M drove to as deep as the Ohio State 33, as the Superdome rocked and resembled - in appearance and volume level - Kyle Field with a roof on it.

"We had them on their heels, and this place was going nuts," A&M senior tight end Dan Campbell said. "That's the frustrating thing to me. If we make it 24-21, I really would have liked to have seen (the Superdome) crowd. And I would have liked to have seen how (Ohio State) responded to it."

To the Aggies' chagrin, the Buckeyes never had to deal with that kind of pressure late in the game. A&M's late third-quarter drive into Buckeye territory was halted by a penalty and a sack. Then with the Aggies marching early in the fourth quarter. Stewart's lateral pass to Toombs was recovered by OSU at the Aggies' 48.

That killed a promising A&M drive and effectively ended the Aggies' comeback momentum. Ohio State simply held on the rest of the way to send the Aggies to their fifth-straight New Years Day bowl loss.

"(Ohio State) knew they had been in a war," Campbell said. "That much, I know for sure."

The Buckeyes should have sensed that from the opening kickoff. A&M forced OSU to go three-and-out on its first offensive possession of the game, and then A&M went on an impressive touchdown march. A&M drove 59 yards in six plays, with Hall capping the drive with a 9-yard scoring run to give the Aggies an early 7-0 lead.

Then on OSU's next possession, the Buckeyes faced a third-and-l5 at their own 24. But OSU quarterback Joe Germaine completed a 28-yard pass to a wide-open Dee Miller to give the Buckeyes a big first down. Three plays later, Germaine hit Reggie Germany on an 18-yard scoring pass, and OSU's touchdown barrage had officially begun.

If that wasn't the key play of the game, then the blocked punt some six minutes later was. With OSU leading 14-7, Ohio State's Derek Ross blocked Shane Lechler's punt, and Kevin Griffin scooped it up and ran 16 yards for the score to put the Buckeyes up, 21-7. It was the first blocked punt against the Aggies since 1993, and it proved to be devastating.

"That was a significant play," A&M head coach R.C. Slocum said. "Being behind 21-7 is a whole lot different than being behind 14-7. Our team settled down and played a whole lot better in the second half, but it took us too long to get it going."

But unlike most games this year, the Aggies' magic ran out in the end, as a brilliant season met with a bitter end. Still, the Aggies proved all year long - and again in the Sugar Bowl - that they belong on the same center stage with the elite teams of college football.

"It's disappointing to end the season with a loss, but I can't say enough about my team," Slocum said. "We were Big 12 Champions, won 11 games and played eight bowl teams. A loss (in the Sugar Bowl) doesn't take away from a tremendous season."

story by Rusty Burson, 12th Man Magazine