September 16, 2000
COLLEGE STATION, Texas-- Ja'Mar Toombs stood up in the locker room at halftime and put a stop to any negative thoughts that may have been in the air with his team down by three points.
"Just relax. I'll take care of it. It's just 30 minutes. We've got a whole other half to go out and play ball. Just play. Beat them."
The Aggies responded, scoring 31 unanswered points--18 courtesy Toombs--and posting a shutout in the second half to notch a 45-17 victory over the Texas-El Paso Miners Saturday before 69,184 fans at Kyle Field.
Once again, a different set of heroes emerged for the Aggie offense. This time, Bethel Johnson was quarterback Mark Farris' favorite target, catching a career-high eight balls for 74 yards. On the ground, sophomore Joe Weber racked up 91 yards on 11 carries and scored once, while junior Ja'Mar Toombs scored three touchdowns in short yardage situations. The Aggies finished with 232 yards on the ground and 414 overall.
"We knew coming out of the Wyoming game that we had to take care of our running game," senior offensive lineman Chris Valletta said. "I think we did that. We pride ourselves on being physical, and I thought we were that as well."
A&M coaches and players to a man had warned all week that the Miners were a faster and more athletic squad than Wyoming. Fans and observers found that out as soon as the game kicked off, as UTEP held A&M to three-and-out before scoring on its opening drive. Quarterback Rocky Perez found All-America candidate Brian Natkin, on a 22-yard strike, converting 3rd-and-12 and moving the Miners into A&M territory. That would lead to a 6-yard touchdown catch by tight end Joey Knapp to give UTEP the early 7-0 advantage.
The Aggies would answer by scoring touchdowns on their next two possessions. With redshirt freshman Richard Whitaker carrying much of the load on a 73-yard drive, junior wide receiver Robert Ferguson fought off pass interference from the UTEP secondary to haul in a 6-yard touchdown pass from Farris to tie the score. Weber would score on a 16-yard run on the next possession to give A&M their first lead of the game.
Perez would connect with Lee Mays on a 35-yard strike early in the second quarter to tie the game. A three-minute drive saw the Miners run the ball just once and convert two 3rd-down situations on a Perez-to-Natkin connection. UTEP would tack on a 37-yard Ricky Bishop field goal to take the three-point lead into the locker room.
"At the half, the big thing I told the team was to just tackle," Slocum said. "I thought they had kept the ball moving by breaking some tackles. We missed some key tackles that would have stopped drives. We made some adjustments and tried to get more pressure on their quarterback, and I think we did that."
UTEP looked to increase their lead to start the second half, as they began the third quarter with a methodical march down the field that took them into field goal range. The Miners, who had successfully converted their only 4th-down attempt of the game, elected to try again needing one yard at the Aggie 31. Senior linebacker Jason Glenn came over the pile and stuffed Perez on a sneak attempt to regain the momentum A&M desperately needed.
"They were executing well, especially on third and fourth down, so why not go for it?" Glenn said. "I think that stop was a big momentum factor for us. It was probably the turning point in the game."
The offense would respond with a clutch 12-play, 69-yard drive fueled by the big-play potential of Johnson. The junior wideout caught three 3rd-down passes of nine, 23 and 11 yards-all of which moved the chains-setting up a 2-yard touchdown rumble by Ja'Mar Toombs to give A&M a 21-17 lead with five minutes to go in the third quarter.
The Miner defense would stop A&M on its next drive, as Sam Singleton picked off a Farris pass in UTEP territory. The drive would stall, forcing the Miners to punt, and junior defensive back Jay Brooks came up with a big block of Glen Beard's kick. Dawon Gentry recovered at the UTEP 1-yard line for the Aggies, setting up a score by Toombs that increased the lead to 11.
The Aggies got a 21-yard field goal by Terence Kitchens early in the fourth quarter to make the score 31-17. Five minutes later Toombs tied a career high by scoring his third touchdown of the night, a 2-yard plunge that put the game out of reach. Redshirt freshman quarterback Colby Freeman raced into the end zone from 15 yards out with 39 seconds left to close out the scoring.
"He has been nothing but a team player," Slocum said of Toombs, who posted his fourth multi-touchdown effort in the last five regular season games. "He's such a load to try to bring down, and runs with such determination. I can't say enough about his attitude."
The Wrecking Crew defense stepped up big time in the second half, holding a potent Miners offense to just two first downs, 87 yards and no points. Sophomore Brian Gamble and Glenn led the way with 13 and 10 tackles, respectively. Glenn sacked Perez twice, while Gamble wrapped him up once and also intercepted a pass.
"UTEP has an excellent offense, and they really gave us a scare in the first two quarters," Glenn said. "We came in at the half and said we won't lose at Kyle Field. The linebackers took it upon themselves to step up and show the younger guys about that. We were able to come back and show them what Wrecking Crew football is all about."
Farris had a solid evening, completing 18-of-29 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown. The sophomore from Angleton completed his first eight passes of the game, the most by an A&M quarterback since 1995. Farris also rushed for 54 yards, the top rushing performance by a an Aggie signal caller in nine years.
The win extended the Aggies' home winning streak to 21 games, dating back to 1996. Slocum runs his record at home to an impressive 62-5-1 (.912) in his 12-year career. The team that last tagged a loss on A&M at Kyle Field, Texas Tech, comes to town as the Aggies' next opponent on Sept. 30. A&M is off next week.
"I was disappointed that the offense wasn't more productive in the first half," Slocum said. "But, I think it will be good for the team now that the game is over. This can be a plus for us. We saw how the team responded after being down at the half. We will try to get some guys healthy during this open date and get ready for Texas Tech."
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME NOTES
FARRIS OPENS WITH EIGHT STRAIGHT --- Aggie sophomore quarterback Mark Farris opened the game with eight straight completions, the most consecutive completions to open a game since 1995 when Corey Pullig connected on his first 11 attempts against Tulsa. Pullig's 11 straight completions matched the overall school record of 11 originally set by Lance Pavlas against Texas Tech in 1989. Retroactive to a completion on his final attempt of the Wyoming game, Farris had completed nine attempts in a row before suffering an incompletion.
Farris also had a string of 41 attempts without an interception broken when UTEP's Sam Singleton picked off an errant pass in the third quarter. His previous interception came on his final attempt against Notre Dame in the season-opener.
Farris rushed for 54 yards on seven carries, the most rushing yards by an Aggie quarterback since Bucky Richardson gained 83 on 19 carries against SMU in 1991.
JOHNSON HAS CAREER-BEST EFFORT --- Junior wide receiver Bethel Johnson matched his career high for receptions with five in the first half alone tonight against UTEP and went on to establish a new career-best with eight catches for 74 yards. Johnson's previous best of five grabs came against Kansas and Oklahoma in 1999.
HOME SWEET HOME --- The Aggies extended their home winning streak to 21 games tonight, dating back to a 13-10 loss to Texas Tech in Kyle Field in 1996. It is the third-longest active streak in the nation. Marshall, who was tied with A&M at 20 wins, was off this week, and Tennessee's 23-game string was snapped by Florida today.
Tonight's win also increased A&M's home winning streak against non-conference opponents to 26 straight, dating back to a 30-10 loss to Alabama in 1988. Aggie head coach R.C. Slocum has never lost a non-conference game at Kyle Field.
For his career, R.C. Slocum has compiled a 62-5-1 (.912) record at Kyle Field.
TRAILING AT KYLE --- The last time the Aggies trailed at halftime at Kyle Field was the Texas game in 1999 when the Longhorns went to the lockerroom with a 16-6 advantage. The Aggies rallied for 14 second-half points while shutting out the Longhorns as A&M battled to a 20-16 victory.
The last time the Aggies trailed at halftime against a non-conference opponent at Kyle Field was 1992 when the Aggies trailed Tulsa 6-3 at halftime. The Aggies went on to a 19-9 victory, and also won their next nine games on their way to a 12-0 regular season.
THE BIG RUMBLE --- Junior fullback Ja'Mar Toombs tied his career best with three touchdown runs tonight against UTEP, giving him multi-TD efforts in four of his last five regular season games. In that span, Toombs has scored 10 touchdowns. Last year against Missouri, Toombs also had three touchdown runs.
BROOKS BLOCKS ANOTHER --- Junior cornerback Jay Brooks' punt block against UTEP was the first by an Aggie since Brooks blocked one against Texas Tech in 1999. Brooks returned that one for a touchdown. Tonight's block was recovered by true freshman Dawon Gentry at the 1-yard line of UTEP, and led to a touchdown plunge by Ja'Mar Toombs.
CONVERTING THIRD-DOWN SITUATIONS --- The Aggies converted 9-of-14 third-down situations tonight, raising their season total on third down to 21-of-41chances (.512). Last year the Aggies converted just 65-of-172 third-down chances (.360).
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach R.C. Slocum:
"I was disappointed we were not more productive in the first half. We let them control the tempo. I thought our coaches made good adjustments at the half. I thought it was good for us to have to come from behind and fight. We had a lot of respect for UTEP coming in. They played hard and are well coached. We were concerned with our youth in the secondary and the injuries. We are looking forward to the week off to try and get some people healthy. It's always good to win a ball game."
Quarterback Mark Farris:
"It was good to get a win tonight. We knew these guys would come in with a chip on their shoulders, being from Texas. Everyone called it a tuneup all week, but the team didn't see it that way. We knew these guys were a good football team. They gave us a run for our money. We made some good adjustments at halftime. We came out in the second half and did what we had to do to keep our home winning streak alive and that's important to all of us. Now, it's back to work and get ready for Texas Tech. "
Fullback Ja'Mar Toombs:
"In the first half, we made too many mistakes. We weren't playing too bad, we just keep shooting ourselves in the foot. We went in at halftime and made some adjustments. We knew we had our home winning streak on the line. We knew what we had to do and we went out, played hard and got it done."
Texas-El Paso Postgame Quotes
Quarterback Rocky Perez:
"We have a good passing attack. Our offensive line is the strength of our team. A&M started off just bringing four people. In the second half, they brought more. It was a great adjustment by their coaches. There's nothing tricky about their defense; they just line up and beat you. I thought our offense executed well in the first half. I felt comfortable throwing the ball back there. They put a lot of pressure on us in the second half. We knew it was going to be tough to run on the Wrecking Crew, but they have a young secondary and we felt we could exploit that."
Tight End Brian Natkin:
"We just made too many mistakes in the second half. The first half was pretty much mistake free. They blitzed a lot more in the second half and we had some turnovers."
Head Coach Gary Nord:
"We didn't turn the ball over in the first half and that gave us a chance to compete. We've got a pretty good football team, but we didn't take advantage of some opportunities early. The kicking game was a let down. I felt like when we went for it on fourth-and-one and didn't get it,. That was the turning point in the game because A&M drove down the field and scored, then blocked a punt on the next series. Texas A&M has a good football team. They have the ability to score from all over the field. They are an outstanding team. We've got a pretty good offensive line, a pretty good quarterback and some pretty good receivers. We were able to stay in our offensive system and move the ball consistently in the first half. Rocky played very well. The offensive line did a good job of protecting him in the first half. A&M came after him in the second half. I believe we have a good, solid football team. We'll have a chance to win each game in the WAC."