September 30, 2000
COLLEGE STATION, Texas-- The Texas A&M football team broke open a tight game midway through the fourth quarter, scoring twice in the last seven minutes of the game to post a 33-15 victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders Saturday afternoon before 83,644 fans at Kyle Field-the second-largest crowd in the stadium's history.
The victory improves A&M's record to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in Big 12 play, and increases the nation's third-longest home winning streak to 22 games.
The game took the form of recent A&M/Tech showdowns midway through the fourth, as the Red Raiders erased a 12-point deficit to climb within four. Texas Tech wide receiver Carlos Francis then dropped a fourth-down pass on the A&M goal line, and the Aggies responded with two Ja'Mar Toombs touchdowns to ice the victory.
"When the game got close I thought the team responded really well," Toombs said. "We couldn't let them come down here and beat us."
The Aggies (3-1, 1-0 Big 12) came out of the locker room riding a high wave of emotion, and it showed in their performance. After holding Tech to negative yardage on their first drive, A&M marched 51 yards in just over a minute, taking a 7-0 lead two minutes into the game on a 14-yard run by sophomore Joe Weber.
Texas Tech (4-1, 0-1) responded on the next drive, moving into Aggie territory on a wide receiver pass from Mickey Peters to King Scovell. The Red Raiders would line up for a 47-yard field goal when holder Eric Rosiles faked the spot and tried to flip the ball to a wide receiver coming over the middle. A&M defensive back Michael Jameson, playing his first game at Kyle Field this season after coming back from injury, picked the pass out of the air at the A&M 17 and returned it 76 yards to the Tech 8-yard line. The Aggies would get a 32-yard field goal from Terence Kitchens to extend their lead to 10-0 midway through the first quarter.
Making several big plays, the Red Raiders were able to march 80 yards down the field in 14 plays and score on their next possession to cut the Aggie lead to three. Tech quarterback Kliff Kingsbury converted four long third-down situations with passes of 26, 14, 14 and 15 yards, the last being a touchdown pass to wideout Tim Baker who leapt over defensive back Jay Brooks for a great catch in the back corner of the end zone.
Special teams came up big for A&M with five minutes to play in the half. After freshman punter Cody Scates pinned Texas Tech at their own 10-yard line, the Wrecking Crew defense forced a punt. Double-teamed on the play, Brooks reached through the two blockers to swat the kick of Rosiles, and the ball was downed on the Tech 2-yard line. Freshman running back Richard Whitaker raced into the end zone on the next play to give the Aggies a 16-7 halftime advantage.
Facing 4th-and-2 at their own 38 on their third possession of the second half, Tech gained a first down when A&M was tagged with an offsides penalty. Kingsbury tried to burn the Aggie secondary with a long ball, but sophomore Terrence Kiel leaped into the air and hauled in the interception at the A&M 13-yard line. Junior wide receiver Robert Ferguson made a big over-the-shoulder catch good for 30 yards on the next drive, moving the Aggies into Red Raider territory. Kitchens would connect from 40 yards out to give A&M a 19-7 lead with 1:18 to play in the third quarter.
Kingsbury would shine on Tech's ensuing drive, going 5-for-7 for 55 yards in leading the Red Raiders to another score. The 84-yard, 11-play drive would cash in when Kingsbury found Baker over the middle on a 13-yard strike to cut the A&M lead to six. Cole Roberts caught a two-point conversion attempt, putting Tech within four at 19-15 with 13:41 to play in the game.
Whitaker was hit by Marquis Turner on the ensuing kickoff return and fumbled. Anthony Terrell recovered for the Red Raiders on the A&M 20-yard line, setting up the big dropped pass by Francis. The Aggies marched down the field, converting three 3rd-and-long situations to sustain the drive. Ferguson made another spectacular catch, this one off a tip by a Red Raider defender, to set up A&M at the Tech 3. Toombs would plow into the end zone on the next play out to increase the lead to 26-15. The junior fullback would tack on another scoring run of one yard to close out the scoring.
"I looked up and it went through the defender's hands," Ferguson said. "I was able to make the play. We do the tip drill every day in practice, so it really wasn't anything new to me."
Both teams racked up 345 yards of offense on the day, but the Aggies held Texas Tech to 23 yards on the ground on 28 attempts. Farris was 16-of-21 on the day for 186 yards, connecting eight times with Ferguson for 95 yards. Whitaker was A&M's leading ground-gainer, scoring a touchdown and gaining 73 yards on 12 carries. Kingsbury completed 28-of-50 passes for 291 yards and two touchdowns for the Red Raiders but was picked off twice.
"A lot goes into a game, especially a hotly-contested game like this," Slocum said. "Anytime you can win a conference game it's really big. We've got a very challenging conference schedule in a very competitive league. We took a step forward today, but it's a long time before this race is over."
A&M has now won seven of its last eight meetings with Texas Tech at Kyle Field. The Aggies play host to Colorado, winless after a loss to Kansas State in Boulder, on Saturday. Kickoff for the non-televised contest is set for 1 p.m.
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME NOTES
BIG DAY FOR J.GLENN --- Senior Butkus Award candidate Jason Glenn produced 11 tackles against Texas Tech, including 3 quarterback sacks and 7 total tackles behind the line of scrimmage. In the past two games, Glenn has posted 21 tackles, 5 QB sacks and 10 tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
BIG PLAY BROOKS --- Junior Jay Brooks showed his big-play prowess again today with 7 tackles, 1 tackles for loss, a blocked punt and a broken up pass.
TOUCHDOWN TOOMBS --- Junior fullback Ja'Mar Toombs scored a pair of touchdowns today, giving his five multi-TD games in his last six regular games. He has 12 touchdowns during that span. This season, Toombs has seven touchdowns on just 27 carries.
KITCHENS CONNECTS --- Senior Terence Kitchens was 2-of-2 on field goal attempts today, making him 5-of-6 for the season. For his career, Kitchens has connected on 20-of-29 three-pointers, tying him for eighth on A&M's school list for FGs made with Eric Franklin (1984-86) and Pat McDermott (1970-72). His career percentage of 68.9 ties for third-best in school history with Scott Slater (42-of-61, 1985-88).
FARRIS CONNECTS, TOO --- Sophomore quarterback Mark Farris has completed 64-of-99 passes for completion percentage of 64.0 this season, which is well ahead of the season school record pace of 60.7 percent by Kevin Murray in 1986.
RAIDED AT KYLE FIELD --- With today's victory, A&M has defeated Texas Tech seven of the last eight times at Kyle Field.
RARE DOUBLE-DIGIT WIN --- Today's 18-point win by the Aggies was just the sixth double-digit victory by either team in the series over the last 20 years. It was the largest Aggie winning margin over the Red Raiders at Kyle Field since a 50-15 pasting in 1988.
GROUNDING OPPOSING OFFENSES --- The Wrecking Crew gave up just 23 rushing yards (on 28 carries) to Texas Tech, marking the third time this season that opposing rushing attacks have been held under 100 yards. It was also Texas Tech's low rushing output of the year (previous low was 69 vs. New Mexico). It was fewest rushing yards allowed since the 1999 Louisiana Tech game when A&M held the Bulldogs to just 10 ground yards.
AGGIES RUN BALL EFFECTIVELY --- The Texas Tech defense came into today's game allowing just 101.2 rushing yards per game (2.8 per carry), but the Aggies' ground attack produced 150 yards on 35 carries. It was the season-high rushing output against the Red Raiders.
AGGIES PASS IT EFFECTIVELY, TOO --- The Red Raiders came into today's game with the nation's No. 3-ranked pass defense. Opponents were averaging just 99.2 yards and completing only 44.3 percent of pass attempts against the Raider defense. The Aggies completed 16-of-21 passes (76.7 percent) for 186 yards with no interceptions.
The Aggies rolled up 345 yards of total offense today against the Red Raiders, who came into the game ranked No. 4 nationally in total defense and were allowing just 200.5 total yards per game.
DOMINATION IN COLLEGE STATION --- The Aggies have won 22 straight games at Kyle Field, which is the third-longest home winning streak in the nation (behind Florida State's 30 and Kansas State's 24). It is the second-longest home string in school history behind the 29-game streak from 1990-95. The last loss at Kyle Field was a 13-10 decision to Texas Tech in 1996. No one on the A&M roster has ever played in a losing game at Kyle Field.
ANOTHER BIG CROWD AT KYLE FIELD --- Today's crowd of 83,644 was the second-largest in Kyle Field history behind last season's state of Texas football record of 86,128 vs. the Texas Longhorns. It also ranked as the fifth-largest crowd ever to see an A&M game - home or away. The overall crowd record is 104, 802 against Michigan in 1977.
FIRST DRIVE SUCCESS --- After just four games, the Aggies have already doubled 1999's touchdown total on opening drives. Last year, the Aggies scored six on their initial drive only once (vs. Missouri). This year the Aggies have posted opening offensive drive touchdowns against Wyoming and today against Texas Tech.
SECOND HALF DEFENSE --- Texas Tech's early fourth quarter touchdown was the first second half touchdown given up by the Aggie defense at Kyle Field since the 1999 Kansas game - a span of 10 quarters.
IMMEDIATE IMPACT --- Senior safety Michael Jameson's return to the lineup provided immediate defensive impact. Jameson sniffed out a fake field goal and intercepted a pass from holder Eric Rosiles. He returned it a career-best 76 yards and set up a 32-yard field goal by Terence Kitchens. The interception was the sixth of Jameson's career and the 76-yard return gave him 227 career interception return yards. The school record for career interception return yards is 289 set by Kevin Smith from 1988-91.
SIDELINE CELEBRITIES --- Watching the game from the Aggie sideline were several former standout A&M players --- Kevin Smith, Derrick Frazier, Robert Wilson and Shane Lechler. And the former President of the United States, George Bush.
MAROON OUT --- Today's game marked the first time the Aggies have won all maroon since 1996 when the "Maroon-Out" uniforms produced a 33-16 victory over Oklahoma. FYI, since the 1998 Nebraska game the A&M student body has begun wearing "Maroon-Out" t-shirts to games. The official 2000 "Maroon-Out" game is against Kansas State, however A&M fans have seemly designated every Aggie game (home and away) as "Maroon-Out" games.
CAPTAINS --- Texas A&M's game captains were: defensive lineman Ron Edwards, linebacker Brian Gamble, fullback Ja'Mar Toombs and placekicker Terence Kitchens.
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas A&M Postgame Quotes
Head Coach R.C. Slocum:
"Texas Tech came into the game 4-0 and we knew they would play hard because of the past experiences we've had with them. It was a good win and we feel good about it. Offensively, we got the job done. We have to hand it to Texas Tech because we got out of sync some, but we made the plays when we had to. We knew with the youth that we have in our secondary, we would have trouble covering that style of offense. (after dropped would-be TD pass by Tech) After the dropped pass, our offense did a great job of moving the ball down the field and scoring. Given the number of opportunities Texas Tech had offensively, I thought out defense played well. We were real close to having a great game. There were some real frustrating times during the game. We got a lot of pressure on (Kliff) Kingsbury, and the fact that he kept coming back is a tribute to that young man. There was no doubt we were emotionally ready for the ballgame and I thought we played hard. I knew Tech would not roll over and eventually we made some plays to win the game."
Quarterback Mark Farris:
"We didn't make any major adjustments. It just worked out that we were able to get (Robert) Ferguson the ball some more in the second half. We don't really care who catches the ball, just as long as we win."
Linebacker Jason Glenn:
"Coach (Mike) Hankwitz came in with an aggressive game plan today. He told me and Roylin (Bradley) he was going to cut us loose and let us go after their quarterback. We were much more aggressive than we were against this offense last year. We got to Kliff (Kingsbury) a lot today. He had to pick himself up off the ground several times and that takes a toll on you. (On Tech's dropped pass that might have resulted in a TD) Sean had pretty good coverage on him but the guy kind of pushed him and separated from him. When he dropped that pass, there was just a huge sigh of relief. That would have been really big if he'd have caught that pass. It could have been a back breaker for us."
Cornerback Sammy Davis:
"I like being out on the island as a cornerback. It's a great challenge to see who's the better man. It also helps out our defensive front because we can shut it down on the outside."
Fullback Ja'Mar Toombs:
"Our defense kept us in the game, but I thought our offense responded real well. I think we played a great gamed, especially in the fourth quarter. When the game got close, I was thinking 'we can't let these guys hang around.' But after I scored my first touchdown, I felt better about the game. After the second touchdown, I felt fine."
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Texas Tech Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Mike Leach ---
"There were a lot of big plays throughout the course of the game. The stupid personal foul penalty when we recovered that fumble hurt us. We weren't able to push it in. A&M deserves a lot of credit. This is a weird rivalry. It's funny at times. One of the most bizarre things was the accusations that we were spying on them. If that was the case we would have played better. I didn't think the crowd had that much of an effect on us. There were times when we took too much time to get the play off. We have to do things more consistently on offense. The dropped pass, that was tough part of the game. But there are 60 minutes worth of opportunities. We squandered too many downs. I was disappointed with a lot of the aspects of the personal foul penalties."
Quarterback Kliff Kingsbury ---
"That was a tough one to lose. I thought we were one play away from breaking it open. I felt a little sore. A&M brings a lot of pressure. We just made too many mistakes today. The penalties killed us. I think you saw the potential out there that we can be pretty good. This is the type of game you dream for when you're a kid. They have a lot of tradition here. (on injured index finger on throwing hand) I hit it on a helmet and I couldn't really feel it after that, but that's part of the game. (on virus early in week) My adrenaline just took over today.
Special teams coach Manny Matsakis ---
(on special teams miscues) "There's no question we had some miscues. We had young guys out there in that environment. But they bounced back in the second half. (on punt block) That was a key situation in the game. It was nothing that Texas A&M did. It was over-exciteness on our part. It was a breakdown in our punt protection. Our guy (wing protector) stepped hard to the outside and their guy came inside and blocked it. (on the fake FG) We noticed some tendencies on their part that we thought we could take advantage of. We did it for the element of surprise. They had the rush off our right side, but the safety stepped back and made the play. I think he was out of place. They've never showed that before."
Punter/Holder Eric Rosiles ---
(on fake FG) "The coaches from the sideline told me to go ahead with it, even though I heard (the Aggies) calling 'watch out for the fake.' That's the plan - to toss it up in the air so it rotates like a field goal."
Wide receiver Carlos Francis ---
(on pass drop) "It was supposed to be a fade route, but it was thrown short. It hit my facemask. That was a really big play in the game. I felt like I let the team down. To me, you win the game with all 11 players. On that play, we had 10 players going hard and one not. I have got to make those plays."