October 14, 2000
WACO, Texas-- The Texas A&M football team posted its first road shutout since 1976, blanking the Baylor Bears 24-0 Saturday before 40,076 fans at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco.
A&M (4-2, 2-1 Big 12) got a strong performance by sophomore quarterback Mark Farris, who went 22-of-40 on the day for 311 yards and a touchdown. Two of the Aggie touchdowns came on the ground courtesy fullback Ja'Mar Toombs and wide receiver Bethel Johnson, with one coming on a screen pass to running back Joe Weber. The three touchdowns scored by the Aggies were all fueled by Baylor turnovers.
The game remained scoreless until the first play of the second quarter. Texas A&M capped their longest drive of the season when wide receiver Bethel Johnson took an end-around from Farris and walked into the end zone from 15 yards out, putting A&M up 7-0 with 14:53 to play in the half. Three 3rd-and-long situations were converted by the Aggie offense on the 97-yard, 14-play march.
Senior placekicker Terence Kitchens increased the lead to 10 with just under two minutes to go in the half, connecting from 21 yards out. The key play on the drive was a 27-yard connection between Farris and Ferguson from the A&M 25.
Following a third-quarter Sammy Davis interception, A&M marched 76 yards downfield--again converting three third-down opportunities--and cashed in on Weber's 18-yard screen pass to go up 17-0.
Linebacker Brian Gamble picked off a Kerry Dixon pass on the Baylor 33-yard line midway through the fourth quarter, but penalties forced A&M into a 3rd-and-24 situation on the Bear 47. Farris found wide receiver Dwain Goynes deep down the left side for 43 yards, and two plays later Toombs plowed in from 1-yard out to close out the scoring.
The Wrecking Crew defense held Baylor (2-4, 0-2) to 236 yards of total offense in sending the Bears to their 16th straight conference loss. BU has not scored in eight quarters, as they were shut out by Texas Tech last week. The freshman Dixon made his first career start, completing 11-of-27 passes for 107 yards. He was sacked twice and threw four interceptions.
A&M returns to action on Saturday when they travel to Ames to battle the Iowa State Cyclones. The game will kick off at 2:30 p.m. and will be televised regionally by ABC.
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME NOTES
AGGIES OPEN SCORING WITH LONG DRIVE --- The Aggies opened the game's scoring with their longest drive of the season. The Aggies covered 97 yards on 12 plays while burning 4:43 off the clock. The previous long drive for the Aggies was a one play, 93-yard "drive" against Wyoming when quarterback Mark Farris connected with wide receiver Robert Ferguson on a 93-yard TD strike. Prior to today's game, the longest actual drive of the season was an 80-yarder against Wyoming.
FIRST ROAD SHUTOUT SINCE 1976 --- Today's 24-0 shutout of Baylor was the Aggies' first road shutout since 1976 when A&M shut out SMU 36-0 in Dallas. It was A&M's first shutout of Baylor since 1976 when the Aggies took a 24-0 decision at Kyle Field
FARRIS' FIRST 300-YARD GAME --- Sophomore quarterback Mark Farris became the fourth sophomore in school history to throw for more than 300 yards in a single game with a 311-yard effort today on 22-of-40 passing. The others are: Branndon Stewart, 385 vs. Colorado, 1996; Edd Hargett, 309 vs. TCU, 1966; and Kevin Murray, 308 vs. Baylor, 1985.
AGGIES EXTEND WINNING STREAK OVER BEARS --- With today's victory, the Aggies extended their winning streak over the Bears to 10 games and haven't lost to the Bears in 15 games (Baylor and A&M battled to a 20-20 tie in 1990). The winning streak moved into tie for the fourth-longest active winning streak over an opponent (with Sam Houston).
Active Win Streaks by Aggies
Wins Team Most Recent Blemish
#23 Texas Christian 1972, 13-10
18 Southwestern never
15 Rice 1980, 10-6
10 Sam Houston never
10 Baylor 1990, 20-20
# -- school record
PORTER BECOMES VITAL PART OF PASSING GAME --- Two-sport standout Greg Porter has become a vital part of the Aggies' passing attack. Porter, who also excels on the Aggie baseball team, grabbed 2 passes for 27 yards against Baylor today and now has caught 9 passes for 100 yards since posting his first career reception in the second game of the season.
Porter's Contributions
Rec. Yds. Opponent
2# 16 Wyoming
DNP-injured UTEP
2 28 Texas Tech
3 29 Colorado
2 27 Baylor
# -- first catch of career
REBOUND GAMES --- The Aggies, who fell to Colorado, 26-19, last week, improved to 20-5-1 in "rebound games" with today's victory over Baylor. A&M head coach R.C. Slocum has lost back-to-back games just five times during his 12 years as A&M head coach.
TIDBITS --- Today's 12th Man Kickoff Team representative was Eric Stanford, a sophomore from nearby Waco Robinson High School ... Game captains for the Aggies were: junior wide receiver Bethel Johnson, junior linebacker Harold Robertson, senior safety Michael Jameson and senior placekicker Terence Kitchens ... Sophomore Brian Gamble grabbed a pair of interceptions today and has emerged as the team leader with 3 for the season. Prior to today's game, the Aggies had five total interceptions, all by different defenders ... The Aggies are 2-0 this season in the FOX syndicated game of the week and 8-1 since the formation of the Big 12 Conference ... Quarterback Mark Farris completed passes to eight different receivers ... True freshman Cody Scates nailed a 65-yard punt in the fourth quarter, his career-long ... Farris extended his interception-free streak to 98 attempts before throwing a pick to end the first half ... Junior Amon Simon, who has seen time at fullback this season, saw action on defense against the Bears.... The Aggies converted 9-of-17 third-down chances against the Bears.
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH R.C. SLOCUM --- "I thought Mark Farris had a good day passing the football. We had some plays to make, but we didn't get it done. But overall I thought Farris had a good day. I'm happy with the win today because it was our next conference game. We have a lot of work to get done before we're ready to play Iowa State. I thought Baylor played hard and were well-coached. I'm happy anytime you can get a shutout because they are hard to come by."
QUARTERBACK MARK FARRIS --- "I thought we played well enough to win. I thought my play was average, in fact I don't think I played very well at all. I haven't seen the numbers at all. I'm just happy we won the game. "
WIDE RECEIVER ROBERT FERGUSON --- "We knew we had to convert our third-down chances today, and I thought we did a pretty good job of it. We still have a lot of work to do. All wins are important for us. We're going to play every game like it's our last."
LINEBACKER BRIAN GAMBLE --- "We were sluggish in the first half, but we made adjustments at halftime and then rose up and stopped them in the second half. It's pretty cool getting a shutout because they're extremely hard to come by in college football. We're happy with the win but I know in my heart that we can play better.
LINEBACKER JASON GLENN --- "They were really moving the ball in the beginning of the game. Coach Hank made some adjustments and we were able to stop them the rest of the game. It was a sloppy game for us, and I'm proud of the win. If we continue to play like we played today, we will not win any more games. We did get a shutout, and that is something we can build on."