October 20, 2001
MANHATTAN, Kan.-- Mark Farris threw two first-half touchdown passes and Texas A&M scored 17 points in the final three minutes of the third quarter in a 31-24 victory over Kansas State on Saturday.
Jarrod Penright returned a fumble 17 yards for a touchdown for the Aggies (6-1, 3-1 Big 12), who won despite making only one first down in the second half. They capitalized on three turnovers--two by quarterback Ell Roberson--in their third-quarter surge.
Kansas State (2-4, 0-4), ranked No. 11 before its skid began, mounted a fourth-quarter comeback but saw its losing streak reach four games for the first time since 1992. The Wildcats also lost consecutive home games for the first time since 1989, when they finished 1-10 in Bill Snyder's first season as coach.
Roberson's replacement, Marc Dunn, led Kansas State on two fourth-quarter touchdown drives, scoring on a 1-yard sneak with 10:42 left and passing 17 yards to Nick Warren to set up Rock Cartwright's 5-yard TD run with 4:54 remaining.
Aaron Lockett, Kansas State's new career leader in all-purpose yardage, returned a punt 52 yards to the Aggies 23 with less than three minutes remaining. Dunn's 2-yard keeper on fourth-and-1 gave the Wildcats a first down at A&M's 12 with 1{ minutes remaining, but safety Terrence Kiel stopped Josh Scobey for a 2-yard gain on fourth-and-3 from the 5 with 46 seconds left.
The Aggies led 14-7 at the half but saw that cut to 14-10 with just under 5 minutes in the third quarter, when Jared Brite's partially blocked kick bounced off the crossbar and through for a 27-yard field goal.
The Wildcats forced a punt on Texas A&M's next possession, but Lockett muffed his fair-catch attempt. Jonte Buhl recovered at the Wildcats 25, setting up Cody Scates' 42-yard field goal with 2:50 left in the quarter.
Two plays later, Brian Gamble intercepted Roberson's pass and returned it 12 yards to the Wildcats 9. Two plays after that, Joe Weber scored on a 1-yard run for a 24-10 lead.
On Kansas State's next play, Roberson was hit by Christian Rodriguez as he tried to pitch to Scobey. The ball bounced away from a diving Scobey, and Penright scooped it up and ran it in to put the Aggies up 33-10.
Roberson's replacement, Marc Dunn, led Kansas State on two fourth-quarter touchdown drives, scoring on a 1-yard sneak with 10:42 left and passing 17 yards to Nick Warren to set up Rock Cartwright's 5-yard TD run with 4:54 remaining.
Farris gave Texas A&M a 14-0 lead with TD passes of 9 yards to Oschlor Flemming in the first quarter and 44 yards to Terrence Murphy early in the second.
Scobey scored on a 4-yard run with seven seconds to go in the half, after Scates' 21-yard punt gave Kansas State a first down at the Aggies 32.
Lockett had 128 all-purpose yards, giving him 3,558 for his career. Andre Coleman had 3,443 from 1990-93
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME NOTES
ANOTHER 100-YARD DAY FOR FRESHMAN MURPHY: True freshman wide receiver Terrence Murphy grabbed 5 passes for 107 yards and a touchdown making him the first freshman in school history to post 100 yard receiving games in consecutive contests. Last week Murphy set freshman school records with 11 catches for 146 yards.
Of Mark Farris' 134 passing yards against Kansas State, 79.9 percent of the passing yardage went to Murphy.
Prior to arriving on the A&M campus this fall, Murphy had never played wide receiver at any level. He was the district offensive MVP as a quarterback for Class 4A Chapell Hill High School last year.
BOWL ELIGIBLE AGAIN: With today's victory, the Aggies are going bowling for the fifth straight year and for the 11th time in head coach R.C. Slocum's 13 seasons at Texas A&M.
KEY STAT: POINTS AFTER TURNOVER: The Aggies' 31-24 victory over Kansas State was greatly aided by the 17 points A&M scored after three Kansas State turnovers. The Aggies were turnover-free for the second time this season (first time was against Notre Dame).
MORE REMINDERS OF 1998 CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM: The Aggies beat Kansas State 31-24 on the road despite its lowest offensive output in a victory since posting only 171 yards of total offense in a 24-6 road victory over Southern Mississippi in 1998.
Jarrod Penright's 17-yard fumble return for a touchdown was A&M's second defensive touchdown of the season and the first fumble return for a TD since Warrick Holdman recovered a Bobby Newcombe fumble in the endzone against Nebraska in 1998.
FOR THE RECORD:
KSU had nearly a 10-minute advantage in time of possession (34:50-25:10) and ran 33 more offensive plays than the Aggies (85 to 52), while outgaining A&M 358 to 189.
The 17 points allowed by A&M in the second half matched a season-high first set by Colorado last week.
The Aggies have won three straight games against the Wildcats.
Sophomore Cody Scates averaged more than 40 yards per boot for the second straight game with a 40.8 average on 8 punts.
Game captains for the Kansas State game were: junior Billy Yates, junior Taylor Whitley, junior Jarrod Penright and sophomore Cody Scates.
Representing the A&M student body on the 12th Man Kickoff team was Robert Jordan, a senior from Brenham, Texas.
The Aggies' first-quarter 13-play drive was a season-high for number of plays on a touchdown drive (others used more plays but did not result in a touchdown).
The 52-yard punt return by Aaron Lockett by the longest of the year by an A&M opponent and the longest against the Aggies since Oklahoma State's Gabe Lindsey's 57-yard return for a touchdown in 2000.