Texas A&M
Baylor
No. 12 Aggies Roll Past Baylor, 45-13
Oct 09, 1999 | Football
October 09, 1999
Senior quarterback Randy McCown passed for three third-quarter touchdowns to lead the 12th-ranked Texas A&M football team to a 45-13 victory over the Baylor Bears Saturday afternoon before 75,476 fans at Kyle Field, the 7th-largest home crowd in A&M history. With the win, A&M holds the 4th-longest home winning streak in the country at 16 games.
Baylor (1-5, 0-2 Big 12) drew first blood in the contest, as Kyle Atteberry booted a 52-yard field goal on the opening drive of the game. Following a Texas A&M punt that pinned the Bears at their own 10-yard line, Michael Jameson picked off a Jermaine Alfred pass at the BU 20 and streaked into the end zone for his second interception return for a touchdown to give the Aggies a 7-3 lead.
The Bears cut the lead to one early in the second quarter on a 23-yard field goal, but the Aggies never let them get closer than that. Terence Kitchens booted a 27-yard field goal with seven minutes to play in the half to bring the margin back to four. Freshman running back Joe Weber closed out the scoring in the first half, running seven yards for his first collegiate touchdown with 2:38 to play in the quarter.
Leading 17-6 at halftime, the Aggies opened the second half with a quick seven-play, 71-yard drive that ended in a 26-yard scoring strike from McCown to Ja'Mar Toombs. After forcing the Bears to go three-and-out, A&M drove 58 yards in 10 plays to notch another score, this time a 12-yard pass from McCown to Leroy Hodge, to make the score 31-6.
Baylor took the ensuing kickoff and marched down the field, but their drive stalled when Atteberry's 37-yard field goal try was blocked by Beau Schmidt. After an incomplete pass and a run for no gain, McCown connected for his third TD strike of the quarter, this time a 74-yard bomb to Bethel Johnson.
"We are happy to come home and get a win in front of our home crowd," McCown said. "In the first half, we were a little rusty, but in the second half, we got into a rhythm and got things going."
With redshirt freshman quarterback Vance Smith under center early in the fourth quarter, the Aggie offense broke the goal line one more time. Following a 28-yard pass from Smith to Chris Cole, Eric Bernard plunged two yards into the end zone to make the score 45-6.
Baylor closed out the scoring with four minutes to go, as a 40-yard field goal try by Kitchens was blocked by Gary Baxter and returned 63 yards for a touchdown by the Bears' Daniel Wilturner.
Our goal was to get a touchdown, and we were able to get more than that," A&M offensive lineman Chris Valletta said. "I think that shows definite improvement this week. Regardless, of who the team is, we have to establish ourselves. Randy (McCown) did a great job by getting the ball down field to the receivers. Our backs fought real hard for those extra yards."
The Aggies generated 417 yards of offense, 195 on the ground and 222 through the air. Bernard (15 carries, 81 yards, TD), Toombs (13-60) and Weber (13-50-1) all had over 50 yards rushing. McCown completed 9-of-17 passes on the day for 187 yards and three TDs. Cole led the A&M receiving corps, grabbing three passes for 69 yards.
Shane Lechler had another banner punting day, booting three punts for an average of 52.3.
"I thought we were better this week (on offense)," A&M head coach R.C. Slocum said. "We ran the ball pretty well, but I'm still not totally pleased with either side of the ball. It's always good to win by a large margin of victory, but it's apparent there is still a lot of work to be done."
With the win, Slocum is just two wins shy of his 100th career victory. He moves his overall record to 98-29-2 (.767) and his home mark to 57-5-1 (.913).
The Aggies return to action Saturday when they play host to the Kansas Jayhawks at Kyle Field. Kickoff for the game, which will be regionally televised on the Big 12 Television Network, is set for 11:30 a.m. (CDT). The game will mark just KU's second visit to College Station, with its first coming back in 1977.
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