Texas A&M
Tulsa
Aggies Roll in Home Opener, 62-13
Sep 18, 1999 | Football
September 18, 1999
Texas A&M opened up the home portion of their 1999 season in fine fashion Saturday night, as the 7th-ranked Aggies rolled to a 62-13 victory over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in front of a sellout crowd of 67,647 at Kyle Field.
A&M set a school record for most passing yards in a game with 389, surpassing the previous mark of 385 set against Colorado at Kyle Field in 1996. On the night, the Aggies racked up 606 yards of offense, the most since they put up the same amount against Louisiana Tech at Kyle Field, also in 1996.
Junior wide receiver Chris Taylor had a career night, catching six passes for 177 yards and a touchdown. His score was a 96-yard strike from Randy McCown to start the fourth quarter, the longest play from scrimmage in Aggie history, surpassing D'Andre "Tiki" Hardeman's 95-yard rumble against Baylor in 1995. Previously, the longest pass play from scrimmage was a 92-yarder from Gary Kubiak to Don Jones against Louisiana Tech in 1981.
Taylor was also a force on special teams, as he returned three punts for 44 yards and one kickoff for 28 yards.
"All the credit goes up front," Taylor said. "The offensive line did a great job of protecting and Randy McCown put the ball right on the money. My job was easy."
Senior quarterback Randy McCown was 13-for-30 with two touchdowns, throwing for a personal best 320 yards. He was lifted early in the fourth quarter for redshirt freshman Vance Smith, who went 3-for-6 with 53 yards, including an 11-yard touchdown strike to Mickey Jones. True freshman Mark Farris also saw some action, completing two of his four passes for 16 yards.
True freshman Joe Weber (13 carries-54 yards) was the leading ground-gainer for the Aggies. Dante Hall rushed 11 times for 53 yards and a score.
Tulsa was limited to just 192 yards of total offense, and turned the ball over six times, bringing A&M's turnover margin since the end of the 1996 season to a whopping +37. The Golden Hurricane managed just 40 yards on the ground on 32 carries, bringing the total rushing yardage against A&M's defense this season to just 50.
"I thought it was a decent effort by our defense tonight," senior defensive back Jason Webster said. "I was especially pleased that we were able to create some turnovers. The offense did a good job of taking advantage of their opportunities."
Webster, Ronald Patton, Michael Jameson and Brandon Jennings accounted for A&M's four interceptions of TU's quarterbacks. Five Aggies led the Wrecking Crew in tackles with seven, while Jason Glenn recorded three sacks for a total of 21 yards.
A&M opened the scoring early in the first quarter, capitalizing on a Brandon Jennings interception with a 23-yard field goal by junior Terence Kitchens. Tulsa responded later in the quarter, taking their only lead of the game at 7-3 with a six-yard touchdown pass from Michael Wall to Damon Savage.
The Aggies posted 28 points in the second frame to hold a comfortable 31-7 lead heading into halftime. Ja'Mar Toombs scored his first points of 1999 with a one-yard plunge at the 13:32 mark, as the Aggies regained the lead at 10-7. RoDerrick Broughton scored his first touchdown in maroon and white with 7:58 to play in the half, as McCown connected with him on a 20-yard strike. Hall joined in just over two minutes later with a five-yard jaunt, and McCown closed out the first-half scoring with a 12-yard scamper with 2:21 left.
Tulsa came out strong to start the second half as Joel Blankenship connected with Corey Brown for a 73-yard strike down to the A&M 7-yard-line. Ken Bohanon scored on the next play on a seven-yard run.
Toombs notched his second one-yard touchdown run on the night with 5:24 left in the 3rd quarter, capping a drive that was set up by a 24-yard interception return by junior Michael Jameson.
Taylor's 96-yard catch-and-run opened the fourth quarter, followed by a Kitchens' 37-yard field goal. Jones made his touchdown catch with 3:50 to play, and freshman walk-on Stacy Jones closed out the scoring with a 16-yard touchdown run with just eight seconds left in the game.
"I was pleased with our overall performance," A&M head coach R.C. Slocum said. "I thought we started off rough, but then got into a good tempo. I was pleased we were able to force turnovers and the offense capitalized on those opportunities."
The Aggies run their record to 11-0 in home openers under R.C. Slocum and their home winning streak to 14 games.
A&M returns to action next Saturday at Kyle Field when they play host to the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles, 20-13 losers at No. 4 Nebraska Saturday. Kickoff for the contest, televised regionally by ABC, is set for 2:30 p.m. (CDT).
