A&M Wins Fourth Straight With Tough 21-16 Victory Over OSU

Saturday, November 4

Stillwater, Okla.

1:00 PM

Texas A&M

7-2 , 5-1

Oklahoma State

2-6 , 0-5

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Texas A&M

Oklahoma State

Nov 04, 2000 | Football

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

November 04, 2000

Texas A&M won its fourth straight football game of the season, surviving a late Oklahoma State drive and defeating the Cowboys 21-16 Saturday afternoon before 36,310 fans at Lewis Field.

The Aggies, who have not lost since an Oct. 7 setback to Colorado, move to 7-2 on the year and 5-1 in Big 12 play. Oklahoma State remains winless in league action at 0-5 and is 2-6 overall.

"We were very fortunate to win the game," said A&M head coach R.C. Slocum, who won his fourth-straight Big 12 road contest. "Oklahoma State did a great job. They were well prepared and their team played very hard. We made some mistakes in the ball game, particularly in the kicking game in the second half, but I give a lot of credit to them."

Texas A&M held a slim five-point lead as OSU began its final drive of the game with 5:53 to play on its own 29. The Cowboys sustained the long drive by converting on both a 3rd- and a 4th-and-long situation, and sat on the Aggie 15-yard line with just over a minute to go. Three passes from Aso Pogi fell incomplete, setting up a 4th-and-10 with just over 40 seconds left. Pogi looked to the left corner of the endzone, and his pass to tight end Marcellus Rivers was just out of bounds, sealing the A&M victory.

The game remained scoreless until early in the second quarter when, on the first play of A&M's fourth possession, sophomore quarterback Mark Farris found junior wide receiver Robert Ferguson deep down the right sideline for a 40-yard touchdown pass and a 7-0 lead. The Cowboys responded by marching down the field on the ensuing drive and scoring on a 4-yard keeper by Pogi to tie the game.

Coming out of the locker room after the break, the Aggies marched 80 yards to take the lead for good. Redshirt freshman Richard Whitaker shined on the drive, rushing for 58 of the 80 yards including a 10-yard score. Whitaker ended the game with 76 yards on 10 carries.

OSU again responded on its next possession, this time with a 42-yard field goal by Seth Condley to cut the A&M lead to four. Junior fullback Ja'Mar Toombs would score his 12th touchdown of the season, a 2-yard plunge with 5:26 to play in the third quarter, to make the score 21-10.

With eight minutes to play in the game, Oklahoma State's Gabe Lindsay returned a Cody Scates punt 57 yards for a touchdown, cutting the lead to six. The ensuing two-point conversion attempt was no good. Lindsay's score was the first punt return given up for a touchdown by A&M since 1988, when OSU's Barry Sanders scored on a 58-yarder on the very same field in a 52-15 Cowboy win.

"We said all week this would be a tough game, and it was," said Farris, who ended the day 24-for-37 for 246 yards and a touchdown. "You have to give them credit, OSU played a great game. We're all about winning football games, so we'll take this one. The Big 12 is a tough conference and it's always hard to win on the road."

Ferguson, who left the game in the third quarter with a left knee sprain, caught 11 balls for 119 yards, the most catches since Albert Connell's school record of 18 in 1996. Whitaker led the Aggie ground attack, while Joe Weber added 48 and Toombs contributed 41.

Oklahoma State was led offensively by running back Reggie White, who became the first back this season to rush for over 100 yards against A&M with 112 on 19 carries. White also caught three passes for 27 yards. Pogi was 15-of-29 for 146 yards and was sacked three times.

Texas A&M now prepares for its final home game of the season, a showdown with the top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday, Nov. 11. The game will mark the first time since 1977 since a No. 1-ranked team visited Kyle Field. Kickoff for the game, scheduled for broadcast on ABC-TV on a split-national basis, is set for 12 p.m. (CST).