Toombs Leads Second-Half Charge as Aggies Top UTEP, 45-17

Saturday, September 16

College Station

7:00 PM

Texas A&M

2-1

UTEP

1-2

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
UTEP	7	10	0	0	17
Texas A&M	14	0	14	17	45

Sep 16, 2000 | Football

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

September 16, 2000

Ja'Mar Toombs stood up in the locker room at halftime and put a stop to any negative thoughts that may have been in the air with his team down by three points.

"Just relax. I'll take care of it. It's just 30 minutes. We've got a whole other half to go out and play ball. Just play. Beat them."

The Aggies responded, scoring 31 unanswered points--18 courtesy Toombs--and posting a shutout in the second half to notch a 45-17 victory over the Texas-El Paso Miners Saturday before 69,184 fans at Kyle Field.

Once again, a different set of heroes emerged for the Aggie offense. This time, Bethel Johnson was quarterback Mark Farris' favorite target, catching a career-high eight balls for 74 yards. On the ground, sophomore Joe Weber racked up 91 yards on 11 carries and scored once, while junior Ja'Mar Toombs scored three touchdowns in short yardage situations. The Aggies finished with 232 yards on the ground and 414 overall.

"We knew coming out of the Wyoming game that we had to take care of our running game," senior offensive lineman Chris Valletta said. "I think we did that. We pride ourselves on being physical, and I thought we were that as well."

A&M coaches and players to a man had warned all week that the Miners were a faster and more athletic squad than Wyoming. Fans and observers found that out as soon as the game kicked off, as UTEP held A&M to three-and-out before scoring on its opening drive. Quarterback Rocky Perez found All-America candidate Brian Natkin, on a 22-yard strike, converting 3rd-and-12 and moving the Miners into A&M territory. That would lead to a 6-yard touchdown catch by tight end Joey Knapp to give UTEP the early 7-0 advantage.

The Aggies would answer by scoring touchdowns on their next two possessions. With redshirt freshman Richard Whitaker carrying much of the load on a 73-yard drive, junior wide receiver Robert Ferguson fought off pass interference from the UTEP secondary to haul in a 6-yard touchdown pass from Farris to tie the score. Weber would score on a 16-yard run on the next possession to give A&M their first lead of the game.

Perez would connect with Lee Mays on a 35-yard strike early in the second quarter to tie the game. A three-minute drive saw the Miners run the ball just once and convert two 3rd-down situations on a Perez-to-Natkin connection. UTEP would tack on a 37-yard Ricky Bishop field goal to take the three-point lead into the locker room.

"At the half, the big thing I told the team was to just tackle," Slocum said. "I thought they had kept the ball moving by breaking some tackles. We missed some key tackles that would have stopped drives. We made some adjustments and tried to get more pressure on their quarterback, and I think we did that."

UTEP looked to increase their lead to start the second half, as they began the third quarter with a methodical march down the field that took them into field goal range. The Miners, who had successfully converted their only 4th-down attempt of the game, elected to try again needing one yard at the Aggie 31. Senior linebacker Jason Glenn came over the pile and stuffed Perez on a sneak attempt to regain the momentum A&M desperately needed.

"They were executing well, especially on third and fourth down, so why not go for it?" Glenn said. "I think that stop was a big momentum factor for us. It was probably the turning point in the game."

The offense would respond with a clutch 12-play, 69-yard drive fueled by the big-play potential of Johnson. The junior wideout caught three 3rd-down passes of nine, 23 and 11 yards-all of which moved the chains-setting up a 2-yard touchdown rumble by Ja'Mar Toombs to give A&M a 21-17 lead with five minutes to go in the third quarter.

The Miner defense would stop A&M on its next drive, as Sam Singleton picked off a Farris pass in UTEP territory. The drive would stall, forcing the Miners to punt, and junior defensive back Jay Brooks came up with a big block of Glen Beard's kick. Dawon Gentry recovered at the UTEP 1-yard line for the Aggies, setting up a score by Toombs that increased the lead to 11.

The Aggies got a 21-yard field goal by Terence Kitchens early in the fourth quarter to make the score 31-17. Five minutes later Toombs tied a career high by scoring his third touchdown of the night, a 2-yard plunge that put the game out of reach. Redshirt freshman quarterback Colby Freeman raced into the end zone from 15 yards out with 39 seconds left to close out the scoring.

"He has been nothing but a team player," Slocum said of Toombs, who posted his fourth multi-touchdown effort in the last five regular season games. "He's such a load to try to bring down, and runs with such determination. I can't say enough about his attitude."

The Wrecking Crew defense stepped up big time in the second half, holding a potent Miners offense to just two first downs, 87 yards and no points. Sophomore Brian Gamble and Glenn led the way with 13 and 10 tackles, respectively. Glenn sacked Perez twice, while Gamble wrapped him up once and also intercepted a pass.

"UTEP has an excellent offense, and they really gave us a scare in the first two quarters," Glenn said. "We came in at the half and said we won't lose at Kyle Field. The linebackers took it upon themselves to step up and show the younger guys about that. We were able to come back and show them what Wrecking Crew football is all about."

Farris had a solid evening, completing 18-of-29 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown. The sophomore from Angleton completed his first eight passes of the game, the most by an A&M quarterback since 1995. Farris also rushed for 54 yards, the top rushing performance by a an Aggie signal caller in nine years.

The win extended the Aggies' home winning streak to 21 games, dating back to 1996. Slocum runs his record at home to an impressive 62-5-1 (.912) in his 12-year career. The team that last tagged a loss on A&M at Kyle Field, Texas Tech, comes to town as the Aggies' next opponent on Sept. 30. A&M is off next week.

"I was disappointed that the offense wasn't more productive in the first half," Slocum said. "But, I think it will be good for the team now that the game is over. This can be a plus for us. We saw how the team responded after being down at the half. We will try to get some guys healthy during this open date and get ready for Texas Tech."