Aggies Fall at No. 10 Texas, 50-20

Friday, November 29

Austin, Texas

TBA

Texas A&M

6-6 , 3-5

(#10) Texas

10-2 , 6-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Texas A&M

Texas

Nov 29, 2002 | Football

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

Chris Simms passed for 278 yards and three touchdowns to lead 10th-ranked Texas past Texas A&M 50-20 Friday.

The game was played four days after A&M freshman defensive tackle Brandon Fails died after collapsing in his dorm. Aggies players wore stickers on their helmets with his No. 89.

Roy Williams caught touchdown passes of 75 and 38 yards from Simms, Michael Huff returned an interception 28 yards for a TD, and Nathan Vasher went 60 yards with a punt return to score.

Texas (10-2, 6-2) broke open a tight game with 27 straight points in the second half.

Texas A&M (6-6, 3-5) had six turnovers, including four by quarterback Dustin Long that led to 16 points for Texas and denied the Aggies a touchdown when the game was still close.

Texas led 9-0 in the first quarter after the Aggies turned the ball over on their first three possessions. Dusty Mangum kicked field goals of 37, 41 and 28 yards.

A&M had little trouble moving the ball early when it could hold onto it. Long, who threw an interception on the first drive, drove the Aggies 82 yards and hit Terrance Thomas for a 12-yard TD.

Texas led 9-7 after the first quarter but had just 48 total yards compared to 124 by A&M.

Simms and the Longhorns finally cranked it up in the second. B.J. Johnson took a short pass on a crossing route, broke Byron Jones' tackle and raced 44 yards for a touchdown.

After forcing a punt on A&M's next possession, Texas needed just one more play to find the end zone again. Williams burned Jones on a slant, hauled in Simms' pass on his hip and coasted in for the 75-yard score.

A&M had a chance to cut the lead and gain momentum going into halftime, driving to the Texas 10 with a minute left. But Long's pass into the end zone was tipped by Texas' Rod Babers and intercepted by Dakarai Pearson.

Texas led 23-14 in the third when faced with a fourth-and-1 from the Aggies 30. Cedric Benson, who rushed for 88 yards, broke off right tackle and ran virtually untouched to the end zone.

In the fourth, Long committed his fourth turnover when he was stripped of the ball by Cory Redding. Simms connected with Williams on a perfect strike into the end zone on the next play.

Williams finished with 149 yards on six catches.

Reggie McNeal, the freshman quarterback who sparked the Aggies' win over then-No. 1 Oklahoma three weeks ago, didn't play because of an ankle injury.

Texas has won 19 straight at home and secured consecutive 10-win seasons for the first time since 1969-70.

TEXAS A&M POSTGAME NOTES

LONG MATCHES SEASON TD MARK: With two touchdown passes against the Longhorns, A&M sophomore quarterback Dustin Long matched the 20-year old school record of 19 passing touchdowns set by Gary Kubiak in 1982. Long also passed for 195 yards on 17-of-25 passing to move his season passing total to 2,509 which ranks No. 2 in school history behind Mark Farris' record of 2,551 set in 2,000.

TAYLOR MOVES TO NO. 4 IN SEASON RECEIVING YARDS: Despite missing two games due to a knee injury, junior Jamaar Taylor finished 2002 with 44 catches for 760 yards, which is the fourth-most single season receiving yards in school history. He finished the game with two catches for 54 yards.

FARMER HAS STRONG DAY: Sophomore running back Derek Farmer notched his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season with 122 yards on 17 carries against the Longhorns. Farmer also netted 100-plus games vs. Louisiana Tech (119), Texas Tech (132) and Kansas (111). He finished the regular season with 739 rushing yards, which is the most by an A&M rusher since Dante Hall rushed for 1,024 yards in the 1998 Big 12 Championship season.

PORTER MOVES BACK INTO NATIONAL LEAD: Senior tight end Greg Porter grabbed three catches for 29 to move back into the national lead for receptions by a tight end. Porter finished 2002 with 48 catches for 469 yards, which moved him past Michigan's Bennie Joppru (47 for 499).

TURNOVERS: The Aggies turned the ball over six times, which is the most since A&M gave away eight turnovers against Louisiana-Lafayette in 1996. The Longhorns scored 23 points after the six turnovers. Coming into today's game, A&M had allowed just 23 points after giving up a turnover.

The Aggies actually matched their season-high for turnovers the first three times they touched the ball today against the Longhorns. The Aggies threw an interception and fumbled twice on its first three possessions. The Aggies also had three turnovers against Missouri, Kansas and Virginia Tech.

JOLLY TIME: Freshman noseguard Johnny Jolly blocked a Longhorn 43-yard field goal attempt by Dusty Mangum in the third quarter, marking his second straight game with a block. Jolly also thwarted a 38-yard attempt by Missouri's Mike Matheny on Nov. 16. The Aggies have blocked four field goal attempts in 2002.

FOR THE RECORD: R.C. Slocum's career record against Texas falls to 7-7. *** The Aggies' season record falls to 6-6, just the second non-winning regular season of the Slocum era. Slocum has never had a losing season at Texas A&M. Slocum and Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer are the only 10-year coaching veterans in Div. IA college football without a losing season on their record *** The 30-point margin of victory for the Longhorns is the most in the series since 1996 when Texas tallied a 36-point win in a 51-15 decision *** Sophomore quarterback Jason Carter tallied the first touchdown of his career with a spectacular 15-yard run in the fourth quarter. *** Sophomore Blake Kendrick, a walkon linebacker from Willis HS, was the 12th Man Kickoff Team representative *** Game captains were Cody Scates, Brian Gamble, Billy Yates and Sammy Davis.

TEXAS POSTGAME NOTES

The Longhorns improved to 70-34-5 in the all-time series against Texas A&M. Texas has won three straight and six of the past eight meetings. Texas has won the last four games at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium and holds a 44-10-1 advantage in contests played in Austin.

The Longhorns extended their home winning streak to 19 games (No. 3 in UT history), which ties South Florida for the second-longest active streak nationally. Miami (Fla.) owns the nation's longest active streak at 21 games.

Texas wrapped up its third straight perfect home slate and the fourth in five years under Mack Brown. The last time Texas had three straight perfect seasons at home was from 1973-75. The Longhorns are 27-2 (.931) at home under Mack Brown.

Texas improved to 8-1 in regular-season games following a bye week under Mack Brown.

The Longhorns have now posted back-to-back 10 (or more) win seasons for just the third time in school history. The only other times that has happened in the program's history is 1963-64 (11-0/10-1) and 1969-70 (11-0/10-1).

Today's sellout marks UT's 16th consecutive capacity crowd at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium and the 24th in the last 26 home contests overall. Today's crowd of 83,711 is the fourth-largest crowd in school history.

Texas has scored in a Big 12-record 264 consecutive games, the second-longest streak in the nation. The Longhorns also have scored in 144 straight home games and a Big 12-record 173 conference games in a row. 4 The Longhorns defense has posted an interception in 16 of its last 19 games.

Each of UT's first three drives began in A&M territory as result of Aggie turnovers and each led to Dusty Mangum FGs. Texas scored 22 points off A&M turnovers (3 FG/2TD).

Under Mack Brown, Texas improved to: 36-4 when scoring first; 33-5 when forcing more turnovers than the opponent; 28-5 when passing for more than 250 yards; 44-7 when scoring more than 20 points; and 43-6 when leading at halftime.

The Texas defense/special teams has scored in 20 of the last 24 games. Michael Huff's fourth-quarter interception return was the seventh defensive/special teams score this year and the third by interception return.

TEXAS INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Junior WR Roy Williams: Williams extended his UT record to 33 consecutive games with a catch ... Williams broke the UT single-season TD reception record with his 11th TD of the season in the fourth quarter, breaking the prior mark of 10 set by Herkie Walls in 1982 ... Williams extended his UT career TD receptions record to 26 ... Williams tied the UT record for consecutive 100-yard receiving games of four set by Mike Adams from Oct. 30-Nov. 20, 1993. Williams is the UT record holder with 11 career 100-yard performances ...*he recorded his fifth career reception of 65 or more yards when he took a Chris Simms pass 75 yards for the score in the second quarter. It was his 15th career reception of 40 or more yards ...*Williams finished with six receptions for 149 yards and two TDs. Over his last four games he has 35 receptions for 599 yards (17.1 ypc) and eight TDs ...*Williams has 1,000 yards receiving on the season, making him just the third Longhorn ever to reach that plateau (Kwame Cavil 1,188/1999; Wane McGarity 1,087/1998) ...*his 60 receptions this year and 167 career receptions both rank third in the UT single-season chart and career chart, respectively.

Senior QB Chris Simms: Simms took over sole possession of the No. 2 spot on the UT career TD pass list with his 44-yard score to B.J. Johnson in the second quarter. Simms now has 56 career TD passes, four short of the UT record of 60 held by Major Applewhite ... Simms broke his UT record for single-season TD passes of 22 by firing three TDs today to give him 24 on the season ... after completing two of his first five passes for 19 yards, Simms finished 14-of-19 for 259 yards and three TDs ...*Simms has thrown two or more TDs in a game 17 times in his career and eight times this season ... over his last four games he has thrown 12 TD passes ... Simms joined Bobby Layne (1944-47) as the only Longhorns QBs to start four games against Texas A&M ... Simms is the first Texas QB since Layne to post three straight wins over A&M. Layne won four straight from 1944-47 ... Simms wrapped up his career against A&M by completing 58-of-102 passes (56.9 %) for 929 yards and six TDs against just one interception in four games ... Simms picked up his 25th career win as a starter, tying him for third on the UT career list ... Simms has thrown 368 passes (No. 2 UT single-season chart), completing 220 (No. 2 UT single-season chart) for 2,938 yards (No. 2 UT single-season chart) and has accounted for 2,835 yards of total offense (No. 2 UT single-season chart) this season... Simms has accounted for 28 TDs this season (24p/4r), tying the UT record he already held with Ricky Williams. Simms accounted for 28 TDs last year (22p/6r), Williams in 1998 (27r/1c).

Sophomore LB Derrick Johnson: Johnson recorded his third interception of the season when he picked off Dustin Long on A&M's opening drive. Johnson is tied for fourth on the UT chart for single-season interceptions by a LB and is one of only 10 Longhorn LBs ever to have three interceptions in a season.

Junior WR B.J. Johnson: Johnson's 44-yard TD reception in the second quarter was his 10th career reception of 40 or more yards (four this season) ... it was his 10th career TD reception and fourth this year.

Senior DE Cory Redding: Redding has recorded a sack in seven consecutive games ...*he posted his sixth career forced fumble and third career fumble recovery in the fourth quarter to set up Chris Simms' 38-yard TD pass to Roy Williams.

Sophomore RB Cedric Benson: Benson scored his 23rd career rushing TD in the third quarter, placing him 10th on the UT career rushing TD list. He has scored a rushing TD in each of the last five games and 13 of the past 16 contests overall ... Benson finished with 88 yards on 18 carries, giving him 1,247 yards on the year (No. 7 UT single-season chart).

Sophomore PK Dusty Mangum: Mangum has connected on 10 of his last 12 FG attempts, including four of 40-plus yards ... he has connected on a UT-record 89 consecutive extra points.

Junior S Dakarai Pearson: Pearson recovered his first fumble of the season and fourth of his career when he picked up Derek Farmer's fumble in the first quarter ...*he registered his team-leading sixth interception of the season in the second quarter to place him tied for sixth on the UT single-season list. He has nine career interceptions.

Freshman S Michael Huff: Huff posted his second interception of the season in the fourth quarter. He returned both interceptions for touchdowns (vs. Houston, 9/21).

Junior CB Nathan Vasher: Vasher's 60-yard punt return for a TD in the fourth quarter was his second punt return for a score in his career (vs. North Carolina, 2001). It tied him for the longest return of his career (at Baylor, 2001) and ranks tied for seventh on the UT list of longest punt returns.