April 17, 2004
Ty Branyon completed his third touchdown pass of the day with 13 seconds to play to rally Maroon past White, 21-17, in Texas A&M's spring football game Saturday at Kyle Field in front of 37,409.
The Maroon was forced to rally after White team placekicker Layne Neumann connected on a 56-yard field goal with 1:26 to play in the game. The kick lifted the White team to its first lead of the game 17-14.
The White team was elated as they mobbed Neumann at midfield resulting in a celebration penalty. The penalty was assessed on the kickoff.
Branyon, a sophomore, moved his Maroon squad 37 yards down the field to the White 40 yard line. With time ticking away, Branyon connected with receiver Tydrick Riley down the right side for a 40 yard touchdown. Todd Pegram completed the point after.
Branyon wrapped the day with three touchdown passes to three different receivers. He completed 11 of 16 pass attempts for 119 yards.
A&M coach Dennis Franchione, who served as the game's commissioner and watched the game from the A&M Radio Network booth where he was a commentator, was pleased with what he saw on the field.
"I thought there were a lot of good things on offense and defense from both side. Anytime you intermingle the teams together like we did, sometimes you can get a little out of sync. For the most part, we didn't have a lot of penalties or mistakes. It was a great finish. I couldn't have written a better script than that."
The Maroon took a 14-0 lead after Branyon's two first half touchdowns.
To start the second quarter, Branyon capped an 80-yard drive by connecting with wide receiver Terrence Murphy on a 17-yard pass to the right side of the endzone. Pegram made the point after to give the Maroon a 7-0 lead.
| 2003 SEASON AWARDS (announced at halftime) |
| OFFENSIVE MVP: Terrence Murphy DEFENSIVE MVP: Jaxson Appel SPECIAL TEAMS MVP: Blake Kendrick O-LINE MVP: Alan Reuber, Geoff Hangartner D-LINE MVP: Johnny Jolly OFFENSIVE WORK TEAM MVP: Jamal Barrett, T.J. Sanders, Boone Stutz DEFENSIVE WORK TEAM MVP: Red Bryant, Michael La Mantia, John Ray AGGIE HEART AWARD: Tim Van Zant ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: Cody Wallace  |
The Maroon received excellent field position for its next possession after White team punter Danny Tyroch's kick sailed to the right for 12 yards from deep in his own end of the field.
Branyon needed just one play to connect with wide receiver Terrence Thomas for a 21-yard touchdown down the left side with 9:53 to play in the second. Ryan Pietsch connected for the point after giving Maroon a 14-0 lead.
The White team got on the scoreboard when freshman quarterback Stephen McGee responded by leading an 80-yard, 13-play drive that culminated in a 1-yard plunge by Keith Joseph with 3:20 to go before the half to make the score 14-7.
In the fourth quarter, Branyon led his team down the field for 60 yards, even contributing a couple of boot legs for first downs. Joseph capped the drive with a 4-yard run for his second touchdown. Neumann completed the point after to tie the contest at 14-14 with 8:44 to play.
Maroon outgained the White in nearly every statistical category except time of possession. White held the ball for some 12 minutes longer than the Maroon.
Branyon led all passers and rushers. In addition to his game-high 119 passing yards, Branyon showed his mobility with five runs for 68 yards. His long was a 27 yard bootleg.
Joseph recorded 56 yards rushing on 14 attempts with two touchdowns for the White. Courtney Lewis tallied 27 yards rushing on seven carries for the Maroon.
Leading the receiving corps for the Maroon was Murphy with 52 yards on five receptions. Riley finished with 50 yards on three catches.
Jason Carter led the White team with 42 yards receiving on five receptions.
Defensively, Franchione took note of the play by members of the defensive line.
"Jason Jack and Red Bryant and Chris Harrington and Jorrie Adams, those guys have elevated the other guys' play," Franchione said. "All of our redshirt freshmen have been very purposeful and on a mission to take a spot and get playing time and anxious to do it. Those four guys certainly bring some things to the table and I thought that was evident out there today."
The Maroon and White Game presented by AT&T Wireless capped the Aggies' spring training.
"I feel like we had a pretty good spring and we're going to walk off the field a better football team," Franchione said.
Box Score (Final) Maroon vs White (April 17, 2004 at College Station, TX) Date: Apr 17, 2004 Site: College Station, TX Stadium: Kyle Field Attendance: 37409 Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score ----------------- -- -- -- -- ----- White............... 0 7 0 10 - 17 Maroon.............. 0 14 0 7 - 21 Scoring Summary: 2nd 11:54 MAR - Terr. Murphy 17 yd pass from Ty Branyon (Todd Pegram kick) 6 plays, 80 yards, WHI 0 - MAR 7 9:53 MAR - Terr. Thomas 21 yd pass from Ty Branyon (Ryan Pietsch kick) 1 play, 21 yards, WHI 0 - MAR 14 3:20 WHI - Keith Joseph 1 yd run (Layne Neumann kick) 13 plays, 80 yards, WHI 7 - MAR 14 4th 8:44 WHI - Keith Joseph 4 yd run (Layne Neumann kick) 7 plays, 64 yards, WHI 14 - MAR 14 1:26 WHI - Layne Neumann 56 yd field goal 7 plays, 18 yards, WHI 17 - MAR 14 0:13 MAR - L'Tyd. Riley 40 yd pass from Ty Branyon (Todd Pegram kick) 8 plays, 77 yards, WHI 17 - MAR 21 MAR WHI SCORE......................... 21 17 FIRST DOWNS................... 9 15 RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 11-119 33-53 PASSING YDS (NET)............. 119 92 Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 16-11-1 19-9-0 TOTAL OFFENSE................. 238 145 Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0 Punt Returns-Yards............ 2-43 2-5 Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 2-28 2-29 Interception Returns-Yards.... 0-0 1-1 Punts (Number-Avg)............ 3-37 4-26 Fumbles-Lost.................. 0-0 0-0 Penalties-Yards............... 10-59 2-10 Possession Time............... 17:54 30:06 Rushing Leaders No Net TD Lg -------------------------------------- MAROON Ty Branyon 5 68 0 27 Courtney Lewis 7 27 0 13 Chris Alexander 5 10 0 8 WHITE Keith Joseph 14 56 2 13 Derrick Brown 13 17 0 7 Passing Leaders Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Sack -------------------------------------------- MAROON Ty Branyon 16-11-1 119 3 3 Josh McSpadden 1- 0-0 0 0 0 WHITE Stephen McGee 13- 4-0 35 0 3 T.J. Sanders 7- 5-0 57 0 0 Receiving Leaders No. Yds TD ---------------------------------------- MAROON Terrence Murphy 5 52 1 L'Tydrick Riley 3 50 1 WHITE Jason Carter 5 42 0 Chad Schroeder 1 36 0 Quinlin Germany 2 4 0 Punting Leaders No. Avg Long ------------------------------------- MAROON Stephen Coker 3 37 42 WHITE Jacob Young 2 29.5 41