Texas A&M
Clemson
Clemson Tops Aggies on Last-Second Field Goal, 25-24
Sep 03, 2005 | Football
September 03, 2005
Jad Dean kicked his school record sixth field goal with 2 seconds left to lift Clemson past No. 17 Texas A&M on Saturday night.
The Aggies (0-1) looked like they would grab an opening night win after versatile star Reggie McNeal led a fourth-quarter touchdown drive that ended with his 31-yard touchdown pass to Chad Schroeder for a 24-22 lead.
But the Tigers (1-0), playing the final quarter without starting quarterback Charlie Whitehurst, drove to Texas A&M's 25 on eight straight carries by freshman tailback James Davis.
After a time out by the Aggies, Dean struck the 42 yard field goal straight through the uprights.
Dean was 6-of-6 on the night with field goals of 21, 21, 25, 18 and 44 yards before his game winner.
The kicks broke the Clemson mark of five set three times by former all-Atlantic Coast Conference kicker Nelson Welch in 1991 against North Carolina State, 1992 against Maryland and 1994 against North Carolina.
It also overshadowed another strong effort by McNeal, who had gained 307 yards of offense against Clemson during Texas A&M's 27-6 victory at College Station a year ago.
This time, McNeal finished with 100 yards rushing and threw for 110.
Davis ran for 101 yards to lead the Tigers.
The Tigers played without Whitehurst down the stretch after he was apparently knocked on the helmet as he slid during a 3-yard gain. Whitehurst left the field on his own and threw some warmup passes behind the Tigers bench. However, a team spokesman said the fifth-year senior was kept out because he was woozy from the hit.
Backup Will Proctor led the Tigers on the winning drive.
Early on, Clemson looked like it might have the same troubles with McNeal it had last season. He drove Texas A&M to Clemson's 13 and Courtney Lewis followed with a nifty run into the end zone.
But a holding penalty called back the score and, two plays later, A&M settled for a field goal.
McNeal had the Aggies on the move again the next time they got the ball. However, DeQawn Mobley dropped an open pass from receiver Jason Carter inside the Tigers' 5. McNeal threw two incomplete passes, including one on fourth-and-6, to end that series.
Instead, it was the Tigers who controlled things in the opening half with four drives of at least eight plays. Three of those resulted in field goals as Clemson took a 16-10 lead at the half.
Clemson also got a 47-yard punt return TD from Chansi Stuckey, who broke left after catching the ball and leaped over punter Justin Brantly into the end zone.
Texas A&M Postgame Notes
100 FOR MCNEAL --- The nation's top dual threat quarterback Reggie McNeal darted to his third career 100 yard rushing game with 100 yards on just nine carries. The other two century games were 129 vs. Clemson and 139 vs. Colorado in 2004. McNeal also passed for 107 yards on 7-of-15 passing against the Tigers for a total offense sum of 207 yards.
MR. VERSATILITY --- Fifth-year senior Jason Carter, the only player in Big 12 history to have a rush, catch, pass attempt and return for three straight years, continued to show his versatility by gaining 139 all-purpose yards on three rushes (for 26 yards), two catches (18 yards) and three kickoff returns (95 yards). He also threw an incomplete pass.
BENNETT BROTHERS --- True freshman brothers Michael (older) and Martellus (younger) Bennett both made their A&M debuts against Clemson. While A&M has a long tradition of brothers playing for the Aggies, the Bennetts are one of the few brother tandems to see action in the same season.
FIRST STARTS --- The Aggies used six first-time starters against the Tigers: sophomore Cody Wallace at center, sophomore Corey Clark at strong tackle, redshirt freshman Yemi Babalola at quick tackle, junior Chad Schroeder at wide receiver, sophomore Chris Harrington at defensive end, and sophomore Brock Newton at cornerback.
EARLY RISERS --- Aggie head coach Dennis Franchione had used only four true freshmen in his first two seasons at Texas A&M, but he inserted a pair of true freshman - receivers Howard Morrow and Martellus Bennett - on the first offensive drive of the season.
For the entire game, Franchione used five true freshmen: Morrow, Bennett, Arkeith Brown, Michael Bennett and Justin Brantly.
Also making their maroon and white playing debuts were five redshirt freshmen: Pierre Brown, Richie Bean, Jordan Chambless, Cyril Obiozor and Amos Gbunblee; and junior college transfer Marquis Carpenter.
ON THE RUN --- On A&M's first two touchdown drives, all the yards were gained on the ground and only two passes were attempted.
MISCELLANEOUS --- The Aggies fell to 2-14, including 14 straight losses, when losing the turnover battle during the Franchione era. The Aggies' suffered one interception, while the Tigers were turnover-free. ... A&M fell to 1-12 in games when the Aggies are trailing entering the fourth quarter. A&M faced a 19-17 deficit after three quarters against the Tigers. ... Junior Courtney Lewis tallied two more rushing touchdowns against the Tigers, which gives him 23 for his career (tNo. 12 in school history) ... True freshman Justin Brantly averaged 40.0 yards on three punts, and put one inside the Clemson 20-yard line. ... Clemson held a clear advantage in time of possession, 33:39 to 22:00. ... Junior Chad Schroeder added another long touchdown catch to his resume with a 31-yarder against the Tigers. The former high school quarterback have four receiving TDs among his 13 career catches and the average length of his scoring catches is 41.7.
12TH MAN REP, CAPTAINS --- Representing the Texas A&M student body was 12th Man Kickoff Team representative Nathan Haile, a sophomore walkon from Friona, Texas. It was his first time to be the Aggies' 12th Man ... Game captains for Texas A&M were seniors DeQawn Mobley, Aldo De La Garza, Jaxson Appel and Johnny Jolly. All of Texas A&M's game captains are members of the Leadership Council. Nine of the 13 Leadership Council members started on offense or defense.
Texas A&M Postgame Quotes
WR JASON CARTER --- "You have to take your hat off to Clemson. They played a tough game. We stubbed our foot early in the game by taking two scores off the board with holding penalties. We also had some crucial pass drops that hurt us. So anytime you shoot yourself in the foot like that in a hostile environment like this, you make it extremely hard to win."
DB JAXSON APPEL --- "We kept them out of the endzone, but we couldn't keep them off the scoreboard. Clemson is a very good team and they played extremely well tonight. I thought it was a pretty even game, but they made one more play than us."
