Nebraska 28, Texas A&M 27

Saturday, November 11

College Station

2:30 PM

Texas A&M

8-3 , 4-3

Nebraska

8-3 , 5-2

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Nebraska	7	14	0	7	28
Texas A&M	7	3	3	14	27

Nov 11, 2006 | Football

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

November 11, 2006

Zac Taylor threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Maurice Purify with 21 seconds left as Nebraska clinched a berth in the Big 12 championship game with a wild 28-27 win over No. 24 Texas A&M on Saturday.

The Aggies (8-3, 4-3) trailed 21-10 at halftime, but Jorvorskie Lane's 1-yard touchdown run with 7:28 left capped an A&M comeback. The Aggies got a 2-point conversion to make it 27-21 and Mark Dodge intercepted a pass by Taylor with 2:50 remaining, seemingly sealing the biggest victory of coach Dennis Franchione's four-year tenure.

But Layne Neumann's 42-yard field goal attempt was blocked and Nebraska (8-3, 5-2) regained possession at its 24 with 1:57 to go.

Taylor completed passes of 22, 16 and 13 yards to Todd Peterson to drive Nebraska to the A&M 17 in the final minute.

A roughing the passer penalty on A&M defensive tackle Marques Thornton gave the Huskers a first-and-goal at the 9 and Taylor lofted a pass to Purify in the corner of the end zone to tie the game. Jordan Congdon's extra point kick gave the Huskers the lead.

Adam Carriker sacked A&M quarterback Stephen McGee on the last play to give the Cornhuskers the North Division title and their first trip to the conference championship game since 1999.

Cody Glenn had two touchdown runs for Nebraska, which beat A&M for the 10th time in 12 meetings.

Lane tied a single-season A&M record with his 19th touchdown and McGee and Mike Goodson also had TD runs for the Aggies, who've taken all three of their conference losses at home. Lane matched one of the oldest records in the A&M record book, set by Joel Hunt in 1927.

The 6-foot, 278-pound running back also set up the score with a 44-yard pass to Chad Schroeder.

The Cornhuskers shredded the Aggies' defense early and appeared on their way to an easy win.

Taylor threw a touchdown pass to Peterson in the second quarter. It was Taylor's 21st TD pass this year, a single-season Nebraska record. He also became Nebraska's all-time passing leader on the play and now has 5,193 career passing yards.

Glenn scored his first TD with 5:58 left in the first quarter, but the Aggies answered quickly.

McGee froze Nebraska's defense with a play-action fake on A&M's ensuing possession and threw a 47-yard pass to wide-open Kerry Franks. Two plays later, Goodson took an option pitch and scored from 22 yards out to make it 7-7.

Taylor converted a third-and-9 with a 15-yard pass to Peterson before Glenn scored again, on the first play of the second quarter.

Neumann kicked a 37-yard field goal just before halftime made it 21-10. The Aggies mustered only 37 yards in the first half after their lone touchdown drive.

The Aggies crossed midfield on their first two possessions of the third quarter, but came away with nothing. The A&M defense held Nebraska to one first down in the quarter and Goodson kick-started the Aggies' rally with a 53-yard run to the Huskers' 11. Neumann booted a 20-yard field goal with 16 seconds left in the quarter.

Nebraska went three-and-out again early in the fourth quarter and McGee caught the Huskers blitzing and outran the defense for a 57-yard touchdown with 12:51 left. He was sacked on the 2-point conversion and A&M trailed 21-19.

Texas A&M Postgame Notes

A&M's three losses this season have been by a combined six points. A&M'S last two losses have each been by a single point (the Aggies fell to Oklahoma, 17-16, last Saturday).
Two of A&M's losses have been on opponent touchdown passes in the final 26 seconds. Texas Tech connected on a 37-yard scoring strike with :26 left on Sept. 30 at Kyle Field, and Nebraska posted the winning score tonight on a 9-yard pass with :21 left. Tech's winning drive covered 80 yards in 8 plays and took only 1:46, while the Cornhuskers' winning drive covered 75 yards on 11 plays and took just 1:36.
Tight end Martellus Bennett matched his career high for reception with six catches for 67 yards (Bennett also had six catches against Kansas).
Jorvorskie Lane's 1-yard touchdown plunge in the fourth quarter was his 19th rushing touchdown of the season, tying the school record set by Joel Hunt in 1927. Hunt's mark is the second oldest individual mark in the A&M record book. The oldest mark is Jelly Woodman's seven touchdowns in a game against New Mexico in 1926.
Lane has 28 career touchdown runs, tying Courtney Lewis (2003-06) and D'Andre Hardeman (1996-99) for ninth on the A&M chart.
Stephen McGee completed 18-of-31 passes for 244 yards, the second most passing yards of his career and the second most pass attempts. For the season, McGee has completed 170-of-274 passes (.621) for 2,060 yards, the ninth most season yards in school history. He is on track to break the school record for completion percentage of .607 set by Kevin Murray in 1986. McGee also rushed eight times for 58 yards and one touchdown, giving him 302 yards of total offense.
Freshman running back Michael Goodson gained 80 yards on 11 carries, his fifth straight game with at least 65 rushing yards. In the last three games, Goodson has rushed for 303 yards on just 29 carries, an average of 10.5 yards per carry.
A&M gained 443 yards of total offense, including 298 yards in the second half. The Aggies averaged a season-high 7.5 yards per play.
Nebraska gained 390 yards of total offense, but had only 147 yards in the second half (of which 67 came on the Cornhuskers' winning drive).
Junior linebacker Mark Dodge had the first interception of his career in the fourth quarter and returned it 16 yards.

FOR THE RECORD: Aggie game captains were seniors Justin Warren, Melvin Bullitt and L'Tydrick Riley and junior Kirk Elder ... The 12th Man was Nathan Haile, a senior from Friona, Texas. It was Haile's third career 12th Man assignment and the second this season. ... The crowd of 83,336 is the third above-capacity Kyle Field crowd of the season and the third-largest crowd of 2006.

Nebraska Postgame Notes

Today's win improved Nebraska to 8-3 on the season and 5-2 in Big 12 Conference play, while also improving Nebraska's series record against Texas A&M to 10-2, including 2-1 at Kyle Field.
The win also clinched a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game, Nebraska's first since 1999, while marking Nebraska's 802nd all-time victory.
Today's win gives the Huskers three Big 12 road victories, its most since also recording three in 2001, and improves Head Coach Bill Callahan's record at Nebraska to 21-13 and 1-0 against Texas A&M.
Nebraska senior quarterback Zac Taylor threw for 267 yards, giving him 5,193 career passing yards, a new Nebraska career passing record. The previous record was 5,035 yards by Dave Humm from 1972 to 1974. Taylor broke the record on a four-yard TD pass to Todd Peterson in the second quarter of today's game.
Taylor's 267 yards passing gave him 2,540 passing yards this season, second only to his school-record 2,653 yards last season. Today's passing effort was the 14th 200-yard passing game of his career and his eighth in 2006. Taylor has thrown for 200 yards or more in 12 of the past 16 games.
Taylor set a new Nebraska single-season touchdown passes record in today's game, completing a four-yard TD pass to Todd Peterson in the second quarter for his 21st touchdown pass of the season. The previous record was 20 touchdown passes by Vince Ferragamo in 1976.
Junior wide receiver Terrence Nunn caught three passes for 28 yards. Nunn extended his streak with at least one reception to 24 straight games, the second-longest streak in Nebraska history.
Sophomore running back Cody Glenn rushed for two touchdowns in today's game, giving him a team-high eight rushing touchdowns this season, and 12 rushing touchdowns in his career. Glenn's eight rushing touchdowns are the most in a season by a Husker since quarterback Jammal Lord ran for 10 touchdown in 2003. Glenn's eight touchdowns marks the most by a Nebraska I-back since Dahrran Diedrick ran for 16 touchdowns in 2001.
Nebraska's four-man I-back group combined for 29 rushes for 129 yards and two touchdowns in today's game. The four I-backs have now combined for 2,049 yards and 23 touchdowns on the season.
I-back Marlon Lucky had a career-long 42-yard reception in the second quarter, setting up a second-quarter Husker touchdown. Lucky has 24 receptions this season, and has caught at least one pass in every game this year.
Senior defensive end Adam Carriker had six tackles in today's game, including two tackles for loss, totaling three yards. Carriker has 12 tackles for loss this season and 37 in his career, putting him in eighth place on Nebraska's career tackles for loss list.
The Nebraska offense had four plays of 20 yards or more in today's game, all by pass. The Huskers now have 63 plays of 20 yards or more this season, including 19 by rush and 44 by pass. Last season Nebraska finished with 39 plays of 20 yards or more.
Nebraska scored first for the 10th time in 11 games, taking a 7-0 lead on a two-yard touchdown run by Cody Glenn in the first quarter. Nebraska has scored first in all five road games this season. Nebraska has outscored opponents 103-17 in the first quarter this season.
Nebraska converted 7-of-15 third-down conversions in today's game, while limiting Texas A&M to just 5-of-14 third-down conversions, including 0-of-5 in the first half. The Aggies entered the game ranked sixth nationally in third-down conversions at 52 percent.

Texas A&M Postgame Quotes

HEAD COACH DENNIS FRANCHIONE: "I don't think I've ever seen a season with as many last minute games as this one. It's amazing. I'm proud of our players. They fought all the way down to the end. This was a tough loss. It just comes down to we needed to make one more play. We needed a field goal, needed a first down, needed a stop, and we didn't get it. You have to commend Nebraska for their poise down the stretch. I thought that was really good on their part. They made one more play."

(on the frustration of the end of the game) "Well, it's a tough loss. The last two weeks have been tough. I'm really proud of the guys, the way they gotten ready each week. I talked to Bill (Callahan) about that before the game. There's two teams today that went through all August two-a-days and 11 straight weeks without an open day. When you play in a league like this at this level, to not have a little time to heal emotionally, mentally, and physically and for our players to keep loading it up every Saturday and bringing it like they have -- it's just a tremendous amount of perseverance. He's coached a lot of years and I can't say that they ever didn't fight their tails off and play as hard as they can play. You know, it's frustrating when you lose any game. It has to be. And certainly This one was certainly set up for us. We had our chances."

(on what it will take to get over the hump) "We've just got to get a little better. One play better, coach a little better, play a little better. 17-16, 28-27, and the tech game play. You go through a season like this -- we have made some amazing conversions of opportunities. You go back to the Oklahoma State game, the Kansas game. The things that they were able to do there and then you remember these that we weren't able to get it done and -- you know, I don't know if you play a game like this every week where you don't know if you're going to win it. You wish you could."

(on the play of the team) "I've never had a team that's played every week in a game like this. I'm going to commend our kids for putting themselves in that position for seven straight weeks to do that."

(on the play of Mark Dodge) "Mark did a great job. The interception was great. It was magnificent that he could fill in for us like that. We had some guys out in this game and we had guys step up. Everybody this time of year has guys that are hurt or out and they have to have guys that are going to step up and do that. Mark was one of those guys for us today."

(on the play of Stephen McGee) "Stephen had his ups and downs today against a good defense. He kept at them and he kept fighting and kept playing just like the rest of our team. He certainly is a catalyst for that. He made plays and gave us a chance to get in the position we were in because he continued the battle and continued to make plays."

(on what the off week will bring) "Just a little rest and a little chance to decompress a little bit here before we get ready to play the most important game of the season and we certainly need it."

QUARTERBACK STEPHEN McGEE: (on the loss) "Losses like this are tough. You learn a lot about a football team, though. All year we've fought to the very end. We've won some close ones and lost some close ones. That's three games wave lost at the very end or by one point. I'm just so proud of these guys. You know it's -- it's disappointing. But we fought our tail off and we've done it all year and every Aggie, not only the people in this locker room and on this team, should be proud. Every week we fought our tail off and played with the team and Aggie spirit. That's what it's all about."

(on the emotions of the end of the game) "The defense did a great job getting us back there, creating a turnover and did a great job of stopping them. We didn't get the first downs and we've got to do that. We knew we had to stay in bounds and didn't do that and knew we wanted to keep the clock moving and at least get the first down to seal the game. We didn't do that tonight. You know, we talk about how close games are going to be in the Big 12 and we expect that. We have to do the little things right."

LINEBACKER JUSTIN WARREN: (on playing his final game at Kyle Field) "It's hard taking a loss any time you walk off Kyle Field, but this one was a special time. We knew it would be and just how we came back and how we did and...we just couldn't finish the game. It kind of felt a little frustrating and disheartening, but we had some great times here and you know that's not the only memory we're going to have."

DEFENSIVE BACK JORDAN PETERSON: (on being thrown at on the final two plays) "Well, he's 6'4", and I'm 5'10". That's pretty much why they ran that play. He's a real big physical receiver. You know, the first one I was just in good position. I made a play on the ball. The second one he just executed. He made a good play and caught it."

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN CHRIS HARRINGTON: (on the play of the defense) "We've been doing that pretty much all season, getting off to a slow start. Once things get going we start playing well. We really gelled together and I thought we did a great job up until that last series and even through that series. There were a couple of mistakes and (if we make) a play here or there we win the game. That's real tough. But you've got to learn, finish and that's -- that's -- one thing we've done all season and these past two weeks it's been, you know, coming down to the last play. We've just got to keep playing and just got to finish those plays."

Nebraska Postgame Quotes

NEBRASKA COACH BILL CALLAHAN: "Well that was exciting. I'm really proud of our players today, the way they hung in there. They were resilient all the way to the end. You have to compliment A&M and their fine effort. They came back in the second half and played a whale of a game. Again, in the end, I have to commend our kids for the way they hung in there. Boy, special teams were such a big part of the game. We practice that every day. We practice that live and we practice it full speed. That block at the end meant everything to ignite our offense. That two-minute drill is something we practice quite a bit. We put a lot of emphasis on it. You have to give credit to Zac Taylor, the offensive line and the receivers. I'm really pleased with our team. I'm happy that we accomplished our goal of winning the Big 12 North. We look forward to going to Arrowhead."

NEBRASKA RUNNING BACK CODY GLENN: "It means a lot because all of my family was here (he's from Rusk, Texas). I remember watching this team playing all the time. We work on the two-minute situations every day. We work when we have three timeouts or when we have no timeouts. We work on that every single day. After those first couple of catches, we gained more and more confidence."

NEBRASKA QUARTERBACK ZAC TAYLOR: "We work on the two-minute drill every Thursday in practice against our defense, and we have a great defense. A lot of times, we execute it to perfection. We are always confident that we can go in there and drive and score to win. We had exactly two minutes left on the clock when we started out and we go with that scenario every Thursday in practice. Everything was pretty much how we wanted it to be. There weren't many distractions."