Texas A&M
(#5) Oklahoma
Oklahoma 42, Texas A&M 14
Nov 03, 2007 | Football
November 03, 2007
Jermaine Gresham matched a school record by catching four of Sam Bradford's five touchdown passes, and No. 5 Oklahoma took sole possession of first place in the Big 12 South with a 42-14 win against Texas A&M on Saturday night.
Gresham, a sophomore tight end, equaled the record for TD receptions in a game set by Trent Smith in 2001 against Kansas on a 13-yard pass by Bradford in the front corner of the end zone late in the third quarter. That put Oklahoma (8-1, 5-1) up 35-0 on its way to a win over the Aggies (6-4, 3-3 Big 12) in Norman.
Bradford and Gresham hooked up twice, from 3 and 13 yards, before the Aggies even completed a pass and Oklahoma led 14-0 early in the second quarter. Bradford found tailback Chris Brown out of the backfield for a 14-yard score late in the first half, and then added TD passes of 38 and 13 yards to Gresham.
Bradford finished with 284 yards on 21-for-30 passing, and Gresham had five catches for a career-best 80 yards.
With tailback Michael Goodson, one of the three key parts of Texas A&M's triple-option offense, held out of the first half, the Aggies couldn't get going. They managed only four first downs and 63 total yards in the opening half and missed out on their own chance to jump to the top of the Big 12 South standings.
A win would have allowed Texas A&M to tie Texas for first place and avenge a 17-16 loss last season in which the Sooners passed the Aggies in the standings on their way to the conference championship. Instead, Oklahoma moved past Oklahoma State, which lost to the Longhorns 38-35 earlier in the day.
Texas A&M finally got on the board when Stephen McGee scrambled and found Martellus Bennett in the back of the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown reception with 12:36 remaining. Bennett, also a tight end, set a school record of his own by catching a pass in his 27th consecutive game. Terrence Murphy, the school's all-time receiving leader, held the old record with 26.
After Bennett's touchdown, Oklahoma drained more than 8 minutes off the clock before DeMarco Murray skied in for a 2-yard TD run. The Aggies were held to about half of their 239.4-yard rushing average, which ranked ninth in the nation, and were outgained on the ground 191-128.
Texas A&M was still only the second team to reach triple digits against Oklahoma's third-ranked run defense.
The Sooners lost Big 12 sacks leader Auston English, who limped off the field early in the second quarter and did not return, but that didn't help the Aggies get a passing game going.
McGee ended up 15-for-28 for 164 yards, including 63 on a drive for a touchdown with 43 seconds left, and he also was the Aggies' top rusher with 71 yards on 16 carries.
Texas A&M Postgame Notes
- Tight end Martellus Bennett set a school record for consecutive games with at least one catch with four catches for 63 yards against the Sooners. The 6-foot-7 Bennett has made at least one grab in 27 straight games, which breaks the old record of 26 that he shared with Terrence Murphy (2001-04). The team's leading receiver, Bennett has 36 catches for 430 yards in 2007.
- Bennett increased his career receptions total to 92, which puts him just 13 away from matching the A&M record for career catches by a tight end, which is 105 by Rod Bernstine from 1983-86.
- Return specialist Kerry Franks surpassed the 1,000-yard plateau in career kickoff return yardage with two returns for 60 yards against the Sooners. Franks now has 1,008 yards on 39 career returns. Franks is the fourth Aggie with more than 1,000 yards, joining Rod Harris (1,209 from 1985-88), Leeland McElroy (1,099 from 1993-95) and Carl Roaches (1,087 from 1972-75). Franks' 60 yards pushed his season kickoff return total to 503, which ranks No. 3 in school history.
- The Aggies continued their strong punt coverage against the Sooners. Aided by the long punts from Justin Brantly (44.3 average), the Aggies allowed held Oklahoma to minus-6 yards on two returns. For the season, A&M has allowed just 65 return yards on 22 returns (2.9 average).
- The Aggies failed to produce a takeaway on defense for the second straight game, while giving up two fumbles on defense. In 2007, the Aggies are 6-0 in games with the turnover margin advantage and 0-4 in games with an even or minus turnover margin. During the Dennis Franchione era, the Aggies are 7-24 in games without the turnover advantage.
- With two lost fumbles against the Sooners, the Aggies gave up more than one turnover in a game for just the second time in 2007. The other time was against Miami when they had three giveaways. The Aggies entered the game with fewest turnovers lost in the Big 12 Conference (nine prior to the game).
- The loss moved quarterback Stephen McGee's career road record against Big 12 foes to 5-2.
- Game captains were Chris Alexander, Matt Szymanski, Chris Harrington and Red Bryant +++ The 12th Man was Nick LaMantia, a junior fullback from Mission, Texas. It was LaMantia's 21st career 12th Man start, including all 10 this season (school record is 23 by John Ray from 2003-05).
