Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics
Recall: The 1992 Aggies
Dec 05, 2019 | Football
As we celebrate the 125th season of Aggie football this fall, Will Johnson will periodically bring you a special 125 edition of Recall, where we will pay tribute to one of Texas A&M's greatest teams. Our season-long campaign to spotlight A&M's best on the gridiron is presented by Aggie owned and operated Pederson's Farms.
On this episode, we look back at the 1992 Aggies and the undefeated regular season that put them oh-so-close to playing for a national championship. And, how one interception in the SEC's first-ever championship game would likely pull that dream away. Welcome to this 125 edition of Recall presented by Pederson's Farms…Grab Life by the Bacon.
On this episode, we look back at the 1992 Aggies and the undefeated regular season that put them oh-so-close to playing for a national championship. And, how one interception in the SEC's first-ever championship game would likely pull that dream away. Welcome to this 125 edition of Recall presented by Pederson's Farms…Grab Life by the Bacon.
The 1992 Aggies opened to the season ranked seventh in the AP poll and with national title aspirations, and kicked off the year in the Pigskin Classic in Anaheim against 17th-ranked Stanford.
After three quarters, A&M trailed, 7-0. Early in the fourth, with their best drive of the night, the Aggies neared the red zone.
Dave South: "Granger may have called an audible, wants to pass under pressure. Rolls to his left. Throws to the end zone and it is caught! Touchdown! That'll be Schorp! 21 yards, Granger to Schorp on the end line in the end zone, caught it inbounds and then rolled out of the back of the end zone."
Granger's touchdown pass to Greg Schorp tied the game. The Wrecking Crew continued to suffocate Stanford. A&M mounted another drive later in the final frame. Terry Venetoulias' field goal capped it at the 4:27 mark. The Wrecking Crew then stood tall one more time. A&M had started the season with a 10-7 victory over a team that would eventually share the Pac-10 championship.
The Aggies would remain undefeated through September, turning the calendar to October with a 4-0 record. In 1992, the October 3rd slate of games marked the de facto starting line in the national title race. A&M entered the blocks ranked fifth in the AP and coaches' polls. An early season tie between Notre Dame and Michigan, both in the preseason top five, served as a rankings boost for the Aggies. With the gun raised, special teams were about to fire the first shots.
Against Texas Tech at Kyle Field, A&M dominated statistically, but mistakes were costly. With 5:23 remaining in the game, a Red Raider field goal put the Aggies down 17-16. The offense came onto the field moments later for possibly their final possession and maybe the last chance to remain undefeated.
South: "Here's third down and eight, ball is snapped, straight drop Granger. He is almost sacked. Now he throws and it's caught by Schorp at the 30! He got away from a sack and then with the poise that you want from a quarterback, looked again and hit Schorp down at the 29-yard line...Terry Venetoulias will kick a big one here. The ball is at the 4-yard line. It's almost identical to an extra point."
Dave Elmendorf: "They're gonna whistle it in right now, and then the next few seconds, we're gonna know whether the Aggies win or lose this ball game."
South: "All right, here it comes, spotted. It's up and it is good! He hit it! Time's up! The Aggies have won it!"
The Aggies escape and stay perfect, beating Tech 19-17. Terry Venetoulias' kick wasn't the only one of significance that afternoon. Approximately 15 minutes before Venetoulias drilled his field goal. Florida State's Dan Mowrey missed from 39 yards as time expired in the Orange Bowl in what is still known as 'Wide Right II' in the rivalries lore. No. 2 Miami topped the third-ranked Seminoles, 19-16. The two would have tied had Mallory been good—overtime was not a part of college football then. This marked the second week in a row a missed field goal on the final play helped Miami win. In their previous contest, Arizona's Steve McLaughlin was mere inches off--yes, to the right--from 51 yards with zeroes on the clock. Miami escaped that one with an 8-7 win.
October didn't feature a lot of poll movement, with one exception. Alabama emerged as a title contender. Ranked ninth to start the season, the Tide swelled to third by the time the second month ended. After clipping Tech, A&M beat Rice, Baylor and SMU to round out October and remained fifth in both polls.
On November 7th, the Aggies' 40-18 triumph over Louisville was regionally televised on ABC. The network's game out west that Saturday featured No. 1 Washington's matchup in Tucson versus Arizona. The result was a welcome sight to the 12th Man. Using their Wrecking Crew-like 'Desert Swarm' defense, the Wildcats upset the defending national champion Huskies, 16-3. 'Zona had just missed in Miami weeks before…they were on target, this time, at home.
On the following Monday, November 9th, the AP and coaches' polls released new rankings. With Washington dropping out, the top five read the same in both: Miami No. 1. Alabama second. Michigan No. 3. A&M fourth. And Florida State fifth. The Seminoles and Wolverines were charging hard as neither had lost since early season blemishes. A&M beat Houston the next week on Thursday, November 12th in a nationally-televised game on ESPN. That Saturday, November 14th, went pretty well, too. Third-ranked Michigan tied a mediocre Illinois team, 22-22. The Wolverines remained undefeated but now had tied twice. The latest release of the polls still had Miami No. 1 and Alabama No. 2 in both. The Aggies did jump to No. 3 in the coaches' poll, but remained fourth in the AP. The AP leaped one-loss Florida State over A&M, a move that sparked some controversy. And one broadcaster voiced his displeasure and the newest set of rankings.
On November 21st, A&M was playing at home against TCU in a regionally-televised game on ABC. One of the network's other games was Miami and Syracuse, with Brent Musburger on the call. During that broadcast, he voiced his displeasure with the new rankings.
Musburger: "Let's look at the top 10. Miami trying to win its fifth national championship of the decade, and Alabama resting, waiting for the Auburn showdown. Florida State jumped over Texas A&M into third. That is a controversial jump, folks. There are a lot of people around the country who are uneasy about a once-beaten team going up on an unbeaten team. And don't tell me about difficulty of schedules, that's pretty hard to figure out sometimes."
While the Aggies were putting the finishing touches on a win over the Horned Frogs, Musburger honed in on his own game. The No. 1 team was in trouble. Miami led 16-10 with five minutes remaining, but the 8th-ranked Orangemen were in the red zone, prime to take the lead. The Hurricanes forced a turnover to thwart the threat. As A&M completed its 37-10 victory back at Kyle Field and celebrated another Southwest Conference championship, Syracuse moved back into the red zone on its final possession. With time ticking away, the Canes' defense stepped up again with two sacks on the game's final play. Syracuse QB Marvin Graves completed a pass down to the three-yard line, but his receiver was stopped right there, just short of the goal line. Miami had escaped again, and A&M was still looking for a loss from a team ranked above it.
Washington and Michigan were right behind A&M in the polls entering this day, but both fell out of the race. The Huskies were blasted by rival Washington State. Michigan tied their third game of the year, this one to rival Ohio State. Entering the week of Thanksgiving, four teams remained in the hunt for a national title: Miami and Alabama remained one and two, respectively, in both polls. A&M and Florida State were still flipped as third and fourth in both.
Thanksgiving week arrived and the four teams with title hopes had their regular-season finales on tap for national TV. Thanksgiving Day featured two of them. Alabama would beat rival Auburn in the afternoon. A&M and Texas was that night on ESPN. Saturday, Florida State would host rival Florida while Miami went across the country to play at San Diego State.
In Austin, Thanksgiving night, the ESPN telecast acknowledged from the top what was at stake for A&M against the Longhorns.
"Hi everybody, I'm Ron Franklin. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. Well, for the Horns, if they win tonight, it is victory number seven, and that would mean a bowl game for them. But for the Texas Aggies, at 11-0, no Aggie team has ever gone 12-0 in the history of the school. Still very much in a national championship picture for them."
With A&M up 27-13 late in the fourth quarter, Aaron Glenn was going to ensure the Aggies stayed in the hunt.
South: "Gardere throws right, it is intercepted! At the 30, at the 40, at the 40, 35, 30. Still going, at the 10. It's gonna be Aaron Glenn, into the end zone, touchdown!"
Texas A&M defeated Texas, 34-13 and became only the fifth team in college football history at the time to complete a 12-0 regular season. They cemented themselves in Aggie and the game's lore. However, the rest of Thanksgiving week went by uneventful. Alabama, Florida State and Miami were all easy winners. The polls stayed the same. Controversy persisted, too. ESPN was on hand two nights after A&M beat Texas for Miami's rout of San Diego State.
Even in the early nineties, a playoff in college football was a hot topic. Mike Gottfried, the ESPN analyst on hand for Miami/San Diego State, used the Aggies as an example of why it should have been in place even then, with his comments late in that broadcast.
Gottfried: "Here's a couple pressing issues now. Number one, should we have a college football playoff? I think we should…Texas A&M, just thinking of them. 12-0. They've done all you can ask them to do. Florida State on a high. Notre Dame, probably playing as well if They can win tonight as they close the season. But without a playoff, you're only talking about two teams that will be involved…I just think it's really an injustice for team like Texas A&M to be 12-0 and not have a chance at the national title."
Right or wrong, A&M's opportunity to play for the national championship was dwindling. They had one more chance. Why? Because the Southeastern Conference in 1992 expanded to 12 teams. They split into two divisions with the winner of each matching up in college football's first-ever conference championship game. On December 5th, at a chilly Legion Field in Birmingham, 2nd-ranked Alabama would take on 8-3 Florida in this inaugural event. The contest was mired in its own controversy. When the SEC made the announcement of its championship bout, pundits swung away with a major question. If only one team arrived there in the chase for a national title, could the game actually prove costly? The SEC stared this in the face at kickoff. A Florida victory would serve as a big blow to the conference, possibly knocking Alabama out of the national championship picture. If this came to fruition, who stood to benefit the most?
Texas A&M was the correct answer. In the case of a Gator win, the door would open for No. 1 Miami coming to the Cotton Bowl to play a second- or third-ranked Aggie team. Regardless of A&M's poll spot entering, capping a 13-0 season with a bowl win over number one could very well be enough for the Ags to hoist the trophy. Some said Miami would have gone on to the Fiesta Bowl to face Florida State for the championship, in the event of a Bama SEC title game loss, but Miami had already played and beaten Florida State.
As night fell on Legion Field. The SEC is nightmare. Scenario was playing out. So was the Aggies dream. With 3 25 left in the fourth quarter, Alabama and Florida were tied, 21-21. Florida had the ball after a Bama punt at their own 21. The Gators could drive for the win. The Crimson Tide could fall behind in the race. The Aggies could get the boost they'd long waited for.
Things can change in mere seconds, and they did with what happened next in Birmingham. One play changed the course of college football and maybe even the path of Texas A&M too.
Keith Jackson: "First, let's settle this one, as Matthews goes back and throws. Intercepted by Langham! He's on his way, touchdown Alabama!"
Antonio Langham's interception return for a touchdown gave Alabama a 28-21 win. With the outcome, the national championship game was set. The 2nd-ranked Crimson Tide would face No. 1 Miami in the Sugar Bowl.
With three undefeated teams, the Aggies were the one left out.
A&M ranked third, still in the coaches' poll, would head to the Cotton Bowl to face Notre Dame and what amounted to a consolation game. In the immediate, the Aggies were left to ponder what could have been. Aggie quarterback Corey Pullig stated, "Antonio Langham really messed that up for us. I remember being heartbroken watching that play."
Here's Aggie defensive back Derrick Frazier.
"I just thought the system was so flawed back then, and I mean to a point now is still flawed. But at least they're trying, I guess. At least you have a 4-team playoff, which I really think should be an 8-team playoff, but it was just so flawed because everybody was locked in the bowls. If you're winning in California, you had to go to the Rose Bowl. If you were winning in our conference, you had to go to the Cotton Bowl. If you were in the Big Eight, you had to go to the Orange Bowl. So it was nothing you really could do."
It should be noted, if the current playoff format existed that season A and M and Miami would have met in one semifinal, while Alabama and Florida State would have squared off in the other.
Here's R.C. Slocum, who had always wanted a playoff…even then.
"Yeah, I wish we'd had one then. I was always…when we went on the Nike trips that were going on…a lot of the coaches, about 20 coaches every year would go on a trip after the season…on one of those early trips, Nike, in their meeting with the coaches—they would always have a business meeting—they asked for a show of hands. How many coaches would be in favor of a playoff? Some form of playoff without talking about the format? How many just in principle would be for a playoff? You know it was it was about 50/50 at that time, and I could say I was one of the ones right from the start."
Would you like to have seen this team get that shot?
"Yeah, that'd been fun. What's the old saying, in the annals of men, the saddest tales are those of what might have been. Coaches could drive yourselves crazy thinking about all the would'ves, could'ves, should'ves."
And now Slocum is actually a member of college football's playoff selection committee.
Antonio Langham's pick six is still one of college football's iconic plays. The SEC averted disaster and their championship game was validated. The league flourished from that moment. The title match served as the catalyst to new exposure, financial gains and dominance on the field. A decade after the Tide and Gators tussled, the SEC had grown into college football's premier conference. Starting in 2006, the league began an incredible run that saw it win the next seven national championships.
That ominous December afternoon in Birmingham marked an unfulfilled hope for the 1992 Aggies. They needed an outcome that never came. Therefore, despite winning all of their games, they didn't get to play for it all. That was the short-term steam of the moment.
But, over time, perhaps the play transformed into something different. A&M, like the SEC, became more relevant and recognized after 1992. This team marked the peak of Slocum's 1990s success. The nation took notice and has ever since. As more of this country laid eyes on the SEC, they did, too, on A&M. America started to become more familiar with the 12th Man, War Hymn, and Kyle Field. All the while, they were growing accustomed to Saturday's gazing upon the War Eagle, Rocky Top and the Swamp.
Since this incredible 1992 season of college football, A&M and the SEC grew in the same way. And, likely without even knowing it, started walking a path towards each other. 20 years removed from 1992, the decision was made to bring these two great traditions together.
In 2012 Texas A&M became a member of the Southeastern Conference.
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