Baylor
Texas A&M
Texas A&M Beats Baylor, 45-13
7/27/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 9, 1999
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - No. 12-ranked Texas A&M broke open a tight game with scores on its first three second-half possessions in a 45-13 win over Baylor in College Station.
Largely thanks to its defense, the Aggies led 17-6 at halftime, but Baylor held a margin of 149-115 in total yards at that point.
Those numbers turned around in the second half though, as A&M finished the day with 417 total yards, while limiting the Bears to 275. The home team showed good balance, gaining 222 yards through the air and 195 on the ground.
"At halftime we felt we had a chance," Baylor coach Kevin Steele said. "The kids were energized for the second half. We just shot ourselves in the foot offensively and defensively."
The Bears struggled again in the red zone. They missed two field goals and had another blocked while yielding five sacks. BU converted only four-of-15 third-down situations.
The win before a crowd of 75,476, the seventh-largest in A&M history, put the Aggies at 4-1 on the season, 1-1 in Big 12 play, while Baylor fell to 1-5, 0-3.
Baylor put points on the board on its first possession as Kyle Atteberry hit a 52-yard field goal, a career high and the ninth-longest in school history.
After taking the opening kickoff, quarterback Jermaine Alfred kept the drive going when he hit Martin Dossett on a 35-yard pass play while facing a third-and-nine situation on the BU 21.
Alfred finished the day by hitting 15 of 23 passes for 189 yards with one interception.
A seven-yard completion to Mark Cogdil set up Atteberry's seventh three-pointer in eight attempts this year. It was not to be the game's only big play involving Atteberry.
After the BU defense held, Alfred's next pass attempt went awry when strong safety Michael Jameson intercepted it at the 20 and raced untouched for a touchdown.
At the 8:25 mark of the first quarter, the Aggies had taken a 7-3 lead without recording a first down. Baylor wound up holding A&M to 11 yards total offense in the first quarter.
The next Bear drived stalled at the A&M 47, but Atteberry buried the Aggies deep in their own territory with a 40-yard punt, downed neatly by Allen Pace at the seven yardline.
Baylor turned Atteberry's punt into another Atteberry field goal after holding A&M to one first down. Fred Rogers sacked Aggie quarterback Randy McCown for a five-yard loss and Cogdill returned Shane Lechler's punt 13 yards to set BU up at the Agg 43.
Darrell Bush gained eight yards on a screen pass to the left flat and Derek Lagway, who led Baylor with 48 rushing yards on four carries, blasted his way up the middle on a 27-yard run to the one. From there, the Bears again struggled with a red zone opportunity.
A motion penalty moved the ball back to the six, setting up first-and-goal from that point, but a defensive holding infraction against A&M made it a first-and-goal from the three.
Baylor couldn't convert, though. Lonnie Madison sacked Alfred back to the 10 and the Bears had to setttle for Atteberry's boot making it 7-6 with 14:16 to go in the half. The drive covered 37 yards in nine plays and took 4:14.
A&M then reeled off 38 unanswered points.
It started when the Aggies quickly turned their one-point lead into a four-point margin by unleashing backup fullback Ja'Mar Toombs. The bruising 265 lb. sophomore carried the majority of the load on a 63-yard drive to set up Terrence Kitchens' 27-yard field goal.
With 7:18 to go before intermission, the Aggies claimed a 10-6 lead.
Jameson came up big again for the Aggies on the next Bear possession. With Baylor punting from the 35, the Killeen Ellison junior broke through to block Atteberry's punt and set A&M up at the BU 23.
The Aggies wasted little time in converting the batted boot into seven points. Freshman Joe Weber, behind Toombs' clearing block, scored on a seven-yard bolt off right tackle.
In scoring their first touchdown in 32 possessions, the Aggies capped a 22-yard, six-play drive that consumed 3:04, and with 2:38 remaining in the second period, A&M led 17-6.
Baylor let another golden scoring chance slip away as the opening half ended. With the Aggies driving for a late score, cornerback Daniel Wilturner intercepted McCown on the left side. The Bear junior returned the ball 49 yards down to the A&M 10 before McCown knocked him out of bounds with just three seconds left.
But as time ran out, Atteberry sent a 27-yard field goal attemp wide left. The BU kicker's second miss of the year kept the Aggs ahead by 11 at the half.
"You've got to play for the breaks against a team like this and you can't make mistakes. We got breaks and didn't get points. They got breaks and got points. You can't do that against a team like Texas A&M," Steele said.
With the game's outcome in the balance, A&M came roaring out of the halftime locker room to ice it away.
After A&M took the second half kickoff, McCown guided the Aggies downfield to the 26 where Toombs grabbed a screen pass in the right flat and broke a couple of tackles on his way to the endzone.
Toombs' TD capped a 71-yard, seven-play scoring drive that consumed 2:10 and made it 24-6, A&M, with 12:50 to go in the third.
The Aggies next drive made it 31-6 after McCown found Leroy Hodge on a beautifully executed crossing pattern over the middle. The 12-yard completion topped off a 58-yard, 10-play drive that took 4:11 off the clock.
BU's red zone woes continued on the next drive. A nifty Alfred-to-Bush shuttle pass gained 45 yards up the middle and helped put the ball at the 12, but penalties moved it back to the 20.
From there Atteberry tried a 37-yard field goal, only to see Beau Schmidt break up the middle and block it.
Two snaps later McCown, forced to scramble out of the pocket, found Bethel Johnson behind the Baylor secondary for a 74-yard TD bomb. A&M's third score in as many third-quarter possessions made it 38-6 with 1:46 to play in the period.
The Bears' red zone difficulties continued after a 45-yard Alfred pass to tight end Brandon Thompson helped Baylor reach the 11. From there a fourth-and-two gained only a yard and the Aggies took over on downs at the 10.
"We moved the ball, but we hurt ourselves in the red zone," Steele said.
After an exchange of punts, the Aggies made it 45-6 when Eric Bernard, who led all rushers with 81 yards, found paydirt from the two with 8:31 to play. The drive, featuring a number of A&M reserves, went 53 yards in five plays.
Texas A&M was ready to add to the total when Kitchens lined up for a 40-yard field goal attempt, but Gary Baxter came from around the offense's left side to block it.
Wilturner, coming in from the right, scooped it up and this time there was no stopping him on his way to the endzone. Wilturner's 63-yard return in front of the Bear bench made it 45-13 with 4:01 left in the game.
"No one in the locker room had their heads down," Bear defensive lineman Fred Rogers said. "We want to make things happen the second half of the season."
