Texas A&M
(#25) TEXAS TECH
(#8) Texas A&M 17, (#25) Texas Tech 10
Oct 24, 1998 | Football
October 24, 1998
Over the next 12 months, Texas Tech players, coaches and fans will undoubtedly spend plenty of gut-wrenching, agonizing moments recalling just how close the Red Raiders came to beating Texas A&M before 62,873 fans on Saturday afternoon at Kyle Field.
They will ponder a handful of key plays. They will debate and discuss several close calls. And with great pain, they will relive the "what-ifs" of a game that could have easily gone either way.
They should not, however, call the Aggies looking for any sympathy. From A&M's perspective, the Red Raiders deserve to experience a year's worth of tormenting memories. And then some.
"We definitely know how they feel," Texas A&M safety Rich Coady said in the aftermath of the Aggies' nail-biting 17-10 victory. "It's the exact same way we've felt after the Tech game the last three years."
With the Aggies clinging to a seven-point lead with 1:47 left in the contest, Texas Tech quarterback Rob Peters lofted a third-down pass from the A&M 25-yard-line in the direction of Hart, who made a spectacular, leaping catch in the front corner of the end zone over A&M cornerback Sedrick Curry.
But Hart was ruled to have stepped out of bounds before making the catch, and the Red Raiders were finally out of luck. Hart vehemently argued with the official after the play but replays clearly showed that the proper call had been made. Tech's fourth-down pass attempt also fell incomplete.
"I knew they were going to Donnie Hart (on third down), and I was able to keep my body up against him," said Curry. "He did go up and make a great catch, but I was able to keep him out of bounds. Basically, it was like blocking out in basketball."
Throughout much of the first half, A&M seemed intent on playing into the Red Raiders' South Division title plans. On the first play of the game, for example, A&M quarterback Randy McCown fumbled, and Tech recovered at the Aggies' 25. That led to a Tech field goal, and the Aggies' next turnover, a McCown fumble at the A&M 35, led to the Red Raiders' lone touchdown. McCown also had one pass intercepted midway through the second quarter, giving A&M - a team that had only six turnovers in its first seven games - three giveaways in the first half alone.
"We gave them the ball inside the red zone twice, and our defense did a great job," offensive coordinator Steve Kragthorpe said. "But we can't afford turnovers like that. If we don't turn the ball over, we win 17-0."
Despite the barrage of first-half turnovers, the Aggies managed to take a 14-10 halftime lead thanks to a couple of big plays and a surprising call from Slocum.
Trailing 3-0 late in the first quarter, A&M drove to the Tech 8, but was forced to send in the field goal unit when the drive stalled. But instead of attempting to tie the game with a 25-yard field goal, Slocum went to his bag of tricks.
On the Thursday prior to the Tech game, A&M had put a fake field goal attempt into its game plan. And, to the surprise of everyone - including the Aggies' players -Slocum put his plan into action.
"It definitely surprised me that we called it," said punter/field goal holder Shane Lechler. "We had put it in Thursday, and we had probably only, worked on it about six times or so. I was pretty shocked."
Lechler also was shocked at how wide open tight end Dan Campbell was in the end zone when he rolled to his right after receiving the snap. Lechler, who was also recruited as a quarterback, almost waited too long to throw the ball and put a little too much loft on the pass.
Another floating pass later in the first half also proved to be a pivotal play for the Aggies. On the first play of A&M's final drive of the first half, McCown lofted a pass in the direction of tailback Dante Hall, who made a nice catch and then proceeded to make a sensational run. After breaking two tackles, Hall was finally brought down at the Tech 6, culminating a 55-yard pass play.
"The run he made after the catch was something else," McCown said. "Any time you get the ball in his hands, something good can happen."
Something good again happened three plays later when Hall burst into the end zone from the 1-yard-line to give the Aggies a lead they would not relinquish.
The Aggies added a 24-yard field goal with just under 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter and turned the game over to their defense to do the rest. And, as has been the case all year long, the Wrecking Crew was up to the challenge.
A&M forced two turnovers in the second half, sacked Tech's Peters five times and limited the Red Raiders to just 205 yards of total offense - and 50 of those yards came on Tech's final desperation drive.
"I think our defense did a great job of winning that game for us," Hall said. "We struggled on offense and turned the ball over way too many times, but our defense did the job."
And the Aggies haven't been able to say that after the Texas Tech game in four seasons. So, although it certainly wasn't a thing of beauty, it was definitely rewarding.
"I'm glad to have this (losing streak to Tech) done, to have this off our backs," Campbell said. "I was sick of hearing all the trash that goes with it. It's a thorn out of my side, this team's side. Now, we can move on to Oklahoma State and not hear about a losing streak to Tech again."
