Texas A&M
Texas
Texas 26, (#6) Texas A&M 24
Nov 27, 1998 | Football
November 27, 1998
Every loss stings. And any loss to Texas burns deeply in the hearts of Texas A&M players, coaches and fans.
But last Friday's 26-24 loss to the Longhorns was especially agonizing, disheartening and down-right excruciating for the Aggies to endure.
Not because of Ricky Williams' record-setting rampage and the ensuing "lovefest". Not because of the terribly one-sided statistics that favored Texas in almost all areas. Not even because it ended the Aggies' 10-game winning streak and eliminated all possibilities of A&M playing for a shot at the national title.
Those were contributing factors, sure. But what really twists the knife in A&M's back is that, after playing some of the worst football of the season in the first 51 minutes of the contest, the Aggies needed a miracle to get back in the game.
They got it. Then they wasted it.
Trailing 23-7 with 9:46 left in the fourth quarter, the previously lethargic and suddenly desperate Aggies mounted a spirited and spectacular 17-point comeback. And when quarterback Randy McCown plowed into the end zone on a fourth-down option keeper, A&M had an inconceivable 24-23 lead with 2:20 left.
The majority of the 83,687 fans inside Royal Memorial Stadium - the largest crowd to ever witness a football game in the Lone Star State - sat in stunned silence.
From the Aggies' perspective, it may have been the most sensational seven-minute span in the 105-year history of the A&M-Texas series. Had it been a nine-minute span, it would have been enough for the Aggies to pull off the biggest comeback win in school history.
But with just over two minutes left in the contest, the Aggies turned to a bend-but-don't-break defensive philosophy, rushing only three linemen on most plays. That played right into the Longhorns' plans.
With plenty of time in the pocket, redshirt freshman quarterback Major Applewhite calmly directed an 11-play, 70-yard drive. Then, the Aggies' hearts were broken when Texas kicker Kris Stockton drilled the game-winning. 24-yard field goal with only five seconds left.
It's amazing that it was ever that close. And for the Aggies, it's incredibly agonizing that it slipped away.
"We had to fight back so hard to get back to the top of the mountain," said a teary-eyed McCown. "To get all the way back, take the lead and then lose ... it's just a real hard pill to swallow."
The Aggies certainly showed plenty of guts in that memorable seven-minute comeback. There's no telling how different this game would have been if A&M had played the entire game with such intensity.
Instead, the Aggies seemed to be sleepwalking from the start of the 10 a.m. kickoff. And A&M didn't awaken until it trailed by 16 early in the fourth quarter.
"We finally turned it up, but we waited too long," senior tight end Dan Campbell said. "I don't know why it took us so long. All I know is that it's very frustrating and it hurts."
It didn't get any easier for Campbell and his offensive teammates to stomach after watching the videotape of this one. The Aggies' offense has had some stumbles and struggles throughout this season, but without much doubt, the first three quarters of Friday's game was the low point.
The A&M defense, which entered the game ranked second nationally, had its problems, too. En route to becoming the all-time rushing leader, Ricky Williams also produced the most rushing yards by an individual back (259) ever allowed by an A&M defense.
All told, the Longhorns generated 483 yards of offense against the Aggies - 123 more than Florida State had produced in the season-opener and 233 more than A&M's defensive season average.
Despite not playing well - and despite all those numbers - the Aggies nearly won anyway. A 55-yard pass from McCown to Chris Cole set up a 30-yard field goal by Russell Bynum that closed the Texas lead to 23-10 with 8:29 left in the game.
Then, on Texas' next series, Williams fumbled deep in his own territory again, and A&M recovered at the UT 17. Williams' first fumble of the day led to a 19-yard touchdown pass from McCown to Derrick Spiller early in the second quarter. And his fourth-quarter fumble led to a 17-yard scoring pass from McCown to Spiller that cut the lead to 23-17 with 7:39 left to play.
Incidentally, Williams also had another fumble deep in A&M territory that was ruled to be not a fumble, although replays showed otherwise. The no-fumble call proved to be pivotal, as Texas continued the drive and eventually scored a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Following a 35-yard punt return by Jason Webster and a key 16-yard reception by Matt Bumgardner, the Aggies took the lead for the first time with 2:20 left in the game on McCown's quarterback keeper.
But A&M's celebration was short-lived, as Applewhite guided the Horns on the game-winning drive. With three timeouts and just three A&M defenders rushing, Applewhite had plenty of time to hit his receivers on short routes and work the sidelines.
"Obviously, we needed to get more pressure on (Applewhite)," said A&M coach R.C. Slocum. "If you had it to do over, you'd call some different things in those situations. But we did the best we could at the time."
