Texas A&M
Kansas State
Aggies Improve to 6-1 with 31-24 Victory at Kansas State
Oct 20, 2001 | Football
October 20, 2001
Mark Farris threw two first-half touchdown passes and Texas A&M scored 17 points in the final three minutes of the third quarter in a 31-24 victory over Kansas State on Saturday.
Jarrod Penright returned a fumble 17 yards for a touchdown for the Aggies (6-1, 3-1 Big 12), who won despite making only one first down in the second half. They capitalized on three turnovers--two by quarterback Ell Roberson--in their third-quarter surge.
Kansas State (2-4, 0-4), ranked No. 11 before its skid began, mounted a fourth-quarter comeback but saw its losing streak reach four games for the first time since 1992. The Wildcats also lost consecutive home games for the first time since 1989, when they finished 1-10 in Bill Snyder's first season as coach.
Roberson's replacement, Marc Dunn, led Kansas State on two fourth-quarter touchdown drives, scoring on a 1-yard sneak with 10:42 left and passing 17 yards to Nick Warren to set up Rock Cartwright's 5-yard TD run with 4:54 remaining.
Aaron Lockett, Kansas State's new career leader in all-purpose yardage, returned a punt 52 yards to the Aggies 23 with less than three minutes remaining. Dunn's 2-yard keeper on fourth-and-1 gave the Wildcats a first down at A&M's 12 with 1{ minutes remaining, but safety Terrence Kiel stopped Josh Scobey for a 2-yard gain on fourth-and-3 from the 5 with 46 seconds left.
The Aggies led 14-7 at the half but saw that cut to 14-10 with just under 5 minutes in the third quarter, when Jared Brite's partially blocked kick bounced off the crossbar and through for a 27-yard field goal.
The Wildcats forced a punt on Texas A&M's next possession, but Lockett muffed his fair-catch attempt. Jonte Buhl recovered at the Wildcats 25, setting up Cody Scates' 42-yard field goal with 2:50 left in the quarter.
Two plays later, Brian Gamble intercepted Roberson's pass and returned it 12 yards to the Wildcats 9. Two plays after that, Joe Weber scored on a 1-yard run for a 24-10 lead.
On Kansas State's next play, Roberson was hit by Christian Rodriguez as he tried to pitch to Scobey. The ball bounced away from a diving Scobey, and Penright scooped it up and ran it in to put the Aggies up 33-10.
Roberson's replacement, Marc Dunn, led Kansas State on two fourth-quarter touchdown drives, scoring on a 1-yard sneak with 10:42 left and passing 17 yards to Nick Warren to set up Rock Cartwright's 5-yard TD run with 4:54 remaining.
Farris gave Texas A&M a 14-0 lead with TD passes of 9 yards to Oschlor Flemming in the first quarter and 44 yards to Terrence Murphy early in the second.
Scobey scored on a 4-yard run with seven seconds to go in the half, after Scates' 21-yard punt gave Kansas State a first down at the Aggies 32.
Lockett had 128 all-purpose yards, giving him 3,558 for his career. Andre Coleman had 3,443 from 1990-93
