By ROBERT CESSNA
Mike Sherman claimed his first victory as Texas A&M's head football coach at Kyle Field by hopping on the J-Train. The crowd of 84,090 was ready for the ride.
Senior Jorvorskie Lane carried the ball six straight times to help the Aggies run out the clock for a 21-17 victory over the Army Black Knights early Saturday afternoon.
Lane put the finishing touches on a hard-fought victory, turning doubt among the partisan crowd into deafening cheers. Lane picked up three first downs in the final 3 minutes, each time dragging tacklers toward the end zone.
"That last one I tried to get in there," said Lane, who plowed ahead for 10 yards to the Army 6-yard line on the game's final play.
Lane got up and pretended he was the conductor, pulling a train's imaginary whistle, and the crowd roared its approval as time ran out.
Until Lane got on track, Army was chugging along toward victory. The Black Knights used a methodical offense to stay in the game, while its hard-hitting defense put a few more licks on A&M's ailing quarterbacks.
And Army (0-4) was in position to win thanks to a pair of time-consuming possessions. Matthew Campbell's 24-yard field goal capped a 17-play, 71-yard drive, then Patrick Mealy's 4-yard touchdown that ended a 13-play, 74-yard drive that cut A&M's lead to 21-17.
The Black Knights ran the triple-option offense almost to perfection behind sophomore quarterback Chip Bowden, who rushed for 128 yards on 34 carries. He had 17 carries for 60 yards on Army's last two scoring drives.
Then after forcing A&M (2-2) to punt after three plays, the Black Knights opted to feature the fullback. Collin Mooney had three rushes for 11 yards and a first down. Army called on running back Justin Turner, who had carried only once in the game, and he was stopped for no gain. Bowden gained 5 yards, and on the next two plays, Army went back to the 247-pound Mooney, who wasn't tackled behind the line on 13 carries.
However, he came up inches short on a fourth-and-3, and A&M took over at the Army 49.
"We fought as hard as we could. We just came up short," said Mooney, who played high school football at Katy Taylor.
Army attempted only four passes, so the Aggies knew the fourth-down play would go to Mooney, Bowden or the pitch man.
"I thought they were going to pull it and run the quarterback pitch," Sherman said.
A&M made sure Army didn't get another chance, running out the final 3:58 on what was the Aggies' second longest possession of the game.
A&M starting tailback Mike Goodson rushed for 9 yards on the final drive, then Lane took over. It was almost a carbon copy of A&M's 25-19 victory over 19th-ranked Missouri two years ago when Lane had six straight carries for 38 yards as the Aggies ran out the final 3:28.
Lane had been a nonfactor since switching to fullback in Sherman's pro-style offense. He reported to fall camp at 307 pounds -- Sherman wanted him in the 260s -- and he missed the last part of fall camp with a neck and head injury.
Then he missed the opener against Arkansas State and had only seven carries for 19 yards against New Mexico. He played last week but didn't run the ball. A&M opted to used 210-pound tailback Keondra Smith twice on third-and-1, but Smith was injured Saturday and didn't play.
"Going into the ballgame [Lane] was going to be our short-yardage back, and we just asked him to get his pads down," Sherman said.
Lane now has his weight in the 280s.
"I feel good, and I've still got a ways to go," Lane said. "I mean from January, I lost a lot of weight. Me and coach Sherman talk about it. Coach knows it's hard, and he understands that. He's just putting me in the best situation I can be in."
Lane made the crowd roar with a 4-yard run on third-and-2 three plays after Army had kicked its field goal. He ended up with 38 yards on seven carries.
"I thought he did a good job," Sherman said. "He had some running lanes and he made some extra yardage on his own. I was pleased with his effort.
"[When] he gets his pads down, he can run with anybody, but he has to get his pads down."
Lane wasn't the first big guy to please the crowd.
A&M took a 14-7 halftime lead on Paul Freeney's 58-yard fumble return with just 7 seconds left.
Bowden was trying to get Army into field-goal range after linebacker Frank Scappaticci intercepted a Jerrod Johnson pass and returned it 9 yards to the A&M 45. But on a third-and-2 play, Bowden leaned for a first down and A&M linebacker Matt Featherston knocked the ball loose.
"We would have liked to have that one back," Army head coach Stan Brock said.
The 227-pound Freeney picked up the football, with several Aggies alongside, and rambled 58 yards untouched for a touchdown.
"I just did what I know how to do best," Freeney said. "I didn't know I was that fast. I kinda surprised myself. When you get that adrenaline pumping, you just run a little faster."
It was Army's only turnover in 70 snaps. The Black Knights had lost a nation-leading 10 fumbles and scored only 20 points combined in losses to Temple, New Hampshire and Akron.
Army's ball-control offense afforded the Aggies only 48 plays, but two of those hurt the Black Knights.
A&M freshman wide receiver Jeff Fuller got behind Army and caught a 42-yard touchdown pass from Stephen McGee, who returned as starting quarterback after having a string of 29 consecutive starts halted by a sprained shoulder. McGee got the 80-yard, second-quarter drive going by diving for a first down on third-and-8. McGee stretched the ball across the 20 as he dove out of bounds, giving the crowd something to cheer about after A&M didn't pick up a first down in the first quarter.
McGee celebrated his touchdown throw with blocking tight end Danny Baker, then ran into the end zone to rejoice with the rest of the players.
McGee's rejoicing was short-lived, however, for he was knocked out of the game on the next series. Army defensive end Fritz Bentler hit McGee on his ailing right shoulder, which sent McGee to the locker room. He watched the second half from the sidelines wearing a sling.
McGee, who Sherman said was 95 percent healthy before the game, was replaced by Johnson, who didn't throw in practice during the week because his shoulder was injured against Miami.
Johnson looked rusty, and he took a vicious hit of his own that forced A&M to run freshman Cyrus Gray in shotgun formation for one play. But Johnson returned to throw an 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jamie McCoy, a play set up by a 60-yard run by Gray.
A&M had a chance to put Army away with a touchdown drive on its next possession but lost yardage on three straight plays after reaching the Army 26.
A&M punted, and Army, which has lost 10 straight, scored its first fourth-quarter points of the season.
"They gave us everything we could handle and more," Sherman said.
But Army couldn't handle Lane, who rushed for 101 yards and three scores in a 28-24 victory over Army two years ago in San Antonio.
Lane helped Sherman, who was an assistant at A&M from 1989-93 and 1995-96, walk out of Kyle Field a winner after losses to Arkansas State and Miami.
"Fans are heading home, whether it's Beaumont or Bastrop or San Antonio, with a win in their pocket and feel good about the Aggies, so that's exciting to me," Sherman said.
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