People enjoy riding roller coasters in part because they never know what thrill or peril is around the next corner.
Texas A&M football fans are experiencing the same emotions following their team this year.
That certainly was the case Saturday against Colorado. The Aggies got a 99-yard kickoff return from Cyrus Gray, a nine-catch, 100-yard effort from Ryan Tannehill and the defense had eight sacks. But it wasn't enough as Colorado rallied for a 35-34 victory.
A&M (5-4, 2-3 Big 12) failed to become bowl-eligible and build on eight solid quarters that netted victories over Texas Tech and Iowa State. Instead of continuing to climb, the Aggies slipped backward. It didn't look as bad as the 62-14 loss at Kansas State, but it could prove to be more costly.
That's because KSU is a better team. The Wildcats are among five Big 12 teams with at least six victories. Colorado (3-6, 2-3) would need to win out to have a chance at six victories and postseason.
The Buffaloes certainly didn't play like the team with the worst record to beat the Aggies this year. But much of CU's success was tied to A&M's mistakes.
A&M's high-powered offense never got rolling, and its defense isn't good enough right now to win a shootout. The Aggies came up with eight sacks and an interception, but on the other 67 plays Colorado averaged 7.4 yards per play.
A&M's offense couldn't keep pace. The Aggies had decent numbers -- averaging 5.3 yards a play -- but they lacked consistency. They also failed to take advantage of great field position, starting drives at their own 40 or better five times but scoring touchdowns on only two of those occasions.
Colorado's offense was good enough to overcome horrible field position. The Buffaloes started only one drive in A&M territory -- when it took a knee to end the game.
It could easily have been the Aggies in the victory formation.
A&M twice had a 10-point lead, the last coming early in the fourth quarter. The Aggies just couldn't put the game away, probably a reflection of their lack of maturity.
It's hard to win a road conference game with a veteran-laden team, let alone a young one. The Aggies played 18 freshmen and 10 sophomores at Colorado, most of them in key roles.
That youth was exceptional at Texas Tech, but Saturday was A&M's third loss away from Kyle Field.
If A&M can take anything positive out of Saturday it's that it made way too many mistakes and still almost won the game.
The Aggies will get a chance to make amends at one of the toughest places to play in the country this week. Oklahoma has won a nation-best 28 straight home games and 48 of its last 49 in Norman.
After that, A&M will return home to play Baylor and Texas as its roller-coaster ride picks up speed for what could be a heck of a finish.
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Oklahoma (5-4, 3-2), out of the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time since 2005, is one of six league teams along with the Aggies who need another victory to become bowl-eligible. KSU (6-3, 4-2), Iowa State (5-5, 2-4), Kansas (5-4, 1-4) and Missouri (5-4, 1-4) are the others.
Texas (9-0, 5-0), Oklahoma State (7-2, 4-1), Texas Tech (6-3, 3-2) and Nebraska (6-3, 3-2) are the others along with KSU which are bowl-eligible.
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A&M coach Mike Sherman's radio show is 7 p.m. Monday at Wings-N-More on University Drive. It will be broadcast on WTAW (1620 AM).
Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.
(Editor's note: The original story stated Kansas State is bowl-eligible. KSU has to win one more game because it has two victories over Football Bowl Subdivision teams (UMass and Tennessee Tech) and the NCAA allows teams to count only one toward becoming bowl-eligible).
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