Texas A&M got kicked about as badly as a football team can by Kansas State on Saturday night. How the Aggies respond will go a long way toward determining if the program takes a significant step forward this year.

All the goodwill the Aggies built by winning their first three games in record-setting offensive fashion is gone. A chilling reality in Manhattan, Kan., was that maybe A&M played three so-so teams for its fast start.

Kansas State isn't lousy, but it's far from great, which makes its 62-14 thumping of the Aggies hurt that much worse. The Wildcats didn't even beat Tennessee Tech that bad.

Kansas State is not 48 points better than A&M, but for 60 minutes the Wildcats beat the Aggies play after play. It didn't matter if it was offense, defense or special teams. It also didn't seem to matter who the specific players were. It was rather simple. The guy wearing purple was better than the guy wearing maroon.

It's easy to lay this at the feet of head coach Mike Sherman. Obviously his team didn't handle the game's adversity at all. But the upperclassmen gotta take a big hickey as well. No one made a game-changing play to stop the purple rush to a 59-0 lead.

That's too bad. It's not like the team's juniors and seniors haven't been through enough tough times. They've endured the off-the-field mess of former head coach Dennis Franchione, the guy who recruited them. They handled his departure and adjusted to Sherman's ways as many of their former teammates fell by the wayside.

They were beacons of light last year in A&M's 4-8 season. But, unfortunately, they failed miserably Saturday in a game that A&M really had to win. What's even worse is that the outcome was decided early -- way early.

A&M senior tight end Jamie McCoy fumbled on the second play from scrimmage. The loss wasn't his fault, he just started the mess.

McCoy lined up at fullback because he'd earned that chance with hard work in fall camp and four carries for 24 yards last week against Oklahoma State. He is the team's best fullback.

He probably ran that play over and over in practice, and my guess is without any ball security issues. But that wasn't the case Saturday.

There wasn't a gaping hole, but McCoy should have picked up 2-3 yards to give A&M a manageable third down. Instead, KSU defensive tackle Jeffrey Fitzgerald forced a fumble.

Fitzgerald, a senior transfer from Virginia who sat out last year, had a monster game. He had 2 1/2 sacks and had constant pressure on A&M quarterback Jerrod Johnson.

A&M's defense put itself in position to lessen the pain of McCoy's fumble by getting KSU into a third-and-5 at the 24. But KSU quarterback Grant Gregory faked to powerful running back Daniel Thomas and rolled to the right. He hit Brandon Banks for 17 yards, and on the next play Thomas plowed through A&M for the final 7 yards to the end zone.

The rout was on.

It was frighteningly simple. One team executed a couple of basic plays. The other team botched them.

Kansas State scored nine of the first 10 times it touched the ball. It was painfully reminiscent of A&M's 77-0 loss at Oklahoma in 2003, when the Sooners scored 11 of the first 12 times they touched the football.

You can argue that Franchione never recovered from that. Sure, he beat Texas twice and took A&M to the Cotton Bowl and Holiday Bowl. But he never got over the hump of the debacle in Norman, even though OU was ranked No. 1 in the country at that time and had beaten Texas by 52.

Now you have to wonder, what will be the effect of this loss on Sherman's program? Kansas State isn't even the best team in the state of Kansas.

Last year's blowout losses A&M suffered were the growing pains that often come during transitions. And it was absurd to think before the season that A&M wouldn't have at least one or two more lopsided losses this year with road games at Colorado, Texas Tech and Oklahoma. But Kansas State? The Aggies were actually favored to win by five points. Go figure. Seldom in Las Vegas can you cash a winning ticket after the first quarter.

For the Aggie fans sitting in the Bill Snyder Family Stadium, they should have laughed and just enjoyed the great football weather, because the only other alternative would have been uncontrollable weeping.

Even though A&M probably has one of the youngest squads in the nation, some aren't gonna give Sherman a pass on this. It'll take significant efforts and victories -- if not this year, then next year -- to move forward.

Sherman's been here for only 18 games, but he's reached a critical juncture in his regime. A&M is 2-8 in its last 10 Big 12 games. And while the Aggies were falling back this weekend, Colorado fans were rushing the field after knocking off 17th-ranked Kansas; Iowa State ended an 11-game losing streak in league play by beating Baylor; and Texas Tech, next week's foe, went into Nebraska and beat the 15th-ranked Huskers.

And KSU, reeling from a 66-14 loss at Texas Tech, had a season's worth of highlights at the Aggies' expense.

"They came back from a tough loss last week and they handled it to us," Sherman said. "Hopefully, we can learn from this, and do the same to somebody else."

There certainly will be chances in the next month for the Aggies, with three more road trips and a home game against ISU.

Sherman said last week a team's ability to move forward goes back to "how you react as a head coach to the disappointment and adversity."

Well, this was Sherman's most lopsided loss as a head coach.

His worst one as head coach of the Green Bay Packers was 48-3 to a not-so good Baltimore team in 2005 on Monday Night Football. The Packers had five turnovers and the Ravens didn't have a one in scoring 18 percent of their points that season in that one game.

Sherman's Packers, though, rebounded to lose a hard-fought 24-17 game on Christmas Day to NFC North champ Chicago. Sherman ended his Green Bay tenure the following week with a 23-17 victory over AFC West champ Seattle, which had the conference's best record en route to the Super Bowl.

Sherman needs to call on that experience and others in his 30-year coaching career to move the program forward. The season is far from being lost, but the Aggies have to put behind what happened in Manhattan quickly or this could be another long season.

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Kansas State had six sacks Saturday, but the Wildcats also held A&M to 2 yards or less on 11 of its other 18 rushes.

The Wildcats' defensive line set the tone early by allowing Johnson only a yard on the first play from scrimmage when he couldn't find an open receiver. McCoy fumbled on the next play.

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Senior offensive lineman Michael Shumard (right foot) returned to the starting lineup at left tackle. Senior free safety Jordan Pugh (concussion) also returned. Sophomore wide receiver Jeff Fuller (broken right fibula) missed his fourth straight game.

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A&M is 94th in total defense, allowing 393.5 yards per game. That breaks down to 88th against the rush (166.8) and 73rd against the pass (226.7). ... A&M only slipped one spot in total offense to third (484.0) behind Houston and Kansas. A&M actually moved up three spots to sixth in passing (320.5). A&M fell 21 spots in rushing offense to 49th (156.8). ... Johnson moved up to second in total offense (342.5), trailing only Houston's Case Keenum (423.3). Johnson moved up a spot to fifth in passing yards per game (315.5). ... Von Miller continues to lead the nation in sacks (10) and sacks per game (1.67).

Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.

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