By ROBERT CESSNA
For 60 minutes Saturday in Aggieland, things went according to wishes as Texas A&M dominated Baylor for a 38-3 victory.
The Aggies scored on their first possession and the Bears were stopped 3 yards short of the end zone on their last play. And what happened in between was much the same of what typically happens when the Battle of the Brazos is contested at Kyle Field. It was A&M's eighth straight victory in the series at home and the sixth by at least 20 points.
It was a comforting afternoon for Aggie fans watching their football team becoming bowl-eligible. But those days have been more the exception than the norm when it comes to playing the rest of the Big 12.
Saturday was only the 14th time the Aggies have won a league game by at least 20 points since winning their only Big 12 title in 1998. A&M has suffered 22 such losses during that time, along with three more in bowl games.
That's why there was plenty of concern heading into the game. A victory over Baylor is no longer a given. The Aggies had won nine straight in Waco until a 35-34 overtime loss in 2004, then last year the Bears rolled to a 41-21 victory, one of those ugly lopsided setbacks.
But all the ugliness Saturday was on Baylor's side. A few minutes into the game it was evident A&M was vastly superior. Still, it was hard to judge if the Aggies were 35 points better or the Bears five touchdowns worse. It probably was a combination of the two, but the bottom line was A&M moved forward by becoming bowl-eligible. It was desperately needed, and warmly received.
Time will tell how big of a step this becomes, and it won't take long. Just getting eligible for one of 34 bowl games won't be acceptable next year.
The degree of this season's success will be determined by how A&M performs in the remaining two games. The biggest gauge of course will be Thanksgiving night against unbeaten Texas, which is eight quarters from playing for the national championship.
The Aggies could make a statement by upsetting the Longhorns. If A&M makes it a game into the fourth quarter that would be a positive, but even that's somewhat expected.
Texas claimed a hard-fought 40-29 victory over the Aggies at Kyle Field in 2005 en route to a national championship. And A&M has beaten Texas in two of the last three meetings.
Yet when it comes to consistency, the programs are polar opposites. A&M is 31-29 over the last five seasons, while UT is 56-7 with two losses to the Aggies. Texas is 8-3 in bowl games under coach Mack Brown. A&M is 1-6 in bowl games during the time Brown has been in Austin.
That's why a bowl victory also would be huge. A&M's likely destination is either the Texas Bowl in Houston on Dec. 31 or the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., on Dec. 28. Navy (8-3) already accepted a bid to play in the Texas Bowl. A Southeastern Conference team will be a part of the Independence Bowl, with Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina among the possibilities.
The victory over Baylor assured the Aggies of an extra month of workouts, but they need to take advantage of them.
Second-year head coach Mike Sherman chuckled Saturday when someone asked him how long would he savor the victory before focusing on Texas. Odds are part of his mind at that moment was thinking of Colt McCoy, Jordan Shipley, Sergio Kindle and the rest of the Longhorns.
There's still plenty of work to be done, and no one knows that better than Sherman.
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A&M's Von Miller didn't have a sack Saturday, only the third game he's been shut out this season. The nation's leader has 15.5 sacks, averaging 1.4 per game. Texas Tech's Brandon Sharpe had 2 1/2 sacks against Oklahoma on Saturday to move into second place with 13 (1.3 per game).
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Texas opened as a 22.5-point favorite. Only Houston at home to Rice (26.5) and TCU at home to New Mexico (41) opened as bigger favorites in this weekend's games.
Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.
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