By ROBERT CESSNAThe Texas A&M football team gave former Yell Leaders plenty to cheer about Saturday, but not what they wanted to see most: this year's squad reveling in victory.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders denied the Yell Leaders a mad dash across Kyle Field on Saturday by dominating the second half for a 43-25 victory.
The seventh-ranked Raiders (7-0, 3-0 Big 12) matched their best start since 1976 by beating the Aggies for the 11th time in the last 14 meetings. Tech had four scoring drives of nine plays or longer to erase its first halftime deficit of the season.
A&M positioned itself for a monumental upset with 274 yards of offense behind quarterback Jerrod Johnson in the first half. An opportunistic defense did its part with a pair of turnovers that led to 10 points.
The Aggies fed off a season-best crowd of 86,012, which included former Yell Leaders back for the group's 100-year anniversary.
Tech, however, quieted the crowd with a solid second half, denying the freshmen in A&M's Corps of Cadets the chance to chase down the Yell Leaders and eventually throw them in the Fish Pond.
It's been a rare site this season as A&M (2-5, 0-3) lost its fourth home game, assuring the Aggies of a losing season at Kyle Field. This is also the first time A&M has started league play with three straight losses since 1984.
"I think this one hurt a lot more because they put a lot into this ballgame," A&M first-year head coach Mike Sherman said. "We did everything during this week right."
Tech didn't do much right in the first half. The offense had two turnovers and the defense forced only one punt.
"I thought everything that could go wrong did in the first half," Tech head coach Mike Leach said. "We allowed ourselves to get frustrated."
The Red Raiders looked much more relaxed in the second half.
Tech quarterback Graham Harrell shook off a pair of interceptions to lead the Red Raiders on touchdown drives of 77, 80 and 76 yards. His pinpoint accuracy allowed the Red Raiders to keep the ball for 21 minutes, 43 seconds in the second half, wearing down the Aggie defense.
A&M flirted with disaster early in the third quarter by fumbling the kickoff return after Tech drove 77 yards for a 27-23 lead.
An interception by A&M defensive end Michael Bennett stopped Tech at the A&M 11. But the Aggies picked up only 5 yards and punted. The next three A&M possessions netted only 17 combined yards.
"I thought we had lot of chances that we didn't take advantage of," Sherman said. "I was really disappointed in our run game that we couldn't get more generated. That gives linemen more of a chance."
A&M, which was missing offensive tackle Travis Schneider, had to revamp its line, moving guard Lee Grimes to tackle. A&M rushed for only 20 yards, its lowest total since Nebraska held A&M to 2 in the Cornhuskers' 37-0 victory in 1999.
The Aggies successfully used shovel passes in the first half, but Tech took those away in the second half. The Red Raiders also covered up the receivers better in the second half and sacked Johnson three times.
The Red Raiders tacked on a 25-yard field goal by Cory Fowler for a 30-23 lead with 2:44 left in the third quarter. Tech increased it to 36-23 on a 1-yard touchdown run by Harrell.
Tech's shaky kicking game helped give the Aggies their last points when Tony Jerod-Eddy blocked the extra point and Arkeith Brown returned it for two points.
A&M couldn't build on that, punting after three plays on its next possession.
Tech appeared to be methodically running out the final 5:01, but Leach riled the Aggies fans by scoring late. Leach first asked for a replay review on Shannon Woods' run to the 1 with 24 seconds left.
Tech would have had to run another play if it hadn't taken the timeout. The officials ruled that indeed Woods was short of the end zone. Harrell then capped the game by faking to Woods and scoring on a run. Leach said he wanted Woods to do the honors, but Harrell walked into the end zone untouched, holding the football out in front of him.
Harrell was 44-of-56 passing for 450 yards with three scores.
"Kyle Field is the greatest place to play at, so to come out with a win is big," Harrell said.
Harrell beat A&M two years with a last-minute touchdown, and this game had that kind of start.
A&M successfully used shovel passes to Mike Goodson and Cyrus Gray to pick up chunks of yardage and keep Tech from teeing off on Johnson.
The first one was good for 26 yards to Goodson, which led to a 46-yard field goal by Randy Bullock.
Tech answered with a 25-yard touchdown to All-American wide receiver Michael Crabtree, who started the drive with a 50-yard kickoff return.
A&M came right back with a 14-play, 83-yard touchdown drive, mixing in passes down field and a couple shovel passes.
"We just felt like we had to do something to slow them down," Sherman said. "We really had a lot of respect for [left defensive end Brandon] Williams. They had pretty quick guys off the edge."
Things got dicey for A&M inside the red zone when Johnson had to leave after a late hit by Williams.
Redshirt freshman Ryan Tannehill moved from wide receiver back to quarterback for a play, but was stopped for no gain. Senior quarterback Steven McGee, who was hurt his shoulder against New Mexico and reinjured it against Army, came in and threw a 3-yard touchdown to Tannehill, who grew up a Tech fan because his father played there.
Tech went up 13-10 on Baron Batch's 3-yard run, but missed the extra point.
Tannehill, who had his second straight 100-yard receiving game, had a 44-yard catch that led to a 28-yard Bullock field goal with 9:48 left in the half for a 13-13 tie.
Bullock made it 16-13 on an 18-yard field goal, but A&M squandered a first-and-goal from the 4. The shoot-out continued with Batch catching a 9-yard touchdown pass for a 20-16 Tech lead.
A&M's defense helped gain the halftime lead by forcing wide receiver Tramain Swindwell to fumble after a 37-yard catch. Garrick Williams made the hit and Jordan Pugh recovered.
The officials ruled the ground caused the fumble, but Sherman successfully challenged the ruling.
A&M needed only five plays to cover 55 yards with Tannehill's 40-yard catch setting up Goodson's 1-yard run with 23 seconds left in the half.
A&M's offense vanished in the second half, picking up only 32 yards while Tech scored on four of five possessions.
Johnson was 26-of-39 passing for 283 yards with no interceptions or touchdowns.
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