Texas A&M's 50 greatest football victories: Nos. 35-31

There have been nail-biters and blowouts. There have been amazing comebacks and improbable upsets. There have been last-minute touchdowns and clutch goal line stands.

Through 121 seasons of Texas A&M football, the Aggies have posted 717 victories.

One resulted in cotton falling like snow at Kyle Field. Another had a historic “Bear” hug. Several came at the expense of Heisman Trophy recipients.

Some transformed star players like Crow, Hargett, Johnny Football and the Haskell Hurricane into legends.

From the Dixie Classic, to the Sugar Bowl, to — oh, my gracious — a stunning triumph at Tuscaloosa, TexAgs has attempted to rank the Aggies’ 50 greatest football victories to be revealed in sets of five.

See if your Top 50 matches ours.

Texas A&M’s greatest football victories: Nos. 50-46 ... 45-41 ... 40-36

35. Texas A&M 21, LSU 14 (Sept. 21, 1974): The No. 7 Tigers blew out Colorado in their season opener and expected to do the same to A&M in Baton Rouge.

Instead, quarterback David Walker operated the Wishbone offense to near perfection as the Aggies rolled up 417 rushing yards. That included a 10-yard touchdown run from Skip Walker and a 50-yard scoring burst from Bubba Bean.

Still, the score was knotted at 14-14 in the fourth quarter when the Aggies recovered a fumble to set up Bucky Sams’ game-winning 1-yard touchdown run.

LSU tried to rally and reached A&M’s 30-yard line, but Pat Thomas broke up a pass on the sideline to end the threat.

The Aggies, which had lost six of their previous seven games against LSU, went on to an 8-3 finish.

34. Texas A&M 52, Duke 48 (Dec. 31, 2013): A&M trailed Duke 38-17 at halftime of the Chick-fil-A Bowl and, despite the heroics of quarterback Johnny Manziel, was down 41-31 going into the fourth quarter.

Manziel ran for a touchdown and threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Derel Walker in the fourth quarter to bring the Aggies within 48-45 with 5:44 left in the game.

A&M then took its first lead of the game when Tony Hurd returned an interception 55 yards for a touchdown with 3:33 remaining. The Aggies clinched the victory on a Nate Askew interception.

Manziel passed for 382 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 73 yards and a score in A&M’s largest comeback in school history. The Aggies’ rally from a 21-point deficit bettered the comeback from a 20-point deficit to defeat Baylor 33-27 in 1958.

33. Texas A&M 39, SMU 13 (Nov. 5, 1927): Undefeated A&M played host to the 5-1 Mustangs, who were unbeaten in Southwest Conference play.

SMU had lost in early October at Centenary, but had bounced back with decisive victories over Rice, Missouri and Texas.

A&M had allowed 12 total points in six games.

SMU bettered that total, but could not slow down the offensive attack led by quarterback Joel Hunt as A&M rolled to a 39-13 triumph. It was the fifth game in which the Aggies exceeded 30 points.

A&M went on to capture the SWC championship, while SMU finished second.

32. Texas A&M 20, Texas 13 (Nov. 27, 1987): Any win over Texas is big, especially when a conference championship is at stake.

That was the case in ’87 when A&M (8-2, 5-1) played host to the Longhorns (6-4, 5-1) in a hard fought game that wasn’t decided until late in the fourth quarter.

A&M’s Keith Woodside ripped off a 90-yard touchdown run and Texas’ Eric Metcalf answered with a 50-yard scoring burst as the first half ended in a 10-10 tie.

The score remained tied after an exchange of field goals until A&M quarterback Bucky Richardson capped a 9-play, 79-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown run with 4:33 remaining.

That lifted the Aggies to their third consecutive Southwest Conference championship and put them into the Cotton Bowl to face Notre Dame.

31. Texas A&M 28, LSU 16 (Sept. 2, 1989): The R.C. Slocum era began at Kyle Field against LSU, which was ranked seventh in the nation and had shut out the Aggies the previous season.

This would be much different.

Larry Horton returned the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown and the Aggies continually harassed LSU quarterback Tom Hodson.

The dominant showing proved an omen for both teams. A&M went on to finish 8-4 with three losses coming by three points or less.

LSU struggled to a 4-7 finish, which began a streak of six consecutive losing seasons.