20-16 Discussion
Don Watson Q&A
Texas A&M Football
Texas A&M's 50 greatest football victories: Nos. 20-16
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 ... 35-31 ... 30-26 ... 25-21
20. Texas A&M 37, Texas 12 (Dec. 1, 1984): A&M had struggled through most of its third season under Coach Jackie Sherrill, but began making major strides at the end of the season. After upsetting No. 17 TCU the previous week the Aggies traveled to Austin to face No. 13 Texas, which earlier in the season had been ranked No. 1.
A victory would give Texas at least a share of the Southwest Conference championship.
The Longhorns never had a chance.
Anthony Toney scored touchdowns on runs of 2 and 3 yards, Craig Stump threw two touchdown passes and Eric Franklin kicked three field goals in the Aggies’ blowout victory.
The Aggies, who led by as much as 30-0, rolled up 455 total yards, while intercepting Longhorns quarterback Todd Dodge twice and sacking him four times.
The victory ensured A&M would finish the year with a winning record at 6-5. More importantly, it set the stage for a decade of dominance over Texas and in the Southwest Conference.
19. Texas A&M 13, Texas 0 (Nov. 19, 1915): During the 1909-10 seasons, the Aggies posted three consecutive victories over the Longhorns. That led to Texas fans accusing A&M coach Charley Moran of using illegal players.
Texas was so upset that it refused to play A&M unless Moran was fired. The series was discontinued from 1912-14.
Needing the revenue from playing Texas and seeking admission to the fledgling Southwest Conference, A&M finally relented and replaced Moran with E.H. Harlan.
Prior to the game against Texas, Moran supposedly wrote a letter to the Bryan Eagle exhorting the Aggies to defeat Texas when the series resumed in 1915. The Aggies delivered with a 13-0 victory.
Two years later, A&M students branded the score on the Longhorns' steer mascot. In response Texas fans altered the brand to read BEVO, which became the mascot’s official name.
18. Texas A&M 9, Nebraska 6 (Nov. 20, 2010): Ninth-ranked Nebraska (9-1) was riding a four-game winning streak that included victories over No. 14 Oklahoma State and No. 6 Missouri.
One more victory would allow the Huskers to win the Big 12 North Division.
However, A&M (7-3) had also posted four consecutive victories and had not lost since Ryan Tannehill took over as the starting quarterback three games before.
With the score tied 6-6 midway through the fourth quarter, A&M began a 68-yard march for Randy Bullock’s game-winning 19-yard field goal with 3:02 left to play. Cyrus Gray, who rushed for 137 yards, gained 48 yards on the drive which was aided by a roughing the passer penalty.
Von Miller then posted sacks on first and third down on the second series of Nebraska’s ensuing possession. Cornhuskers quarterback Taylor Martinez threw incomplete on fourth down. Much of the record crowd of 90,079 poured onto Kyle Field to celebrate the victory.
Trent Hunter had two interceptions for the Aggies. Nebraska was penalized 16 times for 145 yards.
17. Texas A&M 28, Texas Tech 24 (Oct. 14, 1967): The Aggies (0-4) had suffered three of their losses by a combined eight points and appeared destined to come up just short again.
They trailed Texas Tech 24-21 with mere seconds remaining and faced fourth-and-15 at the Raiders’ 43-yard line.
Quarterback Edd Hargett threw to Bob Long, who made a circus catch for a 28-yard gain to the Texas Tech 15-yard line with less than 10 seconds to play. On the next play, Hargett rolled right and found plenty of room to race into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.
The victory in Lubbock turned around the Aggies’ season. A&M posted five straight wins to clinch the Southwest Conference championship.
The Aggies then beat Alabama in the Cotton Bowl.
16. Texas A&M 7, TCU 6 (Oct. 20, 1956): Known as the “Hurricane Game” because a furious storm with 90 mile per hour winds blew in during the second quarter, this clash matched the fourth-ranked Horned Frogs (3-0) and No. 14 Aggies (3-0-1) in a hard-fought contest that proved the de facto Southwest Conference championship game.
TCU threatened to take command in the first half, but All-American running back Jim Swink was stopped three times at the goal line and the Horned Frogs missed two field goal attempts.
TCU finally took a 6-0 lead in the third quarter on a one-handed touchdown grab by O’Day Williams. Another Frogs threat in the fourth quarter was thwarted by defensive back Don Watson’s end zone interception.
That was the first of two big plays Watson turned in. After the interception, the Aggies drove 80 yards for Watson’s tying touchdown pass to John David Crow with nine minutes remaining.
Loyd Taylor’s extra point gave the Aggies the 7-6 lead and the A&M defense made it stand.
The Aggies went on to win their remaining games to finish 9-0-1 and in first place in the SWC. TCU finished second with an 8-3 record.
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 ... 35-31 ... 30-26 ... 25-21
20. Texas A&M 37, Texas 12 (Dec. 1, 1984): A&M had struggled through most of its third season under Coach Jackie Sherrill, but began making major strides at the end of the season. After upsetting No. 17 TCU the previous week the Aggies traveled to Austin to face No. 13 Texas, which earlier in the season had been ranked No. 1.
A victory would give Texas at least a share of the Southwest Conference championship.
The Longhorns never had a chance.
Anthony Toney scored touchdowns on runs of 2 and 3 yards, Craig Stump threw two touchdown passes and Eric Franklin kicked three field goals in the Aggies’ blowout victory.
The Aggies, who led by as much as 30-0, rolled up 455 total yards, while intercepting Longhorns quarterback Todd Dodge twice and sacking him four times.
The victory ensured A&M would finish the year with a winning record at 6-5. More importantly, it set the stage for a decade of dominance over Texas and in the Southwest Conference.
19. Texas A&M 13, Texas 0 (Nov. 19, 1915): During the 1909-10 seasons, the Aggies posted three consecutive victories over the Longhorns. That led to Texas fans accusing A&M coach Charley Moran of using illegal players.
Texas was so upset that it refused to play A&M unless Moran was fired. The series was discontinued from 1912-14.
Needing the revenue from playing Texas and seeking admission to the fledgling Southwest Conference, A&M finally relented and replaced Moran with E.H. Harlan.
Prior to the game against Texas, Moran supposedly wrote a letter to the Bryan Eagle exhorting the Aggies to defeat Texas when the series resumed in 1915. The Aggies delivered with a 13-0 victory.
Two years later, A&M students branded the score on the Longhorns' steer mascot. In response Texas fans altered the brand to read BEVO, which became the mascot’s official name.
18. Texas A&M 9, Nebraska 6 (Nov. 20, 2010): Ninth-ranked Nebraska (9-1) was riding a four-game winning streak that included victories over No. 14 Oklahoma State and No. 6 Missouri.
One more victory would allow the Huskers to win the Big 12 North Division.
However, A&M (7-3) had also posted four consecutive victories and had not lost since Ryan Tannehill took over as the starting quarterback three games before.
With the score tied 6-6 midway through the fourth quarter, A&M began a 68-yard march for Randy Bullock’s game-winning 19-yard field goal with 3:02 left to play. Cyrus Gray, who rushed for 137 yards, gained 48 yards on the drive which was aided by a roughing the passer penalty.
Von Miller then posted sacks on first and third down on the second series of Nebraska’s ensuing possession. Cornhuskers quarterback Taylor Martinez threw incomplete on fourth down. Much of the record crowd of 90,079 poured onto Kyle Field to celebrate the victory.
Trent Hunter had two interceptions for the Aggies. Nebraska was penalized 16 times for 145 yards.
17. Texas A&M 28, Texas Tech 24 (Oct. 14, 1967): The Aggies (0-4) had suffered three of their losses by a combined eight points and appeared destined to come up just short again.
They trailed Texas Tech 24-21 with mere seconds remaining and faced fourth-and-15 at the Raiders’ 43-yard line.
Quarterback Edd Hargett threw to Bob Long, who made a circus catch for a 28-yard gain to the Texas Tech 15-yard line with less than 10 seconds to play. On the next play, Hargett rolled right and found plenty of room to race into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.
The victory in Lubbock turned around the Aggies’ season. A&M posted five straight wins to clinch the Southwest Conference championship.
The Aggies then beat Alabama in the Cotton Bowl.
16. Texas A&M 7, TCU 6 (Oct. 20, 1956): Known as the “Hurricane Game” because a furious storm with 90 mile per hour winds blew in during the second quarter, this clash matched the fourth-ranked Horned Frogs (3-0) and No. 14 Aggies (3-0-1) in a hard-fought contest that proved the de facto Southwest Conference championship game.
TCU threatened to take command in the first half, but All-American running back Jim Swink was stopped three times at the goal line and the Horned Frogs missed two field goal attempts.
TCU finally took a 6-0 lead in the third quarter on a one-handed touchdown grab by O’Day Williams. Another Frogs threat in the fourth quarter was thwarted by defensive back Don Watson’s end zone interception.
That was the first of two big plays Watson turned in. After the interception, the Aggies drove 80 yards for Watson’s tying touchdown pass to John David Crow with nine minutes remaining.
Loyd Taylor’s extra point gave the Aggies the 7-6 lead and the A&M defense made it stand.
The Aggies went on to win their remaining games to finish 9-0-1 and in first place in the SWC. TCU finished second with an 8-3 record.
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