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Bucky Richardson
Texas A&M Football

Texas A&M's 50 greatest football victories: Nos. 15-11

May 25, 2016
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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 ... 20-16

15. Texas A&M 31, Baylor 30 (Oct. 18, 1986):
Although just mid-October, the Southwest Conference championship was at stake when the No. 11 Aggies played host to the No. 20 Bears.

Baylor appeared on its way to the Cotton Bowl by getting out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter. The Aggies rallied behind quarterback Kevin Murray, but Baylor still held a 27-17 lead going into the fourth quarter.

That’s when Murray was at his best. He threw a touchdown pass to Keith Woodside early in the quarter. Then, trailing 30-24, he engineered a monumental 80-yard drive.

Routinely escaping the Baylor blitz, Murray converted three third down situations on the drive that culminated with a game-winning 4-yard touchdown pass to Tony Thompson.

Murray passed for 308 yards and three touchdowns in the victory, which propelled the Aggies to the SWC championship.

14. Texas A&M 65, Brigham Young 14 (Dec. 29, 1990): Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Ty Detmer was outplayed by A&M quarterback Bucky Richardson and knocked out of the Holiday Bowl by the Aggies’ ferocious pass rush.

Under constant pressure, Detmer suffered separations of both shoulders. He passed for just 120 yards and one touchdown. It was the first time all season he had not thrown for at least 300 yards.

Meanwhile, Richardson joined another BYU quarterback – Steve Young – as the only players in Holiday Bowl history to score touchdowns as a rusher, passer and receiver.

Richardson completed 9 of 11 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown, rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown and caught a 22-yard touchdown pass from running back Darren Lewis.

Richardson did almost all of that in one quarter. He left the game after the first series of the fourth quarter with the Aggies leading 51-14.

At that time, A&M’s 65-point outburst was the most ever allowed by BYU.

13. Texas A&M 20, Alabama 16 (Jan. 1, 1968): Coach Gene Stallings’ Aggies won their final six games to make their first Cotton Bowl appearance since 1942. They would face Alabama and former A&M head coach Paul “Bear” Bryant.

Alabama took an early lead on an 8-yard run by quarterback Kevin Stabler, but A&M answered with quarterback Edd Hargett's touchdown passes to Larry Stegent and Tommy Maxwell to take a 13-10 halftime lead.

A Wendell Housley 20-yard touchdown run gave the Aggies a 20-10 lead in the third quarter. Alabama could only manage another touchdown run by Stabler.

The Crimson Tide reached A&M’s 35-yard line late in the fourth quarter, but three consecutive incompletions and a six-yard pass on fourth-and-10 ended that threat.

Bryant hugged Stallings, his former player, when the coaches met at midfield after the game.

12. Texas A&M 35, Notre Dame 10 (Jan. 1, 1988): Another Heisman Trophy recipient was held in check by the Wrecking Crew. Notre Dame’s Tim Brown caught six passes for 105 yards and scored a first quarter touchdown, but was almost a non-factor in the second half.

In fact, Brown’s biggest accomplishment in the second half was reclaiming his hand towel from A&M’s Warren Barhorst, who tried to swipe it after making a tackle on a fourth quarter kickoff return.

By then, A&M was well in control with a 28-10 lead.

Tony Thompson caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from running back Darren Lewis, quarterback Bucky Richardson ran for two touchdowns, Larry Horton rushed for another and the Wrecking Crew forced four turnovers.

Richardson was named the game’s offensive Most Valuable Player and linebacker Adam Bob was chosen the defensive MVP.

11. Texas A&M 20, Texas 10 (Nov. 28, 1975): The only time the Aggies and Longhorns met as top-five-ranked opponents. The No. 2 Aggies were undefeated. The No. 5 Longhorns had lost by a touchdown to Oklahoma.

The Aggies jumped out to a 10-0 lead on a Tony Franklin field goal and a Mike Jay touchdown pass to Richard Osborne. The Longhorns cut the margin to 10-7 at halftime on a 64-yard punt return by Raymond Clayborn.

However, A&M controlled the second half. The Aggies' defense, which surrendered a mere 179 yards of total offense, allowed only a 47-yard field goal from Russell Erxleben after halftime.

Meanwhile, George Woodard scored a touchdown on a 1-yard run and Franklin hit a short field goal as the Aggies ended a seven-game losing streak to the Longhorns. They also clinched at least a share of the Southwest Conference championship.

Curiously, A&M had agreed to move the game against Arkansas to the week following Texas. Well, you know how that turned out.
Discussion from...

Texas A&M's 50 greatest football victories: Nos. 15-11

8,000 Views | 9 Replies | Last: 7 yr ago by Ishmael-Ag
Olin Buchanan
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Staff
S
Texas A&M's 50 greatest football victories: Nos. 15-11
Mac94
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AG
Wasn't the pic used in the story from the 1987 A&M vs Baylor game in Waco? The '86 game was at Kyle Field. Still, the '87 game was a fun win with Bucky and Darren Lewis leading the way to the win.
TAMU74
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AG
All great games listed here.
IMO...the 75 tu game has to be in the top 10 if not top 5.
You just had to have been there to appreciate the enormity of this game.
Wicked Good Ag
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Very curious what games they put into top ten to have the 75 Texas game not inside the top ten
AgDotCom
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quote:
All great games listed here.
IMO...the 75 tu game has to be in the top 10 if not top 5.
You just had to have been there to appreciate the enormity of this game.

Agreed. That game removed forever the "can't beat tu" mentality that was at its apex the previous year when we went into Austin and imploded with fumbles by RBs, fumbles on the kickoff, and gave the sips a 14-0 or 17-0 lead in the first several minutes of the game. We had a good team and were expected to compete and possibly win that game, but got beat 32-3. This was probably the game where BAS was born.

You can say what you want about Jackie, R.C. or anyone else, but Emory Bellard is the man responsible for bringing A&M into the modern day football conversation, and the 1975 Texas game is the one that made everyone listen.
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Amazing Moves
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Dear Staff

Please go back and put links to the newer articles on the old ones when you make these multipart countdown lists, so that people trying to catch up can easily go in descending order.

TIA
C'mon man!
Flying Crowbar
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AG
quote:
Alabama took an early lead on an 8-yard run by quarterback Kevin Stabler...
Kevin Stabler? He must have been great if he could beat out the Snake.
Ishmael-Ag
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AG
The 1986 comeback win over an excellent Baylor team was named Texas Football's game of the decade and should have been rated in our top 5, not #15.
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