Texas A&M's 50 greatest football victories: Nos. 10-6

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 ... 15-11

10. Texas A&M 36, Auburn 16 (Jan. 1, 1986): Heisman Trophy recipient Bo Jackson scored two touchdowns in the first half, but a Scott Slater field goal provided A&M with a 15-13 halftime lead. The Aggies took control in the second half as Anthony Toney rushed for a pair of touchdowns and Keith Woodside caught a touchdown pass.

Despite the offensive heroics, the highlight of the game was a pair of defensive stands by the Aggies in the fourth quarter.

Jackson was stonewalled on a fourth down run inside the A&M 5-yard line and again at the 27-yard line on Auburn’s next series.

A&M quarterback Kevin Murray passed for 292 yards, tight end Rod Bernstine caught six passes for 108 yards and Domingo Bryant grabbed two interceptions.

9. Texas A&M 41, Oklahoma 13 (Jan. 4, 2013): The Aggies completed their first SEC season in the Cotton Bowl against the former Big 12 rival Sooners, who were conference co-champions.

Heisman-winning freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel rushed for two touchdowns to stake A&M to a 14-10 halftime lead. The Aggies then dominated the second half as Ben Malena and Trey Williams had touchdown runs and Manziel threw touchdown passes to Ryan Swope and Uzoma Nwachukwu.

Manziel rushed for 229 yards and passed for 287 to set a Cotton Bowl with 516 yards of total offense. The victory enabled the Aggies to notch just the fourth 11-win season in school history.

8. Texas A&M 30, Oklahoma 26 (Nov. 9, 2002): Unbeaten Oklahoma was ranked No. 1 and appeared to be storming toward the national championship game. The Sooners jumped out to an early 10-0 lead and seemed to be cruising to their ninth straight victory.

However, freshman quarterback Reggie McNeal came off the bench to throw four touchdown passes that covered 61, 40, 17 and 40 yards. The last one, a 40-yard strike to Terrence Murphy, staked the Aggies to a 27-23 lead late in the third quarter.

The teams traded field goals in the fourth quarter, but the upset wasn’t complete until safety Terrence Kiel intercepted a Nate Hybl pass with 1:12 remaining.

McNeal passed for 191 yards and rushed for 89, while Murphy caught five passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns as the Aggies posted their first win over an opponent ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll.

7. Texas A&M 28, Nebraska 21 (Oct. 10, 1998): Defending national champion Nebraska was ranked No. 2 in both polls and was riding a 19-game winning streak. That streak included a 54-15 victory over the Aggies in the ’97 Big 12 championship game. However, the Aggies wasted no time in showing the Huskers this rematch would be much different.

With Kyle Field in its first “Maroon Out,” A&M took an early 7-0 lead when Randy McCown connected with Chris Taylor on a touchdown pass that covered 81 yards.

Later, freshman fullback Ja’Mar Toombs broke loose for a 71-yard run to set up Dante Hall’s 1-yard touchdown that gave the Aggies a 14-7 halftime lead.

A&M quickly extended the margin in the second half. Nebraska quarterback Bobby Newcombe fumbled into the end zone when sacked and Warrick Holdman recovered for a 21-7 lead.

The lead swelled to 28-7 on a 3-yard run by Toombs early in the fourth quarter.

Nebraska stormed back with consecutive touchdown drives to get within 28-21. The Huskers had a chance to tie after regaining the football at their own 20-yard line with two minutes remaining.

However, Sedrick Curry intercepted a Newcombe pass with 51 seconds left to clinch what at the time was a victory over the highest-ranked A&M opponent ever.

6. Texas A&M 20, Texas 16 (Nov. 29, 1999): A week before the game 12 A&M students were killed when the Bonfire stack they were building collapsed.

Playing with heavy hearts but inspired by the memory of those lost, the Aggies faced seventh-ranked Texas in front of the largest crowd to ever witness a football game in the state of Texas at that time.

The Longhorns led 16-6 at halftime, but Ja’Mar Toombs' 9-yard touchdown run cut the margin to 16-13.

Texas maintained the lead until just over five minutes remained in the game when quarterback Randy McCown hit receiver Matt Bumgardner with a 14-yard touchdown pass for a 20-16 lead.

A&M’s defense protected that lead and the victory was clinched when freshman linebacker Brian Gamble recovered a fumble with 23 seconds remaining.