Cover: A&M punches past Baylor to set up showdown with Nebraska

A&M head coach Mike Sherman is big on boxing analogies and, for the better part of three seasons, has worked tirelessly to get his team to treat each and every game like a 15-round championship bout.  After knocking out South rivals Texas Tech and Oklahoma at Kyle Field on back-to-back Saturdays, A&M traveled north on Highway 6 to take on the Baylor Bears in a Big 12 South elimination affair.

For the third time in as many weeks, it was the Texas Aggies who showed the real old fight.  Once again, the Ags stood toe-to-toe in a Big 12 South slugfest and found a way to come out on top.  On a night when Manny Pacquiao pummeled Antonio Margarito just an hour or so up the road at Cowboys Stadium, Texas A&M and Baylor waged quite a war of their own at Floyd Casey Stadium.

If the 2010 edition of the Battle of the Brazos was indeed a prizefight, the referee would have considered stopping the fight early, as Baylor raced out to first half leads of 10-0 and 30-14 behind several explosive plays and all kinds of emotion.  Of course, Sherman and his ever-improving football team never so much as considered throwing in the towel.  Instead, the Aggies weathered the early onslaught, ultimately chipping into the BU lead before heading into the locker room trailing 30-21.

What the Aggies did in the second half would have made even Pacquiao blush.  Showing no ill-effects after absorbing a few haymakers (and plenty of gutless cheap shots) during a rough-and-tumble first half, A&M fought back.  Art Briles and his mouthy Bears had no answer, losing the second half 21-0 as the Aggie defense and ground game handed down a physical beating that rivaled the one the Pac Man dished out at Jerryworld.  The end result was a sometimes-painful but, in the end, very fulfilling 42-30 victory.

How the Ags got there was frustrating, then exciting and, ultimately, very impressive.  After giving up 30 points through 25 minutes of action and a shocking 367 first-half yards, the A&M defense remembered who they were and began playing fast, physical and ‘fanatical’ football.  The Ags shut down Robert Griffin completely, holding the All-American candidate to negative rushing yards in the second half.  All told, Baylor gained just 44 yards on the ground in quarters three and four after totaling 247 in the first half.

Meanwhile, it was Cyrus Gray dishing out the body blows and wearing down the BU defense.  Gray followed up his terrific showing against Oklahoma with another career game, running for 137 yards and four touchdowns on 28 carries.  In the second half alone, Cyrus ran for 99 yards and three scores, as he and the A&M offensive line took complete control of the game.  Like Gray, Ryan Tannehill continued to play lights-out football, going 27-of-38 for 280 yards and a score.  Throw in another house-call by Coryell Judie on a kickoff return and what you get is the Ags’ fourth straight ‘complete-game’ victory in Big 12 play.

On second thought, the Aggies ‘got there’ on Saturday night in much the same fashion that they’ve managed to fight and claw their way into the Big 12 championship conversation.  Like their head coach, this team is incredibly even-keeled, refusing to give in after three straight losses and handling the highs and lows of a four-quarter football game with tremendous focus.  The 2010 Aggies are also the most resilient Texas A&M football team since the program’s lone Big 12 championship squad in 1998.  Whether it’s bouncing back from a three-game losing streak that would have broken a lesser bunch, weathering a quarterback controversy, overcoming early onslaughts by both Tech and Baylor or surviving a furious Oklahoma rally, the Aggies have responded like champions.  Not surprisingly, I’ve talked to several members of that unforgettable ’98 group who can’t say enough about how impressed they’ve been with the current team’s passion, pride and toughness.

On Saturday night, the Ags indeed flashed championship mettle, winning a tough conference road game just one week after an emotional, breakthrough victory against a true national powerhouse.  The fact that the Aggies had to do it by storming back from a 16-point deficit made the performance that much more impressive.

It’s been a long, oftentimes painful journey for Sherman and his Aggies, but they have finally arrived.  While the third-year head coach would be the first to tell you that there is plenty of work yet to do and that the Aggies haven’t really accomplished anything, the truth is that A&M has beaten Texas Tech, Oklahoma and a borderline top-25 Baylor squad by an average of better than two touchdowns and, as a result, has not only climbed to No. 18 in the national rankings, but also set themselves up to play in the Saturday spotlight for the first time in the Mike Sherman era.  The Aggies have earned the right to battle No. 9 Nebraska with the entire nation watching … and they’ve earned it the hard way.

If the Ags can defeat the Cornhuskers in what is going to be one of the three most highly-anticipated Big 12 games played at Kyle Field (NU in ’98 and OU in 2000 rank first and second on the list), they’ll be a win over the reeling Texas Longhorns away from either playing for the Big 12 title or earning a noteworthy bowl berth after closing the regular-season on a six-game winning streak.  A last-second, late-September road loss to Oklahoma State may very well prove too much to overcome when it comes to earning the South berth in the conference championship game, but the Ags are suddenly angling to play in the next game on the docket at Jerryworld – the 2011 Cotton Bowl.

If A&M keeps playing the kind of football we’ve seen over the last four weeks, they have an excellent shot to knock off Nebraska and Texas and set up  not only a high-profile bowl matchup but also set the program up for plenty of future success under Sherman and his fiery staff.  Dozens of the state’s top juniors and seniors will be at Kyle Field on Saturday night and a second straight home win over a Top-10 opponent will not only send the 18th-ranked Aggies surging to the cusp of the top-10 themselves, but also send a message to prospects all over the Lone Star State that big-time college football is once again being played in College Station, Texas.

Speaking of recruiting and the future, the Aggies lose just three of 22 starters following this season, so a strong closing kick will also set the stage for A&M to contend for the first-ever “Big 12-2” title.  At this point in time, however, no one in the Aggie locker room is looking past Saturday night at 7 p.m.  Anyone who witnessed the Ags’ post-game celebration at Floyd Casey Stadium – or Kyle Field North if you wear maroon – realizes that the 2010 Aggies are a special group that is improving and building confidence with each passing week.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers are up next.  With what promises to be an incredible Kyle Field crowd leading the charge (sorry, Gameday, but you missed the boat badly by choosing to go to Wrigley Field), the Aggies have a great shot to take down a top-10 opponent and college football power in front of the 12th Man for the second time in as many games.  The Ags would love nothing more than to hand the Big Ten-bound Huskers just their second defeat of the season.  If and when that happens, the thought of partying like it’s 1998 will become a very realistic possibility.  The Huskers represent perhaps the Ags’ toughest challenge of the season to date but Sherman’s crew is making a habit of overcoming both the odds and Big 12 opponents.