Aggies turn halftime scare into 45-17 win

By AL CARTER
Eagle Staff Writer

Texas A&M’s first scare at the hands of Texas El-Paso required a 16-year series reconciliation. The Miners will understand if they don’t see the bright lights of Kyle Field for another generation or so.

Eagle Staff Photo/Butch Ireland

Texas A&M's Cornelius Anthony (46) and Roylin Bradley (3) celebrate after an A&M sack of UTEP Rocky Perez.

A&M’s embattled defense won a fourth-down battle early in the second half, earning the Aggies a critical momentum change in a 45-17 victory over the surprisingly stout Miners before 69,184 on Saturday night.

UTEP quarterback Rocky Perez stung the Aggies with 203 yards through the air but found no space on a fourth-down sneak at the A&M 31 on the Miners’ first series of the second half.

Trailing 17-14, the Aggies drove 69 yards the other way, taking the lead on a 2-yard TD run by fullback Ja’Mar Toombs. That sparked a 31-point Aggie second-half onslaught.

Barely five minutes later, Toombs scored from the 1 after a blocked punt by A&M’s Jay Brooks. Toombs added a third TD in the half, barreling in from the 2 with 3:14 to play as UTEP’s defense finally caved in. Colby Freeman capped A&M’s second half splurge with a 15-yard TD scamper with 39 seconds left.

“Everybody called it a tune-up all week, but the team didn’t see it that way,” A&M quarterback Mark Farris said. “These guys gave us a run for our money.”

“I thought it was good for us to have to come back and fight,” A&M coach R.C. Slocum said.

Now 2-1, the Aggies will take a week off before beginning Big 12 play against Texas Tech on Sept. 30 at Kyle Field.

The Miners, 1-2, were making only their second appearance opposite the Aggies. The first, in 1984, resulted in a 20-17 A&M victory, preserved when a late UTEP field goal caromed off an upright at Kyle Field.

This time the visitors showed unexpected resistance to A&M’s diversified offense until the second half. Farris completed 18 of 29 for 179 yards but was barely able to match the pace set by Perez, who completed 18 of 28 and stung the Aggies with a pair of first-half TD strikes.

The UTEP senior gave the Miners a quick 7-0 lead with a 6-yard pass to tight end Joey Knapp. He connected with Lee Mays on a 35-yard strike as the Miners scored 10 points in the second quarter to take the lead.

But UTEP’s upset hopes faded quickly after A&M linebacker Jason Glenn led a charge that stopped Perez cold on his fourth-down keeper.

“That was the turning point in the game,” UTEP coach Gary Nord said.

The Aggies drove 69 yards the other way behind three key passes from Farris to Bethel Johnson, A&M’s receiving leader with eight catches for 74 yards. Toombs blasted in from the two with 5:30 left in the third quarter to give A&M a 21-17 lead.

The Miners used an interception by Sam Singleton to squelch a subsequent A&M drive, but the Aggie defense held its ground, and the Aggie special teams followed with the game’s biggest break.

Brooks blocked a Glen Beard punt that A&M freshman Dawon Gentry pounced on at the UTEP 1. Toombs scored on the next play, enabling A&M to take a 28-17 lead into the fourth quarter.

“I was disappointed that we were not more productive in the first half,” Slocum said. “We let them control the tempo. I thought our coaches made good adjustments at the half.”

Ricky Bishop, whose 37-yard field goal late in the first half gave the Miners their halftime lead, missed a 36-yarder early in the fourth quarter. A&M answered with a 21-yarder by Terence Kitchens, who earlier had a 33-yarder blocked, and closing TDs from Toombs and Freeman.

A&M’s posted first half TDs on a 6-yard pass from Farris to Robert Ferguson and a 16-yard run by tailback Joe Weber.

The Miners, fresh off a 37-20 victory over SMU, maintained their offensive intensity through the first half against A&M.

After the Aggies punted away the opening possession, the teams traded 10-play TD drives — both capped by 6-yard passes. Both drives were marked by sharp passing by the two quarterbacks.

Perez hit four of five passes for 43 yards to fuel a 58-yard Miner march. And UTEP used a 6-yard bootleg toss from Perez to Knapp to grab a 7-0 lead.

The Aggies, who spotted Wyoming a field goal last weekend before storming to a 51-3 victory, stormed right back against the Miners. Farris drove A&M 73 yards with four completions in four attempts. From the UTEP 6, Ferguson grabbed a slant from Farris — despite interference from UTEP’s Weldon Cook — enabling the Aggies to tie the game.

The catch turned out to be the only one of the game for Ferguson, A&M’s receiving workhorse through two games.

It took A&M only 94 seconds, and three more offensive snaps, to get back in the end zone. After a UTEP punt, Farris flipped a 15-yard pass to Toombs, then handed twice to Weber, A&M’s backup tailback. Weber gobbled up 30 yards around the left side on the first carry, then tacked on the remaining 16 around the right side. The Aggies led 14-7 with 3:15 left in the first quarter.

The Miners chewed up 80 yards on their first series of the second quarter with Perez completing passes almost at will. The easiest was the last, a 35-yard TD strike to Lee Mays, left open on the right sideline because of an A&M coverage bust. Perez completed six of eight passes on the drive for 84 yards.

The Aggies immediately attacked the tie. Farris drove his team to the UTEP 26, where he found Ferguson in the end zone, streaking toward the side boundary. Ferguson made the catch, but the official on the spot ruled the catch out-of-bounds.

The Aggies opted for a 33-yard field goal try from Kitchens, but encountered an old problem — low kicks, the kind that led to seven Kitchens attempts being blocked last season. UTEP’s Crance Clemons partially deflected the kick, which fell short.

The Miners then ate up more than seven minutes en route to their own tie-breaking field goal. Perez, compiling a streak of nine straight completions, drove his team to the Aggie 20, where Bishop gave UTEP a three-point halftime lead with his 37-yarder.

Al CarterÕs e-mail address is acarter@theeagle.com