COLLEGE STATION -- In a game where so much was at stake for the Longhorns, quarterback James Brown remained calm and composed after Texas' 16-6 win over Texas A&M Saturday.
Much as he did during the game.
"It wasn't really an emotional high for me because we expected to win," Brown said. "And we won.
"Actually, the Houston win was bigger than this for me emotionally. I'm ready to go home, get ready for the [next] ball game."
Brown's effort, coupled with the running of fullback Ricky Williams and an inspired Texas defense, helped the ninth-ranked Horns defeat No. 16 Texas A&M before a national television audience and in front of 76,221 at Kyle Field.
With the win, Texas (10-1-1, 7-0 Southwest Conference) clinched a berth in the Nokia Sugar Bowl against No. 13 Virginia Tech on New Year's Eve. It also broke the Horns' four-game losing streak to the Aggies, ended A&M's 31-game home winning streak and gave Texas the final conference championship outright.
"We didn't want to share the title," Texas coach John Mackovic said. "We were selfish, we wanted it all to ourselves. I know A&M played as hard as they could."
Brown, who entered the game with a sore left ankle, was unable to scramble and noticeably limped on every play, especially after a second quarter sack that seem to reaggravate it.
If that weren't enough, the Aggie defense was in Brown's face all afternoon, constantly blitzing the hobbled quarterback. Yet, Brown was able to connect with his receivers for big plays on drives that led to points for Texas.
"You couldn't ask for any more than what James gave us," Mackovic said. "That was about as courageous a game as you'd ever see. ... In the first half, he was knocked down continually. They did not get to him much in the second half."
And when the Aggies (8-3, 5-2) did get to Brown, they usually had something extra in store, Brown said.
"Every time I got tackled I aggravated it because they tackled me, they put their weight on my ankle, they rolled on it," Brown said. "That hurt it like hell."
Brown did not put up big numbers, completing only 12 of 29 passes for 147 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. But once Texas got the lead, Brown didn't have to beat the blitz with a pass -- he only had to hand the ball off to Williams and tailback Shon Mitchell.
Williams carried 24 times for 163 yards and two touchdowns, while Mitchell added 89 yards on 19 rushes. Texas ended the first quarter with minus 3 yards rushing but finished with 246.
"Our running game really won the game for us," Brown said. "I'm pretty sure people know that. We scored points against the best defense in the country -- supposedly."
Texas A&M linebacker Reggie Brown was equally impressed with James Brown's ability to bounce back after every hit.
"I think we could've knocked him out a few times," Lewis said. "He just kept hanging in there and staying in there. He told me one time that he wasn't coming out of the game.
"[Brown] told me one time, 'You can't hold me for long.' I said we were going to keep bringing pressure," Lewis said. "He said, 'Keep bringing it.'"
Said Mackovic on Sunday, "I believe if James had been healthy yesterday and able maneuver and get out of the way a little bit, he would have made some plays in the first half that were just misses."
Texas got on the board first after each team held each other scoreless for almost the entire first half.
Williams' 21-yard scoring run put Texas ahead 6-0 at the 1:53 mark of the second quarter. A bad snap led to a missed extra point from Texas kicker Phil Dawson.
Texas A&M had a golden opportunity to take the lead -- with a TD and successful extra point -- when the Aggies had a first-and-goal from the 8. A&M quarterback Corey Pullig (21 of 39 passing, 256 yards, three interceptions) hit Mark Broyles in the back of the end zone, but Broyles was unable to haul it in.
The Aggies were forced settle for a 20-yard field goal from kicker Kyle Bryant with 4:23 left in the third to cut the margin to 6-3.
Texas answered on its next possession when Williams darted in from 3 yards out with 1:35 to play in the third, giving Texas a 13-3 advantage. The drive was aided by a juggling sideline catch from Mike Adams on third down -- Texas' first third-down conversion of the afternoon. The Horns had been 0-for-10 until that point.
Bryant added a 22-yarder to make it 13-6 with 11:30 to play, and Dawson connected on a 26-yard field goal with 7:55 to end the scoring.
"That was a big lift for us when our defense was able to stop them," Texas offensive guard Dan Neil said. "But our defense stepped up and forced them to kick field goals. We were able to answer one of their scores with a touchdown and that was huge."
Although Texas A&M running back Leeland McElroy had a monster game, he was the only offensive threat for the Aggies. McElroy finished with 145 rushing yards on 29 carries and caught four passes for 84 yards. More important, he and the rest of the Aggies were held out of the end zone in the game.
"One of the things I'd hoped is that we could have our finest hour, and I think that's happened," Texas defensive coordinator Gary Darnell said.
While Brown downplayed Saturday's game, his opinion was a dissenting one.
"It's the best feeling I've ever had,"Neil said. "It's great. We were told if you beat A&M and win the conference, it'd be the best feeling you ever had. It is."
Said nose guard Chris Akins, "It really hasn't set in yet, and that we beat these guys at their home field."
TRACY C. SCHULTZ
Daily Texan Staff
COLLEGE STATION -- The week before their matchup against Texas A&M, the Longhorns heard a great deal about the Aggies defense -- the No. 1 "D" in the country. But in the end it was the Texas defense that kept its opponent out of the end zone.
"All we heard was the 'Wrecking Crew' this, the 'Wrecking Crew' that. I think tonight, we were the wrecking crew," Texas nose guard Chris Akins said. "We totally disrupted anything that they wanted to do. I think that after the opening kickoff, we took control of the game."
The Texas defense forced six turnovers (three fumbles, three interceptions) and held the Aggies to two field goals. It was the first time since 1987 that the Aggies were held without a touchdown.
"We heard all year about their defense and how good their defense was," said linebacker Tyson King. "And we knew coming into this game, that we were going to have to outperform their defense. I don't know how many yards we got, or how many yards they got. But I know one thing: A&M never scored a touchdown."
A&M had its best chance to score early in the second half. In a drive beginning on their 17-yard line, A&M drove to the Texas 21 with a 16-yard catch by tight end Hayward Clay and a run by Leeland McElroy got the Aggies down to the 4. On second and goal, Pullig attempted to find Mark Broyles in the back of the end zone.
Broyles got one hand on the pass, but could not make the grab. On the next play, the Texas defense stopped Sirr Parker after only a one yard gain, and the Aggies were forced to go for three.
"That was huge. We didn't let them get into the end zone all day," King said. "That was the biggest booster for our defense and our team."
While the defense was able to stop Parker, it failed to keep McElroy in check. The junior running back rushed for 145 yards and caught four balls for 84 yards.
However, it was Pullig that the Texas defense was keying on. Texas recorded three interceptions and three sacks against the A&M signal caller. Pullig was coming off a three-week stretch which he completed 63 percent of his passes. Texas held the junior to a 54 percent completion ratio.
"Really, our No. 1 goal was to stop Corey Pullig," Texas cornerback Tre Thomas said. "We knew if we made him have an off day, then that was the key to their offense. Leeland is a good back but we really keyed Pullig [Saturday]."
Texas defensive coordinator Gary Darnell added, "We really felt like going into the game that the guy that had hurt us the most was Corey. We have a great amount of respect for him. That's who we had to beat to win the football game."
Texas showed new schemes in delayed corner and saftey blitzes which paid off in the form of a sack by cornerback Bryant Westbrook who recovered Pullig's fumble on the play and an interception by safety Chris Carter.
"It's something that we've had all year, but this is the first time we've really used them because they hadn't seen them before," Akins said of the secondary blitzes. "We just did a great job of blitzing them."
Pullig was not the only one to feel the wrath of Westbrook. McElroy was flattened by Westbrook while trying to catch a pass out of the backfield near the Texas goal line.
"[McElroy's] a great player, but out there it's mano a mano," Westbrook said. "You gotta go out there and try to do your best every day. I zeroed in on him and tried to tag him."
After the hit, Westbrook was flagged for an unsportsman like conduct penalty after giving the running back a few words. However, Westbrook said he was not trying to taunt his opponent.
"I was just happy, you know, that's how I play. It's a fun game. You gotta go out there and play with emotion and that's how I play," Westbrook said. "My teammates were kind of upset, but they know that's how I am. That's going to happen."
It was the Texas secondary that iced the game as well. Texas safety Chris Carter grabbed his second interception of the game with less than three minutes to go to end an A&M drive and assure the Longhorns of the Southwest Conference title.
BRIAN DAVIS
Daily Texan Staff
COLLEGE STATION -- With a 31-game home winning streak, the reputation of the "Wrecking Crew" and an offense led by one-time Heisman Trophy candidate Leeland McElroy, all fingers would point to another Aggie victory in the final game of the Southwest Conference.
But for all of A&M's swagger and brash talk, the Aggies were simply defeated in all phases of a game that put an end to the Aggies' conference title and Tier I Bowl hopes.
"I'm just going to say it point blank," Ray Mickens, Texas A&M cornerback, said. "Today, they were a better football team than us -- offense, defense and special teams. As the scoreboard shows, they really played well."
Mickens believed that the Texas team he saw on Saturday was different from the previous teams the senior has seen during his career in College Station.
"I played a lot of Texas teams, and every time we played them, you could see it in their eyes that they weren't going to win," Mickens said. "But this team came in here, and they didn't back down. I give this team credit. They played better than us today."
A&M defensive back Dennis Allen added, "It's a team game, and you have to win it on offense and defense together. We gave up 16 points on defense and that didn't help out any. So we're not going to point fingers at the offense or any phase of the game."
The Longhorns' output has knocked the Aggies from their No. 1 spot as the best defense in the country. If Texas A&M had held Texas to 316 yards, A&M would have retained the top spot for the season. Instead, the Longhorns amassed 393 yards in total offense.
Texas A&M's offense did not help its case by fumbling the ball away six times. A&M head coach R.C. Slocum knew that the turnover battle was an area that his team had to win to compete for the victory.
"You cannot, in any ball game, and especially in a big ball game, turn the ball over," Slocum said. "I think that turnovers were more important than rushing yardage or anything like that. Turnovers stopped drives and killed scoring opportunities."
After a first-half injury to A&M corner back Donovan Greer, backup junior Andre Williams stepped into a role that Texas quarterback James Brown tried to exploit throughout the rest of the game. Lining out wide on Texas receivers, Williams was challenged on pass routes to the sideline and once in the back of the end zone. Williams believes that this is the low point of A&M's season.
"Definitely, this is way worse than Colorado," Williams said about A&M's eight-point loss to the Buffaloes. "Simply because this is the Texas game. We had a whole season to look forward to after Colorado, but this is for all the marbles. They just did what they had to do, and we didn't."
Texas A&M began the season ranked No. 3 and had visions of playing for the national championship in the Fiesta Bowl. But after a loss to Colorado and a conference loss to Texas Tech, the Aggies are forced to accept a invitation to the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.
Slocum sees no change in his team's goals for the 1996 season.
"Our team was one that set our goals for this year, and we set our goals for the Fiesta Bowl," Slocum said. "I can tell you, next year, our goal will be to win the conference championship and work our way into the Sugar Bowl. If you aspire to be in a good program, and aspire to be a good football team, then I want the kids thinking, 'Let's go where the champions go.' This year, we didn't make it."
In the Dec. 28 Alamo Bowl, A&M will face a No. 13 Michigan team that had high hopes of reaching the Rose Bowl in '95. Although the Wolverines (9-3) did not win the Big 10 championship, they defeated No. 4 Ohio State in the final game of the season.
"To get a win, you have to have no turnovers, no penalties, no misfires," A&M wide receiver Chris Sanders said. "Now, we have Michigan in the Alamo Bowl. Michigan is a very good team to play in a bowl, so our work is still cut out for us."
A sadened locker room was the atmosphere as the Aggies seemingly had felt the full effects of being beaten at home and beaten out of the last SWC title. Although San Antonio is not where Texas A&M wanted to spend the holidays, it's where they end up.
Texas 0 6 7 3 -- 16
Texas A&M 0 0 3 3 -- 6
Tex--R. Williams 21 run (kick failed)
A&M--FG Bryant 20
Tex--R. Williams 3 run (Dawson kick)
A&M--FB Bryant 22
Tex--FG Dawson 26
A--76,221.
Texas Texas A&M
First downs 22 24
Rushes-yards 49-246 40-148
Passing 147 256
Return Yards 84 0
Comp-Att-Int 12-29-1 21-39-3
Punts 9-34 5-47
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 3-3
Penalties-Yards 10-92 12-87
Time of Possession 29:50 30:10
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
Texas - Williams 24-163, Mitchell 19-89, Brown 4-(minus 16),
Adams 1-10, McGarity 1-0.
Texas A&M - McElroy 29-145, Parker 3-8, Pullig 7-(minus 1),
Connell 1-(minus 4).
PASSING
Texas - Brown 12-29-1-147.
Texas A&M - Pullig 21-39-3-256.
RECEIVING
Texas - Adams 5-53, Fitzgerald 2-13, McLemore 3-52, Mitchell 1-6,
Williams 1-23.
Texas A&M - Smith 4-24, Connell 4-28, McElroy 4-84, Sanders 4-48,
Clay 1-16, Oliver 4-56.