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MANHATTAN, Kan. – You name the muscle, ligament, bone, joint, vertebrae and organ, and the Aggies have had them pulled, sprained, strained, torn, broken, herniated and removed. But when the Aggies went under the microscope in another big road game at Kansas State, one obvious part of their bodies was in good shape. Indeed, the Aggies still have guts. In another crazy game with the Wildcats, a pieced-together A&M team held on for a dramatic 31-24 victory to add further intrigue to a season that’s about to become very interesting.
Pushing Colorado to the limit and then losing ripped the guts out of the Aggies, but there was enough inside to come into Wagner Field and hand the Wildcats their fourth-straight loss. The Aggies, Kansas State’s ultimate nemesis, have now won three in a row in one of the Big 12’s most entertaining football series. More importantly, a split of this set of tough road games keeps A&M (6-1, 3-1) in position to flirt with high-stakes games involving the Big 12 South leaders in Oklahoma and Texas in November. Of course, games with Iowa State and Texas Tech aren’t gimmes, by any means, but this win over KSU was a monster one for a team that could easily be 7-0. "I think it’s huge for two reasons," said linebacker Christian Rodriguez, who caused a fumble on an option pitch that Jarrod Penright recovered and ran into the end zone. "A, it shows we can come back from a tough loss, rise up and beat a good team. And B, that got us a bowl invitation. We’re not going to go 6-5. We’re going to keep going, press on and hopefully be playing Texas for the Big 12 South championship." The Aggies were polished offensively in the first quarter, rolling to a 14-0 lead. Derek Farmer was blasting through the heart of the KSU defense, and Terrence Murphy’s 44-yard touchdown reception was another beauty from one of the Big 12’s top freshmen. But it was A&M’s opportunistic special teams and defense that opened up the margin to 31-10, as the offense managed just 189 total yards. Seventeen points – all off turnovers – in the third quarter seemed to seal the Wildcats’ fate. Then again, this is a KSU-A&M game, which typically involves more drama and big plays than some teams experience in a season. K-State rallied to within seven points, and then two key plays held off the Wildcats’ final comeback.
First, punt returner Aaron Lockett nearly broke
a touchdown but was tackled by true freshman Byron Jones – the
first man down on the punt – at the A&M 23-yard
line with 2:59 left. Then eight plays later on fourth-and-2 at
the Aggie 5-yard line, Josh Scobey took an option pitch and was
stuffed by Wrecking Crew strong safety Terrence Kiel. "It’s the biggest play I’ve made in my college career," Kiel said. "We stood up and got it done at the end." Indeed, these Aggies of 2001 aren’t the most talented or experienced group to ever wear the maroon and white. But like the 1998 Big 12 championship team, it has some of the best chemistry R.C. Slocum has witnessed in several years. "We came up here and really fought hard as a team together," Slocum said. "We were overcoming some injuries, some of which we didn’t have time to prepare for this week. "The guys who stepped in did a good job of playing. Wes Bautovich played hard all day. I thought it was a great team effort. Kansas State has a lot of pride, and they’ve won a lot of games in this stadium. You don’t go on the road with their home crowd and beat teams like that easily." The Aggies would have to be hard-pressed to find a Saturday where so many key players were either left home or left on the sidelines because of injuries. Thirteen players who began two-a-days for the Aggies – including seven starters or major contributors – did not play against Kansas State. And all four tight ends on the roster in the spring have been lost for the season, with Michael de la Torre’s aching back ending his football career. So the Aggies shuffled and improvised their way into a win with true freshmen, first-year players and back-ups having to step up all over the field. "I’ve been here three years, and I’ve never been more proud of the guys on the team," quarterback Mark Farris said. "We’re used to winning some games, but it was like we won a bigger game than the outside world would think. We had our backs against the wall, and we were playing on the road. "To come up here and get it done… Coach Slocum said the (backups) work hard all week like you do and they’ll get a chance to shine. And they did." And with the guts, came the glory.
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