Volume 6, No. 4

HIGHS AND LOWS Over the last two decades, Aggie games have provided plenty of joy... and heartbreak By Homer Jacobs

From 1980-2000, Texas A&M has had its share of ups and downs, wins and losses. To be exact, in that 20-year span, the Aggies won 172 football games and lost 77. They have celebrated 274 victories in basketball and walked dejectedly away after 324 games. In baseball, A&M tallied 862 victories and 536 losses during that modern span.

But over those last two decades, which victories really meant the most to you and which losses hurt the worst?

All of this is subjective, except for the fact all Aggies can probably picture each other’s joy and pain just as we sense everyone’s personal sense of pride when the Aggie Band steps off to "Hullabaloo."

Of course, trying to select three or four of the best victories in Aggie football is like wondering which of your dates was better – the moonlit walk with Jennifer Aniston or the Malibu picnic with Sandra Bullock.

But for me, four Aggie football victories stand out over the rest in our 20-year window:

The most exhilarating was the 1985 win over Texas at Kyle Field. I still haven’t seen the concrete monster on Wellborn rock like that, although this year’s OU game gave it a run.

The 1999 Aggies gave us some chilling moments, especially in the Super Regional against Clemson.

The fact that A&M completely buried the Longhorns and clinched its first trip to the Cotton Bowl in 18 years made that game a special one. And, oh, the 12th Man towels.

The most enjoyable game I ever experienced while watching the maroon and white was the 1990 Holiday Bowl against Brigham Young. That game was never in doubt, and it was as close to a perfect football game as I’ve seen any team play on any level.

I still remember the comment a BYU fan made to me in the restroom at then Jack Murphy Stadium:

"How did Texas beat you guys? I feel sorry for Miami in the Cotton Bowl...."

The most thrilling game in the past 20 years has to be the 1998 Big 12 title game with Kansas State. For over three quarters, it looked like another KSU rout on their way to the national title game.

But with a shocking rally, the Aggies turned the college football world upside down.

I’ll never forget Sirr Parker running straight at me as he bore down on the end zone pylon.

It was my game of the century, and it ruined K-State’s millennium.

As for the most chilling game, how can you not mention the 1999 Bonfire game?

From the pre-game tears to the post-game cheers, it’s a day none of us will ever forget... and hopefully never experience again.

In basketball, there have been far fewer of those goose bump moments in A&M’s history. But yet, there have been some victories that I can still recall with ease.

I had to find out the 1980 score between A&M and North Carolina from a chairlift operator at Crested Butte, but when he told me, I nearly came out of my bindings. The Aggies, after all, were headed to the Sweet 16.

Having gone to high school in ACC country and having known several Tar Heel fans who liked to ridicule any kind of basketball outside their hallowed Tobacco Road, well, let’s just say I enjoyed that NCAA victory for many years.

It’s been seven years since the Aggies beat the Longhorns in basketball, but the last time A&M pulled off the feat was a memorable game, for sure.

The game was a Joe Wilbert classic in 1994, as the Aggies pulled off an 85-84 victory. Let’s hope A&M doesn’t go another seven seasons before the Aggie players can celebrate with their fans without any hint of "Poor Aggies" sifting through the stands.

For Aggie baseball, two victories stand out, and they happened on the same day. The John Byington home run derby in 1989 could be the single greatest sporting achievement any Aggie athlete has accomplished, especially against the Longhorns.

Two game-winning home runs for the No.1-ranked Aggies against No. 5 UT at Olsen Field? Please pinch me.

Olsen Field has provided as much magic as any A&M venue outside of Kyle Field, and the 1999 run to the College World Series was capped by one of the most dramatic victories in school history.

The Aggies beat Clemson, 5-4, for the right to go to Omaha. A&M just needed two home runs in the bottom of the eighth to do it.

As for the losses, I imagine they can still cause some nightmares for Aggies everywhere.

In football, the 1990 loss to Texas was a tough one to take. But the game is still the best played shootout I’ve seen the two play against each other in the last 20 years, so there is some solace in that.

The 1995 game with Colorado ended as a loss, but it could easily have been a victory for the No. 3 Aggies. And the 1998 loss in Austin stopped a 10-game winning streak that season, allowing Ricky Williams to set his rushing record in style.

But the loss that still boggles my mind – and it’s not the embarrassment to USL in 1996 – is the 1991 heartbreaker at Tulsa.

That A&M team was rolling in the first half without its star quarterback Bucky Richardson. But in the second half, a good Tulsa team roared back and stunned the Aggies, 35-34.

Players on that A&M team will tell you they could have played for the national title that year. And I’m not one to argue with that crew... they were that good.

If A&M plays for it all or even wins the national title that year, where is the program today? Maybe still on top.

As for basketball, the same week the Aggies had their greatest victory in the last 20 years, they suffered their most stinging defeat.

The Aggies lost to Louisville in overtime in the NCAA Tournament’s round of 16 in 1980. And if not for a questionable charge call on David Britton late in that game, A&M may have won it all, just as the Cardinals did a few days later.

Imagine the A&M basketball program with a national title in the last 20 years. Reed Arena may be going on its 15th season.

And, finally, we come to the most devastating, most painful loss the A&M athletic program has suffered in the last two decades.

Actually, they were a pair of baseball defeats LSU inflicted on top-ranked A&M baseball team in the finals of the 1989 regional at Olsen Field.

I wasn’t in the stadium that day, but after seeing the scores come across the Associated Press wire, I’ve never felt such shock as an A&M fan.

It wasn’t just that LSU, of all schools, won two straight games with incredible pitching to keep the Aggies from going to Omaha with a 58-5 record.

What jolted A&M fans was the incredible finality of such a glorious season, one no A&M team in any sport has experienced since.

A&M bolted to a 26-0 record (almost unheard of in college baseball) and a 40-1 mark two thirds of the way through the year. The Aggies were ranked No. 1 for most of the year, and had bombed Texas four of five times that season.

Then what happens? A&M falls in the regionals, while the Longhorns roll all the way to the national championship game against Wichita State.

Can you imagine the feeling around Aggieland had the Shockers not stopped the UT train in Omaha?

When the college baseball season was all over, the Aggies were recognized in the polls as the No. 2 team despite not even making it to the CWS.

That’s an amazing gesture by the pollsters but also a biting one: The greatest A&M team I’ve ever seen didn’t even get a chance to play for it all.

Because of that, don’t the sporting gods owe the Aggies a big one over the next two decades?

Table of Contents