Aggies lose Battle of the Brazos, 41-21

Texas A&M falls @ Baylor, now tied for last in the Big 12 South

The Baylor left little doubt who would occupy the Big 12 South cellar this year.

The resurgent Bears (4-7, 2-5 Big 12) and led by first-year Coach Art Briles Saturday blew out Texas A&M, 41-21. The Aggies lost to Oklahoma, 66-28, at home last week. The hapless Aggies defense has allowed 107 points in the past two games.

The score doesn’t tell how dominant the Bears really were.

The Bears were led by a brilliant performance by freshman Quarterback Robert Griffin. He threw touchdown passes of 31 and 55 yards. He skillfully ran the zone read option, pitching to tailback Jacoby Jones for two more scores. Two consecutive scoring drives by the Bears’ drives began at their 22-yard line.

Griffin was 13-of-23 for 241 yards passing. He ran for 56 yards. Bear tailback Jay Finley rushed for 116 yards. Finley scored on a 12-yard run.

The Aggies (4-7, 2-5) were generous with turnovers. Quarterback Jerrod Johnson was intercepted four times. He was flagged once for intentional grounding.

Baylor’s dominance began in the second quarter after Johnson’s first errant pass. Starting from the Baylor 26, on third and 14, Griffin threw to Wide Receiver Earnest Smith for 49 yards to the Aggie 29. Five running plays later, the Jones took a pitch and ran 12 yards for the first TD.

The Aggies responded with a six-play, 65-yard drive to narrow the score at 13-7.

The Bears took off with an eight-play, 79-yard drive that took 2:37 off the clock. The score came on a 31-yard pass from Griffin to receiver Kendall Wright. That made it 20-7 at the half.

The Bears put the game out of reach in the third quarter with a nine-play, 99 yard drive. Then they scored less than two minutes later on a short drive set up by another Johnson interception.

The hapless, shell-shocked Aggies were down 41-7 with 1:41 left in the third quarter.

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Texas A&M Athletic Director Bill Byrne took time out in his blog last week to criticize the coverage of the football program by the local newspaper, The Eagle.

“ One of the questions I'm asked most is how we got to this position. There are no easy answers and most answers I could offer would be perceived by some as excuses. I'm not going to make excuses,” Byrne said.

Byrne, who vehemently defended former Coach Dennis Franchione for five years, seemed to give Franchione a back handed slap.

“… We did not get in this position overnight, and we won't be able to get out of it overnight either.” Byrne admitted.

The Aggies have a bye-week and then face the Texas Longhorns (10-1, 6-1) on Nov. 22 in Austin. The Longhorns need a win Saturday by Oklahoma over Texas Tech to have a chance for a Big 12 South division title.

By Jay Goode
Big 12 Fans Texas A&M Correspondent

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