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Saturday December 2nd, 2006
2:59amWARNING!
Do NOT watch the "There's a Spirit" videos just before going to bed.
It will result in 2 hours of sitting in the dark watching Aggie highlights flicker on your computer screen.
Wednesday November 29th, 2006
6:47pmSan Diego Here We Come!
Apparently the Holiday Bowl wanted A&M bad enough that they didn't even wait for the result of the Big 12 Championship game this weekend. We'll match up against Cal, which is somewhat of a clash in culture.
When I say "somewhat" I really mean "major". Ags v. Berkeley.
This works out great for me. Not only does it allow me to utilize a plethora of Anchorman quotes, but my brother has had a road trip to California planned for months and coincidently he'll be in San Diego on December 28th. Thanks to eBay, our tickets should be going out in the mail tomorrow.
San Diego is one of the cities that I have never been to but have always wanted to visit. This works out quite nicely.
B.T.H.O. Cal! WHOOP!
Tuesday November 28th, 2006
1:03amStubborn
Sunday November 26th, 2006
2:43pmAgs Upset #10 horns 12-7
What an amazing day. I have waited a long, long, long time to celebrate that win and it was so sweet.
Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium at Joe Jamail FieldThe team needed that. The program needed that. Fran needed that. I needed that.
Jennifer's dad and I took off for Austin on Thursday afternoon after all of the turkey and stuffing had been taken care of. We stopped at a Luby's in Round Rock for dinner, which was kind of funny because just that afternoon we had discussed Luby's and Jennifer had essentially placed it on her "disgusting" list. We found it to be, at least at this particular location, to be an excellent stop.
We arrived in Austin fairly early so we checked into our hotel room and plopped down and watched some TV, including a good portion of the Miami/Boston College game. Our room was on the first floor and when we entered we discovered that it was a handicap room. This made us a little uneasy....maybe it was bad juju. I tried to put a positive spin on it remembering that we had a regular room in 2004 and we lost....but we were still a little uneasy.
The Capitol Building just before Midnight YellI took off on my own for Yell Practice on the Capitol Steps around 11:15. The place was already filling up. Like in 2004, there was a large contingency of horns there with their air horns and their boom box playing their fight song. Like in 2004, we just ignored them and drowned them out. I was far enough towards the center of the crowd this year that I couldn't hear any of the kind words I am sure they were spraying. It was fun.
Alarm clocks went off early on Friday morning so that we could watch the Corps of Cadets, including my brother-in-law, march to the Capitol. This is one of my favorite things about the game in Austin. Fans from both sides come out to watch and it is a much more civil event (from the orange folks) than Yell Practice. There was one gentleman holding up a tiny orange sign (probably 5"x6") on a popsicle stick right in front of his stomach that read, "Keep Fran". We had to chuckle about that. The sign was so small and he was holding it so subtly that it was really funny.
After the Corps marched in we headed back to the hotel, checked out, and headed to....deep breath....Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium at Joe Jamail Field. Mr. Jones's in-laws had given us their tickets and parking pass for the game and we were able to park right next to the stadium. We were so close I could have putted to it.
We went inside the stadium and found our seats. I couldn't get over how perfect the weather was. It was in the mid-to-upper 70s with a crisp blue sky and only an occasional fluffy cloud floating by. Far from what you would expect on Thanksgiving weekend.
30 Minutes Prior to KickoffI was surprised how few people were inside the stadium up until about 10 minutes prior to kickoff, especially for a game like this. They really take pride in their "Come early, be loud, wear orange" campaign but I wasn't too impressed. I thought that maybe in 2004, because we were at the top of the stadium, I wasn't getting a true feel for the stadium noise but this year we were right smack dab in the middle of the stadium. There were 89K fans at the game and never did I have any trouble talking or hearing Mr. Jones sitting next to me. I was also surprised that the north-east corner of the stadium was virtually empty. I don't know if that is the student section and they didn't show or if they were unsold tickets.
The game itself was incredible. I would rank it behind only the 2002 OU game on my list of best games I've been to.
The sweetest part was the complete domination by the running game. Fran did exactly what I was hoping he would; let the horses run and not be afraid of the statistics. texas had the #1 rush defense in the nation, giving up only 42 ypg, and we ran over, around, and through it all day long. There was no answer to the running game there were no gimmick plays, just hard-nose power football....and I loved it.
The offensive line, the TEs and Chris Alexander, the fullback, were outstanding.
Tarell Brown Meets the J-TrainMike Goodson ran for 86 yards on 15 carries including a 41 yd flash for a TD. He is averaging SIX POINT NINE yards per carry on the season. Jorvorskie handled the ball well (16 carries for 60 yards plus a beautiful 11 yard reception) and flat out punished longhorn defenders. He just about broke Tarell Brown in half on one play (his reception) and he bulldozed Michael Griffin on another. It was, however, J-Train's first game without a rushing TD all season long.
Of course, there is also Stephen McGee. McGee is just a tough SOB. He didn't throw the ball particularly well but he managed and led the offense and ran the option, just like he did last season in Kyle Field. The guy is just a flat-out leader.
Probably the biggest component to the win was "The Drive", which will live on in legendary status for decades in Aggie lore. It was the greatest drive I've ever seen. "The Drive" was a 16 play, 8 minute and 56 second, 88 yard possession that ended when McGee ran an option to the short side of the field and kept it on the way into the end zone for what would be the game winning TD. It was eerily similar to Bucky's TD run in the '87 t.u. game. As it turns out, McGee vomited on that drive. His legend seems to grow more and more after each win.
Thanks to AgClips.comPlay-by-play:
A 1-10 A12 TEXAS A&M drive start at 11:28 (4th).14 of the 16 plays were rushing. We completely owned them on the ground. We were 5-of-5 on third down conversions on "The Drive" and 10-of-16 on the afternoon. That is amazing.A 1-10 A12 3-Goodson, Mike rush RL for 10 yards to the TA22, 1ST DOWN TA, out-of-bounds (97-Okam, Frank).
A 1-10 A22 7-McGee, Stephen rush over right end for 9 yards to the TA31 (26-Griffin, Marcus).
A 2-1 A31 3-Goodson, Mike rush over right guard for no gain to the TA31 (33-Derry, Scott).
A 3-1 A31 11-Lane, Jorvorsk. rush over right guard for 2 yards to the TA33, 1ST DOWN TA (33-Derry, Scott;98-Orakpo, Brian).
A 1-10 A33 7-McGee, Stephen rush quarterback draw for no gain to the TA33 (44-Bobino, Rashad;97-Okam, Frank).
A 2-10 A33 7-McGee, Stephen OUT pass complete to 13-Bennett, Martel for 4 yards to the TA37 (31-Ross, Aaron).
A 3-6 A37 7-McGee, Stephen middle pass complete to 2-Taylor, Earvin for 12 yards to the TA49, 1ST DOWN TA (26-Griffin, Marcus).
A 1-10 A49 7-McGee, Stephen rush over left end for 3 yards to the UT48 (33-Derry, Scott;27-Griffin, Michae).
A 2-7 T48 7-McGee, Stephen rush QR for 6 yards to the UT42 (27-Griffin, Michae;44-Bobino, Rashad).
A 3-1 T42 7-McGee, Stephen rush QR for 4 yards to the UT38, 1ST DOWN TA, out-of-bounds (31-Ross, Aaron).
A 1-10 T38 11-Lane, Jorvorsk. rush RL for 3 yards to the UT35 (5-Brown, Tarell).
A 2-7 T35 11-Lane, Jorvorsk. rush up middle for 6 yards to the UT29 (44-Bobino, Rashad).
A 3-1 T29 7-McGee, Stephen rush QL for 14 yards to the UT15, 1ST DOWN TA (26-Griffin, Marcus).
A 1-10 T15 11-Lane, Jorvorsk. rush over left tackle for 7 yards to the UT8 (26-Griffin, Marcus;27-Griffin, Michae).
A 2-3 T08 11-Lane, Jorvorsk. rush over left guard for no gain to the UT8 (33-Derry, Scott).
A 3-3 T08 7-McGee, Stephen rush QL for 8 yards to the UT0, 1ST DOWN TA, TOUCHDOWN, clock 02:32.
A 1-G T03 Timeout Texas A&M, clock 02:32. 3-Goodson, Mike rush attempt failed.
Of course, Justin Brantly helped the offense and the defense with an excellent angled punt inside the 10 and a couple of boomers (56 & 57 yds).
The defense and Gary Darnell need as much credit as the running game. I hope that Darnell enjoyed what he did to his former employer. We just ran our base 4-2-5 for the majority of the game and for the first time all season, we put it together for 4 full quarters. They gave up 72 yards on texas's first possession but only allowed 158 the remainder of the game.
On that first longhorn drive Mark Dodge made a huge stop on 4th & 1 at our 8 yard line when Henry Melton couldn't Jorvorskie-it.
Chris Harrington caused problems all day long for texas's vaulted O-Line. He picked up a sack and then later got to McCoy before he could release the ball causing it to float up in the air to be intercepted by DLineman, Cyril Obiozor. We had 4 interceptions on the afternoon including a key INT by Mark Dodge on t.u.'s second to last drive and a Japhus Brown interception with 20 seconds left in the game. Somewhat ironically, Mr. Jones and I had talked in the car about Japhus and wondered where he had been all season....and then he gets the start and comes up with a beautiful pick.
longhorn fans are crying bad officiating. They are mostly upset about a Limas Sweed offensive pass interference call that negated a TD. The next play was intercepted by Bullitt at the one yard line.
That push off looks fairly obvious to me, particularly since it was off Danny Gorrer's facemask.
The other call they're particularly upset over was a no-call on Michael Bennett's hit on Colt McCoy which put him out of the game, which was not in anyway game altering. It was a clean shot and horn RB Selvin Young agreed:
McCoy was carted off the field on a stretcher (pinched nerve in his neck) and I certainly wish him a full recovery for next season.The replay showed Bennett connecting with McCoy just underneath the facemask. Although some Longhorns fans cried foul when the replay was shown, Texas running back Selvin Young said the hit that knocked down the quarterback was clean."Chin hit," Young said. "Just like you teach it."
It certainly wasn't as if we weren't getting penalized and it wasn't as if texas never got away with anything. Penalties killed us, and most likely cost us points. We were penalized 10 times for ninety one yards (texas was flagged 3 times for 26 yards). The two killer penalties were a 15 yard personal foul in the 1st quarter that killed a drive and a holding call in the second quarter that negated a 19-yard reception by fullback Chris Alexander. The hold didn't even affect the play as it was on the near side of the field and the play went to the far side. It should have been 1st & 10 on texas's 45 but instead it was 3rd & 18 on our own 26.
I've never seen so many defensive offsides in my life, while not one offensive false start was called on texas. Colt McCoy must have great cadence with his 12 year old voice. On our first drive of the game a longhorn D lineman threw a punch at our O lineman well after the play ended that no referee saw. There was also a 3rd down incomplete pass to Earvin Taylor where he got smothered from the backside. I'm not complaining about the officiating, I'm just pointing out that it was certainly not one-sided as the horn fans have been making it out to be.
Anyways....
That's a keeperAs soon as the clock hit 0:00 I snapped a picture. Good thing I did because Adzillatron turned off really quickly. We kind of had to suppress our emotions somewhat because of where we were in the stadium but the longhorn fans around us didn't say much and one classy fellow even tapped our shoulder and congratulated us on the victory. We headed towards the A&M section down in the corner of the stadium to celebrate with our own. We found Jennifer's brother and his girlfriend down there and snapped some more pictures. Not once did I have to listen to obnoxious horns yelling "Poooor Aggy". It was beautiful.
Beckett & MeIf winning was the cake, and boosting our bowl opportunities was the icing, then I have a cherry to top it all off. As we were standing in the A&M section after the game, I was just looking around soaking it all in. I looked down a couple of rows and did a double-take.
"Is that him? Huh, I think that is Josh Beckett. Wait that is definitely Josh Beckett."
He was just standing there completely unnoticed. Most of you probably know that Josh (now with the Boston Red Sox) went to Spring High School which is the archrival of Westfield, my alma-mater (who is now 12-0 after romping RR Westwood on Saturday at Kyle Field). I went down and talked with him for a couple of minutes and he posed for a picture. He was as nice as can be. I kind of wonder if anyone else recognized him all day? He had signed with A&M prior to the 1999 draft when he was the #2 overall selection and got a huge signing bonus (a record high signing bonus, if I’m not mistaken).
The gentleman sitting next to him asked if I was the guy from Westfield who wrote the article on the internet about Josh. My long-time readers might remember when I was a guest writer over at AaronGleeman.com back in January 2004. I couldn't imagine there was anyone else who would have written anything like that so I said, "Yes sir." He introduced himself and I realized that he was Stephen Ghutzman's father. The fact that he brought up the article before introducing himself instantly made me scramble to remember what I had written. I remembered about 4 minutes after I walked away....I probably could have been a little more kind when I wrote of his son.
Live and learn. It was still really cool.
After we exited the stadium we hopped into the car and started to weave through the human traffic. It wasn't too bad because we threw Gig'ems at all the Ags who were walking by. Once we got onto the highway it was pretty much smooth sailing with lots of excited Aggie football talk. We capped off a perfect afternoon with a tremendous victory feast at the Texas Roadhouse in Waco. Nothing like a beautiful steak, those rolls, and some great sweet tea to wash down such a wonderful victory.
HT to Ag20?? from TexAgsIt was a great road trip, an incredible game, and just a lot of fun all around. Next on the docket for the Ags is figuring out where on earth we're going for a bowl game. It's really looking like the Holiday Bowl in San Diego so start investigating hotels and flights.
WHOOP!