Texas wary of Aggies’ potential for upset

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Texas has taken control of its annual series with Oklahoma, gone 15-3 against ranked opponents since 2005 and won its last five bowl games.

Texas A&M, though, has been a troublesome opponent for Mack Brown’s Longhorns.

The Aggies have twice upset the heavily favored Longhorns in the last three season. The victories have been the highlights of an otherwise forgettable decade for A&M, which hasn’t finished a season in the Top 25 since 1999.

The archrivals meet again tonight, and if Texas A&M (6-5, 3-4 Big 12) can pull off another shocker, it’ll probably cost No. 3 Texas (11-0, 7-0) a shot at the national title and cripple Colt McCoy’s chances of winning the Heisman Trophy.

The losses to A&M in 2006 and ’07 erased Texas’ chances of winning the Big 12 South, but the Longhorns don’t have to worry about that happening this time. They locked up their first berth in the Big 12 title game since 2005 with a 51-20 win over Kansas last week, and Brown acknowledged that’s a relief heading to Kyle Field.

“Sewing up the Big 12 South title really takes a lot of pressure off of this week, so we can go play and enjoy the game,” Brown said. “It is a national game, a rival game again. It is important regardless of the records of the two teams and what’s at stake. This lets us focus on this game and not look at all the other stuff around us.”

Texas handled last year’s meeting just fine, routing the Aggies and new coach Mike Sherman 49-9 in Austin.

But two years ago in College Station, A&M delivered its most inspired performance of the season and knocked off the 13th-ranked Longhorns 38-30, the Aggies’ most significant victory — and last game — under Dennis Franchione.

In 2006, the Aggies toughed out an equally unexpected 12-7 win in Austin. McCoy threw for only 160 yards and was picked off three times, and A&M rushed for 244 yards against the nation’s top-ranked run defense.

McCoy, who set an NCAA record last week with his 43rd career victory, said the Longhorns have hardly mentioned either game since they happened.

“We don’t really talk about ’06 and ’07. We don’t like to think about that,” McCoy said. “We talk about being the best we can be and finishing what we started. That’s enough motivation for us. We’ve got a lot at stake.”

Since squeezing past Oklahoma 16-13 on Oct. 17, the Longhorns have rolled past their last five opponents by an average score of 43-12.

Brown said he talked to Florida coach Urban Meyer about easing the pressure on his players during a national-championship run. And lately, Brown has noticed the Longhorns seem to be having the time of their lives.

McCoy and his fellow seniors took a victory lap after the home finale last week, smacking hands with fans and soaking in the adulation. McCoy fired a cannon used to punctuate Texas touchdowns and banged on a giant bass drum before leaving the field.

“We feel like this team is having fun,” Brown said. “Whatever pressure the team had at the first of the year that was on them, they seem to have that off. They are relaxing and really enjoying each other, and enjoying playing.”

Sherman and the Aggies set more modest goals this season, and they reached the biggest one last week, gaining bowl eligibility with a 38-3 win over Baylor.

A&M has been strangely erratic this season, with blowout wins over Texas Tech and Iowa State coupled with even more lopsided losses to Kansas State and Oklahoma.

Junior quarterback Jerrod Johnson has ranked among the nation’s total offense leaders all year and set a single-season school record for passing yards (2,875). The Aggies rank second in the Big 12 in total offense (459.3 yards per game), but the Longhorns’ defense ranks third in the nation (238.7 yards).

“If you beat that team, you beat a great team,” Johnson said. “But at the same time, we’ve played with a lot of their guys in high school, so it’s not really a situation where we feel inferior by any means. We expect to win on Thursday.”