Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State vs. Texas A&M Preview
October 15, 2004 | Cowboy Football
Texas A&M has gone from pushover to contender in the Big 12's South division.
Nationally ranked for the first time in over two years, the No. 23 Aggies try for their fifth straight victory as they visit 16th-ranked Oklahoma State on Saturday in a crucial division matchup.
The Aggies (4-1, 2-0) lost their season opener to Utah, but have gone undefeated since, outscoring their opponents 134-39 during their win streak. Their 34-3 victory over Iowa State last Saturday landed them back in the top 25 for the first time since the week of Sept. 29, 2002.
Last season, the Aggies went 4-8, including a humiliating 77-0 loss to Oklahoma. Saturday's win snapped an eight-game road losing streak.
``We're very hungry right now,'' A&M wide receiver Jason Carter said. ``Last year we were like the laughingstock of college football. We know how it feels on both sides. It feels a lot better on the winning side.''
Quarterback Reggie McNeal threw for 222 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score against the Cyclones. McNeal has thrown 132 passes without an interception dating to last season _ 46 shy of the school record set in 1968 by Edd Hargett.
``It all goes back to practice; if you throw an interception you have to run,'' McNeal said. ``That's not too high on my list.''
McNeal has thrown for 1,037 yards and five touchdowns on 68-of-124 passing and rushed for 356 yards and five touchdowns on 55 carries. He ranks third among NCAA quarterbacks with 71.2 rushing yards per game and is second to Texas Tech's Sonny Cumbie in the Big 12 with 278.6 total yards per contest.
McNeal is the only Division I-A quarterback averaging more than 70 yards rushing and 200 yards passing per game.
``If I've got to order a quarterback out of a catalog, I'm going to order me a Reggie,'' A&M coach Dennis Franchione said. ``I've always had a good trust in what Reggie would do with the football. That's probably why I started him last year.''
While McNeal guided the offense against the Cyclones, the defense came close to its second shutout of the season.
``I'm a little disappointed we let them kick that field goal,'' defensive back Jaxson Appel said. ``Because if we get four shutouts in a season, coach (Carl) Torbush (A&M's defensive coordinator) is going to shave his mustache. So we've got to get a couple more of those.''
A&M is one of three Big 12 South teams without a conference loss, but it still has games against Oklahoma (2-0 Big 12), Texas (1-1) and Texas Tech (2-1). And that's after Saturday's showdown with the Cowboys (5-0, 2-0), who have scored conference wins over Colorado and Iowa State.
``This is a confident team. We'll play that way for a while,'' Oklahoma State coach Les Miles said after last Saturday's 42-14 win over the Buffaloes. ``We are in a very healthy state of mind.''
Quarterback Donovan Woods threw for career highs with three touchdowns and 193 yards _ just 36 fewer than he had in the previous three games combined.
The Cowboys had relied heavily on their running game, but Woods closed out the first half with a 58-yard touchdown pass to Prentiss Elliott and added 21- and 53- yard scoring passes in the second.
Running back Vernand Morency, the nation's leading rusher, had already picked up more than 100 yards before the big first-half passing play, drawing more and more defenders up to stop the run.
``They do it every game,'' Morency said. ``It's not going to change. Until they start respecting our passing game, we're going to see that. If they don't respect it, we're going up top.''
Morency finished with 236 yards rushing for his seventh straight 100-yard game.
A&M leads the all-time series 13-6, but has lost the last two matchups.
