Until their move to the Southeastern Conference in 2012, the Texas A&M Aggies had played the Auburn Tigers only once in their century-plus of playing college football.
That one meeting took place in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day in 1986 as the Aggies met with the Tigers in the 50th edition of the Cotton Bowl Classic in Dallas.
Texas A&M was making its first appearance in 18 years in the Cotton Bowl(To read about that appearance, click on the link which is highlighted here: https://oldschoolsportsblog.blogspot.com/2018/09/college-football-old-school-game-of_20.html) as they finished the 1985 regular season with a 9-2 record and entered the game with #11 ranking in both the AP and coaches polls.
The Aggies were led by head coach Jackie Sherrill, who was in his fourth season in College Station after spending five seasons as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers, where he complied a 50-9-1 record in his tenure which featured three consecutive 11-win seasons.
It took some time but with help of the "12th Man Kickoff Team" the kickoff unit comprised of mostly walk-on students and a strong rushing attack led by running backs Anthony Toney and Roger Vick, the Aggies were able to return to the top of the Southwestern Conference, winning their first outright conference championship in 18 years.
Standing in the way of the Aggies and a 10-win season for the first time since 1976 were the Auburn Tigers who came into the game ranked #16 with a 8-3 record, which was a disappointment considering they had begun the season ranked #1.
The Tigers were coached by Pat Dye, who was in his fifth season at the Plaines, having lead the Tigers to three straight bowl victories from 1982-84 and were making their first ever appearance in the Cotton Bowl.
Even though they were ranked lower than the Aggies, the Tigers were slight favorites because of one man: Bo Jackson.
Jackson was the Heisman Trophy Winner after running for 1,787 yards and scoring 17 touchdowns to narrowly beat Iowa quarterback Chuck Long to become the second Heisman winner in Auburn history with Pat Sullivan being the first in 1971.
With the Cotton Bowl set to be his final game as an Auburn Tiger, Jackson wanted to complete his stellar career with a win over the Aggies.
The Aggies got the ball to start the game but would give the Tigers an excellent scoring opportunity when quarterback Kevin Murray fumbled the snap from center on the third play of the game, which was recovered by Auburn nose guard Harold Hallman to give the Tigers the ball at the Texas A&M 21-yard-line.
A nine-yard-pass from quarterback Pat Washington to fullback Tommie Agee followed by a seven-yard run by Agee gave the Tigers 1st & goal when Jackson got his hands on the ball for the first time in the game and ran it in for the five-yard touchdown to give Auburn a 7-0 lead just 68 seconds into the game.
 |
| Auburn running back Bo Jackson would run for 129 yards on 31 carries and one touchdown while catching two passes for 73 yards and one touchdown. |
Later in the quarter, the Tigers would return the favor to the Aggies as Auburn wide receiver Trey Gainous muffed an A&M punt that was recovered by A&M defensive back Monte Jay, giving the Aggies the ball at the Tigers' 31-yard-line.
Five plays later, the Aggies were in the end zone as Harry Johnson ran for a 11-yard touchdown to make it 7-6 though A&M were unable to tie the game as Eric Johnson would miss the extra point.
Following an Auburn punt, the Aggies had the ball at their 36-yard-line when Murray found tight end Rod Bernstine for 23 yards to give A&M a 1st down at the Tigers' 41-yard-line.
Then on 3rd & 5, Murray connected with Shea Walker for 14 yards and a 1st down at the Auburn 22-yard-line when Murray handed the ball off to Keith Woodside, who broke three Auburn tacklers on his way to the end zone to give A&M a 12-7 lead.
The Aggies would go for two to make up for the missed extra point but Murray's pass for Jeff Nelson fell incomplete to keep it 12-7 with three minutes left in the first quarter.
A&M would force another Auburn punt to get the ball back at its 18-yard-line as the Murray and the Aggies offense would put together a drive that would last until the second quarter when Sherrill sent in Eric Johnson again this to attempt a 26-yard field goal.
But Johnson's kick would sail wide right to keep the score 12-7 as the Tigers would get the ball at their 20-yard-line.
The Tigers picked up one 1st down before they were faced with a 3rd & 13 at their 27-yard-line when Washington dropped back and lofted a screen pass for Jackson, who made the catch five yards behind the line of scrimmage.
Jackson would proceed to run down the left sideline, then make a cut at his 45-yard-line and outran the A&M defense for an amazing 73-yard touchdown to give Auburn a 13-12 lead with 8:28 left in the second quarter.
The Tigers would go for two but running back Brent Fullwood would be stopped for no gain to keep the score 13-12.
After an exchange of punts, the Aggies had the ball at their 40-yard-line and picked up seven yards on two plays to set up 3rd & 3 when Murray connected with Woodside on a 41-yard catch & run as Woodside caught the ball 11 yards down the field, then ran 30 yards before being tackled at the Auburn 12-yard-line.
The Auburn defense would allow only three more yards on the next three plays to force Sherrill to either go for it on 4th & 7 or send in Eric Johnson to attempt a field goal after missing two chip shot kicks.
He decided on going for the field goal but with Scott Slater instead of Eric Johnson to attempt the 26-yard field goal.
Sherill's decision paid off as Slater made the kick to give the Aggies a 15-13 lead with 1:20 remaining in the first half.
The Tigers would get one last chance to pick up some points before halftime but they would have to do it without Washington who left the game because of a thigh bruise.
Jeff Burger came in at quarterback and was able to lead drive the Tigers to the A&M 40-yard-line thanks in large part to a 31-yard completion to Freddy Weygand.
Chris Johnson would come to attempt a 57-yard field goal but his kick fell short and was no good as time expired in the first half with A&M on top 15-13.
Auburn got the ball to start the second half but just like A&M in the first half, the Tigers turned it over on the first drive of the half as strong safety Domingo Bryant picked off a Burger pass and returned it 14 yards to the Auburn 48-yard-line.
From there, it would take the Aggies five plays to get back into the end zone as Anthony Toney took it in for a 21-yard touchdown to make it a 22-13 A&M lead as the Aggies would go for two again and again would not able to convert as Murray's pass for Nelson fell incomplete.
 |
| Texas A&M tight end Rod Bernstine was the Aggies' leading receiver with six catches for 109 yards. |
Auburn would get the ball back at its 29-yard-line but seemed poised to go three-and-out after the first two plays of the drive lost four yards to set up 3rd & 14.
That is when Jackson struck again as he ran 32 yards for a 1st down at the Texas A&M 43-yard-line.
The Tigers would drive to the A&M nine-yard-line before settling for a 21-yard field goal by Chris Johnson to cap off the 12-play, 72-yard drive which cut the Aggies' lead to 21-16 midway through the third quarter.
Auburn would get the ball back with 5:46 left in the third quarter at its six-yard-line and proceeded to drive 88 yards in 14 plays to set up 1st & goal at the A&M six-yard-line as the third quarter came to and end.
The Tigers were poised to retake the lead as the fourth quarter got underway as Jackson ran for four yards on 1st down to set up 2nd & goal from the A&M two-yard-line.
That is when the A&M defense rose to the occasion as linebacker Todd Howard stopped Jackson for no gain on 2nd down, which was followed by nose guard Sammy O'Bryant stopping Jackson again for no gain on 3rd down to force 4th & goal at the two-yard-line.
With over 12 minutes left in the game, Dye could have gone for the field goal to make it a two-point game and hope his defense would keep the Aggies off the scoreboard so that his offense could get a potential game-winning field goal.
Instead, he decided to ride Jackson and go for the 1st down as Burger handed the ball off to Jackson on a sprint draw, only to have the Heisman Trophy winner get tackled behind the line of scrimmage by A&M linebacker Basil Jackson for an one-yard-loss to give the Aggies the ball at their three-yard-line, still leading 21-16 with 12:13 left in the game.
However, the Tigers would get another shot as they forced A&M to punt on its ensuing possession to get the ball back at the Aggies' 49-yard-line.
Auburn would drive to the A&M 27-yard-line when they were faced with another 4th & 2 situation when Dye decided to go for it again and again had Burger hand the ball off to Jackson.
But again Jackson would be stopped as A&M cornerback Wayne Asberry dropped Bo for an one-yard-loss to give the Aggies the ball at their 28-yard-line with 5 1/2 minutes to play and a chance to put the game away.
Murray would connect with Bernstine for 37 yards to put the Aggies in Auburn territory at the Tigers' 32-yard-line then would hit Woodside for a 38-yard completion on 3rd & 20 to give the Aggies a 1st & goal at the Auburn four-yard-line.
An illegal procedure penalty would push the Aggies back five yards when Murray found Woodside again, this time for a nine-yard touchdown to increase the A&M lead to 27-16.
A&M lined up to kick the extra point but surprised the Tigers with a fake as Bernstine ran it in for the two-point conversion to give the Aggies a 29-16 lead with just 2:22 to play.
 |
| Texas A&M quarterback Kevin Murray threw for a then Cotton Bowl record 292 yards as he completed 16 of 26 passes and threw one touchdown.0 |
Needing two touchdowns to win, the Tigers needed to go the air in order to pull off a miracle but Burger would be intercepted again by Bryant, whose 22-yard return to the Auburn 11-yard-line for all instance and purposes ended the game.
The Aggies would hand the ball off to Toney four straight times with the last carry going for a four-yard touchdown with three seconds left that was the icing on the cake of A&M's 36-16 win over the Auburn Tigers.
A&M would finish #6 in both the AP and coaches polls following their win over Auburn which would be the start of the Aggies' three-year run atop the Southwest Conference as they would play in the Cotton Bowl the next two seasons.
As for Bo Jackson, he would be selected as the #1 pick in the 1986 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, only to spurn the Bucs and play baseball with the Kansas City Royals which forced Tampa Bay to forfeit the rights and allowing Jackson to be eligible in the 1987 Draft where he was selected in the seventh round by the Los Angeles Raiders.
Jackson would sign with the Raiders to become a two-sport athlete as he would play with the Royals until the completion of their season, then join the Raiders in October.
Bo would run for 2,782 yards over four seasons until a hip injury ended his NFL career in 1991 and would eventually end his MLB career in 1994.
No comments:
Post a Comment