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Listen to The Battalion staff discuss the Aggies' Saturday loss to Oklahoma.
Few football teams are able to win games without offensive production. Texas A&M was not one of them in a 42-14 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman, Okla., Saturday. Time after time, the Aggie offense took the field and was unable to put together sustainined drives, beginning in the first quarter, when the Aggies gained five total yards.
"We just didn't get it done on offense, and that's very frustrating," said A&M senior offensive lineman Kirk Elder. "Our defense was playing very well. It's disappointing when the other guys are playing well, but you can't hold your end of the rope."
The Aggies did not convert a third down until just before the end of the third quarter. A&M would convert another third down as well as a fourth down on the way to their first touchdown, but by then the game was out of reach at 35-7.
"To me, it's all about just winning," said OU Head Coach Bob Stoops. "Sometimes, I get tired of hearing that we're supposed to play perfect all the time. To me, just winning is what you need to do. I'm never going to be dissatisified with winning any way."
The game took a turn at the start of the third quarter. With 12:42 remaining in the quarter and Oklahoma leading 21-0, the Aggies drove inside the Sooner 30-yard line for the first time in the game.
After being stopped on third down, A&M Head Coach Dennis Franchione elected to kick a long field goal instead of trying to keep the drive going. Sophomore kicker Matt Szymanski missed for the ninth time in 2007, leaving the kick wide-right and the Aggies scoreless. Oklahoma scored a touchdown seven plays later to make the score 28-0.
"Certainly this is a good football team," Franchione said. "You hate to say that one play was the complete difference in the game."
The Sooner offensive machine was kept in motion with consistent medium and long passes over the middle to open receivers. Sooner quarterback Sam Bradford completed 21 of 30 passes for 284 yards and five touchdowns. Bradford's favorite target was 6 foot 6 inch, 250 pound tight end Jermaine Gresham, who hauled in five catches for 80 yards and four touchdowns.
"[Gresham is] huge. He's big, he's fast. That's pretty much everything you'd want in a receiver," Bradford said.
Junior Martellus Bennett, A&M's tight end of similar dimensions, led the Aggie receiving corps with four catches for 63 yards and a touchdown. However, A&M's passing attack was anemic all game, with junior quarterback Stephen McGee being flushed from the pocket numerous times by the Sooner pass rush, denying the Aggies vertical passing game.
"We did struggle, we didn't have very many yards in the first half," Franchione said. "[Oklahoma is] a good defensive ball club and they've done that to a lot of people. We've played two very good defensive teams the last two weeks."
The A&M running game, which averageed 239.4 rush yards a game, was held in check by the Sooner defense. The Aggie halfback duo of sophomore Michael Goodson and junior Jorvorskie Lane combined for 12 carries and 56 yards. McGee led A&M with 16 carries for 71 yards.
"We didn't have a lot of rushing yards either," Franchione said. "We had a really hard time moving the ball against them. It didn't matter if it was run or pass."
Franchione has said time of possession is the key to the Aggie game plan. The Sooners dominated A&M in time of possession 34:12 to 25:48. They also forced two Aggie fumbles.
"We had two turnovers in the first half, they had none," Franchione said. "You can't go on the road and play a great team and turn the ball over twice in the first half and put yourself in very good positions."
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