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Texas A&M Beats Michigan in a Classic
College Station,Texas-For the second year in a row Coach Bryant and Coach Patterson coached their teams in a down to the wire game. This year's version, between the Aggies and the Wolverines, was similar to the game a year ago. Last year Mississippi State held a 14 point fourth quarter lead only to see it evaporate and then the Bulldogs gave up a pick six with less than 20 seconds to go to give A&M the victory. This year Michigan held a seven point fourth quarter with under two minutes to go, and at that point the Michigan defense had only given up 7 points to the Aggies. The after seeing the score tied Michigan turned the ball over, this time by way of a Shaw fumble, that led to the A&M game winner.
Michigan won the toss and elected to kick off to start the game. The 90,000 Aggie Faithful were on their feet for the start of this physical contest. Michigan kicked to Reese who started things off with a great return to nearly midfield. Tannehill led his offense onto the field, but the Michigan D was ready. Three quick plays and Texas A&M had to punt it away. Michigan got the ball and looked to draw first blood, but Superstar FS Ryan Williams, who leads the nation in tackles, had his defense ready to go as well. After one first down Michigan was forced to punt it back to A&M. The play following the punt was the first big play of the game. Tannehill faked to the FB and threw an errant pass off his back foot. The ball sailed and Kovacs made a great play to catch it and give Michigan the ball.
Kovacs With the Big Interception
The big interception fired up the Wolverines and the offense charged out onto the field. A few gashing runs had the Michigan offense looking good, but then it was the passing game that got to the Aggies. Forcier, in for injured Robinson, fired a quick pass to Shaw. The lightning quick Lone Star Defense rallied to him, but failed to wrap him up as he broke tackles down the sideline to set Michigan up inside the 10 yard line. After two failed tries at the endzone Michigan was able to score to take the early 7-0 lead.
Shaw Breaks his Way Down Inside the 10
Texas A&M knew they would need to respond following the Wolverine touchdown and did just that. After driving down the field Tannehill found WR Jeff Fuller wide open in the endzone for the 7-7 tie. To this point the Michigan pressure had really been getting to Tannehill and causing a lot of problems for A&M and would all game. The rest of the half would be a stalemate for both teams. A&M would threaten to score right before the end of the half but a rushed throw by Tannehill was picked of by Michigan and gave away at least three Aggie points. Michigan got the ball to start the second half and would get moving right away. The Wolverines would move right down the field and score on a Forcier to Hemingway touchdown pass. The Michigan defense would dominate the rest of the third quarter not allowing the Aggies to score or move the ball much at all, and took a 14-7 lead into the fourth quarter. As was the story of the whole game, both defenses continued to play well stopping the opposition multiple times, three times the Aggies defense held Michigan 1 yard or less from the first down on third down. Texas A&M would get the ball with just under three minutes left in the game and knew that it would have to get a score now or they may never get the ball back. O'Brien winner Tannehill stpped up and lead his team down the field and into scoring range. At the four yard line Tannehill gave the ball to McCoy and let him do the rest of the work tying this defensive battle at 14.
McCoy Ties it for the Aggies
With 1:49 left in the game, and the way the game had been dominated by defense it looked like we were headed for overtime. However, Patterson thought there was enough time to go for the win just like he did last year. Michigan worked quickly and after a couple of big plays was almost to midfield. On second down from the 50 with 40 seconds left Forier threw a rushed throw into the flats. Shaw caught it and raced towards the first down marker, but before he got there WIlliams delivered a crushing blow that knocked the ball free. Johnson was there to scoop it up and give the Aggies the ball with 30 second left.
Texas A&M's Defense Makes the Play of the Game
Armed with all three timeouts and the best kicker in the nation Bear Bryant elected to go for the win in regulation. Tannehill zipped a pass for a first down on the first play and all of a sudden with Bullock's big leg the Aggies were on the edge of field goal range. After another quick pass and a couple of runs the Aggies used all their timeouts to give Bullock a chance to win the game with three seconds left. The holder, Dorman, set up at the 42 yard line to make the kick to win the game a 52 yarder. Surprisingly Michigan did not try to freeze the kicker. Bullock lined it up and then at the snap he approached the ball. Bullock foot met the ball with a goo thud and then...
The Game Winner by Bullock
The kick sailed straight threw the uprights and the Aggies rushed the field. Their 18 game win streak, 10 game home win streak, and repeat National Championship hopes were all still intact with that one kick. Michigan had played their hearts out, and really deserved to win the game just as Mississippi State had the year before, but it just didn't happen. Next year A&M will have to travel to the Big House in what should be a tremendous game, and you will see a much better Michigan Wolverine team out there next year.
Box Score
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Total | |
| UM | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| TAMU | 7 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 17 |
Final: Texas A&M-17 Michigan-14
