Football '98:
vs Texas A&M, October 10, 1998

(18) TEXAS A&M 28, (1) NEBRASKA 21 COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Now Nebraska coach Frank Solich knows why Tom Osborne decided to retire and go fishing. Heavily-favored Nebraska ran out of ways to keep its winning streak going, and Texas A&M came away with its biggest victory in nearly 60 years as Solich lost his first game as the Cornhuskers coach. Sedrick Curry's interception with 59 seconds left stopped the Cornhuskers' final drive and gave the 18th-ranked Aggies a 28-21 upset that snapped No. 2 Nebraska's 19-game winning streak -- longest among major colleges. "They beat us because they played better," Solich, making no excuses, said. "A&M has a very fine defense. And we hoped their offense wouldn't make so many big plays. We're down and hurt right now. We're not accustomed to taking a loss." Nebraska, which has won or shared three of the last four national titles, lost for just the fourth time in its last 69 games and dropped its first game since a 37-27 loss to Texas in the Big 12 championship game in 1996. The loss ended a 40-game, regular-season conference winning streak for Nebraska, which last lost a league game at Iowa State on Nov. 14, 1992. A week after escaping with s 24-17 win over Oklahoma State, the Huskers (5-1, 1-1 Big 12) were beaten at their own ground game by Texas A&M (5-1, 2-0). The Aggies ran for 259 yards, while Nebraska had just 141. Two Texas A&M runners topped 100 yards, Dante Hall with 113 and Ja'Mar Toombs with 110. Toombs, a freshman, scored one touchdown and set up another with a 71-yard run and Randy McCown threw an 81-yard TD pass to provide the offensive spark the Aggies have lacked most of the season. But even after building s 28-7 lead in the fourth quarter, Texas A&M needed Curry's interception to secure a win. "I was just waiting for Nebraska to try to go deep and got a good jump on the ball," Curry said. "It was the biggest play I ever made in my life." Newcombe said the loud crowd of 60,798 , "caused a miscommunication on the route and we just weren't on the same page. We just couldn't run the ball against them but we fought until the end." It was the highest ranked team Texas A&M has ever beaten. The previous best was a 14-13 victory over No. 4 Tulane in the 1939 Sugar Bowl to give the Aggies the national title. "We've been so close so many times to beating top 10 teams like Florida State and UCLA," offensive lineman Cameron Spikes said. "This time we didn't shoot ourselves in the foot." Nebraska beat the Aggies 54-14 last December in the Big 12 title game. "This is the biggest win of my career," A&M coach R.C. Slocum. who has been the school 10 years, said. "It's meaningful because we did it against a legitimate team like Nebraska. We had a good hill to climb and we did it by playing sound football. We didn't try to trick 'em."

(18) TEXAS A&M 28, (1) Nebraska 21

                   1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH  FINAL
                   --- --- --- ---  -----
Nebraska            0   7   0  14    21
Texas A&M           7   7   7   7    28

First Quarter
       A&M-Taylor 81 pass from McCown (Bynum kick), 7:05
Second Quarter
       NEB-Buckhalter 7 run (Brown kick), 8:35
       A&M-Hall 1 run (Bynum kick), 3:37
Third Quarter
       A&M-Holdman fumble recovery in end zone (Bynum kick), 9:13
Fourth Quarter
       A&M-Toombs 3 run (Bynum kick), 14:57
       NEB-Newcombe 11 run (Brown kick), 8:08
       NEB-Makovicka 9 run (Brown kick), 4:39


                          Neb      A&M
                          ---      ---
First downs                17       12
Rushes-yards           44-141   57-259
Passing                   204       93
Comp-Att-Int          15-27-1    2-8-1
Return Yards               93       40
Punts-Avg.             6-46.7   8-45.3
Fumbles-Lost              2-1      2-0
Penalties-Yards          5-67     8-60
Time of Possession      28:39    31:21


INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Nebraska, Newcombe 23-56, Makovicka 8-51, Evans 10-31,
Buckhalter 2-7, Wiggins 1-(minus 4). Texas A&M, Hall 32-113,
Toombs 10-110, McCown 12-26, Parker 3-10.

PASSING-Nebraska, Newcombe 15-27-1-204. Texas A&M, McCown
2-8-1-93.

RECEIVING-Nebraska, Davison 10-167, Haafke 3-23, Evans 1-9,
Wiggins 1-5. Texas A&M, Taylor 1-81, Cole 1-12.

A-60,798.