Aggies High for Cotton in Victory

COLLEGE STATION, Tex. —  Texas A&M; didn’t feel comfortable about accepting its Cotton Bowl invitation until its 31-14 victory over Texas on Thursday night.

“If we had accepted this last week and lost this week, it wouldn’t have been the same,” linebacker Jason Atkinson said after the 10th-ranked Aggies beat their traditional rival.

Texas A&M; (10-1, 8-0) clinched its 16th Southwest Conference title with a 65-6 rout of Southern Methodist last week. But it wouldn’t have meant much if they had lost to the Longhorns (5-6, 4-4), who beat Texas A&M;, 28-27, last season and won the conference title.

“It took me two months to get over the headache of losing to Texas last year, and this is the pain killer right here,” said Kevin Smith, whose 73-yard punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter broke open a defensive battle.

“I’ve been envisioning returning a punt all week,” Smith said. “The last two weeks I’ve been trying, trying, trying to return one.”

Texas A&M;’s defense, ranked first in the nation, held Texas in check in the first half and eased to a 10-7 halftime lead. The Aggies, who play No. 3 Florida State on New Year’s Day, extended the lead to 17-7 on the first drive of the third quarter on Greg Hill’s two-yard run.

Smith gave the Aggies breathing room with 5:59 left in the third quarter when he fielded a punt, made a move to his right and ran 73 yards.

“I’ll never forget this,” Atkinson said. “It’s a family feeling the way we pulled together this year. We started celebrating after Kevin’s punt return.”

The Longhorns capitalized on an 18-yard interception return by Grady Cavness. It led to a three-yard touchdown run by Rodrick Walker with 8:44 to play.

Hill’s second touchdown came on a two-yard run with 3:03 to play.

“You have to give their offense credit,” Texas defensive end Shane Dronnett said. “We really shut them down in the first half, but in the second half they sucked it up and did what they had to do. I like their chances against Florida State.”