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No. 24 Texas A&M beats Texas Tech

Oct 9, 2011 - 6:23 AM Lubbock, TX (Sports Network) - Ryan Tannehill threw for a touchdown and rushed for two more as the No. 24 Texas A&M Aggies took a 45-40 victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

It was the 70th meeting between the teams and will be the final time they face each other as Big 12 Conference foes. The Aggies have made the decision to join the Southeastern Conference.

Tannehill completed 16-of-26 passes for 188 yards and carried the ball nine times for 58 yards as Texas A&M (3-2, 1-1 Big 12) snapped a two-game losing streak.

"I thought our guys responded well to the challenge that they had to keep fighting the adversity of the ballgame," said Texas A&M head coach Mike Sherman. "We put ourselves in some tough situations in times."

Cyrus Gray rushed for 125 yards and a score, and Christine Michael added 68 yards on the ground with a touchdown for the Aggies.

Seth Doege threw for 391 yards on 44-of-66 pass attempts for Texas Tech (4-1, 1-1).

"Not a lot of consolation, other than we became a better team tonight," said Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tuberville. "We fought hard. I was proud of the guys. We gave ourselves a chance. At the end, we made way too many mistakes."

Eric Stephens racked up 103 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries for the Red Raiders, while Alex Torres caught eight balls for 111 yards and a score.

Texas A&M started the opening drive of the game at its own 17 and worked its way down the field on seven plays, resulting in a 19-yard scoring run down the left sideline by Tannehill.

Texas Tech answered with a 13-play drive to tie the game set up by Ben McRoy's 42-yard kickoff return. Doege found Adam James in the back of the end zone for a leaping catch from two yards out for the touchdown.

After trading punts, Tannehill found Gray for a 21-yard strike before a defensive pass interference penalty moved the Aggies deep into Red Raider territory, but Texas A&M had to settle for a 45-yard field goal by Randy Bullock.

McRoy had another big return on the ensuing kickoff, this time a 47 yarder down the right sideline, but the drive stalled after picking up two first downs. Donnie Carona snuck a 49-yard field goal inside the right upright to tie the game at 10 less than a minute into the second quarter.

The Aggies quickly took the lead back on a 16-yard scoring run by Gray in which he started up the middle and broke off to the right side of the field for the touchdown. Gray carried the ball five times for 43 yards on the 73- yard drive.

Texas Tech drove deep into A&M territory again with the help of a 35-yard grab by Torres and a defensive pass interference call on the next play, but the Red Raiders were held out of the end zone and Carona connected on a 27-yard field goal.

Uzoma Nwachukwu's 35-yard leaping catch on the sideline on a 3rd-and-9 for the Aggies set up Michael's 17-yard TD run up the middle to make it a 24-13 contest.

Back-to-back defensive pass interference calls on Texas Tech's next possession moved the Red Raiders down the field before Stephens rumbled in from four yards out to edge Texas Tech closer.

But Texas A&M extended its lead once again after marching down the field with an 11-play drive that ended with a 10-yard TD run by Tannehill on a bootleg to the left side of the field, making it a 31-20 game at the half.

Each team was forced to punt on their first possession of the second half before the Red Raiders were held to no yards on their next three plays with the ball. But a Steven Terrell roughing the kicker penalty kept the drive alive and Doege found Torres for a 22-yard gain before Carona knocked in a 49- yard field goal to bring Texas Tech within eight.

The Aggies then failed to convert on a 4th-and-1 at the Texas Tech 45 when Tannehill was stuffed on an attempted quarterback sneak and the Red Raiders took over on offense. After Torres failed to hang on to a diving grab on the side of the end zone for a potential game-tying touchdown with a two-point conversion, Carona's 50-yard field goal attempt was blocked. The ball flew right into the arms of Dustin Harris, who raced down the field for a touchdown, giving the Aggies a 38-23 advantage.

The Red Raiders answered with a 14-play, 80-yard drive capped by a five-yard catch by Eric Ward on the left side of the end zone late in the third quarter.

Texas Tech was forced to punt from deep inside its own territory early in the fourth and Texas A&M turned the favorable field position into a Michael Lamothe five-yard TD catch-and-run, breaking two tackles on his way in for the score.

Carona's fourth field goal and Torres' 20-yard touchdown grab with 31 seconds left in the game made it 45-40, but Texas Tech failed to convert an onside kick and Tannehill took a knee to seal the win.

Game Notes

Texas A&M leads the all-time series 37-32-1 and has won three consecutive games against Texas Tech for the first time since winning nine straight from 1990-94...Stephens has rushed for 100-plus yards in five of his last six games...Tannehill became the 14th Aggie quarterback with over 3,000 career passing yards.