Aggies Fend Off Late Wildcat Comeback, 42-30

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Kansas State turned out to be its own worst enemy in its 2004 Big 12 opener, setting up three short Texas A&M touchdown drives with turnovers as the Wildcats were knocked off by the Aggies 42-30 at Kyle Field despite getting a career night from sophomore quarterback Dylan Meier.

Courtney Lewis ran for three touchdowns to lead the way for Texas A&M, sending the Aggies to their third straight win.

Meier connected with eight different receivers en route to a 29-for-45 passing performance that included three touchdowns and was just for completions off the K-State single-game record.

But Meier's performance was not enough to overcome the miscues that started A&M drives at the K-State 12, 5 and 2.

The Aggies quickly scored touchdowns on all three. Their other scoring drives were fast, too - 80 yards in four plays, 69 yards in five plays and a three-play, 67-yarder in the final minute, when it looked like they might just be running out the clock.

A&M ran just 43 plays, while the Wildcats had 90. Kansas State also the ball for more than twice as long as the Aggies -- 40 minutes, 28 seconds to 19:32.

That would usually mean big numbers for Sproles, the nation's leader in all-purpose yards at 250 per game, but he was held to 61 rushing and 48 receiving. And 35 of his rushing yards came on the opening drive, when Kansas State marched 63 yards on 12 plays to take an early 7-0 lead.

Sproles committed K-State's first two turnovers, leading to A&M's first touchdown and another in the third quarter that gave the Aggies back the momentum they'd just lost and led to the TD that put them up 28-17.

After an interception helped A&M stretch the lead to 35-17, Meier rallied the Cats with two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Jermaine Moreira. K-State then was driving for the go-ahead points with under two minutes left but on fourth down from the 38, Meier avoided sack and flicked the ball to Sproles. He scooted between a few defenders only to run into one of his lineman five yards shy of a first down.

Reggie McNeal then iced the game for A&M with a 62-yard sprint on third down in the final minute to produce the final score of the game.

McNeal completed just 7-of-12 passes for 129 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown pass to Terrence Murphy, but led the Aggies on the ground with 84 yards and eluded several potential sacks.

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