11/29/02

No. Texas 50, Texas A&M 20

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	Senior DE Cory Redding had a sack for the seventh straight game and recovered his own forced fumble in the fourth quarter.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Senior QB Chris Simms and his Longhorns teammates put on a show in their final home game of the season.

Simms threw for 278 yards and three touchdowns and 10th-ranked Texas took advantage of six turnovers by Texas A&M to coast to a 50-20 victory.

Simms received a standing ovation from the fourth-largest crowd in school history (83,711) when he left the field with 3 1/2 minutes remaining. The southpaw did his best to earn it, completing touchdown passes of 75 and 38 yards to junior WR Roy Williams and 44 yards to junior WR B.J. Johnson to become the first quarterback to lead the Longhorns to consecutive 10-win campaigns. He also became the first Texas QB since Bobby Layne (1944-47) to beat the Aggies three straight times.

Texas (10-2, 6-2 Big 12 South) had not strung together consecutive 10-win seasons since capturing back-to-back national championships under Darrell Royal in 1969 and 1970.

Simms improved his record as a starter to 25-6 and helped the Longhorns extend their home winning streak to 19 games. Simms, who completed 16-of-24 and was not intercepted, broke his own UT record for touchdown passes by increasing his season total to 24. He tossed 22 touchdown passes last season.

Simms' first three passes of the day were incomplete before he found his groove in the second quarter. Johnson caught a short pass from Simms over the middle and raced up the sideline for a 44-yard TD five minutes into the second period and Texas led 16-7.

Less than four minutes later, Williams caught another short pass from Simms on a slant pattern and went 75 yards for a touchdown to increase the lead to 23-7.

The Aggies were within 23-14 after Long threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Terrence Murphy early in the third quarter, but the Longhorns put away the game by scoring the next 27 points.

Sophomore RB Cedric Benson started the outburst with a 30-yard TD run on fourth-and-inches, and Simms lofted a 38-yard strike to Williams in the end zone. Williams had six receptions for 149 yards to tie the UT record with his fourth straight 100-yard receiving game.

Junior WR Roy Williams set UT records for single-season receiving touchdowns and career 100-yard receiving games.

Redshirt freshman S Michael Huff had a 28-yard interception return for a score and junior CB Nathan Vasher returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown to make it 50-14.

Long was 17-of-25 for 199 yards with two touchdowns and was intercepted three times.

The Aggies had a chance to cut into the lead before halftime when they moved to the Texas 15, but junior S Dakarai Pearson intercepted a pass from Long in the end zone.

The Longhorns scored on five of their six possessions in the first half and took advantage of four Aggie turnovers before intermission. Texas scored 22 points off A&M turnovers.

The first three scores were field goals of 37, 41 and 28 yards by sophomore PK Dusty Mangum.

Sophomore LB Derrick Johnson set up the first score when he intercepted a pass from Long and the second followed a fumble by Derek Farmer.

After Mangum converted, Byron Jones fumbled the ensuing kickoff, leading to the third field goal by Mangum.

The Aggies held on the ball long enough to cut the lead to 9-7 as Long followed with a 12-yard TD pass to Terrence Thomas.

Jason Carter scored the final Aggie touchdown on a 15-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Texas defeated the Aggies for the third straight time and scored its highest point total against the Aggies since a 51-15 win in 1996.