No. 23 Aggies knock off No. 16 Cowboys

STILLWATER, Okla. — As if Reggie McNeal didn't do enough on his own, he also got a big assist from Terrence Murphy.

McNeal threw two touchdown passes — one on a desperation pass tipped by Murphy to DeQawn Mobley — and ran for two more scores to help No. 23 Texas A&M beat No. 16 Oklahoma State 36-20 on Saturday night.

The Aggies bolted out to a 20-0 lead as Oklahoma State made uncharacteristic mistakes with a string of early penalties and turnovers.

"It was tough," linebacker Lawrence Pinson said. "It seemed like everything that could happen bad went bad."

After Oklahoma State quarterback Donovan Woods cut it to 20-6 with a 2-yard touchdown run with 33 seconds left in the second quarter, McNeal launched a 55-yard touchdown pass to Mobley on the final play of the half.

McNeal let loose the high-arcing pass and Murphy leaped inside the 5 to tip the ball to Mobley, who dove to catch it in the end zone.

Coach Dennis Franchione said the Aggies (5-1, 3-0 Big 12) practice the play, called 8-69 Hail Mary, every Thursday, and McNeal said they're successful on about three out of every four attempts.

"The Hail Mary was big, real big," McNeal said. "It took the fans and them out of the game."

It was set up after Taylor Schuster picked up a third-down fumble by McNeal and advanced it for a first down. Then Murphy, who has a 41 1/2-inch vertical leap, did his part.

The pass gave the Aggies a 27-6 lead and took the Cowboys (5-1, 2-1) out of their run-first game plan.

"It hurt," Cowboys running back Vernand Morency said. "It hit us real hard."

McNeal added a 25-yard TD pass to Murphy on the Aggies' first possession of the second half and a 52-yard connection between the two set up a 25-yard field goal by Todd Pegram that made it 36-6 midway through the third quarter. Murphy finished with five catches for 104 yards.

"As an offense, we come out and feel like we can't be stopped," McNeal said.

Morency scored on a 1-yard dive on the first play of the fourth quarter and Billy Bajema caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Woods as the Cowboys pulled to 36-20 with 8:58 to play, but they could get no closer.

"We made a lot of mistakes," Pinson said. "Just the position we were put in on defense, anytime you've got a team like that and you're on your heels trying to fight back, it's tough."