SOUTHWEST ROUNDUP : Texas A&M; Barely Beats Baylor, 19-13

Rodney Thomas and Greg Hill each scored a touchdown and ran for more than 100 yards as the fifth-ranked Texas A&M; held off Baylor, 19-13, Saturday in a Southwest Conference game at College Station, Tex.

Hill carried 19 times for 119 yards and Thomas, who scored the Aggies’ first touchdown on an 84-yard run, had nine carries and 116 yards as Texas A&M; improved to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the SWC. Baylor dropped to 4-4 and 3-2.

But the victory wasn’t secure until Texas A&M; cornerback Aaron Glenn intercepted a pass at the Aggie 25 with 1:07 to play.

“We’ve been fortunate to barely win like we have,� Aggie Coach R.C. Slocum said. “But one of these days we’re going to hit on all cylinders and score 100 points. This was a typical, physical A&M-Baylor; game.�

The hard-pressed Aggies used two quarterbacks, Jeff Granger and Corey Pullig, but still couldn’t pass effectively and were forced to resort to their ground game.

“We couldn’t throw it so we decided we just had to run it and we did,� Slocum said. “No matter how bad our offense is, we’ve outscored seven other offenses.�

Texas A&M; took a 14-13 lead in the third quarter on Hill’s 40-yard touchdown run.

The Aggies’ other second-half points came on a 37-yard field goal by Terry Venetoulias and a safety that Baylor gave the Aggies late in the game.

Baylor Coach Grant Teaff, who is retiring in December to become full-time athletic director, said the breaks and the officiating went in Texas A&M;’s direction.

“We had to fight our hearts out through some adverse circumstances,� Teaff said. “We were in position to win but couldn’t pull it off.�

Baylor dominated the first half but led only 10-7 as Bear quarterback J.J. Joe fumbled the ball away twice on fourth down from the Aggie one.

Baylor also thought it had scored on a run by Robert Strait, but officials whistled the ball dead at the Aggie six-inch line.

“We felt we scored down there,� Teaff said. “The ABC folks said he was in. My coaches in the booth who saw the replay said he was in. He appeared to make it easily on his second effort.�

Texas Tech 39, Southern Methodist 25--Jason Clemmons came off the bench and threw three touchdown passes to help the Red Raiders overcome three costly turnovers and rally to beat the Mustangs in an SWC game at Lubbock, Tex.

Texas Tech (3-4, 2-1) amassed 476 yards on offense against SMU (3-4, 1-3), which played with a full squad after two weeks of suspensions for several players reprimanded for illegally returning textbooks.

Clemmons completed eight of 15 passes for 112 yards without an interception after replacing injured starter Robert Hall.

Hall was six of 10 for 70 yards with two interceptions before leaving the game with a bruised right shoulder with 10:30 left in the second quarter.

Clemmons threw for touchdowns of 26 and four yards to Lloyd Hill and six yards to Byron Myles, sparking an offense that struggled in the first half.

Texas Tech’s Byron Morris carried 29 times for 175 yards, including touchdowns of one and two yards. Hill caught seven passes for 108 yards.

Rice 29, Texas Christian 12--Trevor Cobb ran for two touchdowns and then sealed the SWC victory over the Horned Frogs at Fort Worth, Tex., by scoring on a 61-yard pass play.

Rice (3-4, 2-2) ended a string of five consecutive losses to the Horned Frogs (1-5-1, 0-3).

Cobb finished with 132 yards in 35 carries and quarterback Bert Emanuel rushed for 98 yards and a touchdown in 18 carries.