Texas A&M football fans will experience something that seems all too familiar on Saturday when the Aggies take on Oklahoma State University – a game jam-packed with emotion. With fans wearing red, white and blue T-shirts on each deck to pay tribute to the tragedies in New York and Washington, D.C., the patriotism radiating from Kyle Field only will be topped by the emotion of the A&M-Texas game after the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse.
“Being an American citizen, and being proud to be from here, I imagine it will be emotional,” said junior quarterback Mark Farris. “Once the game starts though, we are just going to go out there and do what we have been working on all week.”
The Aggies come into the game with a 2-0 record on the season, with less-than spectacular victories over McNeese State and Wyoming. A&M, unlike most teams in the conference, were not slated to play last weekend, so the Aggies had an extra week to prepare for the Cowboys.
“They are a very athletic team,” said A&M football head coach R.C. Slocum.
Farris will lead the Aggie offense against Oklahoma State, who is spear-headed by senior linebacker Dwayne Levels, the co-captain of the Cowboy squad.
Levels led the Cowboy defense in 2000, racking up 95 tackles, including nine behind the line of scrimmage.
“He [Levels] is a great linebacker,” said senior center Seth McKinney. “They have always had a good defense that plays tough. It will be fun to go out there a play against a high-quality opponent like that.”
Farris has been piling up the yards so far this season, piling up 595 yards in just two games and adding on two touchdown connections. Farris will be without one of his main targets this week with senior wide receiver Bethel Johnson out with a spleen injury. Farris also has thrown a touchdown pass in five consecutive games.
Aggie redshirt freshman Keith Joseph should see more action this week with the move of running back Richard Whitaker to wide receiver. Joseph tallied his first career 100-yard rushing game against Wyoming.
The OSU offense is lead by sophomore quarterback Aso Pogi who in just 12 games for the Cowboys slowly is climbing the OSU record book. Pogi threw for 294 yards in theCowboys’ 17-9 loss to Southern Miss, but helped Oklahoma bounce back the following week with a 30-23 defeat of Louisiana Tech.
Pogi lead the Cowboys last season against the Aggies, who came out of Stillwater with a 21-16 victory.
“It was amazing to watch that team last year, and figure out how they lost that many games,” Farris said. “They could have easily beat us and could have easily beat Oklahoma.”
Pogi is listed at 6-feet, 4-inches and weighs 225 pounds, making him a tough quarterback to bring down.
“Before [last year’s matchup with OSU] we hadn’t seen him,” Slocum said. “I was really amazed with how big he is. He likes to run with the ball, and he is a load to tackle.”
Pogi and the OSU offense will be facing a fired-up Aggie defense, who got a stern speech from Slocum and the defensive coach staff last week.
Junior linebacker Brian Gamble leads the Aggie defensive unit with 16 tackles on the season. Junior cornerback Sammy Davis has three interceptions in only two games, which will make Pogi think twice before throwing in Davis’ direction.
The Aggies lead the all-time series with the Cowboys 11-4. A&M has also swept all five meetings since the inception of the Big 12.
Kickoff against the Cowboys is set for 11:30 a.m. Kyle Field.