HURRICANES 34, TEXAS A&M 17

Wright's 2 TD Passes Spark Canes Past No. 20 Aggies

By CHRISTOPHER STOCK Tribune correspondent

Published: Sep 21, 2007

MIAMI - Kyle Wright had the signature game he has been looking for since arriving at Miami in 2003.

Wright completed 21 of 26 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns Thursday night as the Miami Hurricanes defeated No. 20 Texas A&M 34-17.

"We knew we had this in us," said Wright, who had been 2-6 against ranked opponents in his career. "The wide receivers made plays and I knew if I gave them the ball we would be successful in the passing game."

After getting blown out by Oklahoma 51-13 in the second game of the year and a less-than-stellar performance against a struggling FIU program, winning just 23-9, Miami (3-1) came out firing on all cylinders against a formidable opponent.

"That was a big victory for us tonight," Coach Randy Shannon said. "It was against a good opponent in Texas A&M and the whole nation got to see what the University of Miami is about."

Texas A&M (3-1) had been averaging 296 rushing yards a game, ranking fifth in Division I-A, but were bottled up all night by UM. The Aggies rushed for only 98 yards on 33 carries.

On the first drive of the game, Wright guided the Canes down the field with four third-down conversions, three to Darnell Jenkins.

Freshman running back Graig Cooper capped off the 18-play, 80-yard drive when he took a direct snap and ran to the left, scoring from 7 yards outs.

During the drive, the Canes faced a fourth-and-1 from the Texas A&M 47. Shannon did not hesitate in going for it, and Wright gained 3 yards on a sneak.

"That was great to come out and execute," Wright said. "It was great to be able to go up and down the field like that and cap it off with a touchdown."

Texas A&M had a chance to respond, but Matt Szymanski missed a 50-yard field-goal attempt.

Miami took advantage of the miss and Sam Shields caught a 51-yard pass from Wright.

"The quarterbacks threw terrific balls," said Shields, who had six receptions for 117 yards.

Facing another fourth-and-1 at the Texas A&M 4, Shannon went for it again. This time it was Javarris James, who was lined up at quarterback in a shotgun formation, who picked up 2 yards.

"It is just something we have had in our arsenal and when the time comes, we would use it," Shannon said of having the tailbacks taking the snaps.

James scored a 1-yard touchdown two plays later. Miami led 14-0 with less than five minutes remaining in the second quarter.

Then things fell apart for the Aggies, who committed three turnovers in the final four minutes of the half, leading to 10 points by Miami. Francesco Zampogna's 45-yard field goal, following a fumble recovery, capped the first-half scoring for Miami.

The Hurricanes led 24-0 at halftime, their largest halftime lead over a ranked opponent since Nov. 17, 2001, against No. 14 Syracuse.

The second half was much of the same as Chris Zellner caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Wright for a 31-0 lead in the third quarter.

Texas A&M scored 17 points in the fourth quarter, including a 33-yard touchdown reception by Martellus Bennett.