Aggies end bowl win drought; beat Northwestern 33-22

HOUSTON (AP) – Ryan Tannehill threw for 329 yards and a touchdown and Ben Malena ran for two more scores to lead Texas A&M to a 33-22 win over Northwestern on Saturday in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

Northwestern led 7-3 early in the second quarter before A&M reeled off 27 straight points to take a decisive lead and then fight off a late rally to capture its first bowl victory since 2001.

Texas A&M broke a five-game bowl losing streak in a win the team dedicated to fired coach Mike Sherman and offensive lineman Joseph Villavisencio, who was killed in a car accident last week.

Malena ran for 77 yards, filling in ably for Cyrus Gray, who missed his second straight game with a stress fracture in his left shoulder.

Northwestern hasn’t won a bowl game since the 1949 Rose Bowl, a span of nine losses.

A&M won a bowl for the first time since a 28-9 victory over TCU after the 2001 season. That also came in Houston, when this game was called the Galleryfurniture.com bowl and played next door at the Astrodome.

The Aggies were up 30-7 before Brian Peters intercepted Tannehill early in the fourth quarter and the Wildcats took advantage of that mistake when Kain Colter scored on a 1-yard run for Northwestern’s first points since early in the second quarter. The 2-point conversion left A&M ahead 30-15.

Colter found Tim Riley in the corner of the end zone for on a 2-yard touchdown pass to get Northwestern within 30-22 with less than six minutes remaining.

A&M responded with a clock-eating drive capped by a 31-yard field goal to secure the win. Senior Jeff Fuller, who has had a disappointing and injury-plagued year, had a key third down catch for 29 yards on that drive and finished with a season-high 119 yards receiving.

The Aggies were led by interim coach Tim DeRuyter in his last game at Texas A&M before leaving to become Fresno State’s coach. The Aggies hired former Houston coach Kevin Sumlin earlier this month to replace Sherman, but he wasn’t involved in bowl preparations.

Texas A&M wore helmet decals honoring Villavisencio, who died Dec. 22. The black and white decal, which says ‘Joey V.,’ had his No. 67 and the Texas A&M logo. There was a moment of silence for Villavisencio before the game and fellow offensive lineman Danny Baker wore his number and greeted his father before the game.

Texas A&M erased a 7-3 second quarter deficit thanks to touchdowns by Malena and Fuller and a field goal by Randy Bullock to lead 20-7 at halftime.

Malena’s second touchdown came on a 19-yard run early in the third quarter that made it 27-7. Another field goal by Bullock, this one from 47 yards, pushed A&M’s advantage to 30-7.

The Wildcats alternated quarterbacks for much of the day with Dan Persa leading the more traditional offense and Colter directing the wildcat offense. But neither player could generate much offense while often under heavy pressure from the Aggies, who finished with eight sacks.

Texas A&M’s offense got rolling in the second quarter when Tannehill found Ryan Swope, who was a high school running back, on a short pass that he took 37 yards to the 1. Swope tight-roped the sideline and avoided a half dozen tacklers before he was brought down.

Malena scored a play later to put A&M on top 10-7.

Northwestern took a 7-3 lead in the second quarter when Venric Mark scored 2-yard option run.

Mark provided another highlight for the Wildcats on a nifty 47-yard punt return where he spun away from a pair of tacklers before hurdling another one before being pushed out of bounds in the second half.

ABOUT THE WIN
The Aggies’ victory over Northwestern was A&M’s 14th all-time bowl win in 33 games. … The win broke a five-game bowl losing streak, and it was A&M’s first since a 18-9 win over TCU in the 2001 Galleryfurniture.com Bowl at the Astrodome … The win clinched a winning season for the 2011 Aggies at 7-6. … It was A&M’s first win over a Big Ten opponent since the Aggies beat Michigan 22-20 in the 1995 Alamo Bowl.

RECORD-SETTING OFFENSE
The Aggies’ offense broke season school records for passing, total and scoring offense in 2011. A&M finished with 3,744 passing yards (old record of 3,661 in 2009) for an average of 291.1 per game (281.6 in 2009); 6,373 total yards (6,055 in 2009) and 490.2 (471.1 in 1990); and 508 points (427 in 2009) and 39.1 (36.7 in 1993).

PROTECTING AND ATTACKING
A&M continued its season-long trend of protecting its quarterback while getting after the opposing signal-caller. A&M finished the bowl game with eight sacks, while allowing only one sack of senior Ryan Tannehill. The Aggies entered the game leading the nation in both categories. The Wrecking Crew finished the year with 51 QB sacks for a loss of 343 yards, and the offensive front gave up only nine sacks for a loss of 44 yards.

BULLOCK TAKES DOWN SCORING RECORD
Consensus All-American and Lou Groza Award winner Randy Bullock took down the second-oldest record in the Aggie record book by eclipsing the single season scoring record of 128 by Joel Hunt in 1927. He matched his career high with four field goals and connected on four extra points to score 16 points against Northwestern and closed out the season with an impressive 143 points.

Bullock’s Record-Setting Season
Season FGs: 29 (21 by Scott Slater, 1986)
Season FG accuracy (min. 15 att.): .879 (.833 by Terrence Kitchens, 2000)
Season PATs: 56 (51 by Terry Venetoulias, 1993/Bullock, 2009)
Season scoring: 143 (128 by Joel Hunt, 1927)
Career FGs: 63 (60 by Kyle Bryant, 1994-97)
Career FG accuracy: .788 (.747 by Todd Pegram, 2002-05)
Career scoring: 366 (325 by Kyle Bryant, 1994-97)

TANNEHILL SETS PASSING MARKS
Senior QB Ryan Tannehill broke Jerrod Johnson’s school record for season passing yards and ended his career as the most accurate passer in school history. Tannehill threw for 329 yards against Northwestern to push him past Johnson’s old mark of 3,579 from 2009. Tannehill finished 2011 with 3,744 yards. He also broke Stephen McGee’s career completion record of 58.6 percent. For his career, Tannehill completed 484-of-774 passes for a 62.5 completion percentage. Tannehill finished 2011 with 4,050 yards of total offense, which in No. 2 behind Johnson’s record of 4,085 from 2009.

CLOSING OUT OTHER SCHOOL RECORDS
Season receptions: 89 by Ryan Swope
Season receiving yards: 1,207 by Swope
Career receptions: 233 by Jeff Fuller (2008-11)
Career receiving yards: 3,092 by Fuller (2008-11)
Career receiving TDs: 34 by Fuller (2008-11)
Career all-purpose: 6,423 by Cyrus Gray (2008-11)

HARRIS COMES UP SHORT OF BREAKING PUNT RETURN RECORD
Junior Dustin Harris came up just shy of breaking Aaron Glenn’s school punt return average record of 19.9 from 1993. He had a solid day with 54 yards on four returns, but his bowl effort dropped his average from 20.1 to 18.6. However, Harris’ four returns will give him the requisite 1.2 returns per game to enter the NCAA statistics for the first time this year, and he could end the year as the NCAA leader. Entering the bowl season, Arkansas’ Joe Adams led the way with a 16.2 punt return average.

CAPTAINS, 12th MAN, Miscellaneous
•    Game captains were permanent captains Ryan Tannehill (offense) and Trent Hunter (defense), along with Randy Bullock (special teams). A&M lost the toss, and Northwestern deferred to the second half.
•    The 12th Man was C.J. Jones, a junior from Houston, who made his 12th straight 12th Man start.
•    Senior WR Jeff Fuller became the first player to break the 3,000-yard barrier in career receiving yards.
•    A&M’s offense scored more than 500 points in a season for the first time.
•    Senior CB Terrence Frederick had a PBU, which raised his season total to 13 (tied for No. 3 in school history) and career total of 30 (No. 6 in school history).