Byu’s ‘Train’ Wrecks 13th-Ranked Aggies Sarkisian Shreds Favored A&M; For 536 Yards, Six Touchdowns

Steve Sarkisian wrecked the “Wrecking Crew.”

The Brigham Young quarterback threw six touchdown passes Saturday as the Cougars upset No. 13 Texas A&M 41-37 in the Pigskin Classic, the opening game of the college football season.

“One thing to remember is when BYU gets rolling on offense, it’s kind of hard to stop the train,” said Sarkisian, who completed a careerbest 33-of-44 passes for 536 yards against A&M’s vaunted “Wrecking Crew” defense.

Exploiting the Aggies’ young secondary, Sarkisian threw the winning 46-yard TD pass to K.O. Kealaluhi with 1:03 remaining.

“Once we got in the groove and got people going we were all right,” the senior quarterback said. “They didn’t give this to us; we went out and won it.”

Two of Sarkisian’s TD tosses went to Kaipo McGuire, who finished with seven catches for 146 yards.

“This was a great victory for us … (but) we’ve always stepped up for big games,” said BYU coach LaVell Edwards, referring to upsets of Miami in 1990 and Penn State in 1991.

The loss was the first in eight season-openers for A&M coach R.C. Slocum.

“We knew going into the ball game that we had a real vulnerablility in the secondary,” he said. “We lost three out of four of our starters. Also, we had a lot of respect for BYU’s capability to exploit that.”

The upset ruined Branndon Stewart’s heralded debut as A&M quarterback. Before a national television audience, he finished with 232 yards and two touchdowns on 20-of-28 passing.

The loss also overshadowed fine running by the Aggies’ Eric Bernard (108 yards) and Sirr Parker (101 yards).

Trailing 37-34 after Kyle Bryant’s third field goal for A&M - a 51-yarder with 1:31 left - Sarkisian needed only 24 seconds to complete the winning drive.

Starting at his 22-yard line, he moved the Cougars to the Aggies’ 46 with quick down-and-out strikes of 11 and 21 yards to McGuire before throwing the TD pass to Kealaluhi.

Stewart then down A&M close to midfield on a 10-yard run and shorts passes to D’Andre Hardeman and Albert Connell. But with 9 seconds remaining. Stewart fumbled and BYU’s Daren Young recovered.

The Aggies blew an early two-touchdown lead and found the Cougars impossible to shake in the second half.

xxxx