COLLEGE STATION, Texas – For the Texas A&M Aggies, few things are more simple than converting on fourth-and-short: put Jorvorskie Lane in the backfield, hand him the ball, and let the 274-pound wrecking ball of a running back do the rest. When Texas A&M head coach Dennis Franchione put the tactic to use late in the second quarter, he failed to account for Kansas defensive tackle James McClinton.

As was the case many times on Saturday night, McClinton and the Kansas defense came up with a big stop on a crucial play on the way to a 19-11 victory. Kansas (8-0, 4-0) cemented its best start to a season since 1909, snapped a seven-game losing streak to Texas A&M (6-3, 3-2) and defeated a Big 12 South opponent on the road for the first time in the Mark Mangino era. The win slid Kansas into eighth in the AP and Coaches’ Polls as well as the BCS rankings.

With just more than three minutes remaining in the first half and the score tied at zero, Texas A&M had finally found some offensive rhythm. The Aggies sat entrenched at the Jayhawks’ nine-yard line after pushing 71 yards on nine efficient plays. Facing fourth-and-one, many teams might have elected to attempt a chip-shot field goal to take the lead, but Texas A&M decided to hand the ball to Lane, their short-yardage weapon.

Lane took the handoff from quarterback Stephen McGee and leaned toward the left side of the offensive line. As the powerful back neared the first-down marker, McClinton managed to impede his progress just enough for his Jayhawk teammates to bring Lane down short of the marker for a loss of two yards.

“He’s a big boy, but we came as a unit and we brought him down,” McClinton said. “I got him in the backfield, but he’s so big that I just held onto his shirt and my teammates came and helped me.”

The play served as a microcosm of Saturday night’s game: the Kansas defense shut down Texas A&M’s vaunted run game until sophomore quarterback Todd Reesing and the Jayhawk offense could put points on the scoreboard. Texas A&M entered the game averaging 5.3 yards per carry but mustered just 2.7 against Kansas.

Lane gained just 23 yards as McClinton and sophomore defensive tackle Caleb Blakesley plugged the middle of the line. McGee, also a dangerous runner, struggled his way to a season-low 11 rushing yards. Kansas junior linebackers James Holt and Mike Rivera held McGee in check, combining for 20 tackles.

“We really had to play the run well, and we did,” Kansas coach Mark Mangino said. “We felt like in order for them to beat us, they’d need to throw the ball, and that’s not their comfort zone.”

The Kansas offense picked up yardage with ease for much of the first half but repeatedly stuttered near the end zone. The Jayhawks entered the Aggies’ 20-yard line twice in the first half, but senior kicker Scott Webb missed a field goal on both occasions, with the first try being blocked. The teams entered the half with the score balanced at 0-0, but Kansas raised its level of play in the third quarter. The Jayhawk offense scored on all three of its third-quarter possessions while the defense brought the Aggie rushing attack to a halt.

Reesing came out of halftime slinging the ball around the field, completing seven of eight passes on Kansas’ first drive of the second half. The Jayhawks were able to exploit their opponents through the air because the Aggies made an exaggerated effort to stop senior running back Brandon McAnderson, who rushed for 100 yards in the first half alone and a career-high 183 yards total.

McAnderson, a bruising back who was cut from the same cloth as Lane, stood out as the most impressive runner on the field. He took advantage of great blocks from junior offensive linemen Anthony Collins and Adrian Mayes and repeatedly shot through the Aggie defense for impressive gains. McAnderson rumbled for gains of 20 and 33 yards in the second quarter and a career-long 40-yard rush in the fourth quarter.

“I just want to be a part of this offense and keep making plays here and there,” McAnderson said. “This is the kind of day that I could have or Jake (Sharp) could’ve had. The O-line played excellent and we had some success.”

After Webb converted a 31-yard field goal to place Kansas on top, 3-0, the Jayhawk defense went to work, stopping the Aggies dead in their tracks on the ensuing possession. Junior cornerback Aqib Talib brought McGee down in the backfield on second down, and sophomore defensive end Jeff Wheeler forced McGee to commit an intentional grounding penalty on third down.

“On this defense we have a mindset that we’re not going to let up no matter what the score is or no matter how much time is left,” Holt said. “I think we played well. We’ve been briefing all week and watching film on them so I think we had them down pretty good.”

Kansas threw together an effective mix of running plays and passing plays on its next drive. Sophomore running back Jake Sharp ran three times for 19 yards, Reesing completed two passes for 29 yards and McAnderson rumbled into the end zone from six yards out to stretch the lead to 10-0 with 2:37 to play in the third quarter. The home team and its fans seemed thoroughly deflated after the third quarter, in which the Jayhawks outgained the Aggies 148 yards to nine and jumped to a commanding 13-0 lead.

But McGee and his teammates did not leave Kyle Field without putting a bit of a scare into Kansas. With their patented run-first style out of the question because of time constraints and the dominant Jayhawk defense, the Aggies defied convention and turned to the passing game for points.

“They make a living on running the ball and we knew we had to take that away, but McGee can throw the ball and I thought he did some good things throwing the football,” Mangino said. “I wouldn’t trade our guy for him, but I like him.”

The first time the Kansas defense wavered on Saturday was in the fourth quarter. McGee completed 9 of 14 passes on a 70-yard, 16-play drive that ended with a Matt Szymanski field goal that finally put Texas A&M on the scoreboard with 7:20 remaining in the game.

After Scott Webb’s third missed field goal of the evening with four minutes to play, Texas A&M again marched the length of the field and scored, this time on a 32-yard touchdown pass from McGee to wide receiver Roger Holland. The Aggies had trimmed the deficit to eight, 19-11, with just more than two minutes left, stirring the home fans into a frenzy and quieting the Kansas cheering section.

Kansas sophomore wide receiver Raimond Pendleton fielded the onside kick adeptly, but the Jayhawk offense could not find its groove or even gain a first down, forcing a punt that sailed into the end zone for a touchback. Taking over with 52 seconds on the clock and 80 yards ahead of them, the Aggies flipped a switch and went into desperation mode. They advanced 28 yards to near midfield but could not convert McGee’s last-ditch heaves into points.

As McGee’s final pass fell incomplete and four zeroes stood still on the clock, Kansas held onto another zero for at least one more Saturday: the blank space in the loss column. At 8-0, the 2007 team stands as the best in the recent history of the program and the lone unscathed squad in the Big 12 Conference. In a college football season full of uncertainty and upsets, one of the biggest shocks in the nation has been the Jayhawks’ stability through their impressive undefeated run.

— Edited by Matt Erickson