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Nebraska Cornhuskers © |
Texas A&M Aggies |
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Big XII Championship Played December 6, 1997 at the Alamodome San Antonio, Texas |
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Teams' Belt Records
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Team |
Belt Reigns |
Overall Record |
Home Record |
Away Record |
Neutral Record |
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W |
L |
T |
PCT |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
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| Nebraska © | 2 | 9 | 2 | 0 | .818 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 5 | 2 | 0 | .714 | ||||
| Texas A&M | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
Previous Belt Meetings: None
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1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Final |
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Nebraska |
16 |
21 |
3 |
14 |
54 |
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Texas A&M |
0 |
3 |
0 |
12 |
15 |
The 2nd ranked, 11-0 Nebraska Cornhuskers of coach Tom Osborne met the 14th ranked, 9-2 Texas A&M Aggies of coach R.C. Slocum in San Antonio for both the Big XII Championship & The Belt. The Cornhuskers scored the first 7 times they had the ball as they jumped to a 37-3 halftime lead on their way to a 54-15 victory. Huskers’ All-Big XII RB Ahman Green ran for 179 yards with 3 touchdowns while PK Kris Brown hit 4 field goals to lead the Nebraska attack. Cornhuskers’ QB Scott Frost added 201 yards passing & 79 yards rushing with 2 touchdowns. Frost scored the game's first touchdown on a 6-yard run before Brown connected on field goals of 27, 26, & 31 giving Nebraska a 16-0 lead through the opening quarter. Green's 25-yard touchdown run early in the 2nd quarter pushed the Cornhuskers lead to 23-0. Texas A&M got on the scoreboard helped by a 63-yard pass from QB Branndon Stewart to WR Derrick Spiller to the Nebraska 23-yard line, but Aggies' drive stalled before PK Kyle Bryant converted a 32-yard field goal attempt. The Cornhuskers added a 1-yard touchdown run from Green & a 2-yard score from Frost to finish the 1st half scoring. Texas A&M managed a total of 83 yards offense in the opening half against Nebraska's Blackshirts defense with 63 of those yards coming on a single play. Brown's 44-yard field goal accounted for the only points of the 3rd quarter as the Blackshirts continued to force the Aggies out of any offensive rhythm. Texas A&M tried a fake punt near the end of the quarter but Nebraska held & then converted the field position into a touchdown from Green pushing the lead to 47-3. The Aggies got their first touchdown of the game as Stewart connected with Spiller for a 13-yard pass but the missed conversion attempt left the score Nebraska 47 Texas A&M 9. The Aggies finally had a break go their way when Cornhuskers' RB Willie Miller fumbled & Texas A&M's CB Jason Glenn returned the ball 35 yards for a touchdown. The final points of the game came when Nebraska's back-up QB Frankie London carried in from 3 yards. The Cornhuskers finished with 335 yards rushing & 34:23 of possession time. Stewart finished with 227 yards passing but 2 interceptions while the A&M rushing attack was held to 13 total yards & Aggies' quarterbacks were sacked 6 times by the Blackshirts. Nebraska finished the season 13-0; Big XII Champions, ranked 2nd nationally while the Aggies finished 9-4 & ranked 20th nationally. Texas A&M would play for The Belt again in 1998.
