Issue date: 10/27/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Brad Cox Texas A&M sophomore running back Bradley Stephens celebrates in the endzone after the Aggies' 52-30 victory against the Texas Tech Red Raiders Saturday in Lubbock, Texas. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Brad Cox Texas A&M junior "jack" Von Miller and freshman running back Christine Michael participate in a yell after defeating Texas Tech 52-30 Saturday in Lubbock, Texas. [Click to enlarge]

The luster of a 52-30 win at Texas Tech had yet to wear off on Monday when Texas A&M coaches and players met with media members at the Bright Football Complex.

"People outside this room might not have believed in us," said senior offensive lineman Michael Shumard. "We knew how hard we had worked, and we knew what we had, and we knew we would get going in the right direction eventually."

Aggie Head Coach Mike Sherman said the offensive line's performance Saturday was one of the best he had seen. The line was one of the most criticized positions during A&M's three-game losing streak as Sherman shuffled players around to find a winning combination.

Shumard has defended the line in the past and called out some of the critics Monday.

"I have friends that don't play football, and I heard a lot of them talking about 'Oh, we need a miracle' and stuff like that," he said. "They don't know what's been going on."

Few expected to see A&M play the way it did after losing to Kansas State 62-14 the previous week.

Despite the negativity and the calls for Sherman's job preceding the game, Aggie fans were more than excited Saturday night when A&M knocked off the Red Raiders in Lubbock for the first time in 16 years.

"I don't know after watching the K-State game if I would have made that trip out to Lubbock myself," Sherman said. "I might have said 'Hey listen, we'll pass this week on the Aggies.' There were quite a few people out there to support us, and I take my hat off to them; they're great Aggies to be out there after the showing the week before."

After the game the players and coaching staff rushed to the north end zone, where the Aggie Band was sitting, and sang the "War Hymn." The players then ran to the stadium walls and exchanged high fives with the fans.

The Aggie celebration was far from over though. When the team arrived back in College Station later that night, a group of A&M fans were gathered at the Bright Football Complex to congratulate the team.

"There were 450 to 500 people out here waiting for us at 1 o'clock in the morning," Sherman said. "Totally unexpected - didn't even imagine that would happen."

Before leaving Easterwood Airport, Sherman gathered the team on the tarmac and told them to celebrate and enjoy the next 24 hours because they had to prepare for Iowa State Monday.

"We got a little heads up that there would be a couple people out there," said sophomore safety Trent Hunter. "I didn't know there were going to be so many. It was a good time. I'm happy to see we had a lot of supporters when we got back."

A&M changed the focus Monday morning at practice to Iowa State, which upset Nebraska on Saturday in Lincoln with a 9-7 win.

Early in the season fans had declared Iowa State an easy win, but after the game at Kansas State, few are ready to declare victors, especially not the coaches or players.

"I look at every week very similar," Sherman said. "Just like last week I told them 'You got to put that behind you,' at the Monday morning meeting, 'you have to put K-State behind you.' We did the same thing this morning, 'you put Texas Tech behind you.'"

That's how the Aggies have always done it, Sherman said.

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