COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Southwest Roundup : Kevin Murray Stars as Texas A&M; Rallies to Beat Baylor, 31-30

Texas A&M; put away its Baylor “ghost” Saturday to keep on track for a successful defense of its Southwest Conference football championship.

The 11th-ranked Aggies, who had lost to Baylor the last two years, outlasted the 20th-ranked Bears, 31-30, on quarterback Kevin Murray’s three touchdown passes, including the game-winner with 3:48 to play, before 74,739 fans at College Station, Tex.

The victory boosted the Aggies’ record to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the SWC. Baylor is 4-3 and 2-2.

It was sophomore Tony Thompson’s juggling catch of Murray’s five-yard, third-down pass that finished the Bears, who had jumped to a 17-0 lead.

Texas A&M; Coach Jackie Sherrill called it “the greatest game I’ve ever seen a quarterback play.”

The Aggies, who have a 12-game winning streak at home since Baylor beat them in 1984, lost to the Bears, 20-15, last season.

Murray, who also ran for a touchdown, completed 25 of 40 passes for 308 yards and repeatedly scrambled out of the grasp of blitzing Baylor defenders.

Arkansas 21, Texas 14--Sophomore halfback Joe Johnson scored two touchdowns, and fullback Marshall Foreman added another as the No. 14 Razorbacks won at Austin for the first time since 1966.

Three key penalties in the first half allowed Arkansas to score one touchdown and stalled two Texas drives inside the Arkansas 25-yard line.

A fourth penalty against Texas erased a pass completion to the Arkansas 25 in the fourth quarter.

Arkansas, losers last week to Texas Tech, is 5-1 and 2-1. The Longhorns are 2-3 and 1-1 in the SWC.

SMU 10, Houston 3--The 20th-ranked Mustangs, bottled up for most of three quarters, rallied behind the passing of Bobby Waters and the running of Jeff Atkins for a tough Southwest Conference victory at Irving, Tex.

Houston dominated the first half, holding the Mustangs to 17 yards and no first downs in the second quarter, and led 3-0 at halftime on Chip Browndyke’s 32-yard field goal.

But late in the third quarter, receptions of 17 and 11 yards by SMU split end Jeffrey Jacobs got the Mustangs to the Houston 13, and Atkins scored from the 2 four plays later. Brandy Brownlee added a 19-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

Atkins, who carried 28 times, finished with 153 yards, his best game of the season, and surpassed 3,000 yards for his career to help the Mustangs improve to 5-1 overall and 4-0 in the SWC. Houston is 1-5 and 0-3.

N. Texas St. 24, TCU 20--Kim Phillips returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, and the Eagles recovered five fumbles to defeat the Horned Frogs at Fort Worth.

It was the Eagles’ first victory over the Horned Frogs since 1919.

North Texas trailed, 17-3, in the third quarter when Phillips scored.

Eagle quarterback Bron Beal sneaked one yard to tie the score at 17 and then guided North Texas 56 yards in 7 plays for the winning touchdown with 6:59 left.

Fullback Darrin Collins slashed in from three yards out for the final score as the Eagles improved to 4-2. TCU is 2-4.

Texas Tech 49, Rice 21--At Houston, James Gray scored on runs of 54 and 60 yards, and quarterback Monte McGuire came off the bench to throw touchdown passes of 55 and 8 yards to lead the Red Raiders to victory.

Gray’s 60-yard scoring run came with 10:13 left to put the Raiders ahead for good in a game that included 14 turnovers.

McGuire, returning from the injury list, replaced starter Billy Joe Tolliver and completed touchdown pass plays of 55 yards to Wayne Walker and 8 yards to Eddy Anderson.

Texas Tech is 4-3 overall, 2-2 in the SWC. Rice is 2-4 and 1-3.