COLLEGE FOOTBALL : McElroy and Pullig Foil Tulsa

It’s difficult to take the spotlight away from Leeland McElroy, although Corey Pullig tried.

McElroy scored four touchdowns and Pullig completed his first 11 passes--three for touchdowns--as No. 3 Texas A&M; rolled to a 52-9 victory over Tulsa on Saturday.

Pullig, rebounding from a poor season opener against Louisiana State, threw for touchdowns on pass plays of 57 and 19 yards to McElroy and 31 yards to Hayward Clay in the first half.

“I don’t really think I threw extremely well today,” Pullig said. “I don’t think I threw as well as last week. But things were just a little more open today than at LSU and some guys made some catches.”

Pullig completed 13 of 18 passes for 272 yards and his 11 completions in a row tied a school record set by Lance Pavlas against Texas Tech in 1989.

McElroy scored on a one-yard run and Kyle Bryant kicked a 41-yard field goal for a 31-3 halftime lead as the Aggies (2-0) extended the nation’s longest home winning streak to 28 games. Tulsa dropped to 1-2.

McElroy had two first-half fumbles, but he still dazzled the crowd with his running and catching. He had 285 yards--116 in 23 rushes, 128 on four catches and 41 yards on two kickoff returns.

“We thought they’d line up and make us throw the football,” McElroy said. “I’m glad we did a good job of throwing because it opened up the running game.”

McElroy returned for part of the third quarter and scored on a one-yard dive with 11:05 left. He later turned a short screen pass into a 45-yard gain to the Tulsa 11, setting up freshman D’Andre Hardeman’s 11-yard touchdown run with 5:17 to play.

McElroy now has 644 all-purpose yards in two games.

Cornerback Ray Mickens led the Aggie defense with two interceptions. The Aggies held Tulsa to 182 yards on 67 plays.