Ricky Williams ran 44 times for 259 yards and to become the leading rusher in NCAA Division I-A history, but it was a game winning field goal by Kris Stockton that gave Texas a 26-24 win over the Aggies on Friday. The field goal, which came with just five ticks left on the clock, was Stockton's fourth of the game.
Williams broke the record in the first quarter on a 60-yard touchdown run.
The win broke A&M's ten game winning streak and dropped the Aggies to 10-2 on the season. But regardless of the BCS implications of the game, it was Williams' achievement that had everyone talking after the game.
"I hope I'm considered one of the best," Williams told reporters. "I'm just happy that I can make people proud of me, but I never thought when I was a freshman that things would turn out this way."
"I felt like all year that I've been watching history, because Ricky has been setting records pretty much every game," added wide receiver Kwame Cavil. "As soon as he took off on (the touchdown run) I knew he was going to get into the end zone."
Williams also became the eight player in NCAA Division I-A history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. This season, he has rushed for 2,124 yards, currently the fifth best total ever. He tied Marcus Allen for most 200-yard rushing games in a career with 11 and had 295 all-purpose yards to give him 7,206 on his career. That breaks the previous mark of 7,172 set by Napolean McCallum of Navy. In all, Williams has set 16 NCAA records during his collegiate career, including records for highest career yards-per-carry, most career rushing touchdowns, most career touchdowns, and most games with a touchdown.
"When it was time to crank it up against the No. 2 defense in the country, he did it," said Longhorns coach Mack Brown, "and proved he is the best player in the country."
ARIZONA 50, ARIZONA STATE 42 - The Wildcats improved to 11-1 in a four-hour shootout that was the highest-scoring game ever in this intense intrastate rivalry. ASU's Ryan Kealy misfired into the endzone with no time left on the clock, finally putting an end to this scorefest.
Arizona running back Trung Canidate broke the university's single-game rushing record with 288 yards on 18 carries. He also scored a trio of touchdowns on runs of 80, 66 and 48 yards. He finishes the season with 1,220 yards on 167 carries for an average of 7.3 yards per carry. Candidate now has nine career touchdowns of 48 yards or longer.
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