1975 Texas A&M Aggies football team

The 1975 Texas A&M Aggies football team represented Texas A&M University as a member of the Southwest Conference (SWC) during the 1975 NCAA Division I football season. Led by fourth-year head coach Emory Bellard, the Aggies compiled an overall record of 10–2 with a mark of 6–1 in conference play, sharing the SWC title with Arkansas and Texas. Texas A&M was invited to the Liberty Bowl, where the Aggies lost to USC. The team was ranked second in the nation after ten games before losing its final two contests. Texas A&M played home games at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas.

1975 Texas A&M Aggies football
SWC co-champion
Liberty Bowl, L 0–20 vs. USC
Conference	Southwest Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 12
AP	No. 11
Record	10–2 (6–1 SWC)
Head coach	Emory Bellard (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	Tom Wilson (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Melvin Robertson (4th season)
Home stadium	Kyle Field
Seasons ← 1974 1976 →

1975 Southwest Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 7 Arkansas +	6	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 6 Texas +	6	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 11 Texas A&M +	6	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
Texas Tech	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Baylor	2	–	5	–	0			3	–	6	–	2
SMU	2	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Rice	1	–	6	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
TCU	1	–	6	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Season summary

The 1975 Aggie football team started its season with ten wins. Its tenth victory came on the day after Thanksgiving Day (Friday, November 28, 1975) over the Texas Longhorns at Kyle Field before a national television audience (ABC). The Aggies were ranked second in the nation after the game against Texas, but starting quarterback Mike Jay suffered a back injury in the 20–10 win over the Longhorns. The next game came eight days later, a Saturday, December 6, matchup against the Arkansas Razorbacks that had been rescheduled from its typical early November time frame per a request by ABC Sports. With Jay injured, Texas A&M backup quarterback David Shipman was called upon to play against Arkansas, who was ranked 18th in the nation. The Aggies were trailing 7–0 at halftime and lost by a final score of 31–6.

The Aggies, Razorbacks and Longhorns all finished 6-1 in SWC play. With each team going 1-1 vs. the other two, Arkansas was awarded the berth in the Cotton Bowl since it had gone the longest since its most recent appearance (1965 vs. 1967 for A&M and 1973 for Texas).

Before the loss at Arkansas, Texas A&M had appeared headed to Dallas for New Year's Day. Instead, the sixth-ranked team faced the unranked USC Trojans in the Liberty Bowl. USC, playing in a bowl other than the Rose Bowl for the first time, had been ranked in the top five teams nationally in early November, but they struggled late in the season and came into the bowl game with a 7–4 record.^[1] The Aggies suffered a 20–0 loss and finished the season ranked #11. The 1975 Liberty Bowl was the final game for USC coach John McKay, as his success had earned him a job with the NFL expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.^[2]

The 1975 team was bolstered by the play of four-year starter and running back Bubba Bean, who became the first Aggie featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Bean was selected to play in that year's Senior Bowl, where he caught an 82-yard touchdown pass. He rushed for 944 yards on the season and scored a team-high 8 touchdowns.^[3] Bean finished his college career with 2,846 yards rushing.^[4] Bean was selected by the Atlanta Falcons with the ninth pick in the first round of the 1976 NFL draft.^[5]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 13	Ole Miss*	No. 8	Kyle Field College Station, TX		W 7–0	47,021	[6]
September 20	at LSU*	No. 11	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA (rivalry)		W 39–8	69,445	[7]
September 27	Illinois*	No. 8	Kyle Field College Station, TX	ABC	W 43–13	45,524	[8]
October 4	at Kansas State*	No. 6	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS		W 10–0	37,100	[9]
October 11	at Texas Tech	No. 6	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX (rivalry)		W 38–9	52,254	[10]
October 18	at TCU	No. 5	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX (rivalry)		W 14–6	34,210	[11]
October 25	Baylor	No. 5	Kyle Field College Station, TX (rivalry)		W 19–10	53,693	[12]
November 8	SMU	No. 4	Kyle Field College Station, TX		W 36–3	49,809	[13]
November 15	at Rice	No. 3	Rice Stadium Houston, TX		W 33–14	67,000	[14]
November 28	No. 5 Texas	No. 2	Kyle Field College Station, TX (rivalry)	ABC	W 20–10	56,679	[15]
December 6	at No. 18 Arkansas	No. 2	War Memorial Stadium Little Rock, AR (rivalry)	ABC	L 6–31	52,000	[16]
December 22	vs. USC*	No. 6	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN (Liberty Bowl)	ABC	L 0–20	52,129	[17]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1975 Texas A&M Aggies football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 44 Bubba Bean Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB Ed Simonini Sr LB Garth Ten Napel	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Emory Bellard Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt