Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel and teammates celebrate following their victory over the University of Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl Classic NCAA football game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Friday. — Reuters ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel tiptoed the sideline for a 23-yard touchdown on the Aggies first drive of the game, setting up a 41-13 win over Oklahoma in college football's Cotton Bowl Friday. In his first game since becoming the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy as college football's top player, Manziel set a Cotton Bowl-record with 516 total yards and had four TDs as the Aggies capped their first season in the powerful Southeastern Conference with a bowl win. “There is too much talk about how you perform after the Heisman and about the layoff and all of that,” Manziel said. “There wasn't anything holding us back. No rust, there was no nothing. We played as a unit. ... To go out and win 11 games and do what we've done, is impressive.” Led by first-year coach Kevin Sumlin and their young star quarterback, the Aggies broke the SEC record with their 7,261 total yards this season. They also averaged more than 40 points a game. And they capped their debut season with an overwhelming victory in the only postseason game matching teams from the SEC and Big 12 power conferences. It is the Aggies' first 11-win season since 1998, when they won their only Big 12 title. “To come in and go against a Big 12 rival and do everything we wanted as a team, and send these seniors out with a win, we couldn't feel any better,” Manziel said. The first TD run was Manziel's school-record 20th of the season. On third-and-9, Manziel rolled to his left and took off. When he juked around a defender and got near the sideline, he tiptoed to stay in bounds and punctuated his score with a high-step over the pylon. The next touchdown started with a little trickery; Manziel holding the ball down in his left hand while faking a throw with his right hand. He then pitched the ball to Kenric McNeal, who threw a 20-yard pass to Mike Evans. After a 23-yard run by Ben Malena, Manziel made a bootleg run for a 5-yard TD. Oklahoma needed drives of 16 and 18 plays to get a pair of field goals by Michael Hunnicutt. Quarterback Landry Jones threw a 6-yard TD pass to Justin Brown just before halftime to make it 14-13. Jones, making his 50th career start, set Cotton Bowl records when he had 23 completions and 30 attempts (for 175 yards) by halftime. Texas A&M's one-point lead at halftime soon blew out as the Aggies scored on their first three drives of the second half, while Oklahoma got nothing from its first three. Malena and Trey Williams had the TD runs to cap long scoring drives, and when Manziel's 33-yard pass found Ryan Swope in the endzone with 4 minutes to go in the third quarter, it was 34-13 and the result was all but decided. Manziel, who capped the scoring with a 34-yard pass to Uzoma Nwachukwu with 9 minutes left, set an FBS bowl record with his 229 yards rushing on 17 carries, and completed 22 of 34 passes for 287 yards. — AP
