I was thinking Eston had a year as starter… I do remember the ND and Neb Cotton Bowls, went to both.
Elston’s height helped him imo and his runs were deceptive.
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Agree 100%
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Does anyone remember the Coogs scoring the winning TD with the Aggie band in the end zone? Elston was QB. I believe it ‘78.
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Thursday before my Wedding. Helping my wife get stuff together while watching the game on TV (I know I should have gone, but the grief wasn’t worth it), when that play happened, I went crazy. I told her I was glad we got that over Thursday instead of Saturday or I’d have been really ticked.
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O’Korn was a true mental midget. Case in point…he had to resort to Twitter smack during & after the NCAA Tourney game.
Helton was shortsighted for not adopting the R&S offense. All he needed to do was keep the offense and improve the defense. Klingler and Clements were knowledgeable with the R&S. It would have been a smooth transition. Instead he junked the offense and became a mediocre head football coach.
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Of course I remember; I was there - and the game was played in 1979! THAT - is one of my all-time favorite games. Let me recall it for some of you youn-uns.
The gaggies were leading and had the ball very late in the game. It came up 4th down, and they were on about their own 35 yard line, driving toward the North end of Kyle Field. They chose to try to make a 1st down - and failed. There were exactly 59 seconds left on the clock!
On our first play after that, Elston hurled a very long pass that was caught - unbelievably - by Erik Herring, with a one-handed stab in the air. Now we had the ball at around our own 35-yard line. The next pass, again to Erik Herring, took us down to about the gaggie 5-yard line. Then Elston dropped back to pass again, but saw an opening and ran for the flag on the right side - and scored!
There were about 12 seconds left on the clock after the kick-off; which the gaggies finished off while scrambling around in their backfield, desperately looking for some receiver - any one would do - hoping for another miracle, which never happened.
I spent the next year chasing down every gaggie I could find to tell them, “heck, we can beat the gaggies any old time - only takes a minute!”
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My post can’t be empty? WTF?
I was at 35,000 ft when that play took place and did’t see it live but have watched it on replay. and there are two more things that happened in that play. When Elston raised hi arm to throw the ref started reaching for his little yellow hankie because a lineman had released early and was already down field. Second, when he crossed the goal line you can read the Aggie band member’s lips without any trouble.
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Yeah Pat, I was there too. If I remember correctly, we were on a Royal Allen bus trip to and from the game.
What I thought was really great was that the aggies hadn’t yelled, “beat the hell out of Cougar High” all game but couldn’t resist and just before the 4th and 1 with the ball inside our 35 they yelled it. That next play we stuffed them for a loss and proceeded with the 3 play scoring drive as you described. The aggie band was all pumped up ready to take the field in victory, but when Elston scored, it looked like one of those big parade balloons with the air being let out. It was wonderful!
Later that year, Elston led us on a drive lasting about 3 minutes to beat Nebraska on a pass to Eric ?Herring in the end zone. Despite being partially deflected, Herring snagged it for the score. We beat them by the same score as we beat the aggies, 17-14. We finished #5 that year.
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Yep, I was there for that too. I have always thought that God felt a little guilty for letting Notre Dame win the Cotton Bowl from us the previous year with the illegal completion of a scoring pass on the very last play of the game. I have thought that he might have been evening things up a bit!
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I forgot about the A&M game and Elston’s comeback. I believe Delrick Brown was the starter but CBY would bring Elston in the 2nd quarter to finish out the game. Kinda like in baseball today with the reliever pitches the first inning. It was truly a memorable football season.
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Does anyone know where Terry Elston or Erik Herring are now; hope they are well and doing great!
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I was at the Cotton Bowl for the Nebraska win. I agree, that was a Magical Season…
And at the ND Cotton Bowl, and yeah, he was out of bounds…
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Exciting finish. The only time we won in College Station (IIRC).
I was 13 that year. My cousin and I ‘snuck’ onto the field after the game and I kicked a 40 yard field goal and got a lot of cheers from Coog fans that were hanging out in the stands after the game.
Great times!
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I remember when Helton gave his “I’m glad to be here” speech. He said then that he was getting rid of the “Chuck and Duck” offense. sure…
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MIkE was that the game, IIRC where a UH team bus broke down and we combined the other Royal Allen buses to give them a ride. We were escorted by cops to the stadium because the game was being televised and they were running late. Afterwards the NCAA required earlier arrival or overnight stay if more than X miles away.
Hey there, I resemble that remark!! 
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The sweetheart deals have crippled our program over the years. Hires based on friendship or inside connections…think of all the ones we’ve had.
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I think that was the game and I was on a Royal Allen bus.
I was also on a Royal Allen bus for the Cotton Bowl against ND. We started with 4 buses and one turned back at Madisonville due to the icy road conditions. One slid off the road just outside of Cosicana and hung in the middle of the median between north and south bound lanes. We got those folks off and had them split up on the remaining two buses. We listened to the game as we didn’t arrive until halftime.
When we arrived, people were leaving in droves and looked like refugees from a disaster. My seat had about an inch of ice covering it and I had to break it off. The ending sucked, and we were miserable. On the way back, we had to go by the bus facility and get another bus for the return trip. Outside of Corsicana, we were stuck most of the night because of the ice. No one could get up the hill. The toilets on the bus froze and that made it worse.
For the Nebraska game my ex and I left the day earlier and stayed in a hotel that had mostly Nebraska fans who gave us no shot at winning. They were good sports though.
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