When the 'Wrecking Crew' got wrecked: Reggie Brooks on Notre Dame's first win over Texas AM

SOUTH BEND — In some ways, Reggie Brooks still can’t believe what happened in the 1993 Cotton Bowl against unbeaten and fourth-ranked Texas A&M.

His disbelief stems not from the fact that No. 5 Notre Dame football rolled to a 28-3 win, its first of three in a limited all-time series against the Aggies. Notre Dame opens the 2024 season at the Aggies’ Kyle Field on Aug. 31.

Nor was Brooks, playing in the final game of a decorated college career , shocked to finish with a game-high 115 rushing yards on 22 carries as the Irish closed out a 10-1-1 season.

Jerome Bettis, “Thunder” to Brooks’ “Lightning” that season, grabbed the headlines with three scores (one receiving) and just 75 ground yards, but Brooks finished fifth in that year’s Heisman Trophy voting.

Instead, what still makes the 53-year-old Brooks chuckle is how his two lost fumbles, including one at the Aggies’ 4-yard-line, didn’t leave his ears burning with a sideline lecture from coach Lou Holtz.

“I really thought Coach was going to rip my head off, but he didn’t,” Brooks said this summer during a charity golf outing at the Golic SubPar Classic. “He actually gave me the ball back and said, ‘You haven’t done this all year.’ Maybe that was part of the reason: I hadn’t fumbled all year, and then it was like, ‘Oh, that was an anomaly.’“

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Reggie Brooks' fumbling 'anomaly' vs. Texas A&M

A converted defensive back who went 45th overall to Washington in the 1993 NFL Draft, Brooks averaged a whopping 8.0 yards per carry while rushing for 1,353 yards and 13 touchdowns in his breakout year.

The Irish sideline was stunned when Brooks fumbled a pitch from quarterback Rick Mirer on the game’s opening series.

The Aggies failed to capitalize on that miscue, and Brooks’ second lost fumble was erased two plays later when A&M quarterback Corey Pullig fumbled the ball right back to the Irish in scoring position. Bettis plowed in from the 1 to make it 21-0 late in the third quarter.

“I think that had a lot to do with it,” Brooks said of his peaceful return to the sideline. “The first time I put the ball on the ground was at the bowl game. Went all year (without a fumble), and there you go.”

Brooks, who was raised in Tulsa, Okla., and now lives in the Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie, remembers the New Year’s Day chill being a factor in his failure to maintain his usual grip on the football.

“It was actually cold in Texas,” said Brooks, now in his fourth year as executive director of the Holtz’s Heroes Foundation. “To be honest with you, one time I got hit on the elbow, and it just shocked (me).”

Brooks typically gave way to Bettis (10 rushing touchdowns) or an understudy in goal-line situations that year, so his bobble at the plus-4 was particularly painful.

“That was always the thing: I was never going to get (those chances),” Brooks said. “Coach let me know earlier: You don’t score outside the 20, someone else will be scoring the football. I had to take advantage when I got out there: ‘You’d better get in the end zone.’“

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Notre Dame dominance: 34 straight running plays vs. Texas A&M

Notre Dame rushed 64 times for 290 net rushing yards (4.5 average) against a Bob Davie-run defense that included three consensus All-Americans at some point in their careers: linebacker Marcus Buckley (a 1992 selection), defensive end Sam Adams and defensive back Aaron Glenn.

“They still had the ‘Wrecking Crew’ with that defense,” Brooks said. “The defense was good, but we got after it.”

Davie, the future Irish head coach from 1997-2001, was hired to run Holtz’s defense a year later after a second straight Cotton Bowl loss to Notre Dame. Davie’s 2000 team opened with a 24-10 home win over A&M, but the Aggies got their revenge with a 24-3 romp at Kyle Field the following year.

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In the New Year’s ’93 game, Notre Dame ran the ball on 34 straight plays during the second half, a stat which still delights Brooks.

“There’s nothing like looking across from the I-formation and seeing the linebackers when they’ve given up,” Brooks said. “There’s nothing like that feeling to know, hey, you’ve beaten them physically. That was our thing: We looked to physically dominate teams that we played and get them to know that it doesn’t matter if it’s the first quarter or the fourth quarter, we’re going to pound on you.

“We’re going to pound on you day by day, play by play, and it’s just going to keep going. We used to actually point and tell teams where we were running the ball and dare them to stop us.”

Brooks can’t recall if the telegraphing happened that day in the Cotton Bowl.

“I’m not sure, but I think we may have,” he said. “It would not surprise me because our offensive line was just dominant. We finished the season off strong. That was definitely a highlight.

“I was fortunate enough to go to four Jan. 1 bowls and finish my career off with a win — a convincing win. Can’t be mad about that.”

Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for NDInsider.com and the South Bend Tribune. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: When the 'Wrecking Crew' got wrecked: Reggie Brooks on Notre Dame's first win over Texas A&M