• Box score

SHREVEPORT, La. – Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin speaks often of lessons learned for his team during the course of a season. The Aggies learned a valuable one on Saturday night and early into Sunday morning against Louisiana Tech: no lead is safe.

A&M held on for dear life and a 59-57 victory after owning a 27-0 lead midway through the second quarter. The Bulldogs had tightened the gap to 46-44 early in the fourth quarter before the Aggies' Thomas Johnson gathered in a 17-yard touchdown catch from Johnny Manziel, shoving A&M's lead to 53-44 midway through the fourth quarter.

Manziel, who has become a Heisman Trophy candidate, then cushioned A&M's lead to 59-44 with a 72-yard touchdown sprint with 2:04 remaining in game. Louisiana Tech wasn't finished, however, when two plays later Quinton Patton collected a 62-yard touchdown pass from Colby Cameron, in tightening the gap to 59-51 with 1:46 remaining.

Louisiana Tech then recovered the onside kick, and Cameron threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Ray Holley with 38 seconds remaining. The two-point conversion attempt failed, however, on a loft pass from Cameron to R.P. Stuart that sailed over his head.

"We made enough plays to win," a relieved Sumlin said. "Our mindset is different (than last season). We're doing what it takes to win games and not lose games. We won but we've got a lot of things to clean up. We're happy but we're not overjoyed. We played a good football team, but we can play better."

The Bulldogs (5-1) saw their dreams of becoming Bowl Championship Series busters sidelined by the Aggies (5-1), who won their fifth consecutive game following a 20-17 setback to Florida in their opener on Sept. 8.

"(The fans) who left early should be ashamed of themselves," Louisiana Tech coach Sonny Dykes said. "It was embarrassing for A&M to have more people in the stadium at the end."

Manziel broke his own Southeastern Conference record with 576 total yards, and also fell one yard shy of the school record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 181. Dykes dubbed Manziel's speed "a hard thing to replicate" during practices leading to the game.

"That guy is fast, man, I take my hat off to him," added Bulldogs defensive lineman Shakeil Lucas.

The combined points of 116 were most in an A&M game in history. Patton finished with 21 catches, tying the Louisiana Tech record.

A&M and Louisiana Tech were supposed to play on Aug. 30, but Hurricane Isaac, which slammed the Louisiana coast in late August, postponed the game to Saturday, when both programs had an open date. They also both entered the rankings for the first time this season last week, and the Bulldogs owned their highest ranking in history leading to kickoff.

But A&M nearly squashed Louisiana Tech's high hopes in the first 13 minutes on a 40-yard run by Christine Michael, a 20-yard pass from Manziel to LeKendrick Williams and a highlight-reel 15-yard run by Manziel, in building a 21-0 lead.

They added to their cushion with field goals of 26, 54 and 28 yards by Taylor Bertolet, a spectacular 75-yard touchdown pass from Manziel to Mike Evans and a Dustin Harris return of a blocked extra point for two points.

On the downside for the Aggies, receiver Ryan Swope left the game in the first quarter with an apparent head injury and was in sweats on the sideline. A&M defensive backs Deshazor Everett (arm) and Steven Campbell (head) didn't play, and safety Howard Matthews and linebacker Steven Jenkins sat the game out for violations of team rules (stemming from the offseason, when they were suspended for the alleged opener against Louisiana Tech).

Sumlin also said afterward that Evans, who collected a team-high 137 receiving yards, "was limping" late in the game.

The Aggies next play host to LSU on Saturday, in a revival of a once-fierce annual series that wrapped up in 1995. The two were then nonconference foes, but are now Southeastern Conference rivals. Game time will be announced today.

"I'm just happy that we're going back to Kyle Field to play," Sumlin said.

bzwerneman@express-news.net

twitter: @brentzwerneman