COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- Texas A&M looked more like the defending Big 12 champion than the sad sacks who'd been embarrassed lately.

Ja'Mar Toombs scored three touchdowns as the Aggies (No. 23 ESPN/USA Today, unranked AP), who lost by a combined 88-6 at Oklahoma and Nebraska in its previous two road games, beat Missouri 51-14 on Saturday to end a three-game Big 12 road losing streak.

Texas A&M (7-3, 4-3) produced a rout after a slow start and nearly handed Missouri (4-6, 1-6) its third shutout in four games.

	Texas A&M's Ja'Mar Toombs runs for the first of his three TDs against Missouri Saturday.

"It feels so good," linebacker Jason Glenn said. "We finally got that little curse off. We didn't win by seven or two or whatever, we won by a lot -- a lot -- of points."

Coach R.C. Slocum said the game showed the character of the team.

"Our demise has been much overrated," Slocum said. "You don't quit, you don't give in, you don't curl up and throw in the towel."

Missouri, which lost 37-0 at Oklahoma last week, was trailing by the same score when Dwayne Blakley caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Justin Gage with 8:01 to play. Texas A&M answered with two touchdowns in the next 3:13, including a 70-yard interception return by Michael Jameson.

"Offensively, we did nothing until the game was over," Missouri coach Larry Smith said. "It's very obvious the confidence, particularly on offense, is shattered."

Toombs, who entered the game with four touchdowns on the season, had 71 yards on 22 carries and scored on runs of 2, 9 and 7 yards. He also had a 33-yard reception to lead Texas A&M, which lost 37-0 at Nebraska last week.

"I was happy that they put the load on my back," Toombs said. "We ran the ball so hard it opened the passing routes up."

Freshman backup Joe Weber gave Texas A&M its first 100-yard rusher of the season in mop-up duty, getting 121 yards on eight carries, including a 77-yard pickup -- all in the fourth quarter.

The Aggies' next-best weapon, especially in a 7-0 first half, was punter Shane Lechler. Lechler is closing in on the NCAA career record for average and averaged 53.4 yards on seven attempts, by far surpassing his career mark of 44.5 yards. He added a 32-yard field goal in the third quarter.

"That's my job, that's why I came to A&M," Lechler said. "That's what I'm supposed to do."

Texas A&M is 6-0 against Missouri and Saturday's result was reminiscent of a 73-0 shutout in 1993.

Aside from an unaccountable 34-7 victory over Texas Tech two weeks ago, Missouri's offense has collapsed since quarterback Kirk Farmer broke his leg in the first half of a 24-21 loss to Iowa State on Oct. 16. Missouri has lost five of six overall.

Jim Dougherty, who had been sharing the job with Farmer, alternated with Gage, a freshman, on Saturday. Neither had any success as Missouri clinched a losing season after back-to-back bowl trips. Dougherty was 3-for-15 for 22 yards and an interception and Gage was 11-for-24 for 111 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, with most of the yardage against backups.

"It was pretty rough out there," Dougherty said. "Nothing seemed to go right for us."

Texas A&M week, opened the game with a 17-play, 70-yard drive capped by Toombs' 2-yard run. The Aggies needed only three plays on their first possession of the second half as Randy McCown hit Bethel Johnson on a 39-yard pass.

A fumble by Zain Gilmore at the Missouri 29 set up Toombs' 9-yard run to make it 21-0 with 9:53 to go in the third quarter. He added a 7-yarder later in the quarter.

Smith said he thought Missouri gave up in the second half.

"We just kind of went into the tank," he said.

Players weren't arguing, at least not convincingly.

"There might have been some lack of emottion, but we're still out there fighting," defensive tackle Steve Erickson said. "It can get frustrating, but we're still looking to win a game any way we can."