The best part about Texas A&M hitting the road for a football game last year was the return.

Five times during the regular season, the Aggies ventured from College Station. Five times, they came back with victory in hand — and plenty of energy left for a night on the town.

In 2007, they’ve felt more like just going straight home to bed at the end of a trip.

In losses at Miami and Texas Tech, A&M was outscored 69-24. And now, if it isn’t able to win at Nebraska on Saturday, coach Dennis Franchione’s team is staring at a strong likelihood it will end up with a complete reversal of its 2006 road fortunes.

The Aggies’ final two away games are against No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 15 Missouri.

“This is the same team that was here a year ago, for the most part,” senior defensive end Chris Harrington said. “It’s definitely humbling and it’s definitely a reality check, kind of lets us know where we’re at, but at the same time. …

“I don’t think there’s any lack of confidence in our team.”

Last year, the Aggies went 9-3 before being selected to play in the Holiday Bowl. They achieved that record largely because of their ability to handle some pressure situations on the road.

Four of their wins were by five points or fewer.

But this year, they haven’t even been in position to pull things out in the fourth quarter.

At Miami, they trailed 31-0 after three periods.

At Tech, they got an opening-possession touchdown, then moved into scoring position on two of their next three drives. Both, however, ended with missed field goals. After managing just 32 yards in the third quarter, A&M entered the final 15 minutes trailing 21-7.

“You can look back and learn from your experiences, but you don’t want to dwell on the past,” Harrington said. “We definitely realize we’ve got to do a better job on the road.”

In the Huskers, A&M will be seeing a team that’s been rocked twice at home. The first time, Nebraska took a 10-7 second-quarter lead on Southern California, only to give up 35 straight points. And last week, NU fell behind Oklahoma State 38-0 in the first half.

“You really can’t explain all those things,” said Franchione, who two weeks ago watched his team rally from a 17-0 deficit to Oklahoma State in the second quarter to pull out a 24-23 win.

Though it should be obvious to Franchione that Nebraska has some serious issues on defense after giving up at least 40 points in four of the last five games, he still sees a lot of the same players who helped the Huskers beat A&M 28-27 last year.

“One of the things I remember from playing them last year was that they’re going to be very well-schooled and well-coached,” A&M guard Kirk Elder said. “I remember hearing the players talk on the field during the course of the game. They knew, kind of, what we were doing, which told me that they were good students of the game.

“… We’ve just got to come ready for that.”

Just like they did when they took to the road last season.

“They’re going to be real anxious to get after us and get a win. And so are we,” Elder said. “We’re one win away from being bowl-eligible, and we’ve got to keep that in mind and just go out and keep fighting.”

Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.