If misery does love company, Texas A&M’s John Pierson and Kansas University kicker Johnny Beck should spend some quality time together when the Aggies take on the Jayhawks in a 1 p.m. game next Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

Pierson missed two extra points, including a fateful overtime miscue, in Texas A&M’s 48-47 loss last Saturday against Texas Tech.

Beck, in a last-second loss to Baylor that stamped his team as the worst in the Big 12, missed a 34-yard field goal attempt and was errant on an extra point for the third time in four games.

“He’s real down,” KU quarterback Bill Whittemore said. “He wants to do good. We’re still behind him 100 percent.”

Pierson, a walk-on, had replaced scholarship freshman Todd Pegram, who was just 3-of-9 on field goals.

A&M (3-2, 0-1 conference) will try to move out of the Big 12 South cellar today at Waco, Texas, against a Baylor team (3-2, 1-0) that had lost 29 straight conference games before defeating KU.

Aggie quarterback Dustin Long is coming off a 367-yard performance against Tech. The sophomore set a league record with seven touchdown passes in the OT loss.

Long replaced ailing veteran Mark Farris in the starting lineup Sept. 21 in a 13-3 home loss to Virginia Tech.

Farris had started 26 consecutive games and is the only A&M quarterback to have consecutive 2,000-yard seasons.

Coach R.C. Slocum also gave freshman Reggie McNeal a chance against Virginia Tech before settling on Long.

“I think he’s made steady progress,” Slocum said of Long. “If you go back to the opening game and look at clips from then to now, I think he’s made dramatic improvement.”

Long completed only 38-of-84 passes for 480 yards with one TD and three interceptions in four games before his performance against Texas Tech.

“I think I got a little bit of vindication in that on Saturday,” Slocum said of sticking with Long. “Dustin looked pretty good and it’s encouraging for the future to say we have a young guy and we have another young, talented guy that’s also going to be a talented quarterback for us.”