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(HE BATTALION Wednesday, September 10, 1969 College Station, Texas Page 3
1969 Aggie Schedule No Easy Road
LSU
If the Aggies are out to settle
sld scores this season, Old Score
No. 1 should be the clawing
figers of Louisiana State Uni
versity, a Southeastern Confer-
tnce titan that has mastered the
Farmers in nine straight seasons.
Although the Ags have had the
Tigers by the tail in all but one
of them, losing usually by no more
Ilian a touchdown, A&M has only
managed a 7-7 tie in 1966.
And things look just as tough
this year when A&M opens its
season with LSU Sept. 20 before
thousands of those screaming
Tiger fans in Baton Rouge.
The 1969 LSU team will be like
all the others of the last decade
or so—a potential SEC champion,
capable of ranking in the Top
Ten of the nation, and certainly
a potential bowl team.
Back from a 7-3 season and a
il-27 victory over Florida State
in Atlanta’s inaugural Peach
Bowl are three key offensive stars
and six from a formidable de
fensive unit.
Scrambling quarterback Mike
Hillman will be a standout in an
otherwise untested backfield and
center Godred Zaunbracher should
lead an equally inexperienced
offensive line.
Coach Charley McClendon’s de
fensive team should be very good
with 17 lettermen back and only
one sophomore starting. Middle
linebacker George Bevan, 190,
may win national recognition.
NEBRASKA
The Ags will likely find that
yardage in Lincoln, Neb., comes
at a premium when they travel
there Sept. 27 to meet the tradi
tional stone wall defense of the
Nebraska Cornhuskers.
If the Huskers develop more
offensive consistency to match,
coach Bob Devaney should have
no trouble posting his eighth
straight winning record this cam
paign.
Key to the offense may be how
well 6-7 quarterback Frank Pat
Charles Thomas ’64
Carl Chapman ’69
rick rebounds from a disappoint
ing junior season. Joe Orduna,
677 yards in 186 carries, is among
the class runners in the league.
Tight-end Jim McFarland has
been tabbed by the pro scouts as
one of the best in the nation.
The Huskers’ rough defense
with nine veterans returning will
be led by Ken Geddes (6-2, 215)
an all-Big Eight Conference line
backer last year.
The last time A&M played
Nebraska was in 1955 when the
Ags trounced the Huskers 27-0.
ARMY
It will be like Armageddon
when two Armies, apparently
equally matched, wage war on a
frosty gridiron Oct. 4 in West
Point, N. Y.
The cadets of Texas A&M will
meet for the first time the cadets
of the U. S. Military Academy
and from all reports it seems to
be a toss-up as to who will be
the victor.
Like the Aggies, Army will
enter the 1969 fray without a
tested quarterback. Senior Roger
LeDoux who started the first two
games in ’67 was battling for the
job with juniors Bernie Wall and
Bob Mohn in spring practice.
Of last year’s 34 lettermen,
only 16 are coming back. Old
Army has never counted heavily
on sophomores but this year they
may have to play them as much
as the Aggies as coach Tom
Cahill optimistically hopes to ap
proach last year’s 7-3 mark.
Players to watch are power
backs Lynn Moore and Hank
Andrzejczak on offense and end
Bill Price and middle guard Joe
Neuman on defense.
TEXAS TECH
It was Texas Tech that dashed
Aggie dreams for a repeat con
ference championship last year
wtih a hard-fought 21-16 victory
in Kyle Field and they will be
A&M’s first SWC opponent again
this season.
But there will be new faces
on both sides when the two square
off in Lubbock Oct. 11. Tech
coach T. J. King has pursued a
general rebuilding program after
losing seven starters on offense
and five on defense.
An exception will be veteran
quarterback Joe Matulich who
will engineer the Raiders’ new
pro-type offense. The two-year
letterman is back after a season
of 73 completions in 152 passes
for 864 yards and 9 touchdowns.
Under Matulich’s hand, Tech
was the only team to whip Texas
last year, but they stumbled in
the stretch after winning four of
their first five conference games.
End Richard Campbell, safety
Larry Alford, end Bruce Dowdy
and linebacker Dennis Lane head
the returning defensive contin
gent. But the Raiders will need
considerable help from newcom
ers like end Johnny Odom and
running back Danny Hardaway
to become a serious contender.
TCU
An older and wiser team of
Horned Frogs from TCU will
greet the Aggies Oct. 18 in Fort
Worth. And they will remember
the 27-7 shellacking they took at
the hands of the Ags last year.
The offensive line will be one
of the Southwest’s best with
guard James Ray (228) and cen
ter John Ruthstrom (230) both
up for SWC honors.
TCU’s defense looks solid—
veterans end to end in a line that
averages 210 lbs. Watch end
Terry Shackelford and linebacker
James Vanderslice to be stand
outs.
The wart that annually plagues
the Frog attack is the quarter
back slot and this year is no ex
ception. Last year’s ball-handler
Ted Fay this season is trying to
stop touchdowns by playing
safety on defense.
Vying for the signal caller
position are junior letterman
Busty Underwood (205) and two
sophomores, Steve Judy (180)
and Larry Brogdon (205).
Fred Taylor, in his second sea
son as head coach, is expecting a
better showing than the 3-7 cam
paign in 1968.
BAYLOR
After playing half the season
on the road, A&M will return to
Kyle Field Oct. 25 to host an
enraged pack of Baylor Bears,
at least that’s what the Baptist’s
new head coach, red-haired Bill
Bealls, hopes.
Beall, coming from the LSU
coaching staff to replace fired
John Bridgers, has already
changed the Waco school’s Bear
emblem from a “Snoozin’ Sam”
to a “Hungry Bear,” depicting
him as a fightin’ fierce animal.
Beall hopes to do something
about the fact that the school has
not won a SWC championship in
the last 44 years and is banking
on experience to turn the trick.
Indeed, the Bears could be the
surprise team of the league, re
turning 10 of 11 starters from
both the offensive and defensive
platoons.
Impresive credentials are car
ried by offensive tackle Richard
Stevens (235), perhaps the best
in the league and tailback Gene
Rogers (185), who set several
school rushing records in 1968.
The Bears, however, may find
themselves in much the same
plight the Aggies were in last
season if injuries to key players
reveal the team’s lack of depth.
ARKANSAS
True to their name, the SWC
co-champion Arkansas Razor-
backs are after the whole shoot
ing match this year, and, also
again, the Aggies may find them
selves on the wrong end of the
scoreboard when the dust settles
in Little Rock Nov. 1.
If the Porkers don’t have a
right to be hoggish, they certainly
have the talent and the experience
as coach Frank Broyles expects
37 lettermen back from last year’s
squad which was denied a perfect
record by a 10-point loss to the
Texas Longhorns.
Junior quarterback Bill Mont
gomery, who pulverized all school
records in passing as a soph,
leads the Sugar Bowl champs in
quest of improving their sixth-
place national ranking.
Back also is Chuck Dicus
junior flanker who broke many
Arkansas records on the receiving
end of Montgomery’s throws, and
tailback Bill Burnett and full
back Bruce Maxwell.
Defensively, eight starters re
turn from the Sugar Bowl roster
headed by monster man Jerry
Moore and tackle Rick Kersey.
SMU
If A&M can get by Mont
gomery, all that’s left to worry
about is Chuck Hixson, a gallop
ing SMU Mustang that can not
only out-pass the Arkansas quar
terback but most of the other
signal-callers in the nation as
well.
Hixson threw 468 times last
year, completing 265 for 3,103
yards and 21 touchdowns to lead
all others. And he will be around
all this year and all next year
too.
But missing from the Mus
tang’s line-up and very difficult
to replace is the other half of the
touchdown team, dazzling Jerry
Levias, perhaps the most exciting
player in SWC football.
Besides finding someone for
Hixson to throw to, coach Hayden
Fry must also find a couple of
proven runners. Bicky Lesser
(195) moves well, but the best
one of all seems to be Gordon
Gilder (175) an all-SWC fresh
man with 4.6 average yards per
carry.
Defense is no problem with the
return of guard Rufus Cormier,
top lineman of the Bluebonnet
Bowl, and Bruce Portillo at line
backer, as well as eight other
veterans.
Chances of improving on last
year’s 8-3 record by picking up
victories outside the conference
appear dim on a schedule which
calls for Air Force, Georgia Tech
and Michigan State.
RICE
Perennial celler-dweller Rice
may not stay there long this sea
son if everything jells and cer
tainly won’t give the Ags a
breather, regardless, when the
pair tangle in Plouston Nov. 15.
A&M always seems to have
trouble beating Rice, doing it
usually by the slimmest of
margins, by one point in 1965 and
1966, and then by 10 in 1968.
For Bo Hagan, in his third
year as head coach of the Owls,
plans call for blending the ex
perience of 30 returning letter-
men to the talent of a number of
budding sophomores.
The first black quarterback in
SWC history will lead the club
is sophomore Stable Vincent.
Rice will have the league’s swift
est player in Dale Bernauer who
is making the transition from
sprint relay anchorman to pos
sibly an end or halfback.
Future All-Americas may be
senior split end Larry Davis or
junior defensive guard Roger
Roitsch. Davis already holds all
the Rice receiving records and
Roitsch has “the tools for great
ness,” as Hagan says.
With the return of some vet
erans out for last season with
injuries and the discovery of a
sophomore sensation or two, Rice
may make a turnaround from the
desolate 0-9-1 record in 1968.
TEXAS
The season-maker is in Kyle
Field this year and the Orange
men of Texas University will
have some strong reasons for
making the season go their way
Nov. 27.
Back is James Street, the do-
all quarterback that replaced un-
Super Bill Bradley the third game
of the ’68 season and led the
Longhorns to a No. 3 ranking in
the nation.
Also returned are such familiar
names as fullback Steve Worster
and halfback Ted Koy, two-thirds
of Texas’ vaunted running attack.
Of course, the other third and the
hardest to replace is missing in
All-America halfback Chris Gil
bert who in his senior year gained
1,132 yards.
Coming back too are 30-odd
lettermen, many of them veterans
in the offensive line.
The Longhorn weakness is its
defense, especially its defensive
secondary where Bradley was
super there, as was Ron Ehrig.
Also missed will be Corby Robert
son, defensive signal caller, and
tackle Lloyd Wainscott.
Texas, picked to share a piece
of the title or take it all from
Arkansas in a nationally-televised
game Nov. 6, must rely on its
multi-faceted offense to get it
that far.
GREEN 9
(Continued from Page 1)
turns to anchor the line from his
defensive end post. Also back in
the line is Lynn Odom, middle
guard. Odom will be joined by
brother Van Odom, a soph who
will be the left tackle. Jim Piper
will be starting his third year at
the defensive left end slot and
huge soph Wayne Wheat rounds
out the line at right tackle.
The linebackers are two seniors,
Buster Adami and Mike Caswell,
both bruising tacklers. At rover
will be spring sensation Andy
Tewell, a 6-1, 208 pounder.
The defensive secondary could
be a weak point for the Aggies
if the sophomores do not perform
as expected. The left halfback
will be soph Edwin Ebrom, who
had a fine spring. The right half
will be David Hoot, another
sophomore, while the safety slot
has the only proven performer in
junior Dave Elmendorf.
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