Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 1974)
Defensive play decides game momentum By PAUL McGRATH Staff Sports Writer Momentum is the elusive emo tion that ignites teams and can re verse the bleakest of situations. The fickle touch of momentum makes any team an equal and worthy opponent (see Penn State- Navy, Notre Dame-Purdue). What causes momentum? A long gainer, a super catch, sometimes. A drive-killing interception or fumble recovery, a crunching tackle or quarterback sack, nearly always. The last three are plays caused by the defense. It is the defense that most deteHnines the momentum of a game. The more times the defense stops the offense the more frustrating it becomes for the opponent. It is the defense that either sets the tone of OCTOBER SPECIALS VEGETABLE PLANTS Collards - Broccoli - Cabbage 10c each ONION PLANTS (just arrived) Red & White - Multiplying Onions Fresh Bulk Garden Seeds GARDEN MUMS 3” pot .12 for 2.29 gallon cans ... 60c BEDDING PLANTS Joseph Coat - Petunias 5c ea. FOLIAGE PLANTS Sale Reg. Pepperomia, 49c 69 Begonias ~ ~ 39c 59 49c 69 Swedish Ivy ^ 49c 69 Waffle Plants - -49c 69 Colorado lvy~ -49c 69 Sale Reg. CACTI SALE ^ 69c 89c Pencil Cactus Sale ~~~~~~~„2.19 2.99 Jade Plants ~ ------- -only 1.19 1.99 Jade Plants ~ -- - - -- -- only 2.19 2.99 Sansevieria ^ -- - - -- -- now 1.19 1.59 Sansevieria ~ ------- - now 2.29 3.99 Coleus 6” pot Sale 1.99 Reg. 3.99 Holland Bulbs- - BUY NOW & TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FIRST CHOICE CHOICE B&R NURSERY FM 1688 W. Mon.-Sat. 9-6 off West Bypass, Leonard Rd. on Linda Lane 822-2009 Sun. 2-6 the game from the start or can re verse it at any moment. The Texas A&M defense has suc cessfully squelched the momentum of the opponent thus far, while at the same time, generating a little fire of their own. Big plays like Pat Thomas’ inter ception against Washington and Lester Hayes’ tackle on the seven- yardline against LSU are a couple to mention. The Aggie defense plays aggressively and with a controlled recklessness. “We always play with emotion and enthusiasm,” said defensive co-ordinator Melvin Robertson. On momentum, Thomas said that the defense plays “a very important role. Our job is to stop their offense from scoring because scoring is winning. If we stop them enough our offense is good enough to take advantage of it. ” To counteract momentum a team must rely on its poise and experi ence. “We have a lot of poise, mainly due to our increased experi ence,” said Robertson. Since many of the defensive players are getting playing time they are able to gain experience and poise. “Success makes for poise. It’s the maker of a good defensive foot ball team ,” said Robertson. He added that poise controls the momentum of the opponent and that the poise of A&M’s defense has been maintained in each of the first three games. “We showed poise in the last part of last season, but we weren’t as consistent,” he went on to say. “The defense really is more poised now. We can accept big plays because we have confidence in our selves,” said Thomas, the Aggie cornerback. The Aggies have good reason to be confident. The defense ranks 11th in the nation. The defense, nicknamed The Wolfpack, has given up about two yards per rushing play and a little over three yards per snap for both rushing and passing. Over all, the defense has allowed an aver age of 218 yards total offense per game. “We are better in segment even though we have given up more yar dage than last year,” said Robert son. A&M is second to Arkansas (by a single yard) in total defense in the Southwest Conference. However, it matters little how much yardage the opponent gains if they can’t score. The Maroon Maul- fia have allowed 29 points in three contests. Robertson says he would like to see the defense become tops in the SWC against scoring. The players on the defensive team are pretty close knit and have a great respect for each other says Robertson. “They have a team type thing and play extremely well as a team. The second unit is doing a fine job. They don’t look at themselves as being the first or second team. They all see themselves as being on the defensive team.” On an individual basis. Garth Ten Napel leads in tackles with 26 unas sisted and 27 assisted tackles. He and Warren Trahan also lead in tack les for losses with Trahan having the most quarterback sacks (4). Thomas has the only two pass interceptions for A&M. Robertson is pleased with every aspect of the defense including the pass rush and coverage, tackling and play by the specialty teams. Poise, confidence and experience are all instilled in Robertson’s Wolf- pack. With these three characteris tics going for them, they just may make momentum simply another word in the dictionary. TEXAS A&M DEFENSIVE STATISTICS-Three Games Player Ten Napel Simonini McCrumbly Trahan Long Stratton Fields Lamp Dean Schwarz Thomas Williams Daniels Hayes Hulin Marshall Gray Thurmond Wilkerson Hunnicutt Totals Tackles 26 21 22 17 20 9 12 12 9 11 5 5 4 6 5 3 3 2 2 1 191 Assist? 27 17 13 7 3 9 6 3 3 1 5 3 3 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 104 Total 53 38 35 24 23 18 18 15 12 12 10 8 7 7 6 4 3 2 2 1 295 Caused Rec. Int. Fumble Fumble Pass INDIVIDUAL HIGH: TACKLES: 22, Simonini vs. Washington 20, Ten Napel vs. Clemson & LSU Guest Picker This Week: Karen Arrington Guest Picker next week: Dr. Jack K. Williams MCDONALD’S McDonald's i® INTRAMURAL HIGHLIGHTS McDonald's i® Ball and Pins Become Ob- lr 5 ; ■ jects of Intramural Interest mm .. 'Tfryyritij.M Bowling is the subject this week, with all leagues starting play next week. Bowling has picked up as an intramural sport with a 50 per cent increase in the number of teams over last year. Some 80 teams bowled last year in the program. This year the number has risen to 124. Some organiza tions, mostly the dorms, have swamped the field with three or more teams. Keathley has teams A-C, Wl* teams A-E, Crocker sponsored not only the Diles, Jacks, but also the Pieces. White, Moses, Law and Hart have teams I-IV and the Corps always pulls all the outfits’ upperclassmen and a separate league for fish. All games are bowled in the Memorial Student Center lanes. There’s already been a team score of497 bowled by the Moses civilian division team. Black Awareness overcomes Bowling is the slow roll out of Steve Mason, Maroon Band fish. Mason seems to think that ifhe grins at the ball hard enough it’ll knock down the right pins. Don’t stop buzzin’, fish Mason. Game of the Week: Medics’ Play Explosive By ROBERT CESSNA With explosive offense and effi cient defense. Ml, Medical Com pany, soundly defeated the H2 Spartans, 36-0. The Spartans and the Medical company both came into the game with identical 2-0 records. The Medical Company had previously won by scores of 14-13 and 33-12. The Medical Company, led by quarterback Barry Buske, passed and ran over the Spartans. Buske opened the scoring on a 25-yard run, but the try for extra points failed. The Medics were on the move with a 6-0 lead. Employing the constant drive of fense, the Medical Company scored again, this time on the bomb. Buske unleashed his right arm for a 40-yard score to Mark New. Buske ran for the two points and it was 14-0. The Spartans tried to get on the scoreboard with a drive but an over thrown pass resulted in an intercep tion. Steve New* playing good de fense as well as offense, covered his zone well and picked off the errant pass, scampering down the sidelines for a 25-yard score. A pass from Buske to New made the score 21-0. Again the Medics got the ball with a fourth and one from mid- field. They went to the £iir. Buske connected on a pass to Tim Hale. Hale carried to within a few yards from the endzone. However they failed to score and the half ended, 21-0. In the second half Ml continued their dominance with Jerry Nicker son intercepting a pass and return ing it 30 yards. This set up a bootleg by Buske for the score. Buske added two points on a run and it was 29-0. To end the scoring Buske teamed up with Hale for a 47 yard pass and the same combo added the extra point. The final score was 36-0. M1 was able to use some of their bench in the remaining game, but kept their shutout in tact. / Humor found the Duncan play ing field when Buske lost the back part of his pants. He played with a half pair until another pair were secured. Greeks By BOB GIVENS BAG rode the passing combina tion of Buck Durley and Joe Holmes to defeat Delta Kappa 16-6. Durley hit Holmes with an 8-yard touch down pass following Holmes’ inter ception of a Delta Kappa pass and Durley ran in the conversion to make it 8-0. BAG drove for three penetrations as opposed to Delta Kappa’s two. Kappa’s only serious scoring drive was halted at the BAG ten yard line by a Stan Evans intercep tion. The defense accounted for their only score. Mike Dishman re turned an intercepted pass 60 yards for a TD late in the first half. Watch & Enter The average team score so far noted is 400, meaning the average total per person is a 133. Intramural bowling looks pretty tough. Maybe you should come out and give your team a little moral sup port. Dr. Da ■dean in t ■Administr ■Friday m ■bicycle to I Arrange {Funeral I Dr. Lo' I of accoun ItaMU ad I the work 157-year-ol I Programs, [night. Dr. Lov 1 Waco and [Street in 1 zWJMf §; i By RO T. C. GalJucci Steve Gray Gerald Olivier Mark Weaver Alan Killingsworth Rod Speer Tony Gallucci Will Anderson Mike Bruton Guest Picker Youl Pici I A&M-Kansas A&M A&M A&M A&M A&M A&M A&M A&M A&M A&M Arkansas-TCU Ark. Ark. Ark. Ark. Ark. Ark. Ark. Ark. Ark. Ark. Baylor-Fla. St. Fla. Fla. Fla. Baylor Baylor Baylor Baylor Fla. Baylor Baylor Texas-Washington UT UT UT Wash. UT UT Wash. Wash. UT UT Tech-Okla. St. Tech Tech Tech Tech Tech Tech Tech OSU Tech Tech UH-So. Carolina UH UH UH UH UH SC SC UH UH UH SMU-Oregon St. SMU Ore. SMU SMU SMU SMU SMU Ore. SMU SMU Mich.-Stanford Mich. Mich. Mich. Mich. Mich. Mich. Mich. Mich. Mich. Mich. Redskins-Bengals Skins Cinn. Skins Skins Skins Skins Skins Skins Cinn. Skins Vi k i ngs-Cowboy s Vikes Vikes Vikes Vikes Cowboys Vikes Vikes Vikes Vikes Cowboys Last Week 7-3 4-6 5-5 7-3 6-4 5-5 6-4 6-4 4-6 5-5 Season 22-8 20-10 19-11 19-11 18-12 18-12 17-13 17-13 16-14 16-14 Percentage .733 .666 .633 .633 .600 .600 .566 .566 .533 .533 Thesu tlemen v continue months l marketin Agriculti Feedle because These Intramural Highlights are sponsored every Friday by McDonald’s on University Dr. The page is prepared by Mary Russo & the Intramural Office, De Ware Field House, 845-2624. It’s October and it s entries are closing fast. Consideration of what to enter and when should be given some attention. The tennis and badminton entry date have already slipped by. Ten nis singles will be played on the University courts, behind Kyle Field. Badminton will be played in the Coliseum Annex. Two more individual type events are coming up fast. The field goal kicking contest will allow it s finalists to kick-off before the crowd at the All-University Flag Football Play-Off. The other is an open swimming meet with men and women divi sions. There are some co-ed relay * ^ events. All events will be no longer than 50 meters. There’s also a one-meter diving competition. Entries for field goal kicking and Another M-Band frick uses a slightly different technique to coerce swimming must be in by October 8. the ball into the pins. Aw come on. Baby, he almost sighs' Swimmers can enter individually, Check the wrist and hand frick, that ball might get some ideas. The they need not represent any group. M-Band lost this match to Squadron 6, 366-343. threi much-n Holm) tpM fete W* IP