V
THE BATTALION Page 15
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1978
jLong road ahead for Texas A&M
Wilson praises Aggies’ performance
By MARK PATTERSON
Battalion Staff
[Tom Wilson boasts a record that
?can claim in all of football. He’s
[defeated and untied as a head
[ich. His latest victory was over
■Mustangs of SMU. And Wilson
bke about those same Ponies in
[weekly press conference.
[I was most pleased with the
nse the team showed in the pres-
|re situations we encountered
t/ 1 dnst SMU,” Wilson said. “In-
" ad of splitting apart the team
ne together as a unit. A game like
swill be a big plus for us on down
road this season.”
The Aggies begin the longest part
the road next week when they
vel to Arkansas to face the Razor-
iks. The Aggies will need every-
dy healthy for the contest if they
pe to defeat the Hogs. With the
um of Curtis Dickey to the line-
the Aggies will be at full
ngth for next week’s game.
The week layoff effected Curtis’
bmance in the early part of the
U game, Wilson explained.
Is only natural that if you’re hurt
miss a game you’d have ap-
_ hension about streaching out and
S Scorning confident about what
u’re doing. But Curtis seemed to
■""T
“He carried the ball 33 times in
the game and (David) Brothers car
ried 11 times. That’s 44 times our
tailback carried the ball in the game.
The tailback has to do that in our
I-formation attack and Curtis knows
that. He needs to be strong and stay
strong.”
With the return of Dickey to the
Texas A&M backfield the Aggies are
at full strength at both running back
positions. With a full stable of troops
Wilson has decided on who will play
what position.
“We’ve moved Brothers back to
fullback and he and (Raymond)
Belcher will play that position.
Dickey and (Adger) Armstrong will
play tailback. Those four will be our
starting backs.
“We’ll try and play both sets of
backs, Dickey and Belcher and
Brothers and Armstrong, but the
combination really doesn’t matter.
Plus we have (Temple) Aday and
(Holly) Wilson and the others back
ing these four up. So we’re in pretty
good shape.”
The Aggies are in pretty good
shape at the quarterback position
with Mike Mosley at the controls.
Mosley is hitting on 60 percent of
his passing attempts this season
while adding 280 yards rushing.
And according to his coach, Mosley
is developing into a fine quarter
back.
“Mike Mosley is getting better
and better every week he plays,”
Wilson said. “He’s reading cov
erages in the defensive secondary
that usually takes a long time to
learn.
“He’s learned to drop back and
look for his receivers and when
they’re covered he’s going to this
secondary receivers. Plus he’s so
dangerous when he drops back to
pass because of his ability to scram
ble. He’s really maturing as a quar
terback.”
One player that could not be hap
pier about Mosley’s passing success
is tight end Russell Mikeska. Satur
day against SMU Mikeska had his
best game as an Aggie, making six
catches for 90 yards.
“Russell wasn’t necessarily our
primary receiver on his pass pat
terns,” Wilson said. “When Mike
makes the fake into the line and
pulls up to pass he has three people
to throw to. We went into the game
wanting to get the ball to Mikeska
and the coverage dictated that we
could. Mike did a good job reading
the SMU defense and getting the
ball to him.
“Russell is a gifted athlete with
good hands and we have to utilize
Dallas struggles for playoffs
United Press International
)ALLAS — The 1978 NFL sea-
opened with the Dallas Cow-
s crushing the Baltimore Colts,
0. Coach Tom Landry has appar-
b Patou |y regretted it ever since.
I don’t think there is any ques-
i that the Baltimore game was
veanopt worst thing that could have hap-
ig fori le ^ to us,” Landry said Tuesday,
iltimore was not anywhere near
football team at that time than it
low. They were completely dis-
ized because of injuries and
r things.
It came so easy that it looked like
could beat the world. But we
• en’t playing the world.”
\ | f he obvious point is that Landry
f I j iks his team became so compla-
t after that victory that trouble
i almost sure to follow,
tgivea bid that trouble has come along
ebeent a 6-3 record that leaves Dallas
iggling to make the playoffs
1 didn’t feel that way (that his
s refen m was ready to beat the world),”
ewspape idry said. “I knew we were at a
d level, but we were not at the
level we had to be to fight off the
lenge.
We are actually pretty fortunate
e where we are. At least we are
in striking distance (one game
lind the Washington Redskins in
NFC East).”
ay those
per
And, in a bit of a quirk, the Cow
boys remain within striking distance
thanks to those same Baltimore
Colts, who upset the division lead
ing Washington Redskins Monday
night.
“I think the Baltimore win was
helpful,” Landry said. “I’ve said all
along that I wasn’t particularly con
cerned how others were playing,
but that it was more important how
we played.
“If we can play well enough we
will get in the playoffs and that’s
what concerns me the most.
“But the game Monday night
helps us because it gives us another
shot in the East. It is in our hands
now so that is encouraging. Hope
fully it will motivate our players to
prepare better, to play better and to
do everything you have to do better
to be in the right position.”
Motivation and momentum are
the big issues around Cowboysland
lately and Landry, like any other
coach, wishes he knew how to instill
such ingredients into his team.
“We have been getting a lot of
theories,” Landry said with a grin,
“and I appreciate them.
“At the start of our season the
players were playing hard. But I
don’t think they recognized the op
position would be so good.
“I don’t think I have ever seen
teams play as they have against us.
Miami (a 23-16 winner over Dallas
last Sunday) was motivated as if
were a Super Bowl game for them.
“Until we accept that kind of a
challenge we will still fall short. ”
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his talents.”
Another talent utilized against
SMU was that of Tony Franklin.
Franklin was called upon to kick a
29-yard field goal with one minute
in the game to defeat the Mustangs.
At the time his coach had little to
say to the kicker.
“In that situation there’s not a
whole lot you can say,” Wilson said.
“It seems like the more you say the
worse pressure you can create. So I
just gave him a pat on the butt and
wished him luck. And he went out
and did it.”
One sore spot for the Aggies con
tinues to be David Appleby’s punt
ing. Though Appleby averaged 41.9
yards per punt Saturday many of his
attempts landed short and got Aggie
bounces. Wilson poses no solution
to the Appleby’s problem.
“David hasn’t kicked the ball well
all year and David knows he hasn’t
kicked well,” Wilson said. “Tony
(Franklin) has been working on his
punting in practice and I’m confi
dent that we have two punters on
this team.
“But I’ve seen signs that David is
kicking the ball better. He’s just in a
slump and on occasions he has
kicked well. He’ll have to perform
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these last three games because of
the importance of the punting
game. I think he’ll come around.
But then, I have to think that he
will.”
The last three games against Ar
kansas, TCU and Texas will deter
mine if the Aggies’ 1978 season is a
success. The first on the list is Ar
kansas in two weeks. With an off-
week this Saturday the Aggies have
begun preperations for the Hogs.
“We’ve closed practices to pre-
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pare for them,” Wilson said about
Arkansas. “We’re getting their last
three game films and I’m going to
Waco this weekend to see them play
Baylor. But they haven’t really
changed much offensively or defen
sively from last year.
“Our team has confidence in
themselves but great respect for Ar
kansas. This team knows that from
here on it’s going to be a battle. But
then, that’s what football is all ab
out.”
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