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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 24, 1979)
Page 10A THE BATTALION MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1979 ‘We were terrible 9 Lions not ready for speed By MARK PATTERSON Battalion Sports Staff UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. — Three thousand miles and a day later, it’s still hard to believe that the Texas Aggies won a football game against Penn State. You just don’t go visiting at Joe Paterno’s house and come away winners. But the Aggie’s beat the odds and Paterno this Saturday. Wielding a 22-caliber weapon in Curtis Dickey, the Aggies mugged Paterno and the Nittany Lions in a fashion unfamiliar to folks in that part of the country. After all. Southwest Conference schools don’t beat Paterno’s boys. In his 14-year head coaching career, Joe had never lost to a SWC team. But then, his Nittany Lions had never played the Aggies. Was it a matter of the Aggies being that good or Penn State being that bad? Paterno feels it was the latter. Fresh out of the Smoke House! Smoked Turkeys *1.49 lb. (9 lb. average) READFIELD MEATS & SERVICE “It was just one of those days when everything we did went wrong,” Paterno said after the loss, Penn State’s first in its last 12 games in Beaver Stadium. “There were a lot of big plays, but they all went to A&M. “You don’t get big plays until you earn the short ones. We were not ready to do that today, down-by down. “We were just terrible. We didn’t tackle and we didn’t block. If you don’t do either, you aren’t going to win many football games. ” The Lions did enough of both last week to dominate Rutgers 45-10 in their season opener. It was an im pressive enough win to rate PSU as the sixth-best team in the country before the Aggie game. Possibly, with the big opening win, the Lions were lulled into a false sense of se curity. “We were spoiled with the easy win last week,” Paterno admitted. “We were too pleased with our selves. We knew what we wanted to do but we didn’t have a lot of emo tion in practice this week. “We just weren’t ready for a dog fight. We weren’t ready to get in a dig-it-out ball game.” The loss will be long remembered by Penn State fans long after this season is over. And if their memories lapse, all they have to do is refer to their football record books to be reminded of “The Aggie Con quering of Mount Nittany.” Dickey’s 184-yard performance was the most yards gained by any back against the Lions since North COUPONaiiiih 111 O o "D o z COMBINATION PLATE JUMBO BURGER FRIES & SALAD II I I n =>■ o Carolina State’s Ted Brown rushed for 251 in 1977. With his three touchdowns, Dickey became the third player to ever rush for three touchdowns against the Lions. Johnny Castan of Boston University did it in 1951 and Bill Gary of Ohio University did it in 1970. Not since the 1970 season, when Syracuse beat the Lions 24-7, has PSU been beaten this badly at home. The offensive records were set against a defense that sports a pair of All-Americas at the defensive tackle positions. Going into the A&M game, the Penn State defense was rated as the second best unit in the country. Dickey, Mike Mosley and company helped pop the PSU de fense’s bubble. “The worst thing that could have happened happened,” All-America tackle Matt Millen said after the loss. “Now we have to go back and start all over, just like the beginning of the season. We re just not as good a team as everyone thinks we are. We re not together. “Their running game just got to the outside on us. They showed their speed getting around the end and heading upfield. I can run a 9.3 (hundred-yard dash) but I can’t run a 9.2. I guess it showed today.” Millen’s partner in pain, Bruce Clark, echoed Paterno’s feelings about the mental attitude of PSU. “We went into the game cautious, maybe a bit too cautious,” Clark said. “We knew that, with any play they ran, they could break open the game. It was like we were waiting for them to do it. We’ve never run into a team that had backs of that caliber before.” The party’s over but the memory still lingers. It was a festive atmo sphere on the plane home Sunday. The Aggies on board were laughing, yelling and singing from Three-Mile Island to Houston. It was a victory that meant more than any in recent years. What it means in the fixture re mains to be seen. There s on field, ” said 0 r-die si tut few mir ,y carry yc dp 1979 Well, they c , kickers v> Chris Bahr but Fritscl 'L field go f you can f lential garni And so, it r ied off the ;9-yard fiek at and over seconds rer the Oilers winless Ci The seven days thatchangtynd the Ags ? Owls and Bears f (Reg. $2.64) $009 with this coupon Offer Expires Sat., Sept. 29 iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiC O U P O N iiiHiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiia CALL IN YOUR ORDER — 846-7466 University Drive at Welborn Overpass I I li THE BATT DOES IT DAILY Monday through Friday United Press Internationa] What difference can a week make? The Texas A&M Aggies and Baylor Bears have the answer. So do the Rice Owls for that mat ter, as does Jim Bob Taylor, the young man with the storybook name who not long ago was a nervous emergency backup quarterback and now has become a not-so-nervous starter. It was only a week earlier that Baylor had mopped up on Texas A&M in their Southwest Confer ence opener. The Bears had run the ball well and the Aggies had fum bled it well. Baylor had momentum and the Aggies were down going into confrontations with two of the nation’s powerhouses. This time around, however, it was Texas A&M pulling off the monumental victory — stunning sixth-ranked Penn State with three touchdowns by sprinter Curtis Dickey in a 27-14 decision. Baylor, meanwhile, was embaras- sed by No. 2 Alabama, 45-0, turning the ball over eight times in the pro- “This, of course, is probably the greatest win in Texas A&M football history,” said coach Tom Wilson, whose club had lost its first two out ings after being ranked in the pre season top 20. “Our guys could have decided to shove it in and wait until next year. Or they could have waited for someone other than Penn State to start the season against. They didn’t and that’s a tribute to these guys.” Baylor, losing for the first time this year, surrendered 431 yards on the ground and the Bears could not do a thing offensively since they gave up six interceptions and two fumbles. “We just couldn’t make a first down,” said Baylor coach Grant Teaff. “A lot of credit has to go to their defense. It’s one of the finest we’ve played against since I’ve been at Baylor.” Things took a nasty turn for the Rice Owls as well. After coming up with one of its infrequent victories the week before against Tulane, Rice was lambasted by 17th-ranked LSU, 47-3. But the saga of Jim Bob Taylor has a happier ending — at least so far. Taylor, the SMU quarterback who had to come in to replace the in jured Mike Ford a week ago, got his first start Saturday night against North Texas State. Taylor performed almost per fectly, completing five of the six passes he threw — one for a touchdown — and directing a ground game that rolled up 380 yards in SMU’s 20-9 victory. Charles Wagoner, one of SMU’s stable of freshman running backs, scored once and picked up 184 United I LEVELS iveland Bn . Cowboys yards, most ever for a Mi dium crow freshman. ight muc j “Taylor was close to magnj us on t he said SMU coach Ron Meyer, c ] u jj Mustangs are unbeaten it w i3 0 y S a nc games. “He was poised ani )wns under control. I was please; \lthough him. jtdry and Things went about as eij tigliano around the rest of Southw y re very ference. Well, almost as erpi iltiple tali The fourth-ranked Texas iitt, both horns, playing their first] yve spent looked sluggish on offense al ingtofigur but their rugged defense 1 ler’s quarte pull out a 17-9 win over Iowa (Brian) Sip Sixteenth-ranked Arkansas y well, with ease over Oklahoma chdown p; 27-7, and TCU —after jm; ■ Browns ti early lead — fell to li ndeed Sip 33-19. Texas Tech and Arizort irterback i expected to be about even ant ! National how they wound up — a 1411 yed brillias lock. e Browns |tories in broke for 69 yards in the firsfi! 65 /^ 5 , 111 ter to tie the game at 7-7 atm 16 I s \ that point it was all A&M.) went on to gain 184 yards a twice more on runs of 11 i yards. “We weren’t ready emotii said Penn State coach Joe I “We were horrible,” This week Baylor (2-1/1 chance to regain someofitsf since it hosts Texas Tech ( 1 yards, th : a quarter otball Con looting tha (i n (Hj-TTii ti tiTTTTTinii-iifTm Mon.-Thurs. 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Store Hours: Fri.-Sat. 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Sun. 11 a.m.-11 p.m. BUDGET Open 10-7 Mon.- Sat. .--4 315 Univ. Dr. at orthgati (713) (846-5515) This Week CHEAP TRICK “Dream Police LP only $K67 I 3 f 9 m ALAN PARSONS PROJECT “Eve” LP only $ 5 67 MOON MARTIN “Escape From Domination” LP This Week ^4" BOB DYLAN “Slow Training Coming” LP This Week $5 67 CRYSTAL GAYLE ‘Miss The Mississippi $499 V/SA* Plus Other Specials! PARAPHERNALIA BLANK TAPES — SOUND CARE PRODUCTS BOB JAMES “Lucky Seven” LP $ 4" CVVENSEN*S ice CREAM FACTORY “In the rich tradition of old San Francisco' RECOGNIZES Curtis Dickey Ini Cc The Int: dl has se' dduals in (fieir lead >ons to th ktramura The Co student n feadershi] Programs, AS AGGIE PLAYER OF THE WEEK! Aggie tailback Curtis Dickey is this week’s Swensens’ star of the week for his great game against Penn State. Dickey rushed for 184 yards on 31 carries and three touchdowns as the Aggies upset the Nittany Lions, 27-14. Dickey passed Texas’ Chris Gilbert to move into the fourth spot on the SWC all-time rushing list with 3,255 yards. Dickey is only the third player to score three touchdowns rushing in a game against Penn State. Curtis Dickey CULPEPPER PLAZA Hours Open 11:30-Mon.-Sat. Closed 10:30 Mon.-Thurs. Noon on Sunday 11 P.M. Fri. and Saturday 693-6948 nvrn - ! i'n'i rirn'tiYi'ii'i itTiTi i'i i'i i'd'i i'i i'i i'i rn'trn'mn ri n n i-i ri rirmi' V olleyb Tuesc Pm. 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