FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1979
the sports
Defense ‘poised’ for kill
By KURT ALLEN
Battalion Sports Staff
It’s been a strange year for Texas
A&M football, where after the
Aggie offense showed such great
promise in preseason, it is the de
fense that surprisingly has carried
the team through the season thus
far.
Texas A&M defensive coordinator
R.C. Slocum does not claim to be
able to explain all that is wrong with
the offense, but he does have a rea
son for his defensive squad’s consis
tent play.
‘We’ve made a good deal of
progress because we’ve been able to
keep our poise and learn from mis
takes,’’ said Slocum. “We re still
basically a young defense. We’ve
made some mistakes this year, and
we ll certainly make some in the fu
ture, but we re able to keep our
poise at the same time.’’
Slocum said he felt the only time
the Aggie defense lost its poise was
in the first half of the Baylor game.
“That really upset me, because
we’d worked so hard that week, and
then to have that happen was a little
hard to take,’’ Slocum said. “Of
course, we came back in the second
half. We allowed Baylor a first down
early, and then they didn’t get
another one the rest of the game.”
Slocum credited the togetherness
of his squad for stopping Penn State.
“In the first quarter, we had a
chance to stop them, but we missed
a couple of tackles and they scored, ’’
he said, “bam, bam, just like that,
we re behind 7-0. But we kept stres
sing poise on the sidelines, and the
players responded as one cohesive
unit with the common goal of hold
ing Penn State.’’
Togetherness is important to the
Texas A&M defense because it’s not
a very big team Slocum said. Size
definitely is a problem for the Ag
gies, considering Arlis James is the
largest line player at 6-3 and 245
pounds. Because left end Jacob
Green only plays at 235 pounds,
many teams double team him, feel
ing they’ll have better success that
way.
“To combat that, (the doubling
teaming) we flip-flop Jacob from one
end of the line to the other so our
opponents stay confused and can’t
double team him.’’
While size is a consideration, it’s
not necessarily a problem for the
linebackers. Both Doug Carr and
Mike Little are undersized, but in
the words of Slocum, “they’ve
played their hearts out. What can be
said for one of them can be said for
the other.
“In the case of Carr, he just has a
knack of knowing where the ball is, ’’
Slocum said. “That combined with
his speed, makes him the player he
is. Cal Peveto, our weakside
linebacker, is coming along and he’s
finally established himself. I’m very
happy with all three of them.”
Slocum’s crew comes off a Mem
phis State game that saw Texas
A&M hold the Tigers on the Aggie
nine-yard line. Memphis State
missed a field goal on fourth down in
what might have been a turning
point in the game. Slocum said he
once again credits the squad’s to
getherness for holding back the Ti
gers.
Now the task at hand is to stop a
Texas Tech team that boasts an awe
some running attack led by fullback
James Hadnot. For Slocum, the
strategy is simple.
“Mistakes aren’t killing us right
now, so we re not going to change
any of the basic strategy we’ve been
using. Naturally Hadnot is a great
big back and we ll be looking to stop
him. But maybe our biggest weapon
is that our players know we have to
win this game. The outcome just
may be the difference in our sea
son.”
ut the you:
THE BATT DOES IT DAILY
Monday through Friday
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judge anif :
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Wilson returns to beat alma mater
it area com
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By MARK PATTERSON
Battalion Sports Staff
Okay, here’s tin
ledule.
The Texas A&M-Texas Tech
me starts at 7:30 p. m. Saturday so
have plenty of time for the
lebration. It will start at about 11
. with a ticker-tape parade from
[ones Stadium, down University
prive to the Lubbock City Hall.
jThere, the mayor will present
jilson the key to the city and give a
ech about how great Tom was
en he played quarterback at Tech
jd how they wished he was coach-
the Red Raiders instead of the
[gies at tonight’s game.
Then there’ll be a luncheon so
er fullti fl)i_ ,
,ft J veryone can see how pretty Wil-
o lini ' on s wife Daun, the ex-Tech cheer-
ekder, still is. About 5 o’clock a
licopter will take Wilson and his
:ty of jobs
itruction.
■d the coi
9. He hai'wife back to the stadium in time to
meet the team before pregame
hingoven Irmups begin,
don’t pay; |Not too bad a plan for the
lone, beekomecoming celebration of Tom
lawn mow Vilson, the pride of the Panhandle
longtopai a)the mid-60’s. As the team captain
nd quarterback in 1965, he led the
and a fellow named Reeves at quar
terback.
“(Ron) Reeves and (James) Had
not are carrying the load for them
now,” Wilson said of the two. “Re
eves is a strong runner. He’s not
gifted with great speed, but he’ll get
three, four and five yards a carry for
them.
“And Hadnot, well he’s just huge.
Hadnot weighs more than every
player on our defense, with the ex
ception of Arlis James.”
Statistics bear reason for Wilson’s
respect. Through four games this
season, Reeves ranks fourth in the
Southwest Conference in total of
fense (rushing and passing) with a
131-yard-per-game average. Hadnot
is right behind with a 128-yard aver
age.
The Aggies will counter with a
running machine of their own. Cur
tis Dickey leads the SWC in both
rushing (135.5-yard average) and
total offense with a 140-yards-per-
game average.
Dickey is second in the nation
with his 135.5-per-game rushing av
erage. Hadnot ranks sixth nationally
with a 128.7-yard average.
The Raiders enter Saturday’s
game after losing to Baylor last week
27-17. It was the first conference
game, and conference loss, for
Tech.
“It hurts to lose the first one, but
our players know we have seven
more games left this season,” Doc
kery said. “Our team understands
we re only four games into the sea
son (1-2-1 record). We need to re
group and get it all back together.
Both teams have one loss in con
ference play. A second could spell
disaster.
“I’m not even thinking about a
second loss,” Wilson said. “I’m only
thinking about coming home 3-2 (on
the season), regrouping and getting
ready for Houston next week.
“I don’t have anything on my
mind but winning.”
Not now, but when the plane
touches down at the Lubbock air
port, Wilson’s thoughts may drift
back to 1965, playing in front of the
home crowd.
This year he’ll be looking for
another victory in Jones Stadium.
But not for the Texas Tech Red
Raiders.
Th<
Texas A&M-Texas Tech
game can be seen here live on
closed-circuit television in G. Rollie
White Coliseum Saturday. Tickets
are on sale today at the coliseum
and will be on sale at 6 p.m. Satur
day. Kickoff is at 7:30.
$ Vogue Hairstyling Salon %
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(New Post Oak Shopping Center) ^
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iders to an 8-3 season record and
[trip to the Gator Bowl.
This will be Wilson’s first trip to
tubbock as head coach of Texas
&M. It may not be the way Wilson
nted to return as a head coach.
IWilson’s name was mentioned as
somewheif P e possible choice as head coach of
je Red Raiders the past two times
t you do. I
robably wj
Boys Trail)
or,
'all S) saidsidhe job became available. The best
ittached n ;
ing that’11*1
r, Don
s, saidwoi
is, youca! !
lot seemed to come at the end of
|e 1977 season when Steve Sloan
aded for Ole Miss.
But the job went to Tech’s offen-
ive coordiantor Rex Dockery.
Satuday night Wilson takes his
3 [ ure am against the Red Raiders and
oral expo* Mockery.
ilecandi®! m looking forward to the
he said “"1 ilme ’ Wilson said, “but I think
thekidsiii ere s enou gki incentive there on
Toth sides without getting my per-
inal feelings involved. It’s a great
airy and has always been a good
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I’m looking forward to going
ick and taking this A&M football
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Aggie fans remember the fun the
ies had two years ago on their
ay to a 33-17 win. The score
ould be a little closer this year,
ow the Raiders have a guy by the
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