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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 10, 1981)
^ mu Mpotr, rm ' Vi ' Wnr Vo/s * I ^ss/c ') ILL, rt Sports THE BATTALION Page THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1981 Even match Aggies, Cowboys to field similar teams in Independence Bowl Sell it in Battalion Classified 845-2611 eei >n detacMil t’s Bob ner was o;:| mon as [ i somebwl I that Lemsil i honestlya cally, hei brennerm mid stepiijl 1 Yogi Bemij ong, allofsif ice. Notbii:| .boutitams ager twice | sday’s anm xt year, a dm? nagerla$tk| bugging mind, adu though lie»| spoke witliSj rim he waalj some otherlJ e was free l#| ees ran I hat SteinM said hew# ici, ther In’t actually jp again w y again s e wanted to| ; first bo'l his team® its I uling, [ e and enj)! ime. is to i day aiuN t,” he said I o win. T^l e’re goi ; first i i’t have a: | nseli^I ivatio^ (he Btil By RITCHIE PRIDDY Sports Editor Saturday’s Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., matches two even teams in Texas A&M and Oklahoma State. The 7-4 OSU Cowboys will throw one of the top defensive un its in the nation at one of the most explosive offenses. The Cowboys finished the sea son as the ninth best defense in the nation, giving up an average of nearly 253 yards a game. In addi tion, they finished 15th against the rush, yielding an average of 109 yards a game. The team finished as the third, best defense in the Big Eight Conference and first against the rush. Meanwhile, the Texas A&M offense ran up a total offense of 385 yards a game during the regular season. The 6-5 Aggies averaged 213 rushing yards a game and av eraged 172 passing yards each out ing. Texas A&M finished as the number two offensive team in the Southwest Conference. Head coach Tom Wilson said: “The strength of their team lies in their defense. They’ve got two outstanding linebackers and a noseguard that is a one-man wrecking crew.” OSU runs a 5-2 defense with linebackers Ricky Young and Mike Green the biggest threats. Green, 6-2, 223 pounds, finished as the team’s leading tackier with 129. Young, 6-1, 217 pounds, had 122 tackles, while noseguard Gary Lewis had 96 tackles. All three were considered for post-season honors. Wilson said the Cowboys are similar to some of the defenses the Aggies have faced this year. “They’re a defense you can compare to Houston or SMU — very aggressive and dominating,” he said. “They do a real good job.” The Cowboy secondary is good, but not outstanding. Averaging 144 yards a game against a pre dominantly sophomore and junior secondary, opponents have had little success. Opposing quarter backs have completed 132 com pletions of 272 attempts for 1,585 yards and seven touchdowns. The secondary is anchored by sophomore free safety Chris Rock- ins and senior strong safety Pete DiClementi. Rockins finished the season with 83 tackles and two in terceptions. DiClementi was named the defensive player of the game in a 54-7 loss to Nebraska late in the season. DiClementi also finished with 83 tackles and three interceptions. The OSU defensive line aver ages 6-3, 233 pounds, while the Aggie offensive line averages 6-3, 244 pounds. The Aggie line, behind the blocking of senior center David Bandy and sophomore strong tackle Tommy Robison, has been largely responsible for the team’s offensive success. The Aggies finished as the num ber two offense in the school’s his tory, running up 4,243 yards, an average of 385 yards a game. Fullback Earnest Jackson finished his junior year with 902 yards on 153 carries, a 5.8 yards per carry average. Junior tailback Johnny Hector finished the regu lar season with 772 yards, an aver age of 5.3 yards a carry. It was the passing of junior quarterback Gary Kubiak that lead the team to several victories. Kubiak passed for 1,808 yards this year, completing 111 of209passes (53.1 percent) and 11 touchdowns. In addition, he ran for 178 yards and three touchdowns. Kubiak set several passing marks this year. Against Louisiana Tech he connected with junior flanker Don Jones for the longest touchdown pass in conference his tory. Against Rice he threw six touchdowns and ran for another. Kubiak’s favorite target is senior split end Mike Whitwell. The Aggie all-time leading receiver, Whitwell caught 27 passes for 731 yards and three touchdowns. Hector caught 24 passes for 214 yards and Jackson caught 18 for 202. Jones finished with 16 catch es for 332 and six touchdowns. Texas A&M scored 247 points in the regular season for a 22.5 aver age. Opponents scored 187 points for a 17 point game average. The third quarter has been par ticularly strong for the Aggies, who have scored 80 points while holding opponents to 30. The second and fourth quarters have been the worst. Opponents have scored 74 points in the second and 49 in the fourth, while the Aggies scored 66 and 48. Offensively, OSU averaged 339 yards per game, with 172 coming on the ground. The Cowboys lost their starting quarterback, senior John Doer- ner, early in the season and sopho more Rusty Hilger took over. Both are healthy now and Satur day’s starter has not been named. Wilson said Doerner is a better passer. Before he went down with the injury he completed 79 passes for 877 yards and four touch downs. He also threw 10 intercep tions. Hilger completed 50 passes for 645 yards and four touchdowns. Wilson said that Hilger is a better runner and directs the rushing attack well. Sophomore tailback Shawn Jones leads the team in rushing with 788 yards on 209 carries, an average of 3.8 yards a carry. Soph omore fullback Earnest Anderson finished with 678 yards on 129 car ries for an average of 5.3 a carry. Anderson ran for over 100 yards against Oklahoma in the regular season finale. Sophomore tight end John Chesley is the leading receiver, having caught 26 passes for 350 yards and four touchdowns. Junior split end Mark Comer has 19 catches for 347 yards and one touchdown. OSU scored 181 points during the season, an average of 16.5 points a game. Their opponents, meanwhile, scored 183 points, a 16.7 average. The OSU offensive line averages 6-3 and 245 pounds. The Texas A&M defensive line stands 6-4 and averages 241 pounds. The Aggies run a 4-3 defense anchored by linebackers Bobby Strogen and Mike Little. Strogen, a junior, finished the regular season with 133 tackles to lead the team. Senior linebacker Little had 117 tackles, while Strogen had five interceptions. Senior * defensive end Keith Baldwin had 91 tackles and junior Fred Caldwell had 80. The Aggie secondary has been a weak spot all year long, giving up over 195 yards a game through the air. Most of those yards, however, came from passing teams such as California and Rice. Sophomore Billy Cannon anchors the secondary, having finished the season with 58 tackles and one interception. Sophomore cornerback Greg Williams had 44 tackles and one interception. Both teams are blessed with good place-kickers, with junior David Hardy being the Aggies’ leading scorer with 65 points. He’s made 13 of 19 field goals and 26 of 30 extra points. Freshman Larry Roach handles the place-kicking chores for the Cowboys. Roach connected on 19 of 28 field goal attempts and 14 of 15 extra-point attempts for 71 points. Overall, the game matches two even but youthful teams. The Aggies appear to have the experi ence and the talent advantage, but anything can happen to take that edge away. Wilson's era shows slight increase A&M football graduation rate rising "spcciai package dsais" | rT 4&1 marks tkl )ked outsit! ■cnee fort o start wai > Aggies il By JOHN P. LOPEZ Battalion Reporter The graduation rate of football players at Texas A&M University has increased considerably since Tom Wilson became head coach in 1978. According to figures obtained from the University Archives, the graduation rate of football players while Emory Bellard was head coach was 43.5 percent. Since Wilson’s midseason promotion to the top spot in 1978, the gradua tion rate has increased to almost 54 percent. Efforts taken by the Athletic Department may play an impor tant part in this increase. Leroy Sutherland, academic adviser for athletics, said that much time and effort has been spent trying to im prove the academic standing of the University’s athletes. One way the Athletic Depart ment has tried to improve acade mics among athletes is by moni toring their class attendance. “If you go to class, you’re bound to do better,” Sutherland said. The Athletic Department also evaluates mid-term grades and councils players. Tutors also assist in the instruction of athletes. A prime example of the success the Athletic Department has had in improving academics is this year’s group of seniors on the foot ball team. Sutherland said all 14 of the athletes will probably gra duate. Even though the graduation rate of football players at Texas A&M is improving and ranks above the national average of 51 percent, the graduation rates at other Southwest Conference schools are slightly higher. Baylor University, Rice Univer sity and Southern Methodist Uni versity have the highest gradua tion rates in the conference, although exact figures were not available. The SMU football guide lists the average grade point ratio of the school’s football players as 3.0, while at Baylor, Tommy Newman, academic adviser for athletics, estimated the graduation rate to be about 84 percent. Rice has the highest football player graduation rate among SWC schools, an estimated 85 percent to 90 percent. In 1980, all 21 seniors on the Rice roster re ceived their degrees. The University of Texas has a graduation rate of 70 percent among its football players, while at the University of Arkansas, rate is 51 percent. the Texas Christian University, Texas Tech University and the University of Houston did not have specific figures on the num ber of football players who gradu ate. However, Jewell Wallace, academic adviser at TCU, esti mated that 50 percent of the school’s players graduate. Overall, the SWC graduates more football players than most other conferences in the country. Cliff Speegle, commissioner of the SWC credits the league’s consis tently high graduation rate to the quality of the schools. “We have very fine institutions in this conference,” Speegle said. Another reason so many football players graduate from SWC schools, Speegle said, is because “every school has an academic adviser and tutors if the student- athlete wishes to use them.” Sociologist Harry Edwards of the University of California said that more football players would probably use tutors and advisers if they weren’t hoping to play pro fessional football. The idea that an athlete will play professional football after completing eligibility is a miscon ception in most cases, Edwards said, since only one percent of the 40,000 athletes playing college football are drafted into the pro fessional ranks. * * ^Wooc Ccui£.fuC Craft ijrzan- iJiLfi, CJuntul, Suit ed, -cRe-ady and ^WaLtLncj ff Ui t Ooz For Vou or o Friend!! KeyboARd invnwnv PIANO RCNTAL & tf COUPON co CD i= > < Pefifbe/i'd, Va lb. 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