The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, November 12, 1982, Image 13

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November 12, 1982
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Switching gears
Smith finishing career as kicker, not swimmer
by Simon C. Gonzalez
Battalion Reporter
From the Olympics to the
Ozarks — that’s the story of
Martin Smith, the place-kicker
for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Smith is from Hartfordshire,
England. Like many English
lads, he grew up playing soccer.
However, Smith discovered he
had a talent for swimming as
well. This talent eventually led
to a berth on England’s national
swim team, which competed in
the 1980 Olympic Games in
Moscow.
“I swam in the 100- and 200-
meter freestyle, the 400-meter
medley relay, and the 800-meter
freestyle relay,” Smith said in a
long-distance telephone inter
view Thursday. He won a
bronze medal in the medley re
lay and placed sixth in the 100-
meter freestyle.
Smith was recruited by
Arkansas to swim. He was com
peting in the Commonwealth
Games in Canada in 1979 when
Sam Freas, the Razorback swim
ming coach, was there on a re
cruiting trip. Freas offered him
a scholarship and Smith
accepted.
He was on the swim team for
S'A years, and decided to try
football in his last semester of
varsity eligibility.
“Tbis is the first time I’ve ever
played football,” Smith said,
“but I decided to give it a try
since I’d played soccer.”
Smith walked on at the start of
football practices this fall and
made the squad. He watched the
first five games from the side
line, but he’s started the last
three. Smith has made 14 extra
points and has been successful
on two out of the three field
goals he has attempted.
jractice,” Smith said, “but
His longest kick so far has
been a 34-yarder, but he feels his
effective range is about 50 yards.
“I’ve kicked longer field goals
in pr
realistically in a game I think my
range would be about 50 yards.”.
Smith said that idea fits in well
with Coach Lou Holtz’s philoso
phy, since Holtz rarely tries a
field goal from longer than 50.
yards.
Smith said that he’s been the
subject of some good-natured
jokes by his teammates.
“They find it unusual that a;
swimmer is playing football,” he
said.
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Mustangs can clinch
share of SWC
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United Press International
The SMU Mustangs had
hopes for some very large pots
|)f gold at the end of their per-
ional rainbow this year anti the
irst pot is in sight — just over
here on the other side of the
Texas Tech Red Raiders.
It all seems so easy. J ust brush
isidethe team that was picked to
mish last in the Southwest Con-
erence, equal a school record
ith a 14th consecutive victory,
ollect what the Mustangs hope
be just the first half of the
eague championship and then
:ip home to prepare for the
rival of the Arkansas Razor-
lacks in a week’s time.
But things never seem to be
asyfof SMU in Lubbock. When
he Mustangs and Raiders meet
in the South Plains, the game
iften becomes a meteorological
vent. And it usually also turns
Hit to be a Texas Tech victory.
SMU has not won in Lubbock
14 years and the last three
imes the Mustangs have visited
iones Stadium it has snowed.
“My first impressions of Tech
re bad ones,” recalls Eric Dick-
rson, the NCAA’s second lead-
ngrusher and a prime factor in
SMU’s current standing as the
i|o. 2 team in the nation. “The
jrst year I was injured on the
[ickoff and missed the rest of
he year. I sprained my ankle on
he same play that Charles Wag-
r oner hurt his neck (which en-
led Waggoner’s football
‘areer).
lerwooi
pecinfo'
certify
“Then the next year we had a
bid to the Holiday Bowl and
went out and lost 14-0. That was
humiliating. We kind of limped
into a bowl.”
Things figure to be different
this year, but, as Arkansas found
out in Waco last weekend, you
never know. Tech is not last in
the conference, as had been
forecast. The Raiders (4-5) are
currently fourth with a break
even league mark.
“Ask Washington if they
think Tech has a good team,”
said SMU coach Bobby Collins,
referring to the Huskies’ narrow
triumph over the Raiders last
month. “A win would mean a lot
to their program. But a win
would mean a lot to our prog
ram, too.
“We’ve got to go out and give
it our best or we will undoubted
ly come back with our first loss of
the year.”
If SMU doesn’t lose its first
game of the year, the Mustangs
will clinch a share of the confer
ence title. And if SMU wins and
Arkansas somehow finds a way
to lose its second straight game
— the Mustangs would claim the
undisputed championship and a
berth in the Cotton Bowl.
No. 9 Arkansas (7-1) will be in
Little Rock Saturday night
against Texas A&M (4-4), seek
ing to bounce back from its 24-
17 loss to Baylor.
If SMU does beat Tech,
Arkansas will have to win all
three of its remaining games to
make it to the Cotton Bowl.
“We can still get there,” said
Arkansas coach Lou Holtz. “But
that’s going to be more difficult
than ever. We have no chance to
win our remaining games if we
don’t play better than we did
against Baylor.”
This week’s sub-plots will be
played out in Fort Worth and
Houston with the resurging
Texas Longhorns (5-2) traveling
to TCU (3-6) and the uplifted
Baylor Bears (3-5-1) visiting the
downtrodden Rice Owls (0-9).
There are those who feel a
decision has already been made
at TCU to dismiss coach F.A.
Dry. But if there has, a win over
Texas might cause some altera
tion of thinking.
Texas, however, is not yet
officially out of the Cotton Bowl
race and the Longhorns’ 50-0
win over Houston last week
shows that they are in good form
for a run at a decent bowl bid.
The Longhorns have back-
to-back shutouts to their credit
and if they blank the Horned
Frogs it will be the first time a
conference team has held three
straight opponents scoreless in
19 years.
“The race is getting a little
tighter,” said Texas coach Fred
Akers. “The happenings last
weekend were surprising and it
points up the fact that you can’t
book anything in this confer
ence.”
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